By Mika Thomas
How illustriously can one truly describe or express the immeasurable breadth of experiences earned and versed at a place of such beauty and opportunity?. In my opinion, no amount of words or expressions can ever accurately portray or explain the most astonishing and unforgettable placement experience that I have ever had or encountered thus far, on an enchanting island which constantly compels and entices you to embark and explore its offerings around every corner and at a centre where opportunities are literally laid into the palm of your hands, eagerly awaiting in anticipation for you to seize and embrace it as your own. Even though the expectations and endeavours to which I was anticipating to undertake didn’t quite materialise, due to the current government restrictions and guidelines to safeguard against the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, this did not deter me from taking hold and embracing the conglomeration of errands and opportunities that were contrived, in company with my fellow placement students, which sustained the creation of an undeniably unforgettable placement experience so far for myself at FSC Millport, regardless of the current circumstances.
Rolling gently out of the comfort of my bed and waking up to be greeted every day by the natural panoramic sights of the soothing ripples and waves flowing across the blue expanse, with the distant snowy peaks of Arran shimmering in the bask of the rising sun, from my window is a truly magical experience. I am fortunate and grateful to be able to look out at this view every day and encompass a sense of both comfort and tranquillity. Even when walking each day from my accommodation to work, or working on activities outdoors, feeling that cool, crisp air of the surrounding ocean breeze across my face and the emanation of either warmth or precipitation descending upon me has made me more appreciative and indebted to have the experience to operate outside and explore the natural spectacles on the island on regular occasions, which has been, and still is, one of the most fundamental aspects that has made this placement experience for me so far exceptionally remarkable.
Over the course of my placement, I have immersed myself within a diversified spectrum of indoor and outdoor opportunities, which included undertaking daily beach cleans with a few of my fellow peers along three designated sites, by where we all actively participated for 15 minutes in picking up and recording what we found before weighing the content within our bin bag when we arrived back, with everyone involved imparting their own predictions regarding what the weight could be. Conceivably, one of the utmost outdoor experiences for me materialised during the initial, and partially latter, weeks of my placement, through working together and in sync with my peers in creating and establishing a nature trail, spanning towards the pond habitats near the end of the centre grounds. Being able to perform and engage in the practical construction and formation of the trail, such as laying and cementing down plastic pallets, carving out steps along the steepest sections and positioning uniquely shaped rocks, obtained from the nearby shore dwellings, along the more treacherous segments was for me an absolute joy and what made it even more memorable was being in the presence of nature itself, surrounded by calm whims of the trees against the wind and the delicate chirping of the local indigenous bird life whilst slowly chipping away at the work ahead.
Alongside relishing amongst the infinite multitude of possible outdoor opportunities, I also have been participating and engaging amidst a wide variance of interesting and elaborate indoor orientated tasks and activities, to which I acquired and seized upon one golden opportunity to accompany my fellow placement students and assist side by side with them on two FSC led projects, one being Eco-Skills and the other one being BioLinks. The Eco-Skills project involves adding already constructed and generated topic resources, from an archive of a range of topic categories, onto an established Moodle interactive platform through selecting the most appropriate and suitable activity template to display the content material in, whilst in the case of the BioLinks Program, I participated in numerous Discovering irecord live webinar sessions over Zoom, in company with a host of individual participants who were partaking in the course, where I was assigned the responsibility of recording the webinar session. Both of these experiences gave me a satisfying sensation of enlightenment and knowledgeable insight into the operations that the FSC is involved in, as well as provided me with the necessary skills and training that has made me never look back.
However, my breath-taking placement journey so far would not be truly complete without the presence and enthusiastic persona of my fellow placement students and staff members. One of the most memorable moments that I ever experienced with everyone was when we all came together in the Allen classroom and celebrated the festive holidays in a spectacular display of laughter, upbeat Christmas classics and a fantastic myriad of fun-loving games, including a Taskmaster themed game and a round of ceilidh dancing, to which everyone got involved and enjoyed thoroughly, myself included. I have also immersed myself, more recently, into joining and participating with a few of my fellow placement students in doing a group fitness session every week, whereby we all perform an assortment of different workout regiments and exercises for around an hour, beginning with a steady warm up routine, followed by an intense 20-minute workout session before ending with a slow and relaxed paced yoga session. Being able to partake in this experience always provides me with a feeling of achievement and enjoyment, but it is the motivation of the others around me that really help me push through to the end.
These are some of the moments which have defined my placement at FSC Millport as being such an unforgettable experience and I for one can’t wait to continue this journey for as long as I am still here at this present moment.
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