Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Never In A Million Years

Hey everybody! Its been awhile since you've heard from us so let me get you caught up...

The World Scout Youth Conference concluded an Rogla and it was a huge success! It was the best attended Youth Conference ever held with 186 participants from over 60 countries. We left having passed a declaration, recommendations to the triennial plan, and recommendations to the World Scout Committee. We also elected six new World Youth Advisors. These Youth Advisors will serve as youth representatives to the World Scout Committee and give a youth voice on issues impacting the scouting program internationally as well as advocating for more youth involvement throughout WOSM. After a long week of hard work it was time to recharge our batteries before the conference. 

On Friday we started the Interevent program with a tour of the famous Slovenian caves.  These caves take two hours to hike through along the river that winds through them. After our tour we continued on to the city of Portarose where we would be staying for the weekend. Our hostel overlooked the Adriatic Sea with a view of Croatia and Italy. Who can complain with accommodations like that?! The next morning our adventure continued with a trip to Piran. In Piran we participated in a scavenger hunt and Slovenia trivia game, had lunch at a small pizzeria by the sea, went swimming (where I found out that the Adriatic DOES have sea urchins), and did some shopping before our hike back to the hostel. 

On Sunday it was time to get back to business and get ready for the reason that we all came here. The World Scout Conference was ready to get underway. We boarded a bus to Ljubljana. Once arriving in Ljubljana we participated in the international street festival where cultural games were shared by all. Team USA shared one of our favorite pastimes with the wonderful game of football. After a few bruises were earned and even more new friends were made, we continued to check into our hotel before meeting up with the rest of the BSA delegation for dinner. Once dinner was completed we made it back to the hotel to prepare for the long week ahead of us. 

Never in a million years could I ever have imagined anything as amazing and life changing as this entire experience has been. It may be exhausting, but every last bit of it is fun. Somehow you find the energy to keep going when you are working for something bigger and greater than yourself and these two weeks are a fantastic example of that. I hope that throughout the rest of our time here we can continue to make BSA and the United States proud while still having fun and making memories along the way.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the update Gerry! Glad you guys are having a great time. Can't wait to hear all about it once you all return home.

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