Expedition Arcada meets the press

Yesterday was a big day for Expedition Arcada. It was our first press release. Summing up the day in words is more difficult than I suspected; my head is still twirling from an intensive day of talking about the expedition, meeting new people and the nerves that preceded a press meet. Oh, and making 200 sandwiches.
But let’s start from the beginning of the day when my alarm went of at 5:45. After snoozing for a half hour I was ready to get up, eat my breakfast and head towards school. I was met by the lovely Emma and together with the communications department and a handful of other helpful Expedition participants we worked on our presentation for the press.
By noon Aron Anderson had finally arrived and I’ll have to admit to have been a little star struck meeting him. Our film team interviewed him and got some great material. Aron was also harnessed up to give the Via Ferrata a go and without hesitations took off and reached the top of the 13-meter wall within minutes. This guy is very impressive! He then continued to climb it twice more. Did I mention he sits in a wheelchair? He also left half the girls with teenage-crushes.
Once the press showed up so did the nerves. There were a few reporters and a photographer and all seemed genuinely interested in what we were doing. One journalist even expressed his feelings of jealousy and desire to participate. I felt like everyone was buzzed about the expedition and the atmosphere was great, even if hectic. This was the first press meeting for many of us and it was a great learning experience. In fact, this whole day has only echoed my personal reasoning for joining this project, which is to put my education into direct use and have some fun while at it.
After our presentation my nerves finally settled though the day was far from finished. Ahead was a seminar called Expedition Respect with, as the title implies, a theme of respect and team work. With many hungry audience members our kitchen team, together with a few helping hands, proceeded to make around 200 delicious, open faced sandwiches.
Among the great speakers were our own Pata Degerman, Aron Anderson, Matias Anthoni, Christoffer Ericsson, Vilma Pikkarainen and Henrik Mattsson. Their speeches collectively reminded us all to never give up and to keep going and that virtually anything is possible with a great team.
By the time my head hit the pillow later that night my body was tired though my mind was thankful for a fun and successful day.
Until next time,
Bettina
PS. Curious about the Prezi-presentation we gave to the press? Check it out here! (External link)