A+S: Hiking Club

Action and Service 

Hiking Club 

Introduction 

The Hiking Club is a student initiated club that will propose different routes to all CAS students to enjoy the beautiful Basque views while doing some exercise. As with any new action activity, the first routes will be easier routes and as time goes by, the routes will become more challenging for all students.

The Hiking Club will start during the month of May and last until the end of the school year.

Once we come back to school in September, we will continue with the activity as long as the weather allows it.

We will try to go hiking twice a month, and if it is not possible at least once a month.

Everybody that has signed him/herself up for this Hiking Club enjoys being surrounded by nature and getting away from the city from time to time. However, going hiking requires time to do the activity and previous preparation to choose and organize a route. Being IB students, this is a problem as time is scarce.

We decided to set up a Hiking Club to organize these routes and go with our classmates or other willing people from school to enjoy the Basque Country’s beautiful views while exercising at the same time! By organizing this club, whoever is willing to come only needs to sign a permission slip and be where and when he/she is told to be. We thought that this club would be helpful for those who wish to go hiking but do not have so much time. We wish to organize this club successfully and hope all hikers to enjoy themselves and achieve all the goals that they set themselves.

Idoia Cunningham and myself are the leaders of the club and this is our long-term student-initiated project.

My Goals 

Our goals are:

• to plan hiking activities for our classmates and ourselves
• to exercise while enjoying nature
• to develop our hiking skills and become more fit
• to create a sense of community and belonging to a group

ANTICIPATED LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth.

By being in charge of the planification of a group activity (with no one’s help) we will be able to increase our awareness of our strengths and areas of growth. Similarly, this could also apply to our hiking skills.

2. Undertaken new challenges

Both taking part in a hiking club and being the leader of such a club are new challenges that we have never faced before: this might be getting permission to do the activity, managing to get everybody to sign the permission slip on time, researching the necessary information to use public transport as a group...

3. Planned and initiated activities

Both of us have initiated the activity, will plan the routes, create permission slips for those who are willing to come and will ask teachers to come with us.

4. Worked collaboratively with others

In order to make this happen, we will have to work collaboratively with others organizing the activity. We will have to make permission slips and contact teachers to come with us as supervisors. We will then have to coordinate the activity for our classmates and work collaboratively with them during the activity.

5. Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities

We will try to organize and attend at least one or two routes per month for all Hiking Club members, showing perseverance and  commitment in our activity.

7. Considered the ethical implications of their actions

By being the leaders of the club, we are responsible to choose the routes appropriately. We must consider the ethical implications of our actions when deciding the difficulty of the route, which route is more appropriate for each season or how the hikers will adapt to the chosen route. We must also consider the ethical implications of our actions by taking care of the environment when we are hiking and encouraging others to do so.

8. Developed new skills

Neither of us has coordinated a club before or gone hiking regularly. We will therefore be able to develop new skills in both of these areas.

Reflections

PREPARATION

Before starting the Hiking Club, many preparations had to be made. We needed to get permission slips done and signed by the director, get all hiking club members to sign and bring back their permission slips, get teachers to come with us as chaperones, research on how to get to our destiny in the best way...

Idoia and I worked together preparing all of this, and it was quite a challenge. For the first time, we got to know first hand how bureaucratic processes can get. We organized ourselves to contact the director and get permission to inform the hiking club members on time.We also collected contact information for every student for the activity on Saturday. Even though we needed to rush to get things done on time, we managed to do it and I feel very satisfied about our work.

PRESENTING THE HIKING CLUB TO UPPER SCHOOL
For now our Hiking Club only involves our 11th grade classmates. However, we are prepared to invite the 10th grade students, in order for them to prepare for next year's CAS activities. We have agreed with the director and with Mariana to present our Hiking Club to the Upper School and invite the 10th graders to the Club. During our first trips we will take pictures and maybe a video to then present in the following Upper School assembly, on the 29th of May.

