DP Orientation 2021 Borderlands ( August 28th- August 31st)

The Dp orientation trip to Kitulgala Borderlands was an adventure, to say the least. From the first day to the last.  I believe the hardest goal for me personally to accomplish was hiding the massive rip I had on my shorts on the first day, and it didn’t help when I got stuck on a rock, and a raft hit me and as it hit me my short got dragged across some more rocks which made the hole even bigger! Then on the second day wearing white shorts which were made see-through when they got wet ( which was something I didn’t factor in.) So that was a whole day of me covering my shorts with my extra stretchy shirts ( Convenient I know).

The DP Orientation Trip is a unique experience especially for newcomers into OSC and the Diploma program. It is a great experience for people to bond and make great new memories, for example, one fond memory from the first day was the creation of Louis and my Band “Something Big”  Pop/ Rap band. At the start of the 3-day trip, we had 2 members part of “Something” big and by the end, we had 8 members part of “Something Big”. I say unique because no other school has a trip like this to purely make the students bond better while also learning.

On the first day, we did canyoning and rafting. Canyoning was a great experience we got to do many jumps of cliffs some scarier than others and other more exciting. I found that scarier it was the more exciting it was as we had more adrenaline rushing through our veins. I personally enjoyed the section where we could do a trick jump were I did a decent enough backflip which then leads to a reasonably high jump ( 5-6 meters approx.)  And as I slide down the slide I managed to rip my shorts and the remainder of that day my only goal was to hide that rip.

After a long 2 and half hour canyon trip we sat down under the bride to eat a delicious meal courtesy of the borderlands group. We were rested and ready to tackle the next task which was rafting.  We took another hike smaller to say the least where the birth of the song “Let this be known” by Something big was created. Louis and I were just randomly thinking of the most common songs and we started to combine and mix the songs to create a masterpiece.  After an hour of walking, brainstorming/ singing and a couple of angry peers, we had finally made it to the raft sight. Where we were spilt into raft groups I was conveniently put in with one of my angry peers Emily. Where I continued to annoy her with our amazing Song.  The raft experience was particularly interesting because I believe I fell off twice alongside Kevin and his hilarious falls. My falls, on the other hand, were quite dramatic and in one fall it almost felt like slow motion. It was nearing the end of the trip and we were I believe 100 meters from the end and it was the last rapid we had to pass and I fell ( no big deal) I Just held onto the boat while going down the rapid but out of nowhere a massive rock appeared and I got stuck on the rock! I was in shock and confused because I was a sitting duck and I swear it was like in slow motion I could people in the background saying “Move out the way!!” and as I turn in slow motion as it felt like I could just see the other raft coming closer and closer towards me till it hit me, and I was pushed along the bumpy sharp rock with tore my already badly torn shorts which were a whole another problem. So I got hit by a raft at this point, my raft had left me stranded and I joined Dr. Leigh boat which I found ironic because they had most capsized people so I was among my people. That was day one for us and it was just the start.. of this crazy adventure.

Day 2 was physically hard in another way. We were all excited and ready for today but I made my first mistake from choosing what type of shorts I choose to wear. Firstly I wore shorts when I knew we were going into a wet thick forest which was leech-infested and I personally hate even looking at them so when ones on me I am fully survival “GET IT OFF ME” mode. Leeches were very sneaky as well because not only do you not feel if they are on you even when they start biting you they slowly crawl up your body as well so it was a lot of leech checks every 5 to 10 minutes which got pretty tedious at the end but worth it.  So to start the day off we started off in the bus which at first was a good sign for most of use but after maybe 15 minutes of driving we stopped and told to get off the bus to start the hike, and all I could see was just hill after hill after hill and i remember specifically telling this to Takuro “This gonna be a loooonngg day” We started on such a steep incline I was convinced it couldn’t get harder but I was so deeply wrong, and I forgot to mention earlier but the night before I had been walking in the dark back to my room and I

stubbed my toe badly on a rock and my toe turned blue and it hurt so much the pain was unimaginable so in addition to walking I had to walk with a very hurt toe so I had to be careful with every step I took.  But eventually after maybe a hour of hiking, we had made it the Caves where we had a small “TOK” session where we had to draw a map which was really hard for me to draw because I was so focused on looking at the floor and watching my step to make sure I didn’t hurt my self again. But I managed ( Sort of ). After Dr. Leigh made us rethink our life after his very deep monologue in the cave which you can see from the image^.  So after all of they had told us we would be abseiling which I was particularly excited but what I didn’t realize was that we had to hike for maybe another 1 to 2 hours! In that 2 hours, the “Something Big” band came together to produce another 2 songs unamed as of now but the lyrics were produced. So we considered it a well-spent 2 hours. But finally, we got to the abseil the one thing we were all excited for the 50-meter abseil. I was one of the lucky people to go first so I was very excited and ready. It was an amazing experience I enjoyed every minute except for the start when the guide who was harnessing my up told me to stop as I was about to go and instead of adding a rope or safety rope HE REMOVED one. I was confused beyond belief as he smiled and waved saying you can go now which confused the hell out of me because well he removed one of the ropes that were holding me from falling to my death. Other than it was amazing  I had the water splashing in my face and I was admiring the scenery around me it was an experience I won’t forget.

The walk back was probably the worst possible thing that we all experience because as I mentioned before I wore shorts in a leech-infested area so on the way back I had a leech on me every 4 minutes. Each bigger than the other and each time it was me or someone screaming “LEECHHHH GET IT OFFFFFFF” one person, in particular, I was convinced they were targeting me I don’t know how but they were. The “Fun” didn’t stop there we got on the bus and we thought the worst was behind us but oh were we wrong. Now we had like 4 or 5 leeches on each person in a TRAPPED Place with no place of getting rid of them which was a whole another issue. There was one moment I remember so vividly one got onto Takuro’s neck and it was probably sucking on Tak’s blood for an hour or so because it was huge after much struggle and screaming we got it off Takuro and we stepped on it as cruel as it was we wish we had not stepped on it because it popped like a bubble and there was blood all across the floor it was like a crime scene and it wasn’t a good sight. The 2nd day was a day to remember with many highs and lows days like these and the night it followed was one to remember. Which I truly love about the concept of the orientation and how the school used to get make us(Class of 2021) one smooth running organism.

On the final day, we were all sad that it had gone by so fast. We ended off the last day with some interviews with the locals and what was their input on the current dam that it is constructed in their area which in fact was the last damnable River in Sri Lanka so it was a very interesting topic to discuss with the locals.

Overall the DP orientation was an amazing experience from the first to the last day till last moment where we stepped of the bus laughing about what had happened in those 3 days from me getting hit by a boat, the birth of “Something Big” and many more hilarious stories and many more to come in the 2 years of the DP program where we will cry, laugh, dance, celebrate and many more. For the Class of 2021.