My NCS experience is something I've really been wanting to talk about for a while, I wanted to ensure I give as much detail as I possibly can about the programme. It's honestly been one of the best things I've done this summer. So let's start from the beginning. Just before exams started in about May time, those who work with the NCS programme came in to talk about the experience we could be taking part in this summer. Straight away I thought, what an amazing opportunity. They showed us a brief video about NCS, what you get up to and what it has to offer. I was immediately interested as soon as I saw the video. I thought it was not only good for my CV, but a fantastic way to meet new people and make new friends. In all honestly, I'm happy I went with a different NCS programme mainly because you were with people you've never met in your life. Whereas if I went with the 'Northumberland' programme I would of known basically everyone, so I wouldn't of had the opportunity to meet so many new, great people that I will hopefully stay really close mates with. So as soon as we got there we raced to get rooms, I needed to make sure I was with my mates. I didn't bring a suitcase, I brought a hold all. Although it actually had a handle and wheels so I could use it as if it was a suitcase. The rooms were actually really nice and perfect for a week away, even though I was shattered by the time I got home. The place we stayed at was called Kingswood. We made tons of memories in just one week and I wouldn't change it for the world. So after we got to our rooms we gathered as a group and got to know one and other, I must say our group was by far the best group ever. I was in 'Cohort 2' and genuinely miss everyone I met there. At NCS you meet so many new people, it's the best thing about it, bonding with people you'd never imagine speaking to or meeting. Half way through the week, me and my mates had met some really great people who we are all still close to now. It's amazing how quickly you can bond with people because of an experience like NCS. The main reason you get so close to people so quick is kind of because you have to. You're spending hours on end with them, creating trust and having to use team building skills and soft skills to complete activities. My absolute favourite activities had to be Canoeing and the high ropes, I think that's what they were called anyways. Canoeing was a load of fun, I spent most my time worrying that I was going to fall in a freezing cold river and not be able to breath. Although I'm a strong swimmer, I hate rivers and sea (mainly because I've got a strong phobia of Sharks) but anyways, I really just didn't want to be soaking wet and cold. I was with my two friends as we were in the same Cohort, but we had joined with Cohort 1 for this activity. You had to learn how to move forwards, backwards and turning around in a canoe. They ended up making us stand up and go to the end of the lake and back, it was kind of a trust building skill and also meant a lot of good communication. After that we played funny games, such as 'fruit salad' where you were allocated a fruit and you had to move into a different canoe when your fruit was called out. We also played a different game where you had to put your body parts into the water, I barely did anything. (I'm a bit of a wimp) The activity consisted of splashing people and getting worried another group was going to tip you over somehow. The other activity I spoke about was the high ropes. Basically it's the kind of activity I love doing best, so that's why I loved it so much. There was one single pole which you had to climb up, so it was basically rock climbing (obviously we were harnessed) I flew up and even one of the instructors shouted, 'Wow, you're fast!' What can I say? I'm a bit of a pro. As soon as you got to the top you had to kind of get on top of this very small platform that had to fit on four people. One of my friends were already up there so I got a hand up, then two people we met there (who we are pretty close to now) came up after. We had to hold onto each other and lean back. Clearly I was one of the lightest because as all the other three lent backwards I went forwards as they were all pulling on me, no fun. You got down by just climbing down the pole, well not really climbing. They just loosened your harness. It was a lot of fun. Other activities consisted of zip wire, night line which is different and includes A LOT of communication and team building skills. There was also small activities such as investigations and making things that you had to throw off the building to see if it breaks or not. I loved every second of the first week. Every night curfew was 10:30pm. But each night we had people to chill with, sometimes we were in the games room, other times we were going on a walk. I'd say night times were always the best. One night there was a campfire, which was really nice and cute. That's the night a lot of people bonded and you got talking to people. It was a right laugh (except from the 15 minute pour down which my hair definitely did not agree with) everyone would tell not so scary stories which were just really funny and there was some singing and dancing by the members at Kingswood. It was a really good night, but would of been better with some marshmallows. I thoroughly enjoyed the first week and actually couldn't wait