OUR FIRST TRIP: SERANTES 10th of May 2014
Our first trip will be to the Serantes. We have agreed to meet at 10:00AM in Santurtzi to then take a shuttle cable car to the hillside of the Serantes and start our activity!

After the activity:
This morning we have done our first Hiking Club trip! This morning, I wasn't really feeling like going to the mountain. I preferred to stay in my bed, but finally I got up and did what I had committed myself to do. I have just got back, had lunch, and I feel absolutely exhausted. My legs and feet are sore and I feel soooo tired. The beginning of the trip was OK, we all met at the Santurtzi metro station, got the shuttle, and found the mountain with no problems after asking a hiker from the area. We began the ascension and the group was tired very soon, a bit after the beginning shock however, we managed to get to the top in a decent condition. Some were more tired than others, but I felt quite good. I felt proud of my prior training, as I felt in shape and fit and made a normal effort, but it wasn't the end of the world.

Meeting goals:
My goals for this activity are... Did I meet them?

• to plan hiking activities for our classmates and ourselves

I think that I successfully achieved this goal as I clearly organized an activity for my classmates and myself. I really liked hearing Konstantina, one of the Hiking Club members, how proud she was of herself for having climbed her first mountain ever. I felt that I had collaborated towards that happening by setting up the Hiking Club, and it was a great feeling.

• to exercise while enjoying nature

The pain in my legs and feet are living proof of how I have exercised during this activity. The views during the activity were spectacular so I definitely enjoyed nature. Also, when we were resting on the top of mountain I had a feeling or relaxation and of being on holidays that was great. Getting away from the city buzz once in a while, in my opinion, is very beneficial for all of us.

• to develop our hiking skills and become more fit

• to create a sense of community and belonging to a group

These last two goals are more of a long-term type of goals. All of us were pretty tired at one point or another during the ascension, but we managed to get there. Hopefully, as we start going hiking more frequently we will develop our hiking skills and become more fit. As to the sense of community part, we all were happy to be together and were a team when going up and going down, as we all went together or waited for each other. Again, we will have to wait for more trips in order to see how these goals evolve. 


The day in pictures:

 

First of all, we took the shuttle cable car. 

The Hiking Club leaders were ready to begin the adventure!

The views were wonderful, and the weather was great too. We even got to see a donkey!

The ascension was tough, but the peak of the mountain was getting closer...

We finally got to the peak! Happy, happy, happy. 

 

The views were, again, BEAUTIFUL. 

The whole group together at the top!

Last but least, there's always time for a selfie! 

OUR SECOND TRIP: PAGASARRI 17th of May 2014

Our second trip will be the Pagasarri. The first stage was preparing the permission slip as we have to send it to the director 2 weeks before the activity in order to put it in the school's "Nextweek". We then had to research how to get to the Pagasarri. We found out that we had to meet at the Abando metro station and then take a Bilbobus to San Adrián. From there we have found a route with pictures that gives instructions on how to get to the Pagasarri! The organization part is already done and dusted, now we just have to wait for the ascension...

After the activity:
I have just got back from the ascension to the Pagasarri, but it wasn't the only mountain we climbed... At the beginning of the morning we were progressing appropriately, we had got to the meeting place fine and were ready to take our bus. We didn't have to wait for long for our bus to arrive and we managed to get down the bus in the correct stop with some help of the driver. Idoia and I, the leaders, were first during the first bit of the route. We guided the group to the start of the path, but the first disagreements arised. On the one hand, we had a sign saying Pagasarri, but on the other hand, the boys said the correct route was on the other direction. In the end we trusted the sign and started that route. Keeping the group together was very challenging as some members of the Hiking Club are free spirits, and had troubles following directions. Because of this and the difference in pace between members, we ended up climbing in two groups. This should never have happened in the first place, as you always have to stay together in the mountain, but even though it happened, I think it served as a lesson to everybody and hopefully it won't happen again in the next ascension. 

