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Contrast the two: 41 young ‘uns on a school bus belting out some classic tunes; and a choir leading praise in their Church. Now, which of the two would you think is more likely to sing 'Away in a Manger'?

On Saturday we made the traditional trip out to Hemlock for some good old fashioned team bonding. Split into four different teams, we had to devise group strategies to overcome a range of different tasks; from trusting the group to catch you when you're falling from a height to getting the whole group over a 12-foot wall. To successfully do these we first had to overcome our unfamiliarity with each other: which ranged from some interesting truth-revealing games to me at one point having a Contra dancing flashback when I'd Christo's armpit hair in my face. Although slightly cheesey with it's 'Reflection points' and 'Panic zones', it really was a worthwhile exercise and it was great to spend time with each other again after a week of work.

After Hemlock, we descended a little sweaty and dirty to the O'Hara's house for a BBQ. The quality of food on offer matched even the high standards set by Lenore, and the pool was also much used and appreciated. The Northern Ireland 5-a-side football team also confirmed their dominance over their Southern counterparts by a thoroughly convincing 5-3 win. As we got back on the bus, and the thunderstorm came down around us, up stepped MC Ralph to keep everyone entertained. The human jukebox led the singing as we gave SAWIP an insight into the history of modern music. From old classics such as 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'We will rock you' to the classics of the modern era like 'Wonderwall' and 'Hit me baby one more time', each song was delivered to a level of performance that many of today's acts could not reach. Alan, I know I speak not only for myself but also the Ches when I say it was a pleasure to be one of your backing singers. I truly will never forget the sight of you singing the words of 'Wannabe' to me.

The next morning, it was always going to be a hard act for the choir of Mount Lebanon Baptist Church to follow. Coming with an experience of traditional church services, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Much emphasis of the service is placed on the singing of praise, and the role of the choir within that. Think of a smaller, more Protestant, version of Sister Act and you kinda get the idea. The warmth of the congregation was genuinely heartfelt - well, apart from a few John McCain jokes - and the singing was amazing. Some of the more musicial members of the team then got involved after the service to bring a little musical culture from our home countries. A special mention must also go to SAWIPper Thami who spoke really well during the service.

All in all a very eventful and enjoyable weekend – especially for Aoibhin who celebrated her 21st birthday in style.

Apparently not. That was the agreed time to leave Belfast to start our journey to Dublin airport. Despite the hour, the mood was buoyant, the banter high and the horses in Newry very much free-range. Incidentally, turns out we could've got an extra hour in bed and got the 5am bus down as McKegney kept us waiting at the airport. Good one, Sarah.

Some people say you make your own luck in life. If that's true I think I'll stick with Neal. Buoyed by nabbing a free trip to Dublin, he succeed where others failed by getting his bag through when it was 13kg overweight - which equates to his two month supply of hair gel, presumably. Contrast this to Andy who got stuck at check-in in Dublin over passport issues, and then got detained by security in Toronto. You'd think that out of a group of 26, described as the Young Leaders of tomorrow, at least one of us would notice when one of our team disappeared. But no, it took some time. Oh, and then when boarding the flight to D.C. he gets picked out by security for a random search. You really couldn't make it up.

After much fun with the touch-screen in-flight entertainment from Toronto, 26 excited little Wippers (well, 25 excited Wippers: Andy was probably a little nervous) landed safely in D.C. Seeing the sights as we flew in was brilliant, but the welcome by all the Host parents when we touched down was unbelievably surreal. Lenore and Michael Martinez are the very lucky people who get to be the new Mom and Pop of myself and Chris Joyce. Their hospitality and generosity has been truly unbelievable and I really couldn't ask anything more of them. After a short tour of D.C. we headed home for some food and then some much-needed sleep.

After months of waiting, of application forms and interviews, and of e-mails about Business Cards, we had finally arrived.