During the October half-term, Steyning Grammar School held its annual week long boating trip for their Year 10 students. Amongst these fresh faced Fourteen year olds was my sister, Daisy, who had never been away from home before.

She had packed off by our mum with an industrial strength sleeping bag  which held both of us with ease. Armed with flash cards of quick fix meals and a brand new hairdryer, she boarded the bus and waited for her journey to begin.

After she returned, I decided to interview her, to find out about her experience and what it was really like for a girl who had never been away from home.

“Daisy, tell me about the boat, give me your first impressions as if you were there all over again.”

And the tale began… I listened with a fascination as she told me her room contained a “double bed” just an inch or two bigger than a single. It felt as if the boating company had exaggerated “luxury” into an almost outrageous lie. The bedroom capacity was two standing people, if they were very close to each other.

“And then!” she continued in feverishly excited voice, every morning you could see your breath as you woke up” she shivered for a moment, as if she was back in her room, rolled into her sleeping bag and staring at her breath clouding the ceiling.

Next she moved onto the shower “room” a single cubicle with a shower head, toilet, and sink. “You had to take your socks off if you needed the toilet after a shower, it took forever to drain away.” she continued. I could tell she was beginning to get into her story telling.

She reminisced over her masterchef competition, bragging about her “amazing” crab cakes with bacon. To which I had to ask, were they really crab cakes? Daisy insisted to me they were, and I had to believe her.

The activities “were a ball” and she laughed as she told me her teacher allowed them to call him by his nickname rather than ‘Sir’ for the week. That being said, he swore a detention for anyone who called him that once they returned.

Finally I asked her, “what was it like to be away from home for the first time?”

“To begin with it was strange and unfamiliar. Especially for the first two nights I felt odd and unsettled, I just couldn’t put my finger on why. Six nights definitely seemed daunting when I arrived.

“Would you go again?”

“Absolutely, I was with all my friends and we had the most wonderful time. It helped with my confidence and my relationships with the girls around me, who I have become very close to.”