The boys went before the girls, and the route was not clearly marked. This lead to the boys taking short-cuts without telling the girls about it. Because of this, a group of us ended up getting lost as we couldn't find the rest of the boys. However, the two leaders of the Hiking Club (Idoia and I) and Mariana (our supervisor) remained together, which meant that the ones that were truly lost were the boys of the other group. Once we all had called each other about 20 times and everybody had shouted at everybody else, we got back together. However, the boys still had their own ideas and still thought it was a good idea to take short-cuts. This lead us to end up climbing a different mountain, the ARNOTEGI! By the time we were all ready to turn around and go back home, we hadn't even started the mountain we were supposed to climb. Two for the price of one, two mountains in one morning. 

Once we started climbing the Pagasarri, even though we didn't manage to go all together due to the different paces of the people, we all managed to get to the top and enjoy the outstanding views. By this time, we had exercised all right, some people were nearly dying. However, I am proud to say that I wasn't one of those people. I was very hot as it was a very sunny day, but felt that my training in aerobic was showing off as I had climbed two mountains and was still alive. We rested for a while in the peak of the mountain, took some photos and were ready to go back down. The descent seemed much shorter than the ascension, and in no time we were already waiting for our bus to take us to the center. After a trip on the bus and another on the metro, I was already home. My house looked the same as that same morning, but I was a different person. I had managed to take a group of people to climb not one, but two mountains and had brought all of them back alive. I was ready to eat a house and sleep for about a year, but this wasn't going to be possible, as I had a race first thing in the morning the next day... Who said being an IB students was going to be easy? 

Meeting goals:
My goals for this activity are... Did I meet them?

• to plan hiking activities for our classmates and ourselves

I think that I have achieved this goal during this second trip, as I was able to organize a trip were we met at a metro station (which is accesible to everyone), took a bus and walked to the start of the route. This enables everybody who wants to come to this route to come as it uses accesible public transport and is very cheap. The preparation part was also successful as we prepared permission slips in advance, recollected them before the trip and scanned them to have them with us during the trip. 

• to exercise while enjoying nature

The views during this trip were absolutely amazing, and the clear blue sky and the sunny day also contributed to every member of the Hiking Club to enjoy our beautiful patrimony and nature. While we were enjoying this nature, we were all obviously exercising as we climbed two mountains in one morning. I felt tired yet ready to continue at all times, and my sore body the next day really showed that I had really exercised during that hike. The amount of water that I drank also symbolized how much I was exercising, as my body was constantly loosing water and asking for more.

• to develop our hiking skills and become more fit

Comparing this trip to the previous one, I think that we have further developed our hiking skills and become more fit. During this trip we have learned that it is important to stay together in the mountain and to follow a clear route instead of taking short-cuts. If we put our new knowledge into practice during our next trip, we will be able to further develop our hiking skills. As to becoming more fit, being able to climb two mountains in one morning going at a constant pace, shows that we are improving our endurance and that our prior training to this activity (in my case aerobic) has being effective and has enabled you to take part in this activity.

• to create a sense of community and belonging to a group

Even though we got lost, separated and reunited on several occasions throughout this trip, I think that going through this together (climbing an extra mountain by mistake and still getting to the peak of both) has made us come closer together. Having achieved this as a group, make us all proud of the same achievement that we have done as a group, and this further increases the sense of community that is created by spending extra quality time together. Additionally, by spending time of your weekend together to take part in a planned activity, all members of the Hiking Club get that sense of belonging to a group.

The day in pictures:

The two mountains we climbed: the Pagasarri and the Arnotegi. 

Enjoying the beautiful views with Corina, Mariana and Marta.   

The views we could see from our first mountain, the Arnotegi. 

On our way to the "right" mountain, the Pagasarri. 

The wonderful views from the top of the Pagasarri, finally at the peak! 

Proud to have gotten to the top and enjoying the peak!

