DP 1 Orientation trip: Kitulgala

For our DP 1 trip, we went to Kitulgala (Borderlands). It was a very refreshing experience and a transitional trip, which set us for the DP program and officially welcomed us to the program. It was a quest of exploring the nature, specially the strongest force in nature i.e. water. The whole trip was based around kelani river, and it included adventurous activities along the river.

Step 0 – Packing (with mom)

the trip was postponed, due to the extreme weather conditions and the landslides Kitulgala experienced. Nevertheless, we finally were set for the trip. There was a sense of excitement, with discussion of roommates being the primal topic of concern. But for me the main aim was to be packed for the trip, and not forget any essentials needed. Since the trip was essentially based around the river (and related activities), I made sure to pack wet clothes. Of course, there were last minute additions by mom (god knows how she remembers everything).

Step 1 – Day 1

The first day into the trip, we all met at the meeting point at our school. Everyone was packed, wearing their wet clothes and ready to get into action once we reached there.

The drive to the place was a 2 and hour drive, through a rather hilly terrain, which made many (including me) dizzy. Upon reaching there, I stretched my arms and took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. The first activity in the trip was white water rafting, but before that we had some essential rafting guiding session. We also practised how to float in water, finally followed by getting acquainted with the water safety around the river. And then, we were all set for the adventure ahead. Randomly, we were all divided in groups. I was in a group with Ethan, Vinuda and Lara. We rafted our way through level 3 rapids (which is some serious level rafting). Other than Vinuda and Ethan falling into the river, the rafting was a success. We were able to “taco” at the end, which is a rafting technique. I got to know why it’s called white rafting, because the frothy bubbled water appears white. After making our way through, we jumped off our rafts and swam our way across to a small beach. It was like a mini meeting point, where we first gathered and used “rock” or “leaf” as metaphor for our lives. I used rock, because it personally connected to me more. The rock was able to mould into such a nice circular shape, due to the strong water current that slapped against the bigger irregular shaped rock. It was the force of the water (and other factors) which gave the rock its beautiful shape. Taking the same inspiration. I was able to connect how failures in life hit us hard, but they shape us into a better person who is resilient. Progressing further through the day, we did some canyoning. It was a mix of walking, sliding and jumping along the wet mossy rocks of the river. We started the whole canyoning with one jump, called “the big leap”. It wasn’t the biggest jump I made that day, but the first one. Like other, I was also anxious and had my own doubts about the safety of this. It connected well to real life circumstances, since whenever we do something new, we need to make that “big leap” wherein we let go our fears and reservations and just experience it. I did the jump, and it wasn’t actually so bad. In fact, the jump helped me overcome my fears of this whole canyoning experience. I would say, it was due to this very jump that I didn’t fear at all during the rest of the canyoning experience. So inspired by this “big leap”, I decided to title this CAS blog with it. Anyway, after some intense canyoning we finally floated to the campsite and reached there by around 4 ish in the evening. Extremely exhausted by the events of the day, we all had our dinner and collapsed on our bed. We knew the next day was going to be even more demanding.

Step 2 – Day 2

New day, new fun activities and challenges ahead. We started the day off with some warm-up exercises in the morning. The breakfast was some sweet toast and egg.

Of course Big Man Vinuda, took many eggs for the breakfast (proteins he says). I was happy with my toast and milk tea. We were also supposed to take a dip in cold water in the morning, but I didn’t since I was feeling a bit too lazy at that point. But all our laziness was going to be knocked, since today was the day for advanced canyoning. To get to the river, we hiked our way uphill and through the forest for 1 km. And it was then where we met our leach friends! I was extremely scared of leached till that point, but having more than 50 leaches on my legs, eventually these creatures didn’t even bother me. They were so goofy in their movement, that in fact many of us were fascinated by the leaches. The rest of the day, we did some pretty intense canyoning, mostly making our way through the rocks.

But the highlight of the day, and in fact the of the entire trip was the 10 m jump we did towards the end. There was an option to zip line our way down there, but as an extra challenge I decided to jump down. Making this big decision, I had my own reservations and while making our way to the top ledge of the rock I was even more doubtful if I made the right decision by choosing to opt for such a big jump. Right before jumping, when I stood at the ledge of the rock, I faced the water down (at such a big height). My mind was racing through so many suspicions of the reliability of this jump. But when I made the jump, and landed down all my hesitancies were gone. It gave me that valuable lesson of life, how we need to go all in sometimes and trust the process without fearing the outcome. We reached the campsite by evening after which we had some great bonding time as a grade. Personally, I got to know Thisath and all more through this trip. I also played chess against Akash (the rematch is still due). TO end the day, we wrote a letter to someone regarding what we did and learnt during this tip. I wrote a letter to someone anonymous (for reasons). The letter helped me reflect of this whole experience we had during this trip.

Step 3 – Day final

Just like that, the final day of the trip was up. We kicked off the day with some morning warm-up routine, and a very interesting team building activity. The task was very simple: a stick was to be placed on our fingers (a long stick), and we had to ensure that we placed the stick down on the floor gently, without dropping it. But the twist was that the stick was balanced all the way across everyone’s fingers.

In our first attempt, we failed terribly. Some people raised the stick upwards while others brought it down. This created an imbalance, causing the stick to topple over. In our next attempt, we were able to communicate within ourselves and slowly bring down the stick to a certain level, yet we couldn’t bring it down completely. But in our final attempt, we were prepared. We elected a leader (Matthew) and he was able to guide us around. We also ensured communication was there during the process this time, and as the DP 1 group we were finally able to bring the stick all the way down. It was a simple yet very empowering activity. Not sure about the rest, but it did teach me the importance of team building and communication. Also, how failures will always come in life, but it’s necessary to keep trying and give our own best. After the activity, we took a dip in the cold river water. I went as well, and it was actually fun. To end the trip, we finally hiked our way to a cave, symbolic of Plato’s Cave in TOK. We made shadows of objects (we made on Day 2), and reflected as to how reality is not what always as it seems, but it is much deeper.

Overall, this trip was a very challenging yet a very refreshing and learning experience. It challenged my boundaries in a good way. After this trip, I have a much more appreciation for the surrounding nature, and it also taught me how the biggest of obstacles like a River can be overcome if we divide it further into mini obstacles and overcome them individually.