Canoe Believe It?

This past weekend, my rotary district was invited to go on a canoeing trip. There were nine exchange students on the trip but eleven rotex and rebounds. When someone joins Rotary, especially rotary youth exchange, you get to learn a lot of new keywords and phrases that are commonly used between exchange students. For example, a rebound is a person who has returned from their exchange less than one year ago. A rotex is anyone who has been on exchange and is still involved with rotary. A few other words we use include newbies and oldies. Most exchange students begin their years in the fall and return home near the end of the summer, but there are a few that begin their exchanges in winter, and end their exchange the following winter. The most notable country that exchanges that way is Australia because their school year generally starts in January. They do it this way so that when they leave and come back from exchange, they aren’t leaving in the middle of their school year. Currently, all of the exchange students who just left for exchange like me are called newbies, and the Australians and other students who began their exchanges last winter are oldies. This winter when all the oldies go home, I will become an oldie. Now that you know a little bit more about rotary, I will get back to the canoeing trip. The morning before I left, I got up a few hours early so I would be certain that I would have enough time to pack everything, be

cause I neglected to pack the night before. I made my breakfast smoothie, packed, and realized that I still had two hours before we would need to drive to Malmö for me to catch the train. This has been a common theme of my exchange so far, especially with school. I wake up way earlier then I need to so that I have plenty of time to get ready, and end up having tons of extra time that I wasn't planning on having. This usually results in a lack of sleep, but it gives me plenty of time to work on my Swedish and other tasks that always seem to be piling up. Once it was actually time to leave, Ebba and I hopped in the car and drove to Malmö. From there I met the other two girls from Malmö going on the trip and we made our way to Höör, where the camp was taking place. We got to the Höör train station and met everyone else. From there we drove to the launching place where we would depart in our canoes. On the drive there it started raining, then pouring. We were all a little disappointed because we would have to sit in open canoes for at least the next four hours, but right before we got in the canoes the rain stopped! We pushed off from the shore and made our way down the river. For the next four hours, we sat in the sun while using minimal effort to propel ourselves forward along the lazy flow of the river. Despite constantly running into the river banks and getting stuck under trees, it was a fairly relaxing experience. After a lunch break and a few more hours of canoeing, we were all a little relieved to arrive at our destination. Although relaxing, sitting for so many hours at a time can be quite tiring From what I could see, we would be camping on a little fenced-in field right next to the river. There were two vast military tents set up to one side of the campsite and a couple wooden picnic tables on the other side with mowed grass stretching between. We spent the next few hours building a fire, playing games, and finally cooking dinner. We all brought our own dinners for the grill and took turns cooking them on the metal grate balanced on top of the coals. I brought with me a salad and a piece of Halloumi, a kind of grillable cheese. I had never had this before so the Swedish rebounds had to explain to me that you can put it on the grill just like any meat and it won’t melt because of its high melting point, then you can eat it plain or accompany it with other foods. After dinner, we played soccer and just enjoyed being in nature. The rest of the night before bed seemed like it would be uneventful, until one of our leaders fell and hit her head on a log. She immediately passed out but we managed to wake her up after about a minute. We called an ambulance and she was taken to the hospital to be checked for a concussion. Luckily she didn’t have one but the whole affair was definitely scary for everyone. After the ambulance left, we all decided it was time for bed. It was cold outside and we were all ready to hunker down in our sleeping bags anyway. That night, I lay in my sleeping bag shivering. The tents that we were in had small fireplaces and we had one going but no one stayed awake to keep it alive so after about an hour it died, and after another hour went by, it was about as cold inside as it was outside. Around about 23 (11pm) I decided to get up and try to start the fire. I soon realized that everyone else in the tent except for the leaders were also awake because of the cold. We agreed that we had to get the fire started. After about thirty minutes of me struggling to get a new fire started with the coals, we realized that we would need more starter wood and lighter fluid if we wanted to be successful. In the middle of the night, we all got our shoes on and prepared for the sprint to the woodshed. We opened the tent flaps and all sprinted in the dark to what we thought was the shed. We couldn’t see anything because none of us thought to bring a flashlight and the only source of light was the brilliant stars above, which did almost nothing to help us see through the darkness. After about five minutes, I had enough twigs and small pieces of wood to start a fire and I hurried back to the tent. After many failed attempts, I finally got a large piece of wood to catch and we finally had fire. We all huddled together in our sleeping bags and went back to sleep, dreaming of soft beds and warm toes. Sadly, we made the same mistake twice and forgot to make sure someone could keep the fire alive. I woke up the next morning to see my breath floating in front of my face and the other girls, still trying to warm themselves up. Once everyone else was awake and outside, we shared our stories from the freezing cold night and enjoyed hot chocolate and instant coffee. After breakfast, we packed lunches, cleaned up the campsite, and got ready to continue on our journey down the river. The beginning of the second day on the river was beautiful as well. We took it slow and enjoyed the views while maneuvering through rapids and around sharp corners. For lunch, we all stopped at another campsite. Because we all went at our own paces, the group was widely spread out along the river so while waiting for the others, we explored the site and eventually settled down at a picnic table to eat lunch. One of the pairs of canoers showed up in different clothes than they were wearing earlier that day and they informed us that less than ten minutes after launching off the bank that morning, they got caught and capsized. My partner and I agreed that we would absolutely NOT capsize because these two girls quite frankly, looked miserable. Across the river from where we were having lunch was a cow pasture where a few cows watched us curiously as we ate our sandwiches and they ate their grass. After about an hour’s break, we set off again. The sun was present for the next few hours until the weather decided to change. One moment it was sunny and the next it was pouring down rain. The next thing we knew, there were loud crashes of thunder and lightning. The river suddenly seemed to pick up its pace and navigating the fallen trees became much more difficult. My partner was teaching me the Swedish version of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” as we pushed through the water when in the middle of one of the verses, I found myself in the water. So much for not capsizing. Even though the water was freezing cold, I wasn't too sad that we had tipped because what I thought was our ending point was right in front of us. The first thing I did was try to find my canoe partner. She was easy to find and we waited by our overturned canoe for the next group to come find us. Shortly after, another group turned the corner and we grabbed onto their boat as they dragged us to shore. Some more groups helped flip our canoe back over and empty it out while we got changed into dry clothes. I was very wrong about where we were ending and we still had about twenty minutes left to paddle so we had to get back into our freshly cleaned canoe and quickly, but very carefully, make our way to the finish. Almost two minutes after we got back on the water and headed down the river we saw two more people standing on the river bank shivering. They had they same problem as us and had to change and also finish canoeing to the end. Eventually we made it to the end and were very grateful to be done. Overall, I had a blast this weekend. I got to hang out with my exchange student friends and meet new ones. The only part of the trip that I regret was losing my Patagonia pullover somewhere to the river. Other than that unfortunate mishap, I would undeniably do it all over again.