ASSEMBLY: Thursday 22nd of May 2014 

Today was this month's Upper School Assembly, and the Hiking Club was one of the protagonists of the day. As Idoia was absent, I was the only Hiking Club leader present at the time and was responsible for our presentation. As I wrote about previously, once we completed both trips we were going to create a video summarizing our experience hiking and inviting staff members and other students to take part in the experience. The most important part of the presentation was to encourage tenth graders to take part in the activity, as it would be very useful to prepare for next year's CAS program that they will be taking part in. All of the Upper School was playing close attention to the video I had prepared and everybody seemed to like the Hiking Club. 

Here is a link to the video I prepared: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B16M8JQ0d_2RZi1pWGFibHJUbVk/edit?usp=sharing

By inviting others to the Hiking Club we are also taking into account our current goals. Our first goal is to plan hiking activities for our classmates and ourselves, and if more people come we would achieve this goal further as we would organize activities not only for our classmates but for other grades. Our last goal is also to create a sense of community and belonging to a group. By inviting other people to the club we would increase the club and enable more people to get that feeling of belonging to the group and therefore increase the sense of community in the school. Hopefully, we will increase our Hiking Club next year with some of the current 10th graders. 

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

__________________________________

Plencia Lighthouse & Ermua Mount 

26th of September 2014

Before the activity: 

The school year has begun, and the hiking club is back on track! This year, we have new IB students, and we are now the senior class. Because of this, we have invited all the 11th graders to come with us Hiking in order to help them get going with their CAS right from the start. This of course, created some work for Idoia and I; the Hiking Club leaders. 

During one of our 45 minute periods, we went around the library and other classes asking all of the 11th graders if they'd like to join the Hiking Club. A bunch of them said no, but I really tried to emphasize the fact that every chance to do CAS is one you must not loose and in the end, eleven 11th graders signed up for the Hiking Club. For each one of them, we recorded their mobile numbers and their emails. 

Once that was done, we added all of the new members to our current Hiking Club whatsapp chat and started to plan the actual trip. We decided to start with a relatively easy trip as it was the beginning of the year and everybody is still in summer mode plus, we had new members and we didn't know about how they would cope. At this moment, we had to consider the ethical implications of our actions and reflect on how the new members of our team would react to our trip. We had to combine an exciting and manageable trip for all members to enjoy. 

Once we had decided where to go, I prepared the permission slips and sent them to Mariana. She printed them for us and we gave them out to all members of the Hiking Club. We then had to insist several times for all of them to bring them back signed on time, but we finally managed to collect them all. Finally, it was time to go on our trip! 

After the activity: 
Today's trip to the mountain has been one of mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was a beautiful day, the sun was out and the views were spectacular. On the other hand, some members were not on their best behavior and were driving our supervisor Mariana crazy. I really don't know what the consequences of their poor behavior will be, but I felt very frustrated at the time as Mariana's authority as a supervisor was not been respected, not to say my own authority as the leader of the Hiking Club. Of course, many of the members behaved just fine and we overall had a good time while getting our heart rates up and our muscles sour. Taking into account that it was the first ascension after the summer break, I did get tired, but having chosen a relatively easy trip (appropriate for beginners), I was not dying. I loved the fact that there was such nice weather, even though it made me miss the summer and wish that we could go back to the days of sunbathing and sleeping in. All in all, I enjoyed the trip and am looking forward to the next trip, where I hope everybody will be more obedient and we will ALL be able to enjoy our trip. 

The day in pictures: 
Here are some of my own pictures, however, Konstantina and Jaime both took professional cameras with them and are going to share their photos with us as soon as they can. Whenever that happens, I will upload many more pictures! 

And here are some of KONSTANTINA'S PHOTOS! 

All of them are beautiful and they reflect today's experience perfectly, thank you Kons! 

AND SOME OF JAIME'S PHOTOS: 

Many thanks to him too! 

Click here to see the story of our trip...

