Selections!!

After sitting staring at a blank screen for 15 minutes unable to think of what to write, I figured I'd best just write something. So I did!

So, got back from a selection course with Project Trust last week, and it was amazing. For those of you who don't know, Project Trust is an educational charity (No. SCO25668), that sends 17 - 19 year olds overseas to work on voluntary placements for their gap year. They're based in the Isle Of Coll, and that's where the selection course was. The course was from Tuesday 27th - Saturday 31st, and the ferry to Coll left Oban at 6.45am on the Tuesday so I spent Monday night at Oban Backpackers. There were loads of other volunteers there, and it was great to meet them all before the course began, and took the opportunity to play many games of Japanese Snap and Twister!


The ferry was awesome, didn't get sea sick so was happy about that. We arrived in Coll at about 10am, and went straight to the Projeect Trust centre. Over the course of the day we were told about the countries that they send people to, and played a building game in our groups involving straws, pins and a huge (larger, and heavier, than you'd think) dictionary. We also had 30 minutes of dance practice for the end-of-week ceilidh - interesting how when you're one of only two Scottish volunteers in the whole selection course, everyone expects you to know the danced. Interesting also how little I know about ceilidh-dancing... At the end of the day we were taken to our hosts house, where we'd be staying for the week. I'll say now a HUGE thank you to Maria-Luce and Yan for your hospitality throughout the week, and to Chess for being an awesome roomie!

Wednesday was much more physical, climbing Ben Hough and then digging lazy beds (and sprinkling them with dreams!), but I realised I'm stronger that I thought. Also got a talk on how to give a lesson, and then got the opportunity to give a lesson to the rest of our group on a topic of our choice. I chose HIV/AIDS, and it went okay. Could have gone better, but I was quite happy with it.

Thursday was an inside day, and we got a lot of talks about fundraising and finance, and we also played a trading game which was a lot of fun. Cutting out shapes and selling them for money against other groups who are trying to buy your equipment really brings out the evil child in you...

Friday was again a physical day, as everyone was split up and went around the villiage to do tasks. I was helping move rocks from a ruin so it could be rebuilt. I should mention that by this point I was starting to feel a bit rubbish - managed to get flu while I was on Coll and it started to get bad on the Friday, but a huge thanks to everyone at PT for being so nice! After the rock lifting we had to give a 10 minute presentation on the Isle of Coll, and I was really happy with how mine went. Everyone in my group gave really good presentations actually, and I really enjoyed them. The rest of the day was filled up with finding out more about the countries and filling out our final placement application, before going back to our hosts.
That evening was the ceilidh, and as I drugged myself up on paracetamol before going. Managed to do most of the dances, but admitedly got a bit lost in some of them...

I felt awful when I got up on Saturday, so the day began with me being taken to see the nurse on the island and was given some antibiotics and stronger paracetamol before going down to the ferry terminal. The trip back was a lot of fun as the medication kicked in, and a group of us went to sit by the sea and then went to a pub while we were in Oban. The train back was interesting - turns out it's hard to ceilidh-dance in a very narrow moving vehicle. Possible though! Got back to my sister's at around 11'ish.

The course was so much fun, and I met so many awesome people!!