Yes #3: Snowboarding in Morzine

If you've read my blog previously, you will know that I went snowboarding in La Rosière with the Caring Cancer Trust and had the most amazing time ever! Well, a few months after we came home, I got a call from them asking if I would like to go again as a mentor on the summer trip. I couldn't believe that they wanted to take me again! But unfortunately, I couldn't go as I was on a family holiday the week they had the summer trip scheduled for. But then they asked me something else:
"Okay then, what about next years winter trip? We can put you on that trip as a mentor?"

I honestly couldn't believe it! But of course, I accepted their offer.

When it come round to April 2013, it was time to drive up to London to meet everyone. This time, because of how horrible the coach journey was the year before, we were meeting at the airport to fly there. This meant the journey was quicker and much more pleasant; the flight to Geneva only took around an hour and a half and then there was an hour drive into France and up the mountains. When we got out plane tickets, we just sat in the seats on our tickets rather than swapping around. This was good because I didn't know anyone this year, so I made friends with the person I sat next to. His name was Tom and he was really nice! We got on really well, and throughout the rest of the holiday we became good friends, as did I with everyone else.

One girl I shared a room with was called Shannon. She was such a lovely girl, and we've become such good friends and we still keep in touch and see each other now. I couldn't ask for a better person to share these holidays and this experience with than her.

When we arrived at our chalet in the evening, it seemed a lot more modern than the one we stayed in the previous year, but it was still so pretty and it had an amazing view over the little village! The inside consisted of several bedrooms, a lovely living and dining area everyone could sit together at and a games room with an xbox and a table football game! It was such a nice chalet with so much to do!

Before we had out first dinner, we went out to the hire shop to get out boots, boards and skis. There were 5 of us on snowboards and 10 on skis. We were ready for our first day!

To get right to the top of the mountain where we would be skiing, we had to take the gondola which was really scary because it was so old a shaky, but gave you such a good view!

We started off going over the basics so that me and another boy who had gone the previous year (I didn't recognise him at the airport, but I remembered him now!) could remember what to do and the other 3 could start learning. I picked it up again surprisingly quickly! Then we got going down some small slopes learning to slide across the mountain and turn.

By the end of the week, we were going down a red slope (the second hardest slope you will find. VERY steep with no obstacles).

During this holiday, I made closer relationships with the other kids than I did with the previous holiday because instead of the snowboarders and skiers going to different places, we all stayed in the same chalet together and we had chances for boarders and skiers to go down the same slopes at the same time. And on occasions, skiers took the snowboarders round flat slopes which are a snowboarders worst nightmare because you get stuck, so the skiers had to pull us boarders along with their sticks, it was great fun! haha! 

Because everyone had to work together, we all formed closer bonds and good relationships.

We all formed such good friendships that we even worked together to get up to mischief  too!

When we first got to our chalet, on each of our beds were an SPF Lipbalm, a small bottle of showergel and a small bottle of shampoo.

So one day, (in the girls defence, the boys started this off, we just went outside and joined in the fun), the boys got all of their little bottles of showergel and shampoo the chalet had supplied and poured them al into the hot tub and then turn the hot tub jets on, and this happened: 

The bubbles rolled all the way down the hill eventually..

This all happened over the period of about 20 minutes, if that! 

The adults weren't too happy about it and they told everyone involved that they would have to help the chalet staff clean the tub out, but when they told he chalet staff this, they laughed, said it was such a funny idea and they said "oh no, you had fun! Cleaning it out is our job, that's what we're paid for, don't worry about that!". They were amazing about it. At the beginning of the week, they even challenged us to get as many people in the hot tub as possible, their best try was 14 people. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to beat it because not everybody wanted to go in the hot tub): But if they did, we could have done it easily!

During the day, skiing and snowboarding was so much fun, but by the end of the day you were aching so a soak in the hot tub was fab! 

During the day, we even got to relax in the cafè with a nice hot chocolate!

But then we went out again after and worked harder than ever!

When we arrived home in the afternoon, the chalet staff always had some treats waiting for us, sometimes a cake, sometimes brownies and sometimes cookies, but they all made by them during the day, how lovely!

Once we had nibbled on these (they were always so delicious!) we would have a shower, have some dinner and then either go down into the games room together and challenge each other on table football (team Stewie and Alex for the win!) or one night we all sat round the sofas together, even with Graham Bell (an olympic skier) and his family and sang songs whilst James, our snowboarding instructor played the guitar. We even got Graham and Ash, one of the three amazing chalet staff, to take it in turns playing on the guitar with James! Little duets(:

It was such a lovely atmosphere and it's one of them special nights I'll never forget!