Artxanda Popular March

19th of October 2014

Before the activity: 

Wednesday 8th of October 
For the Hiking Club's October's trip, we will be going to Artxanda. For this month, however, we haven't organized the activity ourselves but we will be taking part in an organized march. It is the fifth year that this march to Artxanda is organized, and all the members of the Hiking Club that are interested will be able to take part if they wish. 

In order to sign up for the march, a price of 2 euros must be paid that will be donated to Bilbao's soup kitchens. There are three possible hours to sign up for: starting at 10:00, 10:30 or 11:00 AM. For now, however, we don't know which one will be available for all of us to sign up. 

During the planning stage of this trip, we have created our own permission slip to give out to all Hiking members. I personally prepared the permission slip on Sunday the 5th of October and brought it to school on Monday. My plan was to have everybody give it back signed and with the 2 euros by Friday the 10th of October. Idoia and I would then head over to Bilbao on that same Friday to sign everybody up for the march as the last day to sign up is on Monday the 13th (even though the actual march is on Sunday the 19th). 

Even though I brought in a printed copy for Mariana to print on Monday, she wanted to touch it up slightly, so I spent my Tuesday morning recess trying to find her all around the school. When I found her, we agreed on her touching it up and then printing it for us, so I sent her the digital copy. By 3:30 on Tuesday, she was busy with other things, so Idoia and I had to head to her computer, edit what was necessary, and print out 30 copies in the office. Finally, we were able to give out the slips during the last 45 minutes by trying to find all Hiking Club members around the school.  

The next step is to recollect everything. We have told all members to give the permission slip and the money to us by Friday. It is Wednesday and I have one permission slip for now... Whoever isn't able to bring it by Friday will either have to go to Bilbao themselves to sign up or will have to miss this opportunity as it is an official march and there cannot be any last minute add-ons. 

I feel that this trip has been one of the most service-related of them all up to now. Not only have we offered the usual service of thinking of a location to go, creating the permission slips, giving them out and recollecting them. In this ocassion, we have created a permission slip from scratch (after I called the organization to ask for the necessary information in order to inscribe other people), give it out and recollect not only permission slips but also money. We will then have to physically go to Bilbao (as this organization doesn't seem to be a friend of online inscriptions) and personally sign up and pay for all of the members' inscriptions. Now that is what I call offering a service to the community. 

I also didn't mention the fact that we will not be accompanied by Mariana on this occasion. Being an organized march where we will have proof of our inscriptions and official supervision by the organizers of the event, we will not have a school supervisor. All members have agreed to abide by Idoia's and my own rules... but I'm still a bit afraid of going without an adult and being in charge of a group. I feel like this is a greater challenge than usual, but with greater activities come greater responsibilities; so I feel more than ready for it. 

For now, all we have to do is recollect all of the member's permission slips and the money. I'll come back on reflect on Friday! 

Saturday 11th of October
In the end, we received 14 permission slips in total, even though we initially printed out 30. This trip doesn't seem to be so successful, as people are very busy and many people are not able to come. However, I believe that some people do not really want to come to the Hiking Club and they have only signed up to have a CAS activity. 

Yesterday was quite an eventful day in terms of the Hiking Club. Idoia and I finished recollecting permission slips and money during the last 45 minutes of school and also had a brief meeting on our next steps for the Hiking Club. We have decided to give out Hiking Club Awards! We thought that this would help motivate members to make an effort to take the Hiking Club more seriously or to have some goals for their reflections. 

In addition, we took the 4:15 bus to Bilbao (instead of going only to Berango and take the metro home) to buy the tickets for our trip to Artxanda. We then walked for 15 minutes approximately (I had printed out a map of how to get there the day before) and finally got to the place where the tickets were sold. We bought 14 tickets, payed with all the spare change we had accumulated from all the members and left. We then walked to the nearest metro station and finally went home. All in all, I arrived one hour later than usual home and I was absolutely exhausted. I had been walking around Bilbao with my backpack full of books, my laptop and my lunch pack. But I was finally home and the job was done. I felt like a leader. I felt good about myself. And I felt like I could sleep for the rest of the weekend (but that doesn't really happen when you're an IB student). The only thing that's left to do is to give out the tickets to the members and do the actual trip. 

