2010 Australian Chemistry Olympiad Team

We finished the day with the final jury session but probably the less said about that the better to be polite. But due to some issues after waiting it was postponed to the following morning. So with our final free night we were left with no idea of what to do. But we were in japan so we did as the Japanese do and went to karaoke. It was like a united nations of karaoke that went until the early hours with so much bad singing you could dedicate an entire blog to it but it just wouldn’t do it justice just how bad it was.

But eventually it was bedtime so we could attend the delayed final jury session which passed without incident.

It was then free time which we decided to spend in harajuku which was a completely different side to Japanese culture. A quick Internet search of harajuku girls will explain some of this. We then navigated our way to waseda university and the closing ceremony. 

Spoiler alert

The ceremony was all about the medals following a musical performance and some comedic entertainment.

If you don’t know the results it was 3 bronze medals to Kelvin, page Allan and Kelvin 2 (also known as Stuart) and silver medal to Cyril. We are so happy with these results and want to express our thanks to all those who have contributed along the way so the students could show the world what they can do. Thank you. 

End spoilers

But back to the activity summary. We headed to dinner and celebrated with the students before they got sick of us and wanted to celebrate with their new friends. The friendships made from the Olympiad are just as important as medals (as seen by the many Olympiad friendships still strong after so many years) and from what we have seen from the students during dinner Australia definitely got 4 gold medals.

The staff returned to their hotel and had a celebration of their own with their new (and old) friends as well. The customary few hours sleep on the final night was continued this year but well worth the sacrifice.

But then the worst part of the entire camp, saying goodbye. Tears were shed (really) but we know that this is not the end. 

We now wait for the bus for the airport were we have to wait for quite awhile so hopefully some more photo dedicated posts will appear and the students may write about their experiences. But either way I think we can say that this is the staff signing off until next year.

Thanks again for all the support.