grade 12 retreat
for those who want to hear my take on the retreat
fun. very fun. awesomely fun. i mean, i enjoyed it...i don't know about others. just a little tiring, though.
building the inuksuks was fun, but my group (ashley, angela liu, josh, simon, and raymond) had really good stone pieces. while everyone else was struggling, we had a piece of cake. didn't really like the discussions that much, but i'm generally not a talkative person anyway.
and i loved the afternoon recreation activity. orienteering! (archery...pssshh) we got to explore the valley, walk through the forest (amazing scenery) and climb the hill. and it was steep! i remember as we were going down the hill on the steeper, harder path, i decided just to run down the last part of the slope. zara was near the end of the slope and was trying to tell me that the marker we were looking for was right behind me, but i couldn't stop running...ran right past her and left her talking to no one. hehe, that was funny. i never did see that marker.
possibly the best thing in the retreat: the nighttime hike. it was so quiet and peaceful. it was hard to find your step, since it was so dark, but i thought that was pretty cool. we climbed up that hill again (lots of exercise) but i noticed that i was more sure of myself when i couldn't see the ground. i know that sounds weird but it's like...when i could see, i knew exactly what was coming up and i was afraid of slipping or falling. when i couldn't see, i assumed everything i stepped on was solid...i wasn't be afraid of that patch of mud or how narrow that log was because i didn't know it was coming up. plus, we had lauren as our guinea pig. right before we went on the hike:
morgan - rule #1: don't get killed
me and lauren - ...but rules were made to be broken
the bonfire was pretty but i didn't really get the point of that activity. we had fun making up stories though.
the candlelight circle thing was pretty cool, but long. we were already running late, so we started it at 11 pm...and went til 1 am (actually, more like 1:10). apparently, it's the longest candlelight circle activity ever for mary ward. it was hard not to fall asleep, since i was dead tired and it was dark and it was late, but i managed to listen to everyone.
the mary ward skits came earlier in the evening and were hilarious, of course. my group combined with another group and we tried to imitate the teachers in the math department.
went to sleep at around 2 and (i actually feel stupid saying this) but no one told us to turn on the heat. seriously...how were we supposed to know that the heat wasn't on already? i was warm when i sent to sleep...and woke up at around 6:30 freezing cold. when i talked to other people, every teacher that checked in their room told them about the heat...but no one told us! the only good thing was i got up early (the other two, lauren and ashley, wanted to go back to sleep) and used the washroom before them.
food was good. i liked their potato salad.
even though i knew some people who switched to the first retreat, i'm glad i didn't. i generally liked the people on this retreat and i had an awesome time.
hehe, when i got home, my mom asked me whether or not i slept at all. apparently, everything in my bag was packed so nicely, it looked like i never took my sleeping bag or my pillowcase out of the bag. i suppose if you wake up early because you're freezing in bed, you end up with a lot of time to pack.
going to waterloo tomorrow for their open house...another long car ride.
i find that it's so easy to go back to the old routine...stressing over units, and all that. for those two days of the retreat, i got to relax and i totally forgot about units. i wish that feeling could last.
fun. very fun. awesomely fun. i mean, i enjoyed it...i don't know about others. just a little tiring, though.
building the inuksuks was fun, but my group (ashley, angela liu, josh, simon, and raymond) had really good stone pieces. while everyone else was struggling, we had a piece of cake. didn't really like the discussions that much, but i'm generally not a talkative person anyway.
and i loved the afternoon recreation activity. orienteering! (archery...pssshh) we got to explore the valley, walk through the forest (amazing scenery) and climb the hill. and it was steep! i remember as we were going down the hill on the steeper, harder path, i decided just to run down the last part of the slope. zara was near the end of the slope and was trying to tell me that the marker we were looking for was right behind me, but i couldn't stop running...ran right past her and left her talking to no one. hehe, that was funny. i never did see that marker.
possibly the best thing in the retreat: the nighttime hike. it was so quiet and peaceful. it was hard to find your step, since it was so dark, but i thought that was pretty cool. we climbed up that hill again (lots of exercise) but i noticed that i was more sure of myself when i couldn't see the ground. i know that sounds weird but it's like...when i could see, i knew exactly what was coming up and i was afraid of slipping or falling. when i couldn't see, i assumed everything i stepped on was solid...i wasn't be afraid of that patch of mud or how narrow that log was because i didn't know it was coming up. plus, we had lauren as our guinea pig. right before we went on the hike:
morgan - rule #1: don't get killed
me and lauren - ...but rules were made to be broken
the bonfire was pretty but i didn't really get the point of that activity. we had fun making up stories though.
the candlelight circle thing was pretty cool, but long. we were already running late, so we started it at 11 pm...and went til 1 am (actually, more like 1:10). apparently, it's the longest candlelight circle activity ever for mary ward. it was hard not to fall asleep, since i was dead tired and it was dark and it was late, but i managed to listen to everyone.
the mary ward skits came earlier in the evening and were hilarious, of course. my group combined with another group and we tried to imitate the teachers in the math department.
went to sleep at around 2 and (i actually feel stupid saying this) but no one told us to turn on the heat. seriously...how were we supposed to know that the heat wasn't on already? i was warm when i sent to sleep...and woke up at around 6:30 freezing cold. when i talked to other people, every teacher that checked in their room told them about the heat...but no one told us! the only good thing was i got up early (the other two, lauren and ashley, wanted to go back to sleep) and used the washroom before them.
food was good. i liked their potato salad.
even though i knew some people who switched to the first retreat, i'm glad i didn't. i generally liked the people on this retreat and i had an awesome time.
hehe, when i got home, my mom asked me whether or not i slept at all. apparently, everything in my bag was packed so nicely, it looked like i never took my sleeping bag or my pillowcase out of the bag. i suppose if you wake up early because you're freezing in bed, you end up with a lot of time to pack.
going to waterloo tomorrow for their open house...another long car ride.
i find that it's so easy to go back to the old routine...stressing over units, and all that. for those two days of the retreat, i got to relax and i totally forgot about units. i wish that feeling could last.