Also, today I edited a video on our Hiking Club experience during this school year to show the school in the assembly on Monday. Sincerely, even though I enjoy editing videos and organizing trips for the Hiking Club, I feel like I do the majority of the work in comparison to Idoia...which is a little frustrating... 
Here is the link to the video I edited to show in the assembly: Hiking Club Video II and below are some snapshots of the video. 

I'll reflect on Monday on how it has gone! I'll also come back on Sunday when I've done the trip!

Monday 13th of October 2014 
Today we showed our video in the assembly and everybody seemed to take it very well and really enjoy it. I think that all the members liked seeing themselves in the screen as they felt proud to show the school that they were dedicating some of their time to the Hiking Club. In addition, we presented the Hiking Club Awards at the end of the video, and everybody seemed very excited and curious about it. We are planning on awarding a prize for the best performance, best attitude and best attendance; but we haven't told the members that much detail. However, I really hope that awarding prizes will motivate and encourage all members to work harder, have a better attitude and give all they have got, and remember that it is important to come to our trips. 
I think that the awards will be exciting for everybody, but we'll see how it goes! 

Thursday 16th of October 2014 
With all the drama and general crisis that has been going on in school, I almost forgot to give out further instructions on where and when to meet on the day on the hike + give out the tickets we bought last Friday. However, I did remember and prepared a sheet for all members to give out together with their ticket. Throughout the day, I managed to find all members in between classes or in the last 45 minutes, and made sure that everybody had received the necessary information and ticket. One more organizing task that a leader has to deal with! Below is a screenshot of the sheet I gave out to everyone. See you on Sunday after the hike! 

Sunday 19th of October 2014 

Today was the hike! Finally! It seems like I've been reflecting on this for so long before it actually took place. We decided to meet in Casco Viejo at 9:40, and I was surprised to see that everybody was there by the time I arrived. Everybody except.... Idoia! I also knew about other members who wouldn't be able to come; one was sick and another one had lost his entry for the march. At first we were 14 attending the trip, without these two 11th graders and without Idoia as my co-leader... I was in-charge of ten other people plus myself! On a mountain. Now THAT is what I call a challenge. 

We started off the hike, and, even though it seemed like I had lost some members five minutes later, we found them as a group and we continued with no problems. We arrived to the top successfully in one hour and a half approximately!

I did cheer people to continue and tried to sell the benefits of these trips...

• "Think about how you're toning your butt!"
• "Visualize your future body once you've finished the Hiking season!" 
• "Look forward to how well you'll feel once you've finished this hike!" 
• "We're almost there!" (this was the most used one...) 

Overall, I think that everyone was happy with my leadership as nobody had anything bad to say. I also tried to prevent people from bringing out nasty topics such as how stressed and horrified we are with the IB and tried to make them focus on nature, the beautiful views, the beauty of exercising outdoor... and disconnect from daily stress and technology. 

We arrived at the top and took some group photos, we stopped at the stand where they exchanged your ticket for a bottle of water and a snack + another ticket to get more food and a gift at the end of the hike. I seemed to be the only one who was extremely excited by the thought of a gift... but I tried to share my excitement with the rest; trying to be a good leader here! 

Even though some people wanted to convince me of going down on the cable car instead of walking down, I obviously refused to and tried to persuade them of the benefits of going down walking... my Hiking Club had no quitters and no lazy people! 

A while later we were already at the starting line once again... it was time for food and a gift! Yey! They gave us a "txoripan" and a beautiful umbrella, which I was strangely excited about. I guess life is about getting excited over the little things. 

On our arrival, I guess I look like a Hiking Club leader... which lead the people organizing the march to interview me! They asked a few questions with a microphone that everywhere there could hear. I was a famous hiker! 

