As the jamboree was starting everybody was looking forward to one event. After a long day of traveling and building the tents in the unit camps, participants and all the staff was more than ready to have some fun.

We as global ambassadors got the privilege to bear our national flags. Those global ambassadors who are more than one pre contingent had to decide who will get to carry flag of their country and who will substitute representatives from countries not present at the jamboree. As I am the only Slovak global ambassador, I was able to carry our own flag. I was so excited! Honestly I am really proud of my country and having the opportunity to carry our national flag meant so much for me. Representing Slovakia in front of the whole World scout jamboree, nearly 50 thousand people, sounded like a dream for me.

Because of the rehearsal beforehand we were supposed to come at 4:30 pm. For the record, the Opening ceremony was starting at 7:30 pm, so it was pretty early. As we were waiting for the rehearsal many people were already coming to take a seat at the stadium.

First we were supposed to divide into two groups, because we would be coming from both sides of the stage and stand in the correct order. After controlling if we stood correctly we got our poles and moved to Worldpoint stage to collect the flags. This was of course taking a while. After the successful transportation we were told how will the ceremony look like and what will we have to do. Unfortunately, because of the masses already sitting at the stadium we couldn’t rehearse it. While we were waiting for ceremony to start I made friends with global ambassadors from San Marino, Spain and UK. We were standing next to each other because of the alphabetical order.

Finally. The staff took us to the edge of the stadium and music started to play. It was breathtaking. All of the countries assembled in one place, my contingent proudly waving the flag and screaming as loud as possible, us parading between all the people who were clapping to the sound of “Circle of life” from Lion King.

After the parade between the participants we were supposed to step on the stage and wave our flag. Honestly I was nervous because I was afraid whether I would do something wrong in front all of the people, but nothing bad happened.

When it was my time to shine, I ran on the stage and waved. I smiled widely, when I saw my contingent waving back and cheering. As we walked to the backstage me and my friends started laughing and we finally realized what happened. We represented our nations in front of 50 thousand people! We took a few pics and videos. After that our troop leaders went to pick us up. As me and my troop leader were trying to find our way back to our contingent she told me how proud she was. I felt so happy. We returned, sat down and the whole group cheered as soon as they saw me. The programme carried on. Few minutes later the wave of realization washed over me. I shed tears of joy for the first time in my life. Honestly I will remember those moments for the rest of my life. Nothing could ruin the joyful grin I was wearing for the rest of the night.