Autumn Quest 2023 - Ruby

Warriors had a fricking amazing atmosphere! It was different to what I expected but I had an awesome time.

Awesome things:
The rooms were top notch, super comfortable and provided a very happy place for me.
Food was amazing #fransforever.
I felt very emotionally and physically pushed which was my goal.
The Frisbee was so much fun!!!!
The dancing lessons were awesome!
The constant encouragement to stay positive and do things that are difficult is an amazing mindset that I will take with me throughout my life.
Made the most amazing friends for life!!
6.30am exercise even though it was difficult - this showed me that I can do anything I set my mind to!

Room for improvement:
I expected a lot more emotional/personal discussions (one-to-one and group) and we did none of that, besides a Clearing. I suppose 1st Quest is known to be focused on that but I would have loved it to be included throughout. It would have been so appreciated to get through the huge changes and challenges we go through. You could always go to an MAI or facilitator for help if you needed but planned activities would have been really nice and beneficial to all I think.
The lack of communication - every day was a mystery as to what we would be doing (most times we would only find out on the morning of), we got an average of 3 day notice before big trips. I know this may work for some people but I prefer to know what's ahead of me so I can mentally prepare. Arriving as a newbie in the 2nd quest, I was expected to learn almost everything about the camp, the rules and the staffs' roles from previous Warriors. This was confusing and slowed down the process of getting into the flow of things here.
The sexism in the higher leadership was very obvious. This upset me throughout the quest and made me lose a lot of respect for Warriors. I really expected an adolescent camp made for teaching us how to become better people and adults would be better than this. It was evident in some actions and very clear in comments made by a staff member.
I have been told that they're working on this so I really hope it improves.

For future participants:
Be prepared for a lot of strict rules you need to follow: the usual ones such as being on time but also some intense ones like colour coding your clothes. This takes getting used to.

I hope this review can help improve some of the aspects of Warriors to make it even better than it already is!