Jegersburg

The overall objective of this trip was essentially to get to know each other better and to acquire a better understanding of each other.  This was important since as a group we were in the early stages of the course, hence we were still in the “forming stage”, where we knew very little about each other. Opportunities like this, which are designed to encourage cooperative ways of working, are therefore very important in terms of supporting the group’s development from a team of individuals to a unified group working together.  The second objective of the trip was to experience camping in winter conditions, for some within the group this was a novel experience, so it was kind of a test to see how they, as an individual, would cope and for us as a group.

Len, our instructor, set us into country based groups and asked us to come up with at least two group dynamic games to teach and play as a whole group. I was working with the three other English students and the games we chose were the ‘Floating Stick’ where by each group member must have both one finger from each hand under the stick and the objective is to lower the stick. This makes the group talk to each other during the course of the activity and brings out natural leaders at a very early stage.  The second game we came up with was ‘Human Knot’ which is exactly how it sounds.  People stand in a circle and cross hands with a partner and the goal is to make the circle again with everyone facing inwards. This game is excellent as it allows people to be physically close to each other.  Those who don’t like this closeness feel the need to get stuck in, breaking down barriers and making people feel more at ease with each other.  After every country had completed their games there was a tangible change in the atmosphere – we were all in a great mood.

The next task set was to make a group meal with a set amount of ingredients allotted, followed by a taste contest once made. This created an air of competition between the groups and resulted in people making some very interesting meals….which of course is always appreciated.

After this was done we all gathered around the fire where we could really freely talk and get to know new people in a relaxed setting.

To sum up, this was a great trip since it  was effective in cementing  group cohesion and secondly, gave us an opportunity to test our gear out in winter conditions which gave us a bit of an insight as to what’s to be expected in the future trips to come.