Guess what (a slight turn at the end of the story)... Idoia did come but arrived late, and having no functional mobile phone, was unable to call for us to wait for her. She asked multiple people to lend her a phone and nobody did so; so she ended up hiking the whole thing by herself! She found us when she heard my voice being broadcasted... only Idoia could have done this. 

Below are some pictures of the day: 

Off we go!

Keep climbing and enjoy the views...

Group photos and selfies at the top! 

Can't wait for my "pintxo" and gift...

Surprise! We find Idoia at the bottom, we must take another photo!

Best part ever... my mom finds me in "El Correo" online, the photographer could tell I was a Hiking leader...

Link to the actual photo online: click here

 

 Great trip overall!

I also found this "story" that Google created on its own with the images that we uploaded to drive... it's a story of our day with a compilation of photos! Cool! 
Check the story out here!

BIG NEWS 
Friday 24th of October 2014 
Idoia has decided to leave the school, and today was her LAST day. This is very shocking and sad... and it has consequences for the Hiking Club... 
I will be the only Hiking Club leader, and will have no help when organizing, planning or informing members about trips. If there is a case where there is no supervisor (like our last trip) I will also be by myself when leading the group. 
This will be difficult but not impossible... as I was already by myself in our last trip to Artxanda and nothing terribly horrible occurred.
No doubt, this will be a much greater challenge, but I fell ready to tackle it. I will update you on my progress.
See you soon! 

November trip: SOPELANA

17th of November 2014 

Half of November has gone by and we still haven't done a trip. Time to work! 

I can feel that Idoia is not here as she was usually the one that pressured me into organizing a trip... I'm usually the one that doesn't really want to get it done until the last minute as that means that I actually have to go hiking. 

But oh well, on to the work. For November's trip we will doing a route that starts in Bidezabal, goes towards Punta Galea and ends in Sopelana. Basically, it is a route that goes around the coast of the Basque Country in order to enjoy the wonderful views of the sea. The day that I initially want to do it is on this Sunday the 23rd of November. 

It might be a little bit tight on time as I need to give out and recollect permission slips before this Friday, but I think I can do it! 

Now it's time to prepare the permission slip and give it out. 

Talk to you soon! 

21st of November 2014 

Today was the last day to turn in the permission slip... and I only have 5 of them. Some people couldn't go and some, in my opinion, just didn't feel like going. However, a small group is always fun, and, seeing that there are no supervisors on this trip it will be easier for me to handle. We'll see how it goes on Sunday! 

Below is a photo of the permission that I prepared at the beginning of the week. 

23rd of November 2014 

Today was both the most stressful and relaxed trip of the Hiking Club. 

Silly me put the alarm clock at 8 o'clock in the afternoon instead of in the morning! Luckily, my mom decided to spontaneously get up at 9:10 and check if I had gotten up. To her surprise, I was sound asleep. I had 15 minutes to get the train that I was supposed to get to be on time at 9:30 in Bidezabal. I didn't get that one, but I did manage to get the next one which was ten minutes later, so I only arrived 10 minutes late; which was not that bad. I got dressed, brushed my teeth, washed my face, packed my bag and took something to eat on the way. How was I supposed to go hiking without having breakfast?!

On my way, I told my fellow Hiking Club members that I would be a little bit late, but nobody was bothered about it. I also read another member's text that told me that she wouldn't be able to come. In the end, only five of us went on the trip! The smallest group we have ever had! Konstantina, Marta, Arturo, Bosco and I were the brave members that had come on our adventure to Sopelana. 

The trip was very successful as we had a nice and relaxed walk around the coast, as we went up and down the hills. As we were only five people and were all 12th graders, it seemed like a nice get together, which was extra nice. We got to Sopelana without stopping and sat on some beautiful benches with views to the beach to have our snack. We chilled for quite a long while, chatted and started our way back. I let the boys have some say on our route back home, and I trusted them to guide us on a different route to Bidezabal's metro station once more. I think that we all enjoyed it, and even though I almost had a heart attack trying to get there on time, the trip was enjoyable and a great way to start off the day with some exercise. The fact that we were a small group of friends made it extra nice! 

