Catasgeophy'14


For the past few days or weeks (sorry I've really lost track of time as I was really occupied for the past few days) despite having a very tight and hectic schedule,with camp commitments,birthday celebrations,catching up and managing social media,meeting with old friends,attending NDP,recontracting of phone and home broadband plans,getting a new phone and transferring everything to the new phone,catching up with current affairs,esp MH 17,it really makes me rethink and urge me to really step out of my comfort zone and go all out in uni,which probably is going to be the last stage of my education,I've not been living up to expectations for the past almost 20 years of my life,so now,I really hope I will make the best out of the next 4 years of my life in NUS,and make everyone proud of my achievements when I don the graduation gown a few years down the road:)

In the midst of getting familiar with how NUS's CORS bidding system works,planning out the 5 modules that I am going to take in Sem 1,attending talks,inauguration ceremonies,catching up with friends especially the NS boys before uni starts and all the study madness continues,I still feel the need to update this space,not so much for others to know what I'm occupied with but rather to let me recall and evaluate whether the last few weeks of my precious hard-earned holidays were spent fruitfully,which I believe,I did:)

For those of you with Instagram,Facebook,Twitter etc,and have friends who are entering uni in AY2014-2015,I'm sure you've came across at least a photo of your friend who attended uni camps and with beautiful captions about how they enjoyed the camp and new friendships forged even before uni officially starts.Yes,I'm no different from them,and I am proud to post pictures I could get my hands on after the camps I've attended ends.I believe I've mentioned that I'm not the outgoing type of camp-enthusiast person,if not for my parent's persuasions and my own worries for not being able to get a close friend such that the next 4 years in uni will be super miserable,I wouldn't have gone this far.After attending geog camp which was a 4D3N camp,I finally realised how fun and beneficial camps can be,after a somewhat horrible experience in Arts Camp and camps I've attended in Secondary School.Arts camp in my opinion,would be more suitable for people who're more active,physically stronger,preferably people who have the habit of staying till late and have supper so geog camp would naturally have my vote.

The morning before geog camp commenced saw me with a heavy heart,dragging the equally heavy bags from Pasir Ris all the way to Kent Ridge then to AS7,after Arts Camp,I was really feeling stressful about camps and developed phobia towards camps,but since I paid $50 and all the work done to register myself into geog camp,I decided to man up and just endure the next 3 days since I had to leave on day 3 for my NDP show:)BUT.......I was wrong,what greeted me when I first stepped into AS 7 15 minutes before the reporting time were the strong but welcoming blast of air-con,cheers and laughters of pretty and handsome seniors,friendly OG mates and rows of goodie bags.The sight was just so welcoming that instantly,I believe I've finally made a correct choice in joining a camp that really suits me.So I signed in and collected my goodie bag,I was assigned to red house,and our OG was named Redioactive.All the houses were named after catastrophes haha because our theme for this year was Catasgeophy/14 so Red was Redioactive,Green was Tree Huggers,Blue was tBluenami and Yellow was Wildfire,interesting names aren't they?:D

Since the participant size for geog camp was significantly smaller than Arts camp by at least 2 times,every house could sit together in AS7,giving us a homely and heartening feel.We sat in a circle with our OG groups and we started introducing ourselves,like those cliche way of introducing each other,after which we continued some simple ice-breaking games,my definition for simple is that the games were fun,but yet not stressful,Arts Camp's one was really giving us freshies a hard time but the seniors don't seem to realise that.So after several rounds of simple games,when everyone reported to camp,they started briefing us on what to expect but did not really go into the details so that there's an element of surprise,then we proceeded with more fun and the professors were all so nice greeting and welcoming us to the Geog Family.The management team of geog camp was superb and they even planned out our room mates and room we will be staying in for the 4 days,I really appreciate that.After allocating the rooms and room IC,and yes,I was the room IC for my room!We got our transponders and moved to Eusoff Hall to leave our belongings and proceed for lunch and activities!Everything proceeded very smoothly and the food they provided was gosh SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!Those of us Arts camp kids were comparing the food in geog camp and arts camp haha....no comments here;P Redioactive was a very bonded,chill,friendly OG that I've always wanted to be in,it was like finally,my prayers were answered after being in very competitive OGs with less friendly OGLs and most of the time,snobbish OGMs in most of the camps I've attended:(( Personally,I believe that camps should be meant for bonding everyone,the OGLs and OGMs,not in terms of groupings only but all the participants and competition though unavoidable in camps,shouldn't go to the extreme where participants hurt one another and create hostility among everyone,and with that,geog camp really succeeded in that.Redioactive though a chill and friendly group remains competitive in games,doing our best at every stations,helping each other to get through challenges and also giving some of our winnings to losing groups for which I really learnt a lot particularly,the joy of care and share.Not forgetting,tBLUEnami also showered us with care during war games and splitted their winnings with us,I'm so touched at how people in geog camp were so kind.

