On the 19th march 2005 I travelled to a social workers office and got on a bus with12 other people to travel to Staffin in sky it was going to be a long drive so I got rest. We left at 10am and got there by 7:30pm.

When we got there they showed us where we would be sleeping I was in with another four girls. We went down to the Kilmartin hall to have our dinner because it was our first night there we got our food served to us.

Later on that night we went up to the knowledge deck - this was a big circle where standing around it you could see the Kilmartin hall down below it. Stevie the senior programme director for Columba 1400 met us up on the deck and told us if we thought we were there for a holiday then we should go home. He handed out our journal book that we could “empty our glass” - what I mean by that is that what we had on our mind we then put it down on paper so you can wake up in the morning with a clear mind.

We then did the talking stick - that was where you had a stick and got to talk to the group and only you could talk and no-one got to interrupt you.

At 11pm we all went up to our rooms to sleep - we had to be up at 8 and be down at the breakfast table for half 8.

Sunday we started our A.F.C.I.P.S: Awareness, Focus, Creativity, Integrity, Perseverance, and Service. Each one of these has a different meaning, and I will explain them as I go along.

Sunday was Awareness - that was about what you are aware of.  We got told that anything we said in our workshops was right, because what you do or say is exactly right for you. We went up the mountains to think about what we thought was really important to us. I decided my core values were education, trust, family, teamwork, my life and myself. These were the things I was going to work on through the week. . That day was the hardest out of them all - we all thought the were just trying to muck our heads up, but by 12 o’clock every thing we’d done clicked into place, and we realised that they were doing it for our benefit.

I wiz down for the next couple of days, and was home sick.  I wiz missing my family and wanted to go home. I couldn’t handle it in a community with about 12 houses and the nearest town half an hour drive away. But then I realized on Monday when we were in our Focus workshop that it was only 7 days out of our lives, and I was actually not bothered about the shops cause I was there to try and change my life.

Tuesday was Creativity - we decorated cups today then went into a workshop. The workshop was about how we communicate with a team of people or a person, and also how we work together. Tuesday afternoon we did a search and rescue to find a missing person. That was hard - down at the bottom of a cliff looking for someone who possibly had a broken leg and hypothermia! But after 20 mins we found him, and we had to figure out how to build our stretcher to get the patient back to the van. We communicated with each other and decided on a way to build a stretcher. By the time we got back to Staffin I wiz really shattered and wanted my bed, but I couldn’t, cause like every other night we were up doing workshops till 11 pm. Tonight’s workshop was with Craig Matheson who had been to Columba in 2002.  During his time here, he had decided his goal for his life was to go to the South Pole, and he did. He went in November  2005 and it took him 56 days, along with hypothermia and frost bite to do it, and he did it - made it to the South Pole.   I think that showed me that you can do anything if you want to.  Craig inspired me to go for my dreams.

Wednesday wiz all about Integrity - that was about how we took things in.  By this day my confidence had boosted from 3 to 9. We also went canoeing today. Its just amazing there, I wiz happy and joining in with the workshops.

Thursday our last day, and was about Perseverance. This wiz a really good day - we got put into to groups and were put into separate rooms.  In each room we got a pack telling us that we had bought an island, and we had 44 thousand pounds to spend on it to decide what changes we were going to make. We had to do it on our own without the help of the support staff, and we were in this workshop from 9 am till 3pm. It was hard, and we had to present it to a real committee.

This was our last night there so we got a beautiful delicious meal served to us. After dinner all the young ones me included each gave a speech to thank all the staff at Columba.

Friday morning was the morning we found out if we graduated. At 10 am we got told. I couldn’t believe I done it. You wouldn’t know how it feels till you’ve done what me and 12 other people have done. If any of what I’ve written sounds like it was easy it was far from that but worth it to change the way my life was to the way it is now.

This has been an amazing experience for me - if I could I would do it over and over again. Now I can say I'm a Columban graduate