My Okkie Jooste experience

Life science 152 has been quite the journey with many ups and down this year, but i can honesty say that the highlight of my 2016 has defiantly been the Okkie Jooste camp.

When we were first introduced to the idea of the camp in the beginning of the year i would have never imagined that i would have enjoyed it that much. It was educational yet we all had the perfect amount  of free time. The first day was really stressful for me as i felt sort of alone at a point because suddenly i had to be roomed with girls that i had never socialized with ever in my entire varsity career. This feeling quickly dispersed as everybody was so welcoming thus it made me feel comfortable to be my weird self.

Once we were all settled in and unpacked we were given a welcoming to the beautiful camp ground and  nature reserve. this information sort of gave us an idea about what was to be expected of us during the four days on a life science camp. In order to make the camp a bit more interesting , our lecturer divided our class into 3 teams and lucky for me i had been placed in group one AKA the red team (which also happens to be my favorite color), with two of my close friends in class.

The first day was so relaxed as we got to enjoy the scenery and just bond as a class. Later in the day while everybody was playing soccer or sleeping in their dorms , i decided to lounge outside on the grass and embrace the beautiful view. I was astonished at all the different insects and plants around me, it almost felt unreal. it made me feel content and one with nature. I finally felt like a real environmental science student in the moment as i was attempting to use my knowledge to identify the class of the different species. That night our team had no duties and could just enjoy the food prepared by our opposing teams.

breakfast and supper duty was ours for the second day. if you would ask any of the other teams whether they really enjoyed their kitchen duties they would probably say not at all , but our team sort of made the best out of the situation and decided to have sing, dance and enjoy the moment of being together as a team. GO RED, GO RED!!!!!

There was a few activities that we done on the camp that i enjoyed so much for example hiking, mammal trapping, insect hunting, team building but the one exercise i was most intrigued by was the star gazing. I would have ever have thought that just looking in the sky at night would make me so speechless. i could not fathom all the information that was told to us as it never really occurred to me how important the stars really are in our lives. This lesson i will never ever forget.

all in all the Okkie Jooste camp of 2016 was a memorable experiences that i will cherish forever, especially since i took so many selfies during that time. Here's to knowledge , new friends and many more exciting

adventures ahead.

its been a good one folks , until next time. ;)

Xxxx