The Malaysia training weekend was designed to give us a taste of our forthcoming expedition to Malaysia in July.
Unlike a typical school trip, we were responsible for organising many aspects ourselves. From the start, we had to plan and budget our own transport to the campsite (which involved taking multiple buses!) and arrange food for everyone for the whole weekend. Different members of our team also had a chance to take on roles as group leaders and deputy group leaders, helping us to improve our leadership and team-working skills. This prepared us for the independence that we will be given on the trip, as we will need to organise most things ourselves, take the lead at times and assign everyone different roles.
On Saturday evening, we set up our tents, did some team bonding activities and planned our route for the following day, as well as looking at the itinerary for the actual trip and planning some logistics. We started to consider the details around what clothing to wear, what to pack, how to remain hygienic and even how to chlorinate water to make it drinkable. This made the trip start to feel a lot more real and definitely brought our group closer together. A highlight was the campfire, when we got to make hot chocolate and roast marshmallows.
On Sunday, we did our 15km hike, navigating the route ourselves and carrying our bags. This was the most challenging but rewarding part of the weekend, forcing us to work together as a team and giving us a (rough) taster of what our jungle trek might be like in Malaysia. The most difficult part of the hike was when we had to carry Dr Exon on a stretcher whilst it was pouring down with rain!
