The journey to the selection course with an unexpected turn of events

A night in Glasgow

Plan in motion

I was expected to be picked up by Susan from there we would drive to her house and there I would chill out with the rest of the family. I was quite nervous but happy with the plan.

What did not occur, was exactly that! Instead Susan told me that I was to meet one of her daughters at a pub in Glasgow centre. You may be thinking that this would have triggered my inner introvert, but I didn't really have time to panic as within moments a girl with a baggy ripped shirt and crazy sunglasses was bounding towards me, a couple of her friends trailing shortly behind. I, being weird, tried to exchange an awkward handshake with them all. To that I received and equally awkward laugh. Miriam (one of the twins and the crazy sunglasses girl) introduced herself followed shortly by her friends before pulling me towards the pub.

Later I found out that she had just come back from a gap year herself so all her friends were coming to the pub to meet her. Feeling as if I had totally crashed her party I apologised. With the warmest of smiles she pulled me in for a hug and clinked her glass with mine; "nonsense" she whispered. Simultaneously her friend sat next to me (from London and the poshest person alive) fist bumped my face. Feeling a little better I finished the rest of my drink.

After a while the party moved inside and more people arrived. One girl was nick named, "skin head" - (she had shaved her head). With her was a boy, he was very good looking and very camp. We exchanged a look and they walked out to introduce themselves. From then on they had adopted me for the night. The rest of the evening was spent with them putting glitter on my face and dressing me in someone else's clothes! Before I knew it we were going out clubbing. Help me.

The walk to the club to my surprise was filled with passionately political conversations of which my contributions were loud and welcomed with shouts of , "YES EXACTLY" and, "Couldn't have said it better myself". The night turned into the morning and having danced as much as I could we decided it was time to go and get some sleep. I said my goodbyes sadly and headed home with my host. Joined by one of her friends we got back and I had a bowl of noodles before I finally laid my head on a soft pillow and fell into sweet oblivion.

The next morning I woke up in a rush - slight headache I got in the shower then barely touched up my make up before saying goodbye to the most humble of hosts. On to the coach I got. TO OBAN!

Oban

Once in Oban I found my youth hostel not far from the bus stop. It was brightly coloured with clashy furniture, the kind that makes you feel like you're on a school trip that isn't going well and you're feeling homesick.

There were already a lot of people sat in the lounge all laughing with one another. No doubt they were PT volunteers too. Feeling hungover, and anxious I went to put my stuff in my room - hoping for some alone time.

I did not find it as I soon realised I was to be sharing the room with 9 other girls of which some were sat in the room. It was at this point that I texted my sister, it went something like this:

"Romina, I hate this already, everyone has already made friends and i'm not going to make any."

Of which she replied. It went something like this:

"Go to the bathroom, splash water on your face and suck it up - you need to do this. I love you"

It was at that moment I made the decision that I was no longer an introvert but the hugest extrovert. Time to act!

I placed my bag on the bed turned round and introduced my self to the girls, " Hi, my name is El, I am absolutely starving, have you guys eaten yet?" To that I received a few laughs and I exchanged an awkward half smile with this girl who I had sort of directed my little speech to. She introduced herself back in a thick Irish accent, "Hi El, I'm Sarah" After a few short conversations the girls and I decided to get some chips for dinner. Having felt like I had made a few potential friends I was comfortable enough to join them with the rest of volunteers upstairs. We suggested playing some games to get to know each other a bit before heading to bed. Once in the room everyone settled down to sleep which lasted a few minutes before the girl in the bed next to me struck up a conversation, " Do you know what time we need to be up tomorrow?" She asked. She sounded very posh and remind me of someone I knew. I replied and soon we were in a full blown conversation. Before long the rest of the girls in the room were gathered round our beds and we all had a huge giggle before really deciding to hit the rock.

Thoughts - This trip is actually going to be great.

The Boat Journey to Coll

After getting up at an ungodly hour we had our breakfast and headed to the dock. Whilst there, more PT volunteers appeared.The girl (Vic) who was in the bunk next to me stuck with me and we bordered the boat together. (Right so little fact about me - I hate sick so boat journeys where people have the potential to be sea sick FREAK ME OUT! Therefore, I had previously decided I would be spending the entire boat journey up deck). Dragging Vic with me we found the door to the outside and set up camp in the freezing cold... for the next three hours. After a little while two other girls also ventured out. One with curly ginger hair and one with curly blond hair. Conversation was instantly stuck up and I knew we would get on well. After that, the 3 hours flew by and before I knew it we were docking up on Coll Island.