The Foundation has been proud to partner with the British Exploring Society to provide young people with the opportunity to embark on the Dangoor Infinity expedition earlier this year. They returned after a life-changing experience, and we couldn’t wait to here all about their time. Below, Sofia has kindly written a guest blog post, summarising her adventure.

My Experience in Iceland
By Sofia

In this blog post, I will be sharing with you my experiences during the two phases of my expedition: the sea-phase and the land-phase.  

During the sea-phase, my teammates and I were exposed to the environment of a ship for example doing hourly watches (even during the night!) or help moving the sails with ropes or doing mess duty. Also, this expedition was really leadership-themed and this helped me on my problem-solving skills because I had to decide the role of each member of my team during the watches. One problem I faced during the sea-phase was sea sickness. This really demotivated me at first but because I have always had this passion to learn new things, I was really immersed in the lessons about how the ship worked during the sea-phase.One of my most memorable moments in the ship was when everyone in the ship decided to go on the sea to swim and have a great time. 

During the land-phase, we were exposed to the harsh conditions of the weather and the fact that we would not get normal food, only ration packs and some snacks. One of the problems I faced was my problem-solving skills. Even though it’s normal not to know the answer to some problems, I felt frustrated with myself sometimes that I couldn’t solve some of my problems but because I had such great friends during the expedition, it helped me overcome some problems and made me think that if we think for a solution as a team it will be so much easier. One of the most memorable moments during the land-phase was when we had these ‘special meals’ for dinner such as hot dogs and pasta. I really enjoyed this moment because I remember how, as a group, we were preparing the food and such a great image of teamwork made me feel that I can overcome anything that comes my way.

And finally to end this blog post, I would like to thank the Aldridge Foundation for giving me this opportunity to improve myself and see the world from a different angle and I would also like to thank every single teammate who was with me that inspired me with their personal experiences and that helped me overcome my social shyness. 

Thank you so much!