Our trip to Kitulgala. Even though DP1 orientation sounded unfamiliar to us, Kitulgala was a place that we’ve all heard of with significant memories of us as grade 9 students. I always described Borderlands Kitulgala as hell and torture, but coming back from the DP1 orientation, it was a complete different experience. The place I remembered as hell, all of a sudden, seemed very peaceful. Even though the two trips were almost identical, the experiences between the grade 9 WWW trip and DP1 trip were very contrasting. Almost like a sign of self-improvement. All the activities that I thought I wouldn’t survive through seemed way easier than what I remembered. Showing how much years of learning and built-up experience affect recreations of memories.
As we got off the bus after a long ride from OSC to Kitulgala, we started our trip off with canyoning, going through the different slides and the jumps were definitely a highlight. During our first canyoning session, we were able to improve our teamwork skills, as we reminded each other to “Stay Low”. This was a phrase that was mentioned an extensive amount of times throughout the trip, to prevent anyone from getting injured. Even throughout the second session of canyoning on the second day, it was repeated many times. We ended the first day with canoeing, where we went through many difficulties due to the high current of the river. Out of all the activities we engaged in throughout the journey, the canoeing experience is undoubtedly my favourite activity. We were able to overcome the difficulties by working as a team. For instance, when the raft was stuck, we were able to effectively coordinate our team to jump promptly, thereby facilitating the raft’s freeing. Finally, we got off the raft and floated with the current of the river to Borderlands, where we showered and got ready for dinner.
We started the second day with some yoga, known as the Surya Namaskar. It was quite relaxing and prepared me for the heavy day of work. Today’s main focus was cannoning, the trip went quite similar to the first day’s canyoning, yet way more difficult with a bunch more leaps and slides. We were dropped by the bus to the trail, where we had to hike for soo long, to the point I almost didn’t feel my legs any more. However, it was way better than how I remembered it from grade 9, staying with friends also distracted me from the pain. As I hiked up to the water stream, I realized that the longer the hike, the harder the canyoning will be. Even though it was very calm in the beginning, the last jump made all of us frightened. What our DP coordinator introduced to us as the plunge to DP, was a 10-meter-high jump, that left all of us speechless. All of us procrastinated at the beginning, but our team’s strength and courage was well showcased as all of us successfully made the jump. I’d like to describe this plunge in 3 stages of the life, the look back, the journey, and the outcome. Like in every other challenge in life, I looked back, had second thoughts, but I knew I have to keep progressing forwards. The halfway of the jump, the journey, was most definitely the scariest, experiencing how big of a jump it is for the first time. And finally, the outcome, the most reliving and rewarding stage, that feeling of happiness, knowing that I earned it was one of the highlighting moments of the trip.
We ended the second day off with some team building exercises, guided by the guides at borderlands. It was as simple as flipping a mat upside down, but once we started it, we ran in to many problems. As all of us had to stand on top of the mat, while flipping made it even more challenging. After many failed attempts, and restarts, we were able to overcome it as a team, with the use of every single one’s help. That night, we all chilled in what’s they called as the long house, an open room with wind flowing from all directions. Having dinner near the river stream, hearing the river flow, made me forget how tired I was. The last day was a very short day and relaxed day, it was the day for us to head back to OSC. We started with some yoga, and went straight to a hike to a cave known as the Belilena cave. The way to the cave had great scenery followed by a forest and beautiful thin stream of water, almost as a water fall. We were lucky enough to see two beautiful invasive species.
The journey back home was a moment of reflecting, thinking about all the challenges and difficulties we overcame. I felt a sense of achievement followed by relief, I was very grateful to go back to my bed after 2 very full days of physical activities. Once again, this journey made me realize, how much I’ve improved over two years. The experience of pain during the grade 9 borderlands trip, was less severe in this journey as my physical form felt more light and accomplished, proving self-improvement. I realized that now it’s a matter of climbing a mountain with holes and pits everywhere with a heavy bag and no shoes. Thus, concluding my plunge into the DP course has officially begun.
