Louis Kruse, Grade 11
UWC Costa Rica
From Monday, 21 October 2019 to Tuesday, 22 October 2019, all First-Year Students of the United World College Costa Rica started their trip to the annual Firstie Camp which is supposed to strengthen the bonds between 100 new students from more than 70 different countries after two and a half months of getting to know each other best as possible.
By bus, we started our trip at 8 am on a Monday morning. The first half of our first semester at UWCCR was over and we were looking forward to going on vacation after this camp which was in an isolated area, two hours away from our campus in Santa Ana. After a first adventure with the bus that did not manage to gain enough power to bring us up a hill, we needed to unpack all of our belongings together and wait for another one. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally reached the camp where we met the other group of 50 students, and as an added bonus, we contributed already significantly to the overall goal of team-building.
San Fernando and its camp are located in the middle of Costa Rica's mountains with a beautiful view of the valley and the greenness of this country. My co-years and I had a fantastic time there, with memories of a candle-night, bonfires, team challenges in the mud and also a night shared in one big room with about 50 people. The candle-night was probably one of the most emotional moments for the entire community so far. Organized by our Second-Year facilitators, we encountered many emotional moments from our co-years - and these shared moments included everything you can think of. It started with sharing the funniest moments of our first two months at UWCCR, going ahead with fears and negative experiences as well as news from home that made us feel worried. During these sentimental moments, we began to realize that no matter what we are doing here, we are all teenagers and have to deal with our personal issues first; academics and all other issues come afterwards. After this candle-night and moments of appreciation of the country and the experiences, we went to bed in a room with more than 50 people. Even though this was also a special moment, it let us appreciate our mostly 3-people-rooms more;)
By bus, we started our trip at 8 am on a Monday morning. The first half of our first semester at UWCCR was over and we were looking forward to going on vacation after this camp which was in an isolated area, two hours away from our campus in Santa Ana. After a first adventure with the bus that did not manage to gain enough power to bring us up a hill, we needed to unpack all of our belongings together and wait for another one. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally reached the camp where we met the other group of 50 students, and as an added bonus, we contributed already significantly to the overall goal of team-building.
San Fernando and its camp are located in the middle of Costa Rica's mountains with a beautiful view of the valley and the greenness of this country. My co-years and I had a fantastic time there, with memories of a candle-night, bonfires, team challenges in the mud and also a night shared in one big room with about 50 people. The candle-night was probably one of the most emotional moments for the entire community so far. Organized by our Second-Year facilitators, we encountered many emotional moments from our co-years - and these shared moments included everything you can think of. It started with sharing the funniest moments of our first two months at UWCCR, going ahead with fears and negative experiences as well as news from home that made us feel worried. During these sentimental moments, we began to realize that no matter what we are doing here, we are all teenagers and have to deal with our personal issues first; academics and all other issues come afterwards. After this candle-night and moments of appreciation of the country and the experiences, we went to bed in a room with more than 50 people. Even though this was also a special moment, it let us appreciate our mostly 3-people-rooms more;)
As mentioned, teamwork was set as the overall goal of this camp. Especially on the second day, it was the fight against the clock and the other teams that stood out to us. With a lot of fun and communication in the mud, in the pool, or at other games, we made this camp one of the most exciting events that could have happened before we went on vacation. Moreover, it was probably one of the most special moments that brought us as a community, even after two months on campus, closer together than ever before in this first semester. Therefore, this Firstie Camp and its idea behind were more than worth it. After two amazing days, we went back to campus where all of us were looking forward to the half-semester vacation. Besides, this camp definitely strengthened the bonds and communication between us and made us more excited about the restart of school after four days of vacation...
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