After a prompt exit from school on Friday afternoon, 27 class 10 students, myself and Kevin hurried to the airport for our flight to Campinas and the start of our physics trip. Once in Campinas we checked into our hotel and I was most disappointed to find that my TV had only channel and that was in Portuguese!

At 8pm we met in reception to get the bus to Dom Pedro Shopping Mall which is apprently the largest shopping centre in Latin America - but they said the same about the one in Caracas.

The bus driver dropped us at one entrance and we walked for about 20 minutes to reach the bowling centre. Here we all donned our stylish shows and spent the next couple of hours bowling. There were various other arcade games, dancing and basketball were popular, and I am proud to say I beat Kevin at air hocket, despite almost receiving injuries from a flying puk. He then thrashed me at bowling so we were quits.

Towards the end the girls could resist the shops no longer so headed into the mall, and then it was time for us all to return our shoes, trek back through the shopping centre and return to the hotel.

Saturday morning we checked out of our hotel and drove to "Hopi Hari," the main focus for the physics trip. Hopi Hari is a theme park much like Alton Towers and the students were to write a report on the various laws of physics being applied in the park. When we arrived the students disappeared off to the rides, then myself, Kevin and Ruy set off for the Montezuma rollercoaster. We had to queue for about an hour but the ride was great - it was very fast with lots of steep dives to go under the road. We all screamed a lot and laughed a lot, then walked to the next ride which was a rollercoaster in the dark. The cars span as you went around which was fun, but the rest was not too exciting. The next ride was the Jabalaia which rocked from side to side a lot before doing a complete circle. It didn't look too exciting but turned out to be good.

The highlight of the day came next when the three of us decided to go on the bungee jump ride. We donned our harnesses then went into the main area to be attached to the crane. The funniest moment was when we were suddenly lifted off our feet and tipped horizontal to test the harnesses. We were all feeling very nervous so this made us hysterical for some time.

Then it was time to go and we were raised higher and higher from the ground. As we went up I didn't dare look around, I just stared at the woman on the ground, waiting for the signal for me to pull the chord that would release us. At 52 m she gave the signal, I pulled the chord and we plummted towards the ground, before the bungee took the slack and we swung out over the lake. It was absolutely amazing. I screamed a lot, but loved it. It was the most amazing adrenalin rush. We swung backwards and forwards for a while, then were brought down to the ground. When we were released and put vertical once more I was a tad shaky, and amazed that I had done it.

We decided that after all this excitement it was time for lunch, shade and rehydration. The day had begun quite cloudy but got hotter and hotter. After a relaxing lunch we went on the "kabun" which is shaped like the Eiffel tower. It is a freefall ride so you are pulled to the top of the tower and then dropped. I screamed all the way down because you really do feel likeyou are freefalling. It is an amazing sensation.

For some calmer action we had a ride on the big wheel, then headed to the Wild West section to go on the Rio Branco rapids ride. This was fun and we all got wet as we went under the bridges and got sprayed by water jets. As we walked through the Wild West town we went to the Haunted House which was really bad, then tried the Katakomba which was an Egyptian themed haunted house. It was better than the frist one but still not too scary. It was mainly a lot of actors in scary makeup in a very dark building. The funniest moment was when we were in one of the dark passages, I turned around to see Kevin and Ruy running at me, screaming. Apparently Kevin had been touched by the mummy and was a tad freaked out.

We had time for one more ride so went back to kabun before collecting the students and heading to São Paulo for our hotel. We had a good dinner at a nearby restaurant then packed everyone off to their rooms for the night. I am sure the students were all too well behaved to then go off clubbing with their fake ID's...

We had a late start on Sunday, can't think why some students missed breakfast. We met them all between 11 and 12, checked out, and then had some free time. Kevin, Ruy and I went to Livraria Cultural for a quiet lunch, then went back to the hotel to meet the students who were going karting. Once at the karting place we had a short wait, then the students watched the training video before donning their helmets and setting off. After a few practice laps they took their positions on the grid then raced round and round for 15 minutes. There were several crashes - into each other and the tyre barriers - and they all seemed to have a good time.

Then it was time to get the bus to the airport and fly back to Rio. All in all it was a great trip. I don't know anymore about Physics but have found a new love for bungee.