The chalet staff were truly amazing and I couldn't thank them enough for what they did for us! I have missed these guys so much since we left it's unreal! Three in a million these are!

Thankyou Ash, Stu and Jez!

But the most special part of this holiday that I will never ever ever ever ever forget was getting to witness AND be a part of an engagement between to wonderful people!

At the beginning of the day, only some of the adults knew what was going to happen, then I got secretly told it by the nurse I was super close to (who's name I'm not mentioning because she didn't tell me anything at all, really..) and then a few more of the kids found out but by the time it happened, half of the kids still didn't know!

During lunch, we were called outside for a group "photo". Four of the boys were given a folded banner to hold, and they were told that when the camera man had counted down from 3, once he reached 1, they were to drop the sign so we could see what it said. The four boys genuinely thought the sign just said the name of the charity, but in fact it said "will you marry me?".

Then one got down on ones knee and proposed to his beautiful girlfriend, in to which she said yes!

It the most extraordinary and romantic and cutest and wonderful thing I have ever witnessed and the fact he wanted us kids to be a part of it to make it as special as possible just, wow. I have no words for it!

Thankyou and congratulations!

The fact I got the opportunity to do this once again, I couldn't thank Ian, the hon secretary of the charity, and everybody else enough! 

The experience has honestly changed my life for the better.

This charity is such an amazing charity and I will do whatever I can to give what they have given me back to them!

You can have an opportunity like this if you just say yes. It may be hard at first, but you will never thank yourself for saying that three letter word!

Don't be afraid,

Say Yes!

Yes #2: Joining St John Ambulance Cadets

My dream job is to become a Paramedic. I've been helped so much in my life and I want to give that back, and what better way to do that than working in an ambulance and travelling different places and never knowing what you're going to find!

To fulfil this dream, I want to study Paramedic Science in university, but one of their requirements is experience in a medical environment so I researched and found that being a cadet with St John Ambulance you learn basic first aid and get first aid qualifications and you go on get the chance to go on first aid duty at public events. And these sort of duties are exactly what the universities are looking for. So I said yes and went for it..

Just like the last trip, I didn't know anyone at all, but there were more advantages to joining than disadvantages. I rang (or should I say my mum rang..) the number we found on the St John website and they gave us the nearest meeting point and the time they meet and just said to go along. So we did..

When I got there, there was another girl there joining for the first time as well so I felt a bit more comfortable. But it turned out she already knew someone there.. But we still got on well and we've been good friends since.

I really enjoyed the first meeting with them and I kept going back each week. 

Through joining them, I've been on a few courses and learnt a lot of first aid skills that could potentially save someone's life, been on first aid duty and helped treat people's injuries and made several new lovely friends!

Cheeky selfie in my uniform on course!

Saying yes to joining St John Ambulance has given me so many opportunities and has taught me some valuable life skills. I've got so much out of it and there isn't one thing I regret about joining.

Don't be afraid,

Say Yes!

My First Yes : Snowboarding in La Rosière

The first time I ever said yes was at an opportunity to go snowboarding in the French Alps with the Caring Cancer Trust, a charity that take recovering cancer patients (16 and under) away on holiday as a treat after their treatment.

Here is my story of why and how:

Early December, 2011, I went up to see the charity worker/event organiser on the ward I was treated on as a child to hand in some sponsor money I had raised for the ward. I fund raise for the ward every year as part of saying thank you for saving my life, because "thank you" is never enough. 

Whilst I was there, she asked me if I wanted to go skiing with a charity. I immediately said yes because skiing is something I had always wanted to do. However, she then said that I would be going alone. My parents wouldn't be coming and I would go with volunteers of the charity and other children in the same situation as me. I suddenly decided that was too much, and to go without my parents is a step to far, but I still wanted to go skiing, for free too! I said I didn't know, but after some encouragement, persuasion and strong advice, I said yes. 

I didn't know why I said yes, maybe I just thought they would stop pestering me if I did, but it turned out to be the best decision ever!

When the day come and we went to the hospital to get on the coach, I was petrified! I didn't know anyone! Okay, I had met them at the meeting a few weeks before, but I knew nothing about them and they know nothing about me.

