European trek event an eye-opener for MUN students
They slept in the streets, went full days without food, had pleas for help turned down and sat sobbing at a train station, emotionally and physically drained.
Participating in the international Red Bull Can You Make It competition in Europe was a real eye-opener for three Memorial University biology students.
“It was definitely harder than we thought it was going to be, that’s for sure,” team member Myranda Bursey said. “It was the most exhausting trip ever.”
But it was also eye-opening, she said.
Bursey, Cassidy Welsh and Laura Hillier called themselves the Biohazards — one of three Canadian university teams and almost 200 teams from around the world that took part in the week-long event.
Groups started simultaneously from five different starting points in Europe — Madrid, Budapest, Manchester, Stockholm and Rome — and made their week-long journey to Amsterdam, the finishing point.
The catch was that teams were not permitted to have any money, credit cards or phones. Instead, they were given 24 cans of Red Bull, which they used to barter for food, accommodations and transportation.
Before they left on April 8, the Biohazards — who were starting in Stockholm — were pumped and were confident that people would be welcoming and helpful to visitors. It wasn’t that easy. “Being Canadian, we thought people would be more giving because people (in Canada) are,” Bursey said. “There were some tough times and times we considered dropping out.”
There was the time they pulled an all-nighter at a Mcdonald’s restaurant in Hamberg, Germany, because they had nowhere else to stay. There was also a time in Fredericia, Denmark, when they sat in a train station on a rainy night with nowhere to go after getting kicked off the train because they had no tickets to go any further. They also slept on couches in the lobby of a hotel and in the cellar of a frat house.
“We definitely regretted not bringing a tent,” Bursey said.
However, there were times when the kindness of strangers boosted their spirits.
A university student in Linkoping, Germany, let them stay in her dorm room for a night, and a few days later a family came to their rescue in Fredericia, inviting them to stay at their house after seeing the trio crying.
“(Staying with the family) was the highlight of our trip,” said Bursey, adding that the team often worked with other teams in the competition. “We got to shower, they made us a traditional Danish breakfast, they washed our clothes and then drove us an hour-and-a-half to our next destination. They were such nice people.”
Bursey said they plan to send gifts to those who helped them.
By the end of the competition, they had travelled 2,055 kilometres, traded 102 cans of Red Bull for help along their journey and recorded one of the highest social media scores of all the groups.
“We made it and it was such a rewarding experience … and it definitely brought us closer as friends,” Bursey said.
But she admitted it was good to get home.
“Oh, you have no idea how happy we were to sleep in our own beds,” she said. “Having gone through what we did, knowing what it’s like have nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat, it really made us appreciate everything we have.”