Lucy tells us about the exciting adventure that is NCS. Read in her own words how she is having the summer of a lifetime with YG.

So this week of NCS was pretty emotional for me but also amazing! I have had an unforgettable, hilarious time at UKSA which is basically a sailing academy based in the Isle of Wight. The instructors were the nicest, funniest people ever! And I’ll always be using the chant “when I say UK, you say SA” – it’s just so catchy! I want to thank them for being such helpful, lovely, hilarious people.

 

Our team was amazing. Because all the leaders were always telling us to put on suncream we decided that would be our team name but we changed it to ‘sun scream’ probably because we were always screaming! A girl called Becky made up an amazing moto for us that went “one team, one dream, if you believe you can achieve TEAM SUN SCREAM” and we were constantly chanting it to support everyone throughout the week.

 

I just wanted to share a few memories and achievements here.

 

Day 1

 

So we started off at the ‘young gloucestershire’  base where we got to know the people in our teams by playing games and surprisingly I got pretty much everyone’s name right pretty quickly! We then got on the coach to Southampton. Me and my friend spent the whole time entertaining everyone by singing Union J, The Vamps and 5sos really loud the whole way.. knowing us!  Unfortunately we ended up missing the first ferry so we spent an hour in the ferry port café which was a good thing in a way because it meant we got to socialize with our team members more. The ferry was extremely windy but the view from the top was amazing!

 

When we arrived in the Isle of Wight, we were greeted by our instructors who told us we had to walk so we could catch some pokemons which wasn’t even relevant for me.. I was literally surrounded by pokemon go players not really knowing what to do because I am not part of the pokemon obsesser squad

 

In the evening we went up to a park which literally took longer to get there then the time we actually spent there! (well it felt like it anyway) we went through the rules of our team during NCS and the funniest most memorable one was no ‘sexy time’/ PDA and throughout most of the week, we were shouting PDA at practically everything everyone did

 

I felt really confident talking within the group about what I wanted to achieve and the best part of the day. They were all lovely people anyway!

 

However, when we got back, anxiety basically came and slapped me in the face. I felt really panicy and I felt zero confidence. Everyone was so loud and energetic while I just wanted to cry. All I wanted to do was go home and I felt I couldn’t cope anymore even though I thought I’d be fine. I texted my friends who weren’t there and they were able to pick me back up again. Luckily I was determinded and confident the next day to take part in the activities and ended up not wanting to go home! (Apart from to sleep of course).

 

Day 2

 

The first activity was paddle boarding. This was probably one of my favourites and it took my anxiety as soon as I started. I actually thought I’d suck at it! As soon as I tried to stand up I flipped right over, I was the second to fall in! That was when I learnt I loved falling in! I was unable to try again though but with encouragement from our instructor (Katie who was a massive bezzie) I was finally able to stand up and carry on paddling. (Umm also shoutout to the guy who made fun of my accent! How dare you! Hahaha) We then had all the boards in long line and had to run down them (I thought I’d fall off on the first one!) unfortunatly I tripped on the penaltimate one, it was heartbreaking haha!

 

The second activity was the HIGHLIGHT I reckon! Dingy sailing! Never ever ever trust me and Chloe in the middle of the ocean with a dingy boat… We failed miserably (partly because we were just singing Union J, The Vamps and 5sos again!) It was so so windy therefore it was so hard to hook the sail on when it was heavy and flapping in our faces! It was so funny because I tipped out eventually but moments after I got back in we both tipped out and had to jump into an instructors boat and attached our boat and pulled us back to the beach. I literally felt everyone judging us and laughing at us.. It was SO FUNNY!!

