My Swedish Experience

Here's an article I wrote back in August 2011 about my experience at the 22nd World Scout Jamboree in Sweden.

This summer I had the pleasure of being part of the 800 strong Irish Contingent to the World Scout Jamboree in Sweden. This was my first time at a World Jamboree. Despite having attended several large national events including the Irish Jamboree in 2008 and hearing a lot of stories for last World Jam, nothing could prepare me for the experience in Sweden. The Jamboree site was a thriving multicultural city of tents with all the services you’d expect in a real city from shops and restaurants to a hospital and dentists. Every day brought new encounters with different nationalities and helped me create friendships that will last a lifetime.

My role at the WSJ was working on Waste Team 4. This sounds like a horrible job but I loved it. I got to work with a truely international group of people, I got to visit nearly every corner of the massive Jamboree site and I great sense of satisfaction knowing that with my work the jamboree could not happen.

This year the Irish were one of 10 contingents to offer a food house at the jamboree. The other nations were England, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Lichtenstein, Japan, France, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark and Austria. Despite being one of the smallest the Irish House was by far the busiest every night with good food, live music and good old Irish Craic.

The Irish apparel was the most sought after on the jamboree. Every day we had people coming up looking to swap for stuff. I was able to come home with a huge collection of neckers and badges.

One of the highlights of the site was the massive tower in the middle of the site. After a long walk to the top, you could see most of the subcamps. On my day off i got to try out the ferris wheel made out of pioneering timber. This was very well built and an enjoyable experience.

The activity of the jamboree had to be Quest which was planned, built and run by a predominately Irish Team. I was lucky to attend the IST session on quest were i got to try out the Cave (a giant maze) and conQuest- an incredible obstacle course. Definately one of the highlights.

Words cannot truly describe the Jamboree Experience. With that in mind I can only urge you all to go to Japan in 2015 if you can and experience it for yourself.

Waste Team 4