New Year At School

This year is the first time I got to experience a 2-day 1-night spring camp at school, and it was really exciting!

Spring Camp Tradition

The thing is, every year, my school sets aside a day for students to celebrate New Years Holiday. That spring festival will have three parts:

• The morning of the first day: Take part in chosen activities, stroll around the spring fair, or buy food and toys from booths run by other high school students

• Afternoon of the first day: Participate in the selected outdoor activities, have a buffet dinner, watch the Vstar Got Talent show (an annual talent performance competition, one of the most anticipated contests), and then join the night fair and watch the fireworks (This year, there was a surprise fireworks display!).
• Monday morning (If students choose to stay overnight): After waking up, students will change clothes, take care of personal hygiene, then have breakfast in the school canteen, followed by some free playtime until their parents pick them up.

My first morning

In the first 15 minutes of class, the teacher only briefly talked about the activities we would be doing in the morning, because she believed we remembered what she had instructed us before. I was working on decorating the activity booth for the evening games. That day, I brought a lot, a lot of food, ready to endure the sun. Unexpectedly, when we went down, it turned out to be earlier than the scheduled time, so the rest of us were ‘let loose’ to wander around and buy things. I was working with my close friends, including four others. My best friend – Sarah – and I went to eat, while the others went to buy toys at the mobile stalls of other classes.

I feel like I ate more than usual that day, right? Because I kept eating, from mangoes, cakes, KitKats, Oreo ice cream… to the point that I wasn’t even hungry by noon. Sarah also noticed it; she even said, ‘I’m scared of Minh Thu today.’ Even so, she ate with me, because we’re best friends.

After that, we went out again to check out the other “street vendor stalls” of the high school classes.
And there, I also found my fellow mates in the form of three friends: Yumi, Annie, and Stella.
The three of them were walking around checking out our class’s street vendor stall, helping to promote, sell red envelopes, and fans.
Seeing that scene made me feel so “guilty”! They were helping the community, while me and my friends only knew how to eat.

So I dragged Sarah to buy drinks for the whole group before daring to show my face ._.

But in the end, it wasn’t just about spending money. At the very least, we also had to decorate the booth properly for the task. Since we had prepared the ideas beforehand, everything went pretty smoothly. The materials had already been prepared by the teacher. The only thing was, our class had to set it up together with class 11.2. Since we didn’t know the seniors from 11 very well, things were a bit awkward, but at least it didn’t affect the schedule. We even finished faster than the timetable allowed! So the five of us went shopping together. And guess what? I found bubble glue, and it was only 5,000 VND each!

The thing is, that bubble thing is pretty simple. It comes with a prepared straw and a tube of bubble gum glue to blow it.
It looks like candy, right? But you can’t eat it; the stuff is harmless but smells really strong! And it’s bitter too!
Playing with it is also super easy. Inside the bubble tube, there’s some kind of plastic (or glue, something thick that’s kind of like slime). Whenever you want to blow a bubble, just squeeze out that ‘slime’ and cover the tip of the straw completely, and that’s it!
It’s really fun to play with. I kind of love that game. Every year at school they sell it, and I always go hunting for it!

Honestly, this game is pretty fun. When the five of us played, everyone in my class liked it and crowded around.

After finishing playing, right on time the bell would ring, and then we would be herded up to class like ducks (or at least that’s what I think).

“Break time” but not really a break

That afternoon, I think I just wasn’t interested in the delicious spaghetti in front of me because I had eaten too much earlier. No matter how shiny and fragrant the golden, fresh noodles looked with that glossy, aromatic tomato sauce, I only… ate a piece of fruit for dessert.
But it wasn’t just me! I noticed that my whole class ate less than usual that day! And based on my guess, I think it was because they were full, and also because they were trying to eat quickly so they could get back to class to play.
Yeah, so the thing is, after getting back to class earlier, instead of resting before going down to the canteen, my class chose… to play UNO.
But there weren’t enough UNO cards for the whole class, so our teacher, seeing how noisy the class was, handed out some sticky notes and let us make our own Werewolf deck to play!
Honestly, it was a lot of fun, but suddenly it got interrupted by lunchtime, so now everyone is in a hurry.

After everyone went to class, we sat in a circle. Then Ruby – the vice class president in charge of arts and also the one who liked playing Werewolf the most – acted as the game master and sat in the middle. I have no idea where Ruby got the idea to play Werewolf while playing horror music at the same time. But overall, it was fun; I really liked that idea. I really enjoyed playing Werewolf with my friends because sitting in a circle like that created a sense of closeness and was extremely comfortable.

