Georgia Meachem
I have completed both my Bronze DofE and my Silver DofE, and hope one day in the future to be able to go on to complete my Gold. Both of the experiences have come with the most amazing memories, especially from the expeditions. From the run in's my friends and I had with cows, to learning random skills like predicting the weather (I believe a weather app is still more reliable than myself though!).
One thing I remember from all the practices and the qualifying expeditions was the unpredictability of the British weather, which probably isn't a massive surprise to anyone. I've done expeditions during some of the wettest weekends of the year when nearly everywhere was flooded and covered by pure mud but also one during some of the hottest weekends where everywhere was completely dry and we had equipment taken off of us so that we could carry the additional water that we needed. I've even woken up to a frozen tent one morning, which explained why I felt sooo cold.
For Silver, I had the responsibility of doing the research for our group project during the expedition, which was tracking our moods during the day. We decided to rate our mood from 1 being the worst and 10 being the best, every hour. We started early in the morning at 8am and finished once we arrived at camp, roughly 4pm. It's safe to say everyone got sick of me asking very quickly!!
I particularly loved the evenings of the expeditions when all the groups just sat around playing games and talking with each other. Many of these people were people that usually I wouldn't have spoken to and yet I enjoyed spending time with them all. On one evening of my Silver Expedition, the place next to our field we were camping in, was hosting a wedding. They let off fireworks which we were able to view, and I remember just thinking how lucky I was to be able to take part in such an experience, like DofE.
One thing I remember from all the practices and the qualifying expeditions was the unpredictability of the British weather, which probably isn't a massive surprise to anyone. I've done expeditions during some of the wettest weekends of the year when nearly everywhere was flooded and covered by pure mud but also one during some of the hottest weekends where everywhere was completely dry and we had equipment taken off of us so that we could carry the additional water that we needed. I've even woken up to a frozen tent one morning, which explained why I felt sooo cold.
For Silver, I had the responsibility of doing the research for our group project during the expedition, which was tracking our moods during the day. We decided to rate our mood from 1 being the worst and 10 being the best, every hour. We started early in the morning at 8am and finished once we arrived at camp, roughly 4pm. It's safe to say everyone got sick of me asking very quickly!!
I particularly loved the evenings of the expeditions when all the groups just sat around playing games and talking with each other. Many of these people were people that usually I wouldn't have spoken to and yet I enjoyed spending time with them all. On one evening of my Silver Expedition, the place next to our field we were camping in, was hosting a wedding. They let off fireworks which we were able to view, and I remember just thinking how lucky I was to be able to take part in such an experience, like DofE.
