OUTWARD BOUND SINGAPORE

Attending Outward Bound Singapore was one of the graduating requirement that all students in Singapore University of Social Sciences have to go through. It was my first time attending an adventure camp. The only camps that I have attended in my Polytechnic days were orientation and bonding camps. Thus, I was reluctant to attend the camp at first as I am not a very outdoor and active kind of person and I was afraid that I could not handle the activities since what I have heard about OBS was that it was very tough.

However, since it was compulsory, I had to go for the camp no matter what. As a tutorial group, we had to complete many activities together even when we do not know each other well yet. There were many awkward moments but everyone still cheered and encouraged each other to push on and go further. One of the activities on the first day was the high element course, where we had to challenge ourselves to the high elements and earn points (money) to buy the ingredients required for our dinner. I am someone who is afraid of heights thus it was quite challenging for me, but with the support from my peers, i managed to overcome my fear and did my best. That night, we had to cook our own dinner outside using solid fuel and fire starters. Everyone came together to distribute the job amongst ourselves so that we could work faster since there was a time limit. Some of us prepared the main dishes while some prepared the dessert.

The next day, it was the expedition day. Some tutorial groups had to do tri-kayaking, some do trekking/hiking and others will row boat. My group was assigned to kayaking which I have never tried before. Before we set off, we were taught how to stay afloat on the water, what to do if the boat capsizes, etc. It was really scary to me when we had to flip our boat on purpose and get back onto it. After everyone was briefed and ready to set off, we started our journey. This expedition really challenged everyone's limit as it was really tiring. However, as a team, we cheered each other on and did not give up and managed to complete our expedition ahead of the time given to us. At the end of the second night, we had a bonding session amongst ourselves in the dormitory and it helped in getting to know each other better before school starts.