It was seven in
the morning and the Class of 2015 was ready to go. Clumps of people who
gathered in the school breezeway and in the halls by the gym finally grouped
together in the gym at a quarter past seven. With eye bags under their eyes,
the sophomores lugged their baggage to
their respective buses and took their seat for role call. Six teachers and the
school nurse accompanied the sophomores. The bus trip lasted for an approximate
two and half hours. For the first half an hour, the students were silent with
sleepiness overcoming them. With an hour and a half to go, the sophomores decided
to make the best out of their trip and started singing songs together.
They arrived at
their destination, Gua Tempurung at about 10am. Gua Tempurung, which literally means Coconut Shell Cave, was
where the sophomores went caving. The cave walls were simple, yet beautiful
with structures of rock that could depict images of numerous random things if
the sophomores, teachers and other cavers used their imagination correctly.
They climbed up approximately 650 steps before starting their journey back out
of the cave and reentering daylight. Lunch was served before they started to
venture off into the jungle.
The trek was long, tiring and
muddy but it was all worth it when the sophomores ended it by crossing a river
with a strong current with the support of one rope. Whilst on the trek, the
sophomores encountered many obstacles like slippery and muddy slopes, steep
climbs up unstable rocks, ants, leeches, and pokey leaves. They reached the
peak of a mountain about one hour into the trek and started to walk down the
muddy slopes for another hour before reaching the river. The sophomores
trudged, tumbled and tripped as they crossed the river. Both guides and
teachers caught themselves laughing at the clumsy students making their way
across the river. That particular river happened to be the same one that they
were going to go white water rafting on the next day.
White water rafting was an unforgettable experience for every
single one of the sophomores. The head guide gave a safety briefing and that
managed to get most of the sophomores biting their lips and worried with fear
of drifting off into the unknown after falling out of their boat. However, all
the fears were washed away as they laughed and worked their arms along the
river. There are six grades of rapids in the world and the teachers and
sophomores made it through grades I, II, and III rapids. People falling off
their boats, water being splashed into faces and whoops of great excitement.
Those fifteen words sum up the entire white water rafting experience. They were
able to swim in the river for about twenty minutes and then feast on a
delicious barbecue before commencing their abseiling.
They were given an extensive safety lecture and assurance that
the equipment in use was of the best quality. Although most of the students
still had fear instilled in them because of the height and slipperiness of the
waterfall, they still mastered the activity and repelled down the waterfall
without a sweat. Although there was some slips here and there, the sophomores enjoyed
it and some even went for second turns as others waited and watched them at the
bottom of the waterfall. Teachers including Mr. Fletcher also engaged
themselves in this activity and said that it was “great fun”.
The second day ended with activities that were planned for the
sophomores in the hotel's banquet hall. They started off with a few relay races
between chaperone groups and a dancing game. This pumped up the sophomores and
got them ready for the next activity: a mini So You Think You Can Dance
competition. This was probably the highlight of the night for the sophomores
and the teachers. They had to go through "auditions", led by Jonathan, and then semi-finalists were selected by the female chaperones of the
trip: Ms. Wong, Ms. Inga and Ms. Speaker. Semi-finalists were
required to pair up and come up with a 15-second dance. The finalists were then
selected by the same teachers and also had to come up with another dance. This
was another challenge because the expectations were raised and the audience
expected funnier and more creative dances from the finalists. The winners were
decided after a dance-off between Aiman, Alice, Danial and Magnus. The audience and teachers could not decide on a winner so
all four students gained the title as champions.
Mr. Schmidt said that the sophomores are a bunch of “great
and fun kids” and that it was a pleasure to spend the three days with them. He thoroughly
enjoyed the So You Think You Can Dance competitions and that it was and
entertaining activity. Most importantly, he was “surprised and shocked” at how
the sophomores “responded to the leeches during the trek”.
Ashley , a new student who spent her birthday on the first
day of MST, rated the entire trip as an 8/10 and “enjoyed the trip as a whole”.
The Malaysian Studies Trips are definitely one of the best ways to bring a
grade together and this year's sophomore trip did just that.
ok.
Overall, this trip was the best! It really brought our grade together. The damn trek though. I couldn't stand it. Yeah, some parts were fun and I couldn't stop laughing but the others just made me want to shoot myself omg. The fear of leeches and an ant the size of a ping pong ball (I'm not kidding I swear to Buddha it was flabbergasting). Not fun. One of the guides was an asshole though. Seriously.
The trip really brought our grade so much closer and I couldn't have asked for a better grade to be a part of. Fiona, Gown, Ashley, Alice, Danielle, Mona, Alyssa, Emily, Sofea, Shaun, Josh, Jon, Hyun Soo, Aiman, Simba, Fredrik, Arief, Colin ahh and so many other people. Love them all so much and I couldn't have had this much fun without them. They're honestly the best bunch of people.
I roomed with Fiona and Ashley and it was fuuuuunnnnn as. Ahh so fun I would do it all over again. The bus ride, the rafting, the abseiling, the caving, everything. But the trekking. Damn you bugs.