Below are some pictures of the day! See you next time! 

These were our views while we were having our snack! 

A nice group photo at our arrival at Sopelana! 

And now... some of Konstantina's great photos! She's basically the official photographer now! 

December: PLANNING OF HIKING AWARDS 

8th of December 2014 

As school ends on the 18th of December, this school month is quite short. This together with the cold weather of December and the amount of work that comes with the end of school makes the best opportunity to plan the Hiking Club awards instead of organizing a trip this month. 

The awards will go to the best performance, best attitude and best attendance. 

During this month I will decide who are the most worthy candidates to receive the prices. 

I will also design diplomas to give as prizes to the three lucky winners! 

17th of December 2014 

Tomorrow is the last day of school and because of this I was planning to give out the Hiking Club awards during the assembly. I had talked with Mr Alan about it and had already found a helper to come on stage with me for moral support. However, the assembly was canceled! This leaves me with no option but to pospone the awards until after the break. Oh well. At least I have everything ready to go. Whenever I get the opportunity to give out the awards, I will update you ;) 

January trip: MUNARRIKOLANDA

19th of January 2015 

Today I printed out the permission slips for our January trip! After the back-to-school rush of January, it has taken me some time to plan this month's trip, but better late than never, it is finally done! 
This month's trip will be in Berango, to the Mount of Munarrikolanda. 
Below is an image of the permission slip I gave out today to both the 11th and 12th grade members. 

Previously, I had also prepared the route and printed the necessary instructions. I love Google Maps! The trip is on the 31st of January so I will report back then! 

31st of January 2015 

Today I should be reflecting on the Hiking trip to Munarrikolanda that should have taken place... but I'm not. Why? Blame it on the weather. 

Due to a horrible weather prediction and even a bad weather alert, I was forced to cancel the Hiking trip for January. As I type this, the rain is pouring down (as it has all day long) and the wind is pretty strong. As the Hiking Club leader, I had to consider the ethical implications of my actions and take responsibility for all the members of the club by choosing to cancel the trip as, not only would it be quite unpleasant, going on the trip with this weather would be quite dangerous. 

Below you can find images of the yellow alert for rain and even snow in the Basque Country from "Aemet".

Let's hope to be luckier next month... I'll keep you updated! 

END OF ACTIVITY 

My goals for this activity were: to plan hiking activities for our classmates and ourselves, to exercise while enjoying nature, to develop our hiking skills and become more fit and to create a sense of community and belonging to a group. I believe that I have managed to achieve to a certain extent all of my goals, as I planned several monthly hikes for my classmates, and it is safe to say that they were exercising while enjoying themselves (smiles in all the pictures above!). I can also affirm that I have developed my hiking skills both by becoming more fit and by improving my leadership skills. At first, I felt that I did not have any type of authority regardless of whether I was the Hiking leader or not, however, as time went by, everyone came to me to ask questions and they did end up listening to my instructions. At times when I was left co-leaderless and supervisor-less for the trips, I assumed control and made it clear in the permission slips that those that were to attend the trips should follow my instructions at all times... and they did! Finally, I also think that I managed to create a sense of community and belonging to a group, as all members of the Hiking Club felt comfortable being together and enjoyed our little tradition. Some members even stopped me in the hallways to ask when our next trip would take place!

I feel that with this activity, I have managed to achieve several learning outcomes. Being my first time as a Hiking leader and my first time as a usual hiker, I have undertaken a new challenge and have shown perseverance and commitment to the activity, as I have never stopped doing it regardless of whether I felt like doing it or not. I have worked collaboratively with others, as I was in charge of guiding people through paths that were unknown to them, and have definitely planned and initiated activities on a monthly basis. Achieving these learning outcomes, in between others, has been very satisfying, and even though tedious at times, the Hiking Club activity has been a great experience!