The seniors were a million times better than those in Arts camp,they did not gave us freshies a dominating aura like forcing us to do things even though we were trying hard,kept emphasising the need to win,looking down on us and only tell us to enjoy and have fun during games after inserting bad remarks like "Anyway we're going to lose,so just chill" lol.Many said geog majors are one of the nicest people around in FASS and I really have to agree to that because from what I see and experienced during both camps,really it's pretty obvious that seniors from other majors were so rough and insensitive whereas Social Work and geog seniors were so appreciative of our efforts and gave us so many encouragements instead of putting us down straight.

Ok,I'm really getting tired from comparing but yeah,let's just enjoy some pretty pictures my awesome geog seniors took during the camp,I hope you will be able to feel the sense of happiness and warmth through the pictures,I swear geog camp was the best camp I've ever attended thus far. All photo credit goes to all the wonderful photographers for geog camp,and I'm really thankful for the pretty pictures.Now let me gather my thoughts SLOWLY,it's been almost a week since the break of camp...

Love this picture with Hui Ying,fate brought us together not once but TWICE!We were at the same interview table for the MOE teaching internship last year:) And we were from rival JCs haha!

We went to this station that required two people to act and the rest to form a choir and sing for the act and my OG chose to sing Do you want to build a snowman from Frozen. Bromance in the air..

Us singing for them,I look quite decent in a choir leh:P

Rediocative discussing our strategies for the challenge seriously.

We played this Raise Your Flag game in the evening,initially it sounded quite impossible to win but after some smarties in the OG came up with a plan,we won without any sweat haha.Probably the most slacking game in any camp,got to lie down throughout the game^^

This is Shawn who was from the same OG,S1 in Arts camp:)

Everyone listening intently to the command.

Another game we played in the evening:)I'm so out of line...>.<

A group picture after playing a geog-related game!

This was one of the best game we played,I love this war game,and Arts Camp should really learn from geog camp where we used candles to burn other people's bases(made from strings) and the last house standing would be the winner,sounds easy but IT IS NOT,trust me.I managed to burn down one string from Blue house using my innocent maybe not so innocent look haha.

Want to mess with us?

Sadly,it started raining during the last half of the game and we had to proceed into School of Computing for shelter and it means time for group photo!

A group shot on the SBS bus,Haizer our awkward OGL risked his life and camera to take this shot and I look like a hippo in this picture:( I'm the one with blue bag on the left.

Just one of the many poster shots we took that allowed us to win the game haha;)

Group shot to fulfil one of the challenge requirements:)

Another challenge completed!

A group shot after completing a few challenges!

Dancing the Visa ad at the rooftop of Vivo ahahaha.

Group shot outside a shop lol.

One of the 10 pics we took for our food trail challenge^^POTONG ICE CREAM!

Want a free massage outside Fragrance Hotel?:/

Most embarrassing part of the competition,had to brush our teeth with a towel on our head along drains at Seah Im coffee shop but it was worth it.

Group shot of the entire geog camp after a ball game competition.So pretty!

Our shag faces after winning the game!I got hit by a flying bamboo stick lol,but it was alright!

WOOHOO REDIOACTIVE WON!

I really have no talent at taking consecutive shots,my expressions remained the same throughout.

We played Fright Night which was called Cat Night on day 2 and I chickened out as usual,have a phobia of ghosts and clowns T.T

OG shot after Cat Night!

Was so glad that I joined camp after NDP the next day though it was really rush for me but a good closure to geog camp 2014!

 Thanks to everyone in geog camp,to OGLs and OGMs,without you guys,my experience in geog camp would never be the same and I may never have the chance to enjoy camp in my life since I doubt I would have any chance joining camps after school commences,thank you OGLs for taking care of us and bonding us together,and OGMs especially those from REDioactive,thanks for the amazing experiences and good memories created throughout the camp,for that I'm really really grateful and may our friendships last forever.

With Love,
Cheryl































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