The Best Field Trip Ever.

Dear Readers,

Last Monday was the first day of school, and on Tuesday my entire grade got to go on a retreat for the next five days. It was SO fun! The bus was scheduled to leave at 6:30am so i had to get up at 4:50am in order to be ready on time to leave by 5:50am. So i got up, bright eyed and bushy tailed and excitedly got ready to go on my trip. Sri, not as bright eyed and bushy tailed, graciously came to our house two hours early just to take me to the school. So i said my goodbyes to my mom and dad and got in the car with my duffle bag and we were off. We got to the school around 6:15/6:20am, and he wished be an early happy birthday and then he left. I waited with some kids from school for everyone to get there and when everyone was there we all piled on the bus (all 27 of us, haha). I sat by two girls that i had kind of already become friends with from the first day of school, Veerle and Nikita. The bus took us to a different bus (a tour bus, so bigger and nicer) and we all put our duffle bags in the back and climbed on. Once we headed out i wasn't feeling as bright eyed and bushy tailed anymore, and dozed off a couple times on our way to our first destination. Here's a picture of Veerle and i on the bus:

When we got to our first destination, we were all pretty awake and excited for the week. The first place was about an hour south of Bangalore, and it was a fun little campsite in the middle of nowhere. We literally stayed in tents, which was a bit of a surprise to me because i had been told we were going to be staying in a resort. And my conceptions of a resort was a little different...but then i was told that

the next place we would be staying was going to be a resort. Nonetheless i was really excited because it was beautiful and the tents were really nice and Veerle, Nikita, this girl named Alex and i were all going to be staying in the tent together. Here's a picture of the tent:

After we got everything settled in our tent we went out and played some get-to-know-you games. We did an obstacle course in teams (we did EVERYTHING in teams, but i guess that's because it was kind of a team-bonding kind of trip. Haha) and then after a few more team-bonding games we went in the woods to do some mountaineering things like zip-lining (which was super fun) and rope walking (t

hat's not the official name but that's pretty much what it was. You shuffle along on a rope, holding onto a rope above your head and the rope that you're holding gets lower until you have to switch to a different rope...it was fun :) ). We then went back and had dinner and sat around the campfire. The next day we got up early and went on a trek. I was picked with a few other people as a leader. Almost the entire group was blindfolded and the leaders got cloths put on their mouths so we couldn's speak. We each got a smaller group to lead through the woods, i couldn't talk and my group couldn't see so helping them over a creek and over some slippery rocks proved to be pretty difficult. But it was a lot of fun! At the end, we got to take off our cloths/blindfolds and go back the same way. In my group was some of my new friends, Alex, Veerle, Roshan, and Davin. After the trek we went to get some breakfast and played a few more team-work games like Key-Punch (step on all the numbers in the right order), and Australian Skiing (5 people on two peices of wood with strings). After that we just kind of hung out until lunch and then after lunch we got to go down to the lake to make rafts. We got into two teams (again), and poor Roshan was a team leader and he picked the team he wanted (me and a bunch of our other friends were on his team) and then our tour guide made the leaders switch so he didn't get to be on our team. We designed rafts and then our tour guide re-designed it for us and showed us how to build it. Here's a video of our team and the raft:

We got our life jackets on and got in the water with our raft and raced the other team, and we won! After we got back to shore, we all jumped in the lake. Here's a few pictures:

 Ready to Raft !

 Our rafting team! :)

Veerle, Nikita, and I in the lake!

After swimming around for awhile, we got out and went and showered before dinner. We played some games before dinner,  had dinner, sat around the campfire, and then went to bed. The next morning we got up early and packed up and got on the bus to head to Nagarhole where we would be staying at King's Sactuary. We stopped at McDonalds along the way and Veerle, Nikita and i popped into a little In n Out (a little gas station) to grab some snacks for along the way and we bought matching bracelets:

When we finally got to King's Sactuary after 4 hours, we happily settled into our rooms (i stayed with the same three other girls). We had lunch and then we went down under the eating area to a little basement and we learned about the IB program, like the IB learner profiles and the Extended Essay and CAS. It was really long and kind of intimidating and made me a little worried for school, but Veerle looked just as worried so i wasn't alone. We then went and ate dinner and had a campfire show where these people in animal suits came out and danced around. The first one was a lion, and he went around scaring people. Apparently it worked because my friend Davin hid behind me the whole time. Haha! The next animal was a gorilla and he went around dancing with people and it was really funny to watch some of the guys shy away from him. It was even more funny to watch them dance with him.  After the campfire was over we went back to our rooms to go to bed. The next morning i woke and remembered that it was my birthday! My sweet 16. What more fun of way to spend that than on a retreat in India?! Besides the fact that i had to get up SUPER early to go on a safari, i was really excited for the day. On our safari we saw some deer (which i've seen plenty of in my backyard in Maple Grove), a couple peacocks, some water buffalo, a couple monkeys, an elephant, and some birds. It was pretty fun. Here's a picture of a sign we saw on the safari:

 When we got back we went in the basement again and learned about TOK and some more about the IB program, which was kind of boring, but then we had lunch. After lunch i got to go paintballing for the first time which was SO fun. I even shot some people! We had some free time here and there and then dinner. After dinner, a bunch of people played Carums in the basement, which was super fun. It's like pool but with your fingers. You can google it :) By now we had all gotten really close. We had so much fun together, and it was awesome getting to know everyone and becoming really good friends. After Carums we had to go to bed, and i finished off my sweet 16th birthday with a present from my amazing mom. It was this cute little book about daughters. It was the perfect present. The next day was our departure day. We got on the bus and i sat by Roshan, in front of Davin and Rahul, and Veerle and Nikita sat closer to the front but came by us a little later. The bus ride was really fun! We listened to music, talked, played the shuffle game, listened to Davin beatbox, and joked about the past week. I even got tricked a couple times by the clever Roshan...and i also put on Davin's shoe over mine to prove how small my feet are. Here's a picture:

We stopped at the same McDonalds on the way back for some lunch, and when we finally got back to Bangalore we all realized that our amazing week was quickly coming to an end. The trip was so fun! Without it i'm almost positive that things would still be in that awkward 'i don't know you' phase. I made so many new friends AND turned 16! What could be better? It was absolutely amazing and i'm sad it's over, but we still have all those fun memories and can make plenty more over the next two years.

With all my heart, Kayla