for the second week of NCS. The only annoying part of NCS was the fire alarm. It went off at 10:30-11pm one night, which was fine because everyone was just heading to bed and hadn't been asleep for hours on end. But after this particular fire alarm went off, the NCS leaders came around and told us they had heard someone was going to set off the fire alarm at 2:30am for a laugh because they didn't get pizza. I mean really? I know everyone loves pizza and is probably craving pizza, but let's not be selfish. Anyways, guess what? That alarm did go off at 2:30am even with the threat of being kicked off the programme, they were quick to find out who it was too. I walked to where we had to stand when it went off and I was shaking. I'm not a fan of being woke up in the early hours of the morning, I wasn't talking to anyone. I'd never got up so fast in my life and thrown on a pair of leggings so quick. I stood there in our Cohort 2 line dying to get back to bed. Half an hour later we were allowed to go back to the dorms, boy was I happy. That was the only downside of NCS, maybe quite funny when looking back on it, but at that time it was just plain annoying. I must say, the second week was a bit of a whirl wind with some very mixed emotions. (absolutely nothing to do with NCS) all in all, it was another great week. Everyday we went to a local university, here we would talk about what volunteer work we would be doing as that was something else we would have to do as part of the programme. My team planned A LOT. With plenty of discussion and imagination we came up with three different things including a possible extra, which wasn't too fun but something good for the environment. Our list consisted of; Litter picking, a gig (which was super good) a sponsored walk and a church fair. We had a lot of planning to do, we came up with a PowerPoint discussing our ideas (we needed to sell ourselves as we needed £50 to host all the events, a small budget but still doable) For the gig I made a poster. Everyone liked the poster which I was proud about, I didn't get an A* in media for nothing. We had quite a few bands playing, we got the venue for free which was a major bonus and we went to Poundland for sweets and drinks. Anyways, that was the last event so we don't need to go into detail on that yet. The first event was our Sponsored Walk. The Sponsored Walk was to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support, we walked from Tynemouth to Blyth. It was a LONG day to say the least, but definitely worth it. It was a good job the weather was nice. We did the walk with 'Cohort 4' where I again spoke to some new people. For the walk I was chatting to Jasmine, Matty, Joe and Ike. It was an enjoyable day with a lot of laughs. Although my hay fever started to go mad, but it was ok in the end because I got ice cream, so who cares right?! Two guys were being pretty immature in our group splashing water on each other and in the end it got so extreme that one of the lads ended up pouring water over the other (who was shivering for a very long time, not to mention we were right next to a beach so it started getting breezy) in the end the guy felt so bad he let, Joe (the lad he poured water over) soak him too. It was hilarious. Both of them were standing there shivering. My friend was with me and she said 'God I'm a bit cold' they both laughed and said 'How do you think we feel?!' It really was a fantastic day and I spent it with the best people, my group, Cohort 2. The next event was the 'Church Fair' it was something different to our other events, but definitely filled the day. When me and my best friend arrived (we were about an hour late and literally had to run for the bus) everything was set up. It was the perfect colour scheme for the charity we were raising money for; green and white. It was all arranged well, bands were practicing on their guitars and others were unwrapping the cakes they had made. At first we sat with some of those playing the guitars, mainly for the gig straight after. But it didn't take me long to go and buy a cake from the cake stall. It was a cute pig cake and was absolutely unreal, it had a thick marzipan layer and then underneath just normal cake and jam. I loved it. The day was 10x better because it was sunny so I could stick on my shades and be happy. Me and some of the others, including Mel (the girl I was running late with) headed over to the local university as we needed to pick up a few things, including money to buy food for the gig later on that day. I ended up changing out of a sweatshirt, jumper and into a vest top that my friends owns. It was boiling. I was also wearing jeans, so I was sweating! After the university we headed to Poundland and invested in some sweets, crisps and drink. We also got some glow in the dark paint to put on everyone's faces if they wanted it. After that we came back and got the job of handing out flyers for the gig and getting people to come into the Church fair. We were successful, sort of. We raised a lot of money that day and of course it was especially nice as we had boiling hot weather, that kept us happy. The Church fair was a major success, we had guitars playing in front of the Church, most the cakes disappeared by the end and all the games we brought with us were successful. The final event we did was for a charity called 'Young Minds' I was happy