Everyone who was skiing went to one part of the Alps, and us 9 kids who were snowboarding went to another part so I was sat on the coach with the children I would be staying with. That made me feel slightly more relaxed because it meant I didn't have to make friends with everyone on the coach, only a few people, but I was still terrified!

I spent the first hour on the coach sat in silence, cuddling my bear and being too scared to talk. The girl I was sat next to was just as shy as me, so even she didn't try to make conversation. Eventually though, the boy sat over the other side of the isle, Lewis, started talking to me and made me feel a bit more relaxed.

By the time we had got off the ferry in France, I had made friends with Olivia, the girl I was sat next to on the coach, another girl names Crystal and Henry, the boy who was sat next to Lewis on the coach. It was a challenge making friends with them and talking to them, but when there's nothing else really to do and you're all as scared as each other, it's a bit easier than it should be.

The rest of the coach journey was fun and laughter really. We all settled down with each other, got to know one another and we all felt a lot more relaxed around each other so we had a good laugh. Especially because Henry had too many double espresso's (even though any sort of energy drink, fizzy drink or caffeine was banned on the coach) and me Lewis and Olivia had to stay up all night to keep him from running up and down the coach!

The worst bit was over, I had made friends and the ice was broken. 

After 24 hours on the coach, we dropped off all the skiers at their resort and headed off to ours to enjoy our holiday! We stayed at a lovely chalet called Chalet Rosière:

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Chalet Rosière
(you can probably tell this is two pictures put together, but it's the only way you can see the whole chalet.  And it works!)

When we got there, we chose our rooms, dumped our bags, got our jackets and salopettes on, went and hired our boards and started learning the basics of boarding almost straight away! When you first step on the board, it's a lot slipperier than you think! I can't lie, ended up on my bum quite a lot!

Over the week, we learnt different skills on the board. We started at the bottom of the slope with only our front foot strapped in just sliding down making sure we had the right balance. Then by lunchtime on our first full day, we were using the chair lift going right to the top of the slope and slowly coming down on our heel edge with both of our feet strapped in learning to do 'the leaf'. That means sliding left and right, from one side of the slope to the other and back. Over the rest of the week, we built our confidence, learnt how to turn from our heel edge to our toe edge and even learnt some jumps off of the slope edge and by the end of the week, we were zooming down the slope and even going off piste and through all of the trees! I honestly felt so free on the board and I loved every minute of it!

In the evenings, after a long day of snowboarding, we chilled out in the hot tub (with the most incredible view in front of us may I add!) before dinner, and after dinner we chilled by the camp fire singing songs together while Jim (one of our amazing instructors) played his guitar, did treasure hunts inside and outside of the chalet and watched films. They're moments I will never forget, to just sit with such lovely people and have such a wonderful time!

So that was my holiday. One of the best experiences of my life I shall say! A holiday I will never forget!

A few months later, we were all invited to the Ski and Snowboard Show in London as a big reunion. Whilst we were there, we joined in several activities, got a chance to do some more snowboarding on a dry slope and got to watch back a short film that the camera guys (who were so incredible and their photography skills we immense!) we went with put together of our holiday. We even got to meet Graham Bell, and Olympic skiing champion. It was so lovely to see everyone again and see they were all doing well!

Our other amazing instructor. I love this lady, she's one of the loveliest people I have ever met!

So yes, there is my first story of saying yes. I hope you enjoyed reading about my holiday and I hope it inspires you to say yes!

I apologise for it being so long, but that's mainly because of all the pictures!

Don't be afraid,
Say Yes!

Introduction

In my life, I've missed out on so many opportunities because I've been too scared to do something on my own because I've always been a really shy person and to meet new people is something I hide away from.

Looking back now, I wish I had said yes!

 

At the end of 2011, with the encouragement of other people, I decided enough was enough, and I began to say yes.

What's the worst that can happen? I won't enjoy myself, big deal, I just won't have to do it again.
 

Saying yes to one opportunity has changed my life. I have grown so much confidence and since, I have said yes to so many more opportunities and I have met the most amazing people who have become some of my best friends!

Now, I can look back and think "I'm so glad I did that!" instead of thinking "I so wish I did that".

 

In this blog, I'm going to share my experiences of saying yes by writing about the opportunites and trips I have been lucky enough to be a part of and some that I have coming up.

I hope that sharing my experiences will inspire people to say yes too! Because saying yes is the best decision I have ever made!!

 

I hope you enjoy reading about everything and everyone who have changed my life for the better! I'd love to hear your experiences of saying yes too!
 

Don't be afraid,
Say Yes!