As the coach pulled up we could see the main gate and the flags from almost every country in the world forming a walkway into the 21^st World Jamboree. Looking out of the window I could see people, everywhere, and I thought to myself "There are still thousands more to come yet"!!!

As we, Northamptonshire Scout contingent, rushed to get out of the coach and to get the party started, I looked around and saw people moving about introducing themselves to others, laughing as they realised they may have packed too much as they struggled with their bags (and they hadn't even started the dreaded walk yet!!!) but there was always a kind stranger there, scouts like ourselves, to offer you help. At that moment in time you realised that you are at the start of something big here, WE could make a difference and change the world one day.

There are 4 'hubs': Tropical, Ocean, Desert and Mountain. Within a 'hub' there are 4 more sub camps. The names come from geographical locations found in that type of environment.

There was also the adult hub housing over 8,000 International Service Team members. These scouters from all around the world were the support team, they were the security, the doctors, nurses, caterers, transport, health and hygiene, shopkeepers, stewards etc. They were there to make sure everything at the Jamboree worked for the contingents on and off site.

Day 1- Thursday 26^th July 2007

WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!. All 4580 of us, today it's only the UK contingent arriving and setting up with true Scouting style, this gives us a head start so when the other groups turn up we can help them and not have to worry about our own belongings. (This also gives us more time to nose around.)

So after trekking to our campsites, setting up and giving it a more homely feeling we all started to get ready and went to the UK Contingent barbecue. After stuffing our faces and watching the many jugglers and clowns we made our way over to the Tropical Hub stage where there was a massive concert. Chief Scout Peter Duncan and Ann, a presenter from CBBC, really stirred the crowd up before they introduced JK, a Radio 1 DJ, our first act of the night. JK was amazing and everyone was having a great time dancing, we were truly amazed when we found out that Liberty X and Lemar were performing. As the night came to an end, it was late but no one was tired, everyone wanted to carry on partying. So the stewards had a struggle to get everyone back to their campsite that night, but that night wasn't really for sleeping for we all knew that as soon as the clocks struck midnight people would be arriving and the real party was about to begin.

Day 2- Friday 27^th July 2007

After a not so good sleep we woke up to find loads of people on our campsite already, so after breakfast we went out to help the newer contingents set up and help them bring their things down from the coaches. The campsite (which was, for two weeks, one of the largest towns in Essex!!) was beginning to take shape as 40,000 people poured in from around the globe. Not much really went on that day so we went around exploring and talking to people. Even though we weren't doing anything we were all really excited about the opening ceremony.

Day 3- Saturday 28^th July 2007

Waking up in the morning you could tell the day was going to be great before even stepping out of your tent. For today was the opening ceremony, but to truly get what I mean you had to be there but I'll try my very best to describe it to you. In the morning we just went about our business as usual, then as the day went on we started to get ready, pulling on our uniforms with grins plastered on our faces. As we started our walk down to the main stage, the atmosphere was fantastic, if you stopped singing for a moment you could hear thousands of voices singing and talking in their natural tongue. The atmosphere was unreal. After seating yourself in a good spot we waited, we had to wait 2 hours before the opening ceremony started (well they did have 40,000 young adults to get seated, which isn't easy at the best of times let alone when they are all excited). After waiting 1 and a half hours we watched an old Mickey Mouse cartoon, which we all found very funny. Then the half hour countdown started.

While at the jamboree we did loads of different activities such as splash, starburst, aquaville, terraville, trash, etc. We went on a trip to Gilwell Park, now the UK. headquarters.

Sunrise Ceremony August 1^st 2007

Getting up at 3.30am to have breakfast isn't everyone's cup of tea but today we didn't have a choice, we had to be up, ready for Sam so we could get down and get our spaces. As it was early morning the ground was wet because of all the dew from that morning, so ready with our black bags and our waterproofs we made our way down to the main stage, the celebration didn't start until 8am but we had to get there early. So as we sat down eating our packed continental breakfast we waited, many of us fell back asleep while others sat around talking for a couple of hours. As the ceremony started we had live footage from Brownsea Island and we watched as Peter Duncan spoke to all of us and we made the scout promise in our own languages, then we had a huge show with loads of different people from around the world making their promise up on stage in their own language and there was singing and dancing. At the end of the sunrise celebrations we were all challenged to get one hundred signatures on our special sunrise neckerchiefs. A good way to make new friends! The sunrise ceremony was so special because we knew all around the world scouts were renewing their Promise in their own countries and in so many different ways.

The Closing Ceremony

This was a very emotional time for us all as we had all lived together for 2 weeks and now we were all leaving each other, it was like leaving family cause that's what we were, one big family. So we made our way (for the last time) down to the main stage singing, chatting and laughing for the final ceremony. We sat down in the rain as we waited for the show, cheering as it began, everyone sang along to the words of the dance music, we watched the traditional dances from other countries and listened to the official jambo song.

Overall, despite all the rain, everyone had a fantastic time. So after the tears, hugging and saying goodbye for now, we made our way back to the campsite for our final night. That night most people stayed up helping people pack the last of their things and saying goodbye.