DAY 1
On July 19th, 2009 I arrived at Youth Uniting for Global Action and Awareness (YUGA) Camp prepared for a week full of workshops on world issues, swimming, debates, smores, a refugee simulation, tie dye and most of all fun. Before I begin, I must say that my high expectations of YUGA camp were highly surpassed. It was not only the workshops and activities that were incredible, but the people. I made so many life long friendships, and have gained so much knowledge from it. This was an experience of a lifetime that I will forever cherish.
My first full day at YUGA camp was a very exciting one; everyone was starting to get to know one another and the camp grounds itself. My day started off with the high ropes course, since the night before we were given the chance to sign on any day between Monday and Thursday. The high ropes course was approximately 30 feet from the ground, and you needed climb up a hanging ladder to walk along a thick wire with the aid of some rope that hung from a wire above you every few feet. After you had walked across the wire, you reached a resting spot at the top of a tree before you went down the zip line. I was a bit anxious, since I have a little fear of heights, so I made sure I went towards the beginning of the group so my nerved wouldn’t have the time to make me back out. Though I wasn’t the only one who was afraid; and we all encouraged each other the whole way through to make sure we all completed the course. I personally kept telling myself to not look down, and that helped a lot. I focused on the beautiful green trees straight ahead of me, and the wire part was over soon enough. I think I had more difficulty with jumping off the resting spot for the zip line though. Once it was over, I was so relieved! My whole little group felt so proud that we were the first ones to finish the course.
After lunch, there was a workshop on child soldiers, prostitutes and labour. We went through the specific definition of each term and were given little pieces of paper with facts on them that we had to match up with the correct “who, where, when, why and how” of each term. We also had a discussion on each topic after we finished with the matching. Then it was free time until dinner, and many of us wanted to swim or go on a boat, but we needed to take our swim test. I went canoeing with my friends Nikki and Samir until dinner, and it was so peaceful and relaxing… until another canoe came up to us and started splashing us with their paddles! We had a lot of fun, but the fun wasn’t over yet. There was a scavenger hunt after dinner in our “family groups”. I was assigned to the purple family, which was perfect because I was wearing a purple shirt that day. The items that we needed to find were sometimes related to nature, and sometimes just completely random; like a rock shaped like an animal to an American dime from 1995. We were only given one hour so every group needed to rush. My group put in a valiant effort and we ended up coming in 3rd place! Though all the groups and staff member were rewarded with a sundae 
Everyone was so exhausted by the end of the day, but most of us stayed up till around midnight just talking and getting to know each other better. YUGA camp was off to a great start!
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