So despite the fact that I finished NCS well over a year and a half ago now, I thought that I would actually write about what happened somewhere so I don't forget it.
Unlike quite a few people I know, I purposely chose to do NCS at a time when I knew none of my friends were doing it because I felt like I needed to branch out. On arrival I was quite anxious, naturally, but the second I started talking to the first stranger there everything just clicked.
I spent the first week talking to anyone at anytime who would listen to anything I had to say. I was sharing a room with 7 other girls (yes, 8 of us in one tiny room with 4 bunk beds- it wasn't the best set up). I was on Team Ward (the business team) and people thought we would be the quiet group but they couldn't have been more wrong.
The first week was spent in some Welsh town on the coast (whose name for the life of me I cannot remember). Although it was meant to be the week we did loads of activities, it didn't feel like we did much. We hiked, camped, climbed and abseiled...that's about it.
It was also the week where we got to solidify our friendships and I had become quite close to 4 people on my wave who I will always remember without a doubt. There is no one else on this Earth who I would rather draw dicks on a beach and skim stones with. Everyone else was pretty cool, including most of the staff working with us. However, as much fun as the first week was it was the second week where it all went down...
The second week was without a doubt my favourite. As well as meeting some new members of staff, I was able to form better relationships with the people on the wave and generally have more banter as a result because the awkwardness of having only just met had disappeared (and we were all on this hectic group chat).
Living in the uni flats was really fun, as was the food prep and the amount of free time we had. The only annoying thing was the curfew and the member of staff who we had to share with- I'll get to her later.
There were a quite a few highlights from that week:
1) Meeting a random guy in the elevator while I was holding raw chicken in one hand and 2 steak knives in the other (needless to say he was a little scared) only to find out he would be mentoring my team for the week (he called me Stabby McStabstab for the time we were there).
2) Walking down the back roads of a West London borough on the way to an Old peoples home singing the soundtrack from The Lion King 2 at the top of my lungs with my team mentor for the week.
3) Being proposed to in the Old people's home by a Jamaican man with 20 kids who said the funniest things you could think of for a man his age.
4) The various calls made throughout the trip- whether they were late at night and us scheming to find a way to break curfew or pranking my friend's mother or even setting up the wifi at 3am, all of the calls made were hilarious.
5) Being serenaded through the phone (jokingly) by my two guy friends who were both on one knee outside my window begging me to join them outside.
6) Feeling a real sense of team unity when all 13 of us left the wave meeting to console our SM who was crying because of what our wave leader had said to her.
Our wave leader was pretty much the only person no one liked on our wave- in fact I think it's safe to say that everyone hates her. She was some up-herself chemistry teacher who wore these manky yellow flip flops and treated everyone like they were beneath her. Sharing a flat with her was horrible. She was overbearing and rude and she doesn't care enough for dental hygiene (both her own and my friends). Of course, we didn't really complain so much about her to begin with; she wasn't an ideal person to share a flat with but we would deal with it. It was the last night when she showed her true colours.
For the last night, we had to take part in a talent show where the 5 teams were all up against each other. Pretty much every team on my wave had planned to dance and sing but not us. We planned out a whole sit com style scene where we took the Mickey out of everyone on the wave, including all the staff.
However, the leader caught on to what we were doing about an hour before the talent show was meant to start and she told our SM that we weren't allowed to do what we wanted to do. She then went on to insult our SM. This was when number 6 on the list happened.
We walked back into the wave meeting and sat in dead silence- something Ward was most definitely not known for. The 14 of us, including our SM, sat on the floor together in a huddle and we didn't say one word to anyone. In fact, one of the other SMs joined us in our protest.
Later that night, our whole team had to have a sit down with an "impartial" member of staff about what had happened. Here we got to talk about how rude the wave leader had been not just that night but the entire week to my flat mates.
We were out way past our curfew and when we got back, the wave leader's room was empty and her staff bracelet was on the floor outside of her room. Needless to say when there was no sign of her the next day (and the next week) we could safely assume that she had either been fired or had quit over whatever happened. Needless to say the whole wave was quite happy about that but I won't get into that.
Really, week three and all of the other bits and bobs we had to do were kind of dull. All of the fun happened in those first two weeks but the other parts were nice for just building the friendships we had made.
Despite the fact that my NCS experience was far different from most (primarily due to that incident), I wouldn't have changed any of it. NCS has taught me to be trusting, respectful, understanding and empathetic. I learnt that I shouldn't make assumptions about what people will be like by their looks and to always talk to new people because you never know what they might bring to your life. I now also know more ice breaking games than any human will ever need to know in their life ever and I'm perfectly okay with that.
Doing NCS is something that gives you more than something to write about on a CV or personal statement. I gained life skills and friends who I hope to stay in contact with for years to come. It really is worth the punt.
The only advice I would give to anyone who is contemplating doing NCS would be to not apply with your friends. You don't get to have a social crutch in life. The renewed independence and confidence I have in my ability to survive in the world without the constant support of familiar faces is what I think people need nowadays so take the plunge and who knows where you'll end up.
