Annual MPA Retreat

Another year of the MPA? Another year of a MPA Retreat?

You may remember my post on last year's retreat in Croyde Bay? This year, we headed down to Portsmouth. Specifically, we spent this past weekend at the Mill Rythe Resort on Hayling Island. I had actually been in the area before back in 2010 when I did a public footpath trek through Chichester. 

(And yes, if you do a search on Hayling Island, there are reports of a tornado that happened there yesterday. I was outside when said tornado happened, but did not see anything...)

We left mid-day Friday for the resort. The drive was supposed to take under two hours, but we spent sometime in traffic.  However, as typical MPA students, we made the best of it. A bunch of the dual degree kids that had gone off to Berlin and Paris came back for the retreat, so it was great catching up with them!

When we got to the resort, we grabbed dinner and relaxed and waited for the other busses to arrive. There were two additional busses for everyone who had class late on Friday afternoons.   The rest of the evening was spent dancing, catching up with old friends, and meeting some of the new members of the incoming class!

#orangenation

Saturday morning, the girls and I headed out to the small lake that was on the property before watching Arielle and Jenny take on the challenge of learning how to crossbow! 

Post cross-bows, we headed into the small town on Hayling Island as well as checking out the beach! It had started to rain in the morning, but cleared off just in time for our walk.  

Hayling Island Beach

Day at the Beach

Zaina and me 

The rest of the evening was spent again in typical MPA fashion of drinks, dancing, a birthday, and plenty of laughs! 

First Years!

One of the best!

First Years!

All in all, it was a great weekend away! Plenty of laughs with old classmates and friends, but it was awesome to meet more of the first year class! 

MPA Retreat

I'm currently taking a much needed break from homework. I've been up since 7am (London time), and it's currently 1am.

This past weekend was the annual MPA Retreat. After reading a lot about the earlier years' retreats, I was surprised at first to learn that this retreat was more of a "fun" weekend rather than serious academic weekend. While there were supplements for the education aspects, I greatly appreciated being able to escape the pressures from school for a few days.

Friday afternoon, the first years loaded on two buses bound for Croyde Bay in North Devon. While we were told that the trip would be a short five hours, we didn't arrive until almost 10pm. Needless to say, it was a bit exhausting, but we made the bus ride fun. The girls and I had the back of one bus to ourselves where we spent time laughing at videos, taking photos, and getting to know each other better. As a surprise, we did pass Stonehenge on the bus ride! Don't worry, since 2010, it appears the rocks are still in the same position.

Stonehenge from the Bus

Once we finally arrived in Croyde Bay, we had a quick dinner, checked into our room for the weekend, and had the first dance party of the weekend. Zaina and Yiling were my roommates for the weekend, and we landed a summer chatlet which consisted of a kitchen, living room, and plenty of extra room. None of us were used to having such large living areas. The dance party consisted of MPA gangam style dancing and belting our 80s classics!

Emma, Kaitlyn, and I at the dance party 

After the dance party Friday night, we were up bright and early on Saturday for the skill sessions and breakfast. I attended the study skill session and heard different methods that the second-years used last year.  These were the second-years who scored the highest on the final exams. I picked up a few new ideas to try to incorporate into the year-long study process. Following studying, a bunch of us went swimming before heading into town for lunch.

Town of Croyde

Lunch!

The town of Croyde is quaint- clearly a tourist town.  The beach at Croyde is a huge surfer destination, so during the summer, it is clear that it is a popular destination. With lunch came a local delicacy....ice cream with a topping of clotted cream! So bad, but so good!

I must say that the beach at Croyde is one of the prettiest that I've ever seen. A long walk to get to the beach, but well worth it. The water temperature wasn't that bad for October either.  Arielle, Jenny, and I spent time walking along the beach before heading to the Buddy Olympics.

Me at Croyde Bay

#WALPOLE2040 

At the beginning of the programme, all first years are assigned a buddy from the second-year to help ease the transition. My buddy, Lisa, and I decided to participate in the Buddy Olympics for fun. Our goal was to come in last place.  The funniest relay race for me in the Olympics was clearly the sack races. The potato sacks were a bit small- they didn't even come up to my knee cap. I'm glad I was able to provide everyone with some entertainment falling (including myself), but my bruise on my leg doesn't!  We did actually win one race, but it was for pure fun.

Dinner followed and then the jeopardy game between the first and second years. As we all know, I do have a competitive streak, and that I generally don't like to use. While I argued a few questions, the second-years did win. The highlight, though? Having to sing "Call me Maybe" as a jeopardy question. I knew knowing the whole song would eventually come in handy!

Dance party two was the remainder of Saturday evening. While we continued to gangam style and dance to Nicki Minaj, the wedding party at the hotel crashed our party. The bride and groom were serenaded to by the entire MPA group.  Hilarious evening!

Sunday, we packed up and headed back to London. It was a quick getaway, but plenty of memories to last the year!