 

Day 3

 

This was probably my favourite day. We firstly took part in some team games. I genuinely thought I’d be a let down to the team but oh.. I WAS SO WRONG! I can’t remember all of them off the top of my head but there was one game where we had a cup attached to a helmet and we had to run into the sea and pick up as much water as we could and run it back to the bucket to catch as much water as we could. We lost but I was quite proud of how well I did because I thought I would get literally nothing but ended up with a whole cup each time! Another great one was when we were all stood on a plank and had to get into height order without talking and without falling off the plank BUT while getting sprayed with water or cold water being tipped down our wetsuits and we actually did it!!! Afterwards we ended up having a massive water fight and it was so so funny! And finally, probably my favourite was the ‘ice burg’, it was basically a soft barrel marshmellow thing??  (great description I know) and we had to jump onto it but it was SO hard which made it even funnier! At one point, we had to cheer on our leader Beth because she really couldn’t do it (WELL DONE BETH!) someone also landed in an awkward position and someone yelled “be grateful that you’re not a boy” and it cracked me right up!  I actually cannot remember the other games so apologies! Me and Amber randomly jumped in and we did a squad high school musical jump (well attempted it)

 

We then were able to take our wetsuits off early because we went keel boating. I had Chloe, Amber, Victoria and Irem and we made a fab team not going to lie! The funniest part was when our instructor Alice (another massive bezzie) tipped the boat up and everyone was on the floor screaming especially Amber (love you!) and I was just casually sat there the whole time laughing my head off at them… I think Amber’s screams were more scary than the boat actually tipping! We then got to sit on the edge of the boat for 2 hours and it was so relaxing! We were just chilling, talking about life and looking out to the gorgeous view!

 

Day 4 

 

The last day was great, we started off raft building and learnt how to tie and untie different knots (another thing I thought I’d suck at!) then we had to race them but it got hard when we weren’t allowed paddles ….and WE WON!

 

Lastly, we did kyaking. I knew what I was doing in this one because I’ve done it before. The coolest part was when we were were throwing around a squashy toy thing (my descriptions are just great) and at one point, I had to launch myself off the boat to grab it! I just loved going in! Our team- Team Beth won!! I was so proud!

Afterwards we basically made a theme park ride where 3-5 of us got in a kayak attached to string and got chucked in. They made me and Chloe did the classic titanic pose.. It was so so fun!

 

THE DISCO WAS THE BEST PART OF THE WHOLE WEEK! At first I didn’t feel like dancing, but the second Meghan Trainor came on I went crazy on the dance floor! I had some ‘Meghan Motivation’ as my leader Beth said! Me and Amber were definitelty the best dancers there! We even had a dance off and everything.. The best parts were doing the macarena and YMCA, it was mental! Also me and Amber had been doing the cha cha slide because when we were moving the boats they kept saying “reverse reverse” so it was funny to actually be doing it at the disco it was also hilarious when gangnam style came on, I was like “bye guys” and I left and basically everyone followed after me we had a squad  circle and sang our lungs out to a few songs including a grease megamix and then wonderwall.. Such a great moment! I wanna do it all over again! Me and Amber fell on the floor laughing because we were singing and dancing so much

 

What I learnt / achieved this week:

 

1. How to eat a full English breakfast at 7am in 20 minutes everyday

 

2. How to untie massive knots?

 

3. How to put on a wetsuit- because lets be real, I find everything in life so complex

 

4. Facing my fears and giving everything a go

 

5. All the things the people in my room were lecturing on about

 

6. How to go to the toilet when stuck in a wet swimming costume and wetsuit using ONE HAND! (TMI I know, I know)

 

7. Why not to use a vending machine anymore

 

8. How fun capsizing in a boat really is!

 

9. That I can really win the game ‘splat’!! – I ALWAYS GO OUT IN THE FIRST ROUND!!!!!

 

10.  That I hate the game ‘capture the flag’ …..

 

11. How to stand up on a paddle boat because I eventually did it without falling off!

 

12. To not eat a load of cake and then hit the dance floor

 

13. That I’m not very good at pouring people drinks

 

14. Being able to communicate in a group (I actually can’t believe it happened if I’m honest!)

 

15. NEVER EVER GIVING UP!

 

In conclusion I’ve had a fabulous time and I’m so proud that I did so many things I never thought I could do. Team Sun Scream for the win!

 

Lots of love to everyone from ‘princess juicy lucy’ (don’t ask, that was what they called me all week)

 

Peace out x