we had chosen this charity. The main reason behind it was because it wasn't as big and popular as other charities we had used such as 'MacMillan' so it was something different. I know that in this society and generation a lot of people suffer with mental health and depression, I feel the awareness of it all needs to be raised. People suffer daily with things such as depression, anorexia and bulimia and it's something that's really close to my heart. I can't begin to imagine the suffering people go through, it's like a war with yourself. It's you who's suffering and you who has to build your strength and confidence to overcome the mental health you may have. It's inspiring, brave and really does affect me and upset me. It's something that should be known. So the gig was hosted for free at a local venue in town, it was a major success. We set up at around about four o'clock with everything we needed for the bands and musicians to sing and perform e.g. Mic's and amps. Me and Mel went and applied a bit more makeup then dotted on our face the luminous paint. As soon as we stepped back into the venue, everyone was asking for it to be done. Mel was amazing at putting it on, I was not. I've got shaky hands, it's a bit of a problem when I'm trying to be accurate with paint. We then set up the food and drink and people started coming to the gig, it was a £2 entry. After this, the bands started playing. Every single one of them were amazing and most got the crowds dancing and singing along, it genuinely was a good laugh. I sat and socialised, got up and danced and made an attempt to apply paint on people's face (which failed) there was a lot of talented bands, with great potential. It wasn't a bad gig at all for our budget and being new with hosting events. In the end we got around £120 for the charity Young Minds which I was extremely pleased and happy about. The gig ended at 10 and I was so exhausted, it was an eventful day to say the least. Again, that night I socialised with a lot of people and came became a lot closer to new friends. Something else I also loved about NCS is that I became a lot closer to the friends I was already close with. In particular, Mel. We've always been good friends since year 10 and have been through a lot together, more than your average friend (put it that way) there's been a lot of fall outs and arguments and we became a bit distance for a couple of months, but NCS really has brought us together again. We had a laugh, we gossiped and did what best friends do. I'm happy we've gotten so close again because she's one of those friends you want to keep in your life forever. She understands, she never judges and is an all round amazing person. We thoroughly enjoyed the programme and I like how well we've bonded again, just like old times but even better than that. NCS has been one of the best things I've done for myself, I was and feel that I am so much more confident in myself and socialising now. It's got me out doing something everyday for three weeks, bonding with new people and having a good laugh. Not only that I've now completed volunteer work and done a good deed this summer. I've learnt a lot of skills including social skills, team building skills, I've built a lot of trust and definitely communication skills. It made me so much more independent knowing I had to host events and make sure a good amount of money was made for both charities. The activities really built my confidence and gave me so many more skills, like I said earlier. It's allowed me to trust in a lot of new people I never thought I'd meet or socialise with. If you are between the ages 16-17, you too can take part in the NCS programme. If you're on the shy side, it will help you to become a lot more confident and socialise with new people you never thought you'd be able to talk to. If you're simply looking for a way to enjoy your summer, again, NCS is perfect for you. It keeps you busy for a good three weeks with amazing, fun activities. You get on well with everyone, even if you thought you wouldn't speak to anyone there. You're busy all day everyday, you get very tired but it's well worth it. It can build so many soft skills and looks extremely good on your CV because NCS not only builds skills; but it also allows you to take part in a lot of volunteer work. Believe me, I was worried I'd hate it but it's the best thing I've done this summer (I even went to Florida and that's pretty insane!) so it says a lot about NCS and what it has to offer. For just £50 there is a lot you can do and it's genuinely like a long holiday away. It gave me a break from reality and I was so happy and entertained for three weeks of my very long holiday (11 weeks to be precise) So go check out their website, looks at some of their videos on YouTube. Read the reviews too, I'm sure they are all positive. It's such a good programme for teenagers, especially people of my age looking for something fun to do. I know for me, it took all the stress I had for two months from exams away. Push yourself to do it, even if it's out of your comfort zone. You won't be disappointed. Keep in touch, as I will be posting a blog about my graduation from NCS, what I am wearing, my makeup, photos and more. My next blog post is a makeup tutorial on a night out look. Thank you for reading xoxo Say yes to NCS!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |