After saying our goodbyes to our Home Hospitality families at the coach I was sad to go so early but as soon as we got on the road to the camp those feelings slowly drained away and excitement took their place. 8 hours later and we were pulling up to the biggest campsite I had ever seen, chock-full with Scouts everywhere! It was all a blur: taking out the bags to our camping spot 20 minutes away; setting up camp; collecting food; cooking the food and then collapsing into our tents hoping that the night would pass quickly so we could get on, do the activities and meet Scouts from across the world.

The activities on the campsite, spread over 12 days, were interesting such as: the Global Development village (learning about how to keep safe with water on camp and voting rights in other countries), the Science area (sandblasting metal mugs so they have our names engraved in them), the Culture area (playing Chilean street drums and making woggles out of thinly, spliced, Japanese-style wood), Culture day (showing off your area of the world by making traditional food, playing games and, in my case, dressing up as Mr Bean who went to University in our area) and of course the Opening and Closing ceremonies with the flags of each attending country paraded around. However, I believe that the best activities we did were definitely the ones we did off site. For example, we did a walk in a nearby village and played some traditional games which included stilt-walking – a lot trickier than you would imagine! The people in the village were so nice and even though we met some for only a few seconds we were showered with their hospitality such as being given free drinks or gifts which we would exchange with our own (a Japanese custom). We walked with a USA and French unit who we got on with very well especially with someone called Julian from the French unit who had already been up Mount Fuji before the camp had started! We also visited the nearby city of Yamaguchi as a Unit trip which took a lot longer than we first expected as we managed to walk past the first two train stops and then missed one of our trains! By the time we got there we only had a few hours to browse the shops and for me and Fraser to go and see a nearby Japanese Pagoda. I was desperate to see a Pagoda as they were so unique to Japan and this one certainly did not disappoint. The Pagoda was stunning especially with the Sun dipping slowly towards the horizon and the perfectly pruned gardens framing it. I felt like Yamaguchi had given us a flavour of what was to come in Tokyo.

The best activity of the whole camp was definitely the visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and Museum especially as the theme of the camp was Peace and Unity or “Wa” in Japanese. The Museum was very poignant and had artefacts and pictures which told a story unique to each individual person whom they belonged to. In that way it was very emotional as it connected to everyone on a more personal level such as a beloved tricycle that belonged to a 3 year old who was destroyed in the blast. There was even the shadow of a man vaporised by the blast on a piece of concrete. We also received a talk from some staff which included recitals of poems written by survivors who wrote about loss, pain and hopelessness. It really stunned everyone into silence. However, after all of this, the staff talked about hope and how Hiroshima has risen from the ashes by working together and declaring peace. With that mind-set Scouts can be the ones to teach the world about peace and work together to achieve this. That is the message that was given to us from that visit.

My favourite part of the camp was having free time to explore the campsite and meeting new people. Even if that did mean roasting alive in the 50 degree heat! What would happen was that I would go around with some people (usually Fraser, Josh, Ben, Axel, Emily) and we would take a bag of badges and neckerchiefs to swap and to use as an excuse to talk to people from all other units. We met UK units from across the country but also: Pakistanis, Germans, Swiss, Swedes, Chileans, Mexicans, Malaysians, Egyptians, Indonesians, Japanese, Mexicans, Taiwanese, South Koreans, Americans, Italians, Russians and many more. It was great to be able to say hi to people in the street who were complete strangers and for them to say hi back. Some were really interesting to talk to and I feel I had made some friends in places I never would have thought I would. At one point I set up a swap shop with some other people from my unit on a bench in front of our camp and talked to a pair of English people from Lincolnshire for ages. We also chucked an American football around with some boys from Utah. The night-life was great because the weather was at its coolest and the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement and people singing and chatting. One night about ten of us took a speaker and music around the camp and sang and got about 40 to 50 Scouts to join in. That was unbelievable! Even getting some food from the stalls at night and taking it to the on-site park (which would never pass UK health and safety) where people would relax in the nets or hurl themselves down the epic slide was unforgettable. Some units even had parties at night and you could hear their music playing from the streets. The only problem with staying up at night was getting no sleep at all due to the early mornings. Even staying in our camp during the day was fun as it meant cooling down in the tiny paddling pool, playing cards or catching up on sleep you lost from staying up too late last night. The whole experience of that camp is something I will remember for a very long time. When the time came to go, I was sad but pleased I had had such a good time and with the memories I had made as well as the Stetson hat I had just swapped for my own. This camp was over but Tokyo was just a bullet train ride away…