I slept in the tent with just Lauren on Thursday night. Jemma and some of the others slept outside. Just after we went to bed, someone shouted that Catherine was being peed on by a toad and Slaven and Jemma found it hilarious. Slaven was laughing and saying he had never seen it before. When we got up in the morning, there wasn’t enough for breakfast because certain people had just been helping themselves again. I ended up having crisps with Shannon. Lauren and Natalie were chefs. We packed our bags and tents and put them into the jeep and we got into kayaks and went for about half an hour to a place where we then got changed. I was in a kayak with Margaret which was a bit annoying but it did mean that I was with someone who could kayak well and I did push myself hard to try and impress her rather than be a bit lazy and rely mostly on her.
When we stopped kayaking we had a really short walk to a bar where we got changed into dry clothes. I borrowed 10 Kuna from Lauren so I could buy a drink then me, her, Shannon and Natalie got on a bus to go to the Starigrad campsite. We had a really nice discussion on the bus about what we’d learnt and what we thought about the experience. It was good because we all spoke honestly and we seemed to share similar experiences on stuff such as Lauren said she didn’t think we’d get along which I thought too. It was weird being that honest with somebody but somehow it also felt normal/natural.
Back at Starigrad, we put up tents then we went gift shopping. It was nice to spend some time being civilized and doing something that felt normal. Sam held a collection and we all chipped in to buy gifts for Slaven and Margaret. We got Margaret a mug with a map of Croatia on it and we got Slaven a bandana because he has lost one while on expedition with us. When we finished shopping, me and Lauren went to get showered and tried to make ourselves look presentable for the meal out. We snuck into the caravan site showers because they were apparently nicer than the other showers. I definitely got close to Lauren over the last few days which I really liked. We also went and bought postcards for everybody to sign for Slav and Margaret in place of a thank you card.
Everybody really enjoyed the last meal. We went to a pizza/pasta place. I was sat next to Natalie on my left, Lauren on my right and Slaven opposite. Miss Morris and Parko presented everybody with an “award” which was a bracelet bought at a campsite shop and me and Jacob won them for when our kayak capsized because Miss Morris found it hilarious. After we all got our awards, Jacob (team leader) stood up and presented Slav and Margaret with their gifts. Everybody was laughing and joking and lots of pictures were taken including two full group shots.
When we got back to the campsite we all went down to the beach area near the hotel and hung out there for a while. Slaven joined us too and we both laughed at a random woman dancing by herself rather wildly. Lauren decided she wanted to go to bed so I went too. We had just settled into bed when we started to get harassed by some random German boy. We ended up being harassed by several of them until Margaret came out and shouted at them. Me, Lauren and Miss Morris ended up going back down to the beach to get the others then we went to bed.
The next morning, we all got up ridiculously early and everybody was ready to leave at 8am but the buses were 15 minutes late which amused us because usually we were the late ones. On the way to the airport I was in a bus with Lauren, Natalie, Shannon and Izzy although we spent most of the time sleeping until we got close to Split. We passed through a town called Trogir and a market and we all discussed how we expected our expedition to be more like buying food from a market.
In the airport, we said goodbye to Slaven and the other bus drivers which was really weird and then we went to check in. There was a problem because Richard had never bothered to inform the airport that we’d have extra kit bags on the way home so I had to empty the majority of my big rucksack so one of the kit bags could go through as part of my baggage. I was a bit annoyed about it because I got volunteered into doing it and Margaret was useless as usual.
It was really dull waiting in the airport but it went quite quickly. We all camped out next to a wall underneath the flight board. The flight was OK, I was in 23A but I swapped with Catherine so I was actually in 23C because she wanted the window seat. Jemma was in between us. When we landed in Heathrow, we collected our bags and my big rucksack got filled again. Miss Morris was really supportive about it and kept telling me it’d be alright. We then met up with a World Challenge man to hand over kit and also Jasmine’s dad who picked her up because they were flying to Portugal the next day. We then said goodbye to Margaret and we went to get the coach home (which was also late). When we got back to school it was about 9:40pm and we were greeted by parents, Miss Bolton, Mr O’Brien and his daughter.
Since being home, I’ve slept a lot and have started to believe in myself more. I miss the times we spent as a group, Slaven's random stories and the water of the Zrmanja River for definite and I’ve been pining for a campfire quite badly. I also miss the coach journeys. I feel like I’ve changed and become more relaxed. I also feel like what I want from life has changed too.
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