Hiya everyone! I'm back from Medi-Camp~! I couldn't do this post earlier because when I actually got home from camp, I was so far gone I couldn't even bring myself to watch an episode of anime. I knocked out for 17 hours straight (probably a record for me). After which, realising the time, I then rushed off to the University for my medical checkup. After that it's just been non-stop until I got home at about 1am. And 4 hours later, I present this!

Ok, I'll start off saying this. I've never been a person for Camps, especially of the orientation/ice-breaker sort. Simply because they generally resulted in activities that I am... Not too partial to. In the past (although none of my previous camps could ever really compare to this one), what I basically ended up doing was emo-ing at a corner watching people pwn each other. Wasn't much fun, not for me, and I doubt it was for them.

Medicamp was different. Medicamp rocked. The theme was Medagascar, so we ended up having groups named after the Genus of various animals.

There were a few fundamental differences with this camp, I must say. The one huge determining factor which probably made the camp for me was my OG (orientation group), just a shout out to them here, HARPIA FTW~ (If you haven't guessed, it's an eagle)! During the pre-camp I didn't really get to know much about my fellow M1s in my OG aside from their names, and for most not even that. But the most interesting thing is how we just somehow clicked. Everyone just sort of fit in perfectly. It's something extremely hard to describe, up there with the most difficult this blog has faced. I don't know if it could be attributed to the common focus and goals of the group that naturally brought the cohesion, or simply the open character of everyone. There was synergy almost right from the beginning, definitely with the powerful aid of our all-knowing OGLs (Orientation Group Leaders) (who were pretty much all M2s). It was just... Amazing. I'm actually speechless. As you have probably realised if you read the above senseless paragraph.

Well I'll go from the start. On day 1, the moment we got to the place and settled down, the first game pretty much started. It was sort of an amazing race spin off, with stations around the island which we travelled around performing stations and following clues to our final destination, which would be our chalets. It was pretty fun actually, and a great way to get to know everyone just one step up from the introduction phase. We were the first group out of the auditorium once the clues were issued, first team on the first bus, first team out at the first station which was within the university itself. It was like this Captain's Ball challenge, where you took on the next team to arrive, played off, and the winner continued on while the losing team challenged the next one etc. So we waited for the second team, kicked them, were the first to get the next clue and on the bus again.

The whole race pretty on went on like that, with our team topping each station not only arriving first, but hi-scoring the challenge. The sad thing was that we didn't win first position in terms of arrivals, it was grabbed by another team who decided they were very rich, and cabbed the entire race away. They were even third at the last station before the final one, and won by cab. Oh well, by score we still pwned face. It was about this time after the race that our bonds as an OG really began to form. With blinding speed. By the time the night was out we were pretty much well into getting to know each other. But apart from that, you could just feel the sort of glow emanating from the group as a whole. Like I said earlier. We just clicked. It was at about this point that I realised that I probably landed up in the coolest OG in the world. And it wasn't about to stop at that.

The second day consisted of station games in the morning, where you basically got really wet (not just from clean water) doing stuff ranging from daring to downright disgusting against other groups. I guess it was at this point where the mutual respect for/from each member began to grow, and then show. Though we didn't do as great at station games, we still managed to maintain our lead as the highest scoring OG in the camp thus far. I believe it was sheer synergised willpower that took us that far. Another concept and source I was not truly aware of before this.

That afternoon, there was a cook-out where basically OG's were given a range of themes, and based on them were to prepare a meal, a play, and decorate their chalet to the theme, to be assessed by judges, competition styles. This was possibly the first real test of the mettle of our OG and an assessment of our efficiency in accomplishing cooperative tasks effectively. We passed. With flying colours. Ok fine, we pwned it. Once again, everyone just somehow seemed to know what they had to do, where to do it, how to do it, and just fit in just the right places. Myself I found in the kitchen, helping out/co-supervising with the cooking, while holding a minor role in the play. We managed to skillfully fuse the play and presentation of the dishes, that, honestly, left me in awe, let alone the judges. I would actually upload the pictures of the food to perhaps try to show how we got a perfect score, but my photos sort of suck... I'll post once the real photos come out =).

The theme was 300, so we had a skit depicting a shortened version of the movie (very well, might I add, complete with key lines, even breaking the 4th wall down in the process). Greek food to suit the theme. We had an appetiser consisting of Greek salad and onion soup, pita bread to go with Tzatziki dip, then a main course with pan-fried beef patties with cheese-melt centres, and a yogurt honey nut dessert. We even had decorations like carved tomatoes and chillies to make the presentation even more spectacular. The impressive part is that whole thing was pretty much made from scratch, with a $40 budget and about 3 hours to do it. It was so good we finished the rest of what the judges left behind when they left.

Oh yes, that night the seniors orchestrated a grand plan called "fright night", which involved setting the mood by telling ghost stories, and then sending us to be bundled off, blindfolded, on a truck, to what was supposed to be a haunted place. (The truth was that there was actually one of the more famous haunted places in Singapore nearby, the Old Changi General Hospital). They then told us we were going there. Then they split us up into pairs of guy/girl within our OG and sent us into this building, telling us just to follow the light sticks on the floor. Basically the M2s did this grand decoration of the entire chalet (which was what it turned out to be, another chalet at another place), full of perfectly made up ghosts and zombies and the like jumping about, screaming, making horrific noises, and setting the scene really well. The effort they put in could really be seen, and I think they did a great job. The stupid part? Our OG has more guys than girls. And due to random (rotten, as usual) luck, I got the other guy. In short, completely ruined the whole thing. Seriously going into a haunted house with another guy just completely defeats the purpose. You just aren't even scared anymore, because neither of you are, and it just becomes dumb. No girl to set the ambiance, and believe me it makes a huge difference. Still, they effort they put into doing up the whole chalet and costumes/make-up should really be applauded though. Great route too. Sad that I could actually notice things like these. This is what happens sigh.

The third day morning was war games, and then we sort of realised for sure our team's weakness... Rough games. We just can't beat other teams when it comes to them, since our OG seems to consist of the milder sort of people, if no less skilled, loud, and plain 1337 players. Coupled with the fact that all the other OGs pretty much alliance'd to take us down, being the top ranked team. The results... Were disastrous. Ok, not that bad. We still managed not to come in last. But it did spoil our score... We ended up at about second or third place at the end of camp.