'Its called character building'

Hey everyone! This weekend was an important (which is code for extremely stressful) one for me: it was my assessed Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition. I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about but for those who don't, basically,me and the team had to follow a route on a map -without getting lost- and camp overnight (as well as cooking and pitching tents), then we had to wake up, pretty early I may add and do the walking bit again but, luckily, we didn't have to camp for a second night. As you can see from the picture above, it's not exactly a fashion parade, but all about big rucksacks and comfy shoes. Me and my friends had put so much effort into all the preparation we had to do (planning the route and writing route cards) but we actually thought we might fail, due to the fact that we got six miles lost on our practise. Everything went perfectly on our assessed though and we passed, but only after a few tears and tantrums (all on my part). Let's just say, I had a very bad case of 'cabin fever'. Add a heavy rucksack, a supposedly missing food bag and the fact that I don't really get on with the you most of the time anyway, and you will find yourself having to deal with me and the fact that I can sometimes be a bit of a bitch. Lesson learnt though: saying something bitchy will lead to consequences. For me this was stepping in a patch of stinging nettles in flip flops because I didn't have a torch, followed by having to sit in a tent on my own, before finally plucking up the courage to go to the campfire and apologise for just generally being grouchy. Did I mention, that I also got bitten by some sort of insect and I  have two lumps on my back, which have gone down now, but had originally swelled up because of the rubbing from my rucksack and sweat. I now have loads of aching muscles and can confirm I am not looking forward to school tomorrow.  Although after this weekend I can safely say that, all this so called 'character building' is not for me.