An afternoon full of energy

After playing 4 rounds of Werewolf with no clear winner, we had to clean up the battlefield and then disperse to join the activities we had signed up for earlier. Me, those four close friends, Ruby, and two other boys joined in a flashmob dance. We practiced dancing in the main hall, though calling it practice is a bit of a stretch since we were eating cakes and chatting at the same time. If you did the math, probably only 20% was actual dancing, and the remaining 80% was just goofing around. Luckily, since we had practiced beforehand, we remembered the routine by the final run-through, so it was fine.

After finishing the dance practice, we asked the teacher if we could go upstairs to the classroom to shower and change early (because it was really sunny, and the uniforms we were given were hot too!). After changing, we saw the whole group gathered in the classroom; my friend said we were just lying around like cats!

After all that exercise, I was supposed to rest! But because I was in the mood, I went with two other friends, Yume and Nono, for a few rounds around the school, giving thank-you gifts to our teachers!

And when I got back to class, it was already 5 PM, dinner time. I wasn’t too full, but not too hungry either, so buffet was perfect for me. Me and a few close friends sat at the same table, chatting about “Who will win the first prize in this season of Got Talent?”, and everyone voted for group X-Even, the group formed from last year’s first and second place winners.

After eating, we immediately went down to the stage area of the ceremony, choosing the best spot in our class’s row. Generally, the first performances were simple, like the principal giving a speech and commending outstanding students (Even though my close friends and I are all outstanding students, many of the older students had much more impressive profiles! We sat there cheering, and I guess these students also want to study abroad like me, since they have countless community achievements!).

But the most “straining on the vocal cords” performance was still the one for Vstar Got Talent.

This has been a yearly tradition, and I really love the performances from the participating teams.

There was just one thing that made me even happier: I sat next to Sarah, and we successfully made up with each other.

It’s not that we were really angry before, it’s just that recently we’ve talked less than we used to; she is my best friend after all!

But maybe because we were cheering so excitedly, she and I were no longer stuck to the ‘invisible wall,’ she’s not mad at me anymore! (I guess, I suppose)

And luckily, just as predicted, the X-Even group won first prize again this year!

According to my guess, I’m probably the happiest person, because I accidentally told my best friend that if X-Even didn’t win first place, I would take my friend to eat at McDonald’s.

And after that thrilling cup-lifting moment, my friends and I were let loose to enjoy the night fair. And guess what, where we were playing? Yes, the booths that myself and the older and younger students, along with other classmates, had helped set up that morning!
Unfortunately, every booth required money to play, so I couldn’t join in because I didn’t have any.
So, Sarah, Nono, and I decided to find a place to sit and chat instead of going through the trouble of playing each game.
But since it was already pretty late, I seemed to be a bit… impulsive. So I invited the two of them to go find the rest of our friends.
When we found them, they were watching a concert with a few other close classmates from our class.

And then, the school loudspeaker announced: ‘All students, please leave the field, go up to the stands, and get ready for the fireworks.’

My friends and I all sat together. My class is pretty close-knit and more fun than other classes (at least no one hates anyone), so guys and girls aren’t that awkward around each other (and I guess, the boys in my class might even be more ‘girly’ than the girls!). I sat next to Sarah, with two of my other friends in front of me. The fireworks scene was flashing wildly, with sparks shooting up and then immediately disappearing. But to me, it was the most dazzling spectacle! Looking at Sarah, I saw she was praying, so I closed my eyes too and folded my hands to make my own wish too!

For me, that could be one of the most beautiful moments of my student life.

Hyperactivity midnight

Because, that day it was quite late, and only 9 people in the class chose to stay overnight, including 6 girls and 3 boys. My school arranged for boys and girls to sleep separately, in two different classrooms, with plenty of blankets and mats. Unfortunately, among the 6 girls staying over, I was only close to about 3 of them, the rest were just casual acquaintances.

Moreover, that night, the school’s air conditioning ran all night, and the classroom felt colder than the North Pole. For someone like me who can’t handle a room temperature of 25 degrees Celsius, it was truly a nightmare. I was asleep when I suddenly woke up and looked at my wristwatch—it was already 4 a.m. So I had to… move to a corner to avoid the cold. The next morning, when I woke up, my best friend Nono turned to me and said: ‘I didn’t see you last night, I thought you got kidnapped!’ ._.

The next morning

That morning was pretty easygoing; we just did our personal hygiene and then headed down to the dining hall to enjoy breakfast. Overall, breakfast that day was so-so, we had steamed buns (probably bought from outside), but thanks to the ‘Vitamin of conversation’ with friends, it was probably enough to give us energy. We sat at one table, ate little but played around a lot, really not knowing any shyness.

After breakfast, we wandered back to class and played UNO in the classroom (because Ruby was the werewolf game moderator and she had already left) until 9 o’clock when the teacher returned our phones, letting everyone go down to the lobby to wait for their parents. Stella and I turned on music on our phones as soon as we got them because we couldn’t resist!