Gaisce 2017

4pm on Friday arrived in the blink of an eye. It was as if all us Gaisce students were in the chorus of HSM singing 'WHAT TIME IS IT? SUMMER TIME!' With great excitement, we ran to SuperValu and grabbed all the goodies we could find, then sprinted to the bus. We couldn't wait.

The hour long journey was filled with booming music, laughter and catching up on the latest Riverdale episode! On the way, we spotted the looming mountains and our hearts skipped a beat as we realised we would be climbing them that night and the next morning. As soon as we arrived, we gathered in the games room and were introduced to our guides. We then pushed our way to the rooms list to grab a room with our friends. We were shown to our rooms; ours was filled with 10 bunk beds. Then the clock struck 6pm. It was time; the hike had finally arrived.

That evening, we hiked 10km. While the first hill was almost impossible to walk up (considering it was basically a vertical wall!) we made it eventually, and we were all extremely proud afterwards. Some of us even jogged the last few hundred metres! We all whooped with joy at the finish line, and scurried back inside to enjoy a delicious pasta dish, followed by ice cream wafers and biscuits. 

At 10:30pm, the guides called us to the games room over the intercom. We fretfully played a game of Heads Up, and then headed straight to bed. Well, bed as in staying up chatting and laughing all night long! At precisely 8am, the intercom burst into loud music, waking us up from our sweet dreams. Breakfast was served, followed by sandwiches, popcorn, fruit and millions of sweets. The last 15km of the trip stood before us. Could we do it?

These last few kilometres were extremely hard, as we were constantly climbing up a gradual hill. At least our thighs and calves felt fabulously toned afterwards!! Hiking up the Cooleys was next to impossible, and the Haribos really came in handy to provide us with extra energy...!!! 

After we had finally completed the 25km in total, we collapsed on the benches and waited for the bus to bring us back to home sweet home. We were all so proud of ourselves for completing the hike, as we were the fastest year to do so! Overall, it was an amazing weekend and I can't believe I'm saying it, but I'd love to do it again!