Very excited to start the DP course with a trip to Borderlands, Kitulgala. It will be my 2nd time in Borderlands and it will be the 2nd time that I get to see nature at its best. It’s opportunities like this that we are lucky to get to interact as a grade, bond, and grow our relationship together.
What a way to start off with white water rafting…It was so much fun! I have done white water rafting before and the thrill is still the same every time. As soon as we got off the bus we start into action. The river was freezing…It probably is nothing to compare to rivers in Europe, for example, it was a big shock for me and my classmates. Me being myself I like to have fun and doing so it created a lot of water fights. I especially enjoyed the violent part of the river with a few edgy moments in between, we still survived.
We had a stop at a sandbank. We played some games which included my classmates (Milo & Luca) falling off the bank…it was hilarious. Alongside we had time to refrain our goals as a rafting boat and as a team. As a member of the ‘All Stars’ with my classmate Tanieshq, Anuda, and Divyanshu we paddled up streams and jumped down river rocks.
I thought that this part of the trip was over, but I was missing the float back to camp. I already had enough of the cold from the river and contrast splashes from boat to boat but I just had to do. It ended being one of my admirable times in the trip, just floating down a river with my classmates. I think it was because we were all there together just enjoying.
We were then off to do cannoning, which was extremely fun and daring. I tried to do front flips and not to think too much when jumping into small incaved water holes or sliding down water rapids. It was probably because of it just so enjoyable to be given the experience, I just had to take it and enjoy the experience. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go to Marvel Cannon and do the 10m jump which I did on my first visit to Borderlands.
On our second day, we visited two caves. In the first cave, it was an ancient temple where we were told to draw the route we took to get to the cave which included the bus ride and the hike. Everyone had a different type of maps that showed the range of different perception people have. Each map had its own characteristics to it and aesthetic which can determine one’s values through memory and sense perception. The second cave had a lot more bats with a beautiful waterfall coming from the top of the mountain. In that cave, we were told a story by Mrs. O’Sullivan about the allegory of man and how the moral of the story is that discovering and breaking the traditions that have been set for you to be able to discover the truth.
We continued the mountain hike to the very top where we would do abseiling. This would be my first time and definitely not the last. At my first steps down the 2om waterfall I was petrified. However, I prevailed and went down wanting to do it again because it was that much fun.
On our final day, it was all about service and gaining knowledge about several local communities in Kitulgala. We interviewed a ferryman working on the local river. To collect the data, I worked with Disara, Aditi, and Divyanshu. Some of the things that we wanted to know about his life as a ferryman were through facts and memory. Personally, it made me understand the local community in Kitulgala much better and as a ferryman, he is very important for the other residents in the area for transportation and work.
Overall, I enjoyed the trip to Borderlands very much through the team bonding we had as a grade, the thrill of jumping or abseiling down waterfalls, and to be able to understand the real part of Sri Lanka that as International students don’t get much of in the main city. Alongside, it was a great trip and I feel a trip much needed to start of the DP years.
