I think this was one of my favorite trips so far! Everyone in my class was paired up and had to rotate between teaching modules on different days. However, there was an odd number so I became the coordinator and I coordinated all the activities, schedules, scoring and managing the students and it was so much fun! It reminded me of my high school days when I was ROTC Commander or when I was Cadre at the ROTC Boot camp. I thrived in getting every one on board and getting everything running smoothly.
There were a few things I had to figure out, like how to get all the students up and ready at 830am when they just wanted to stay in their sleeping bag but by the third day I had it all figured out!
One of the best benefits of being the coordinator is that I got to go around and check out how things were doing at all the stations and watch the various groups try and complete their activities. Most of the time I was smiling like a fool because of how much the kids were enjoying it. By spending a lot of time at each activity I got to learn how each one was ran and when my classmates rotated to teach a different station on the next day, I got to help them a bit on running the station, giving them tips on what the others did the day before and I could tell it really helped them out. By doing this I got to learn how to make a rope stretcher, different ways to make shelters and fires, and a bunch of new games to play with future students.
The weather was beautiful, it truly seemed like the first days of summer. No rain the whole time and we got to walk around in tank tops and shorts, it was perfect! The only downside was that the mosquitoes came out with a vengeance and ate most people alive. I didn’t know that Norway even had mosquitoes but I guess they were just hiding in the winter. Next time we go out I am going to buy some bug spray and put it in my first aid kit because I was definitely regretting not having any. I slept in my hammock for the whole trip and figured out a way to close it almost completely so no bugs could get it and it worked!
I ended up leaving the camp with not even a single bug bite. The others were not so lucky and were woken up many times in the night by buzzing near their ears and a few woke up with mosquito bites all over their faces. I let one of the girls borrow my bivy because the wanted to try and make a hammock with it and it worked…but it was really cold during the night. So for the rest of the nights she just used it on the ground to keep the bugs away from her.
I was sad to leave at the end of the week but I’d say this was one of my most favorite trips so far, I think I’d really enjoy being a camp coordinator sometime in the future. I really enjoy working with the kids and the other students in my class. Since we were all together finally on the same trip it really allowed us to bond more together as a class :)