Aaran Patel, NHSF Imperial
As a tradition, NHSF Imperial committee members head out on a retreat right before the university year begins, as a form of “bonding camp”. This year was no different. On 2nd October 2015, 11 members of the 2015/16 Committee set forth on a journey to Snowdonia, Wales. To most, this was out of their comfort zone; they were used to shopping trips and studying, not gorge scrambling and hiking.
After a 6-hour overnight bus ride in pitch black, the van full of 11 puzzled committee members arrived only to find a tiny wooden mountain hut in the middle of nowhere! Upon arrival, as instructed by our standard Indian parents, we were to inform them about our safe arrival – but found there was no mobile service signal to do so.
We managed to sneak a 2-hour nap in the hut before we met Jon, our Arete Outdoor Education Centre co-ordinator for the weekend. Jon, a high spirited instructor, explained to us the large variety of activities that we could do over the weekend. After deciding on kayaking and boating were for the morning, we were all pumped and ready to go! Jon sensed this retreat was set to build our teamwork and communication skills and he wasted no time in achieving that.
He had us preparing the boats, tying them together and encouraged everyone to take part. The boats were coincidentally divided into girls and boys and it didn’t take long for competition to brew! First time around, the girls in their boats had absolutely thrashed the boys, who were going all over the place. Next time around though, the boys came back with a vengeance, beating the girls. This didn’t go well with the girls, with Payal in particular. What was planned to be a calm, peaceful and DRY morning soon became the exact opposite when Payal drew first blood by splashing the boys’ boat with her paddle. Jon became stuck in the crossfire between the two teams, but sided with the girls’ team to help soak the boys.
After lunch, we headed for our second activity, gorge scrambling, not knowing what to expect. We donned our wetsuits and old trainers and trekked through the woods in the freezing cold weather. Eventually, we reached a stream of water originating from a waterfall. One by one we reluctantly jumped into the ice cold water, being put off even more when we saw our friends’ faces shrivel when their body touched the water. A large variety of obstacle courses awaited us, testing our teamwork skills. A helping hand here and there, words of encouragement to boost morale and stronger swimmers helping out the rest at areas of strong currents saw us all brave the freezing cold waters and return back to the coach safely. Turning the coach’s heater up to the maximum, we huddled back to the training centre to return our equipment.
While one of the girls visited the bathroom at the centre, they spotted a few shower cubicles. Realising that back at the hut we only had one bathroom for all 11 of us to take turns in showering, the girls asked if it was possible for them to shower here instead. A technician came back with depressing news that the hot water supply was switched-off, so showering at the centre was not a viable option. Being mischievous, the girls still headed to the bathroom, claiming that they were going-in to “wash their feet”. Eventually (25mins later), the girls came out of the bathroom with wet hair, cheeky grins and no regrets.
The boys, very hungry by this point, were keenly looking forward to dinner. In order to make up for earlier, the girls agreed to do the cooking while the boys took turns to shower. After a trip to a local supermarket to grab ingredients, we were all back safe in the mountain hut! With only a small, almost broken oven and hob to make dinner, the girls managed to prepare a lovely meal of pasta, frozen pizzas and garlic bread, followed by dessert picked-up from the store earlier.
Without internet or phone receptions, we only had each other’s company to entertain ourselves. Our resident game master Sneha suggested we play a game called Mafia. After a few rounds, everyone was thoroughly engaged, resulting in us playing the game for over 3 hours! After a long and tiring day, everyone was looking forward to the prospect of a good night’s sleep. As everyone was-dozing off, we were all jolted awake by a sudden scream of ‘SPIDER!!’ from the boys’ room. Surya bravely stepped up to save the day, only to knock the spider out of sight and into Aaran’s sleeping bag.
DAY TWO. OBJECTIVE: SCALE MOUNT SNOWDON, 2ND HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN UK.
Everyone was excited for the daunting task of climbing Mount Snowdon, which was more than 1000m high. The climb was full of conversations, mini games, selfies, and scenic photographs. Not forgetting to mention, teamwork at its peak, literally! It took us roughly 3.5 hours to reach the top where we were treated to an amazing view… as well as a café which sold hot chocolate, making the feat worth it! The climb down was no easier but our high morale kept us going! After a total of 7 hours, we made it back to our starting point, feeling accomplished.
After saying our goodbyes to Jon, we began our 6 hour return back to London. After failing to play mafia and attempt at karaoke, a surprise entertainment kept us occupied on our ride back – our committee supports each other wherever possible and Surya received 10 different insightful inputs on his love life. We wish him all the very best in his pursuit. A thoroughly testing and enjoyable weekend resulted in our committee growing in unity and strength, which was especially clear during our first event of the year, Hindu Society Welcome Dinner.