NCS experience was one of the best experiences I had in my life, I learned so many things in a group and I also meet so many nice and talented people. In 2019 I had the opportunity to do something different this summer on October half term of 2018 at my college they talked about this program for youth, I was very curious and excited about it, so I got into the summer program and I can tell you it was the best decision of my life. The fee you have to pay was not expensive at all just £30 for 2 months of NCS experience, I started this experience on July 25th and we possibly finished on August 17th. There are different places around the UK that different groups named "waves" go to, we went to Bristol, and yes we didn't have too much service and internet but you could still communicate with the outside, you just needed to have some time to do so. The program is very secure, obviously, we had to follow some rules related to the place we were in and if you do so all experience will be lovely.
1st week: Knowing each other
The first week was basically to know each other, to challenge ourselves and to create a friendship connection between the groups and the individuals. Don't let someone tell you differently if you like to challenge yourself this will be the best week of your life, depending on the program you can do hiking, climbing, challenges or caving (or more things). Was an amazing opportunity because was the first time I was doing those kinds of activities it also develops new skills. The activities pushed as to discover ourselves, to try something new and to overcome our fears. That first week is very important for the rest of the program. It lasts 4 days and is always outside of the city. I went to Bristol.
2nd week: Work as a group
This week we spend one week at a local university. With the goal to make us feel more independent, we have our own rooms with a bathroom and a shared kitchen to make food for them all group. For me, this was the most challenging phase because we had to work as a group for the activities and to make the apartment tidy. The second teamwork didn't go so well, because everyone is expected to at least help cook or tidy up the kitchen and depending on the background of each individual the reactions to that type of help is different. But it went well because this phase was all about building the team and learn skills for the next phase and for us as individuals.
3rd week: Partnership with charities and planning
For some, this is a fun phase for others is a nightmare. But it's not bad news at all because at this phase you work mostly with one team, which means we sleep at home and come to the meeting point (for me was Uxbridge College), it was very fun because we get to do actual work and planning something beneficial for us and for the charity we were helping. The charity that we partner with was A Rocha a non-governmental organization that helps the environment, we visited them, and planned ways to raise money and awareness to help them.
4th and last week: The actual action:
This week is to put everything we planned as a team in practice, my group and I decided on the sponsorship day do a car wash (it was very fun and chill but was difficult at the beginning), for the awareness day we hang out leaflets on Uxbridge High Street and for the final thing was to do volunteering.
This was the resume of everything that happened, of course, there is a lot of things that happen that I didn't even mention but the main thing is to be open to everything and to everyone while doing this experience and try to meet everyone. It is much enjoyable when you know everyone and you can talk normally with all of them, I tried to talk with everyone but, of course, it also depends on the other person, but in general, I'm friends with almost all of them, I spoke with everyone and I made some good friends there but most importantly I had the opportunity to develop lots of things on me.
Pieces of information:
How to apply?https://wearencs.com/summer
Age: 15-17
Instagram: @NCSYES, Snapchat: NCSYES, YouTube: NCSYES, Twitter: @NCS
How to help A Rocha? https://arocha.org.uk/
I would post more pictures and videos but I don't have permission from those on it yet, so I rather use just the ones which are posted on social media. Thanks for reading comment your stories on the comments section below and follow me on Instagram @pooh.limandrade, I am very friendly and let's share ideas. Please share with your friends that will help me a lot. Kisses the next post will be in 2 weeks time.
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