(Translation of the blog title: "Scout Camp 2012")
On the 18th of July this year 14 explorer scouts, 1 scout and 5 leaders set sail for 'Jamboree Denmark 2012' (and I mean that quite literally as we travelled by ferry). 18 hours later we arrived in Esbjerg on the coast of Denmark. After a two hour drive we reached our destination; Holstebro EKU (scout hut).
We stayed in the EKU for the first 2 nights, then walked to the scout camp.
The camp was HUGE! Just to give you an idea of how big it was, it took us 1 1/2 hours to walk around half of the camp. There were 36,000 scouts/leaders on the camp. We had an on-site hospital with a surgical unit, and two helipads for the helicopter ambulances.
The Camp
On our pitch on the campsite which was allocated to Ellebæk scouts, we had 135 people staying (Our explorers, scout and leaders; the Danish beavers, cubs, scouts, explorers, network and leaders; and the FDF).
Due to fire regulations (3m gap between clusters of tents) we were unable to pitch Ben and Gordy's tent as there was limited space. So they shared with Jon and Steve and I shared with Cheese, Maria, Lotte Nichlas, Emil, Camilla, AM, Maja and Daniel.
There were some very impressive pioneering projects around the campsite, some pictures below:
The Eiffel Tower
The Spiral Staircase
Some of the things we did were a flash mob in the centre of Holstebro town where we were given a radio and some heaphones and we just had to do what we were told- actions such as `mooing`whilst walking down the high street; building a human pyramid; dancing to music played to us on our personal radios; lying down in the middle of town to listen to a story read to us on our radios. etc.
There were lots of very late nights spent in `The Wild Rover` (the on-site pub) and in true scout camp tradition lots of ´burning the candle at both ends´ with wake-up calls as early as 5.45.
One of the major benefits of having the camp in the home town of all my Danish friends was the ability to completely avoid the camp showers. Instead I simply walked to one of my friend´s house for a shower.
One of my Danish Friends Niklas was in charge of an activity that translated as the `love trombone´ but ´love shack´ was the nickname given to it. He held sessions of speed dating there in the evening, and they had a stage with with lots of good music late into the night.
One evening we had an hawiian themed adult party which began with a picnic, with 9 Calves spit roasted (bearing in mind there were 6000 adults there) photos below:
After we had eaten there was another concert at the main stage.
On the wednesday night there was an International Campfire in which we were asked to perform a typically English scout song, so we chose the Bumblebee song. I´m sure there will be a video of us peforming it on youtube before long!
One of the last activites we did was a trip to the local beach for an activity called ´Baywatch´. To my dissapointment The Hoff was not there, instead it was just a chance swim in the sea, play volleyball and fall asleep on a beach (the latter of which there is a photo of me- thank you explorers!)
On the last night of camp we had the closing ceremony which was entirely in Danish but luckly a translation was being simultaniously broadcast on the radio. Once the first part of the opening ceremony was over, we were told that there would be a second half following shortly. About 15 mintues later, ALPHABEAT walked on stage and performed for us late into the night! See below:
Once the camp was over our scout/explorers and leaders were dispersed for home hospitality and I stayed with my friends Emil and Flavia. The following evening we had a BBQ/goodbye party at the FDF hut, and after one last sleep we departed for England.
Keep Smiling
Holly
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