Crunch Time. (Days 32-40)

After Wheeler Peak, I knew that I was going to have a rough few days. Indeed, it was. The past week has definitely been the most intense at UWC yet. The week started off relatively quiet--deceptively quiet. Monday and Tuesday flew by in a blur--classes and activities going as normal.

It wasn't really until Wednesday that I hit a brick wall. Wednesday started out normal enough, with my classes wrapping up around 11 (AM). Then came the essay. I literally locked myself in my room, turned off the internet, and worked for a solid 3 hours on writing an essay. Needless to say, by the time I was done, I was pretty exhausted. Was I done for the day? Of course, being at UWC, the answer was a resounding NO. I had a four hour shift at Casa De Samaritan Homeless Shelter. Casa de Samaritan is an project run by Samaritan House, the one of the biggest non-profits in Las Vegas (NM). Samaritan House also runs a thrift store and a food kitchen. Casa de Samaritan was started about two years ago by a collaboration of Samaritan House, UWC, New Mexico Highlands University, and local high schools. As such, UWC takes a pretty big role in running the shelter and making sure everything runs smoothly.

Sharon (Dean of CAS, and other activities) picked Mauri (one of my co-years) and I up around 5:30. We drove into the shelter, arriving while the health inspector was visiting. The health inspector was pretty mean, giving us a hard time about all of our equipment, etc. To be honest, it was pretty unnecessary; it's a charity, for goodness' sake. Overall, though I was tired, it was a great experience. I met some really interesting people, and learned that being homelessness isn't because they were stupid or made choices; often, it was just bad luck.

After a totally draining Wednesday, I was ready a quiet couple of days. Wait, this is UWC: There's no such thing as quiet time! Thursday was a pretty normal day--up until about 11:30 PM. At 11:30, all the firsties were corralled into the dayroom. We were then taken down to the front of the auditorium and given a lecture, if you will. The lecture culminated with a UWC tradition--Howling at the Moon! Basically, the idea is to go around to every teacher/administrator's house on campus, and howl until they wake up. It was really fun running around campus howling at everyone; I do think I lost my voice though.

Friday, as a result, was an even quieter day! I was so tired that it was difficult to keep myself awake until after check! I justified going to bed early, because it was going to be a very busy weekend. On Saturday morning, I didn't wake up until around 10 (very leisurely lie-in, I must say!!). After working out for about an hour, I got breakfast, and prepared for Castle Tours. Every Saturday, UWC offers tours of the castle and Dwan Light Sanctuary. The tours are guided by student docents like me. It's a lot of fun, and it's really neat to meet other people from the community.

On Sunday, I had a TON of stuff to do! From the eye-watering hour of 8 AM, we had to pack for Grand Canyon. As the cook on our trip, I assisted with food packing (we have to carry 60 pounds of food for 10 people!!). I then packed my own pack. Grand Canyon looks like it's going to be really cool. I'm on the Boucher Trail (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boucher_Trail) which is considered longest and one of the hardest trails on the South Rim of the canyon. I'm really excited about the hike--we have a great team, and cool guides. I'll post once I get back on Monday.

Finally, Monday was a pretty intense day. Today, I had to turn in my English essay (a difficult assignment) and do an oral presentation. Normally, neither of these would even bother me, but for some reason, I always get nervous around my English teacher, Hannah. Ultimately, though, the presentation went pretty well, and I got my essay in on time.

That's it for now...I'll post about the Grand Canyon when I get back. Wish me luck!!

Peace--Wheeler Peak 2010 (Days 28, 29, 30 and 31)

The one thing that UWC doesn't have much of is peace. Life here is often so busy, stressful, and crazy that it's easy to go 2, maybe even 3 weeks without any peace and quiet. I often have to force myself to read for 15 minutes--just to get some peace.The wonderful aspect of wilderness is that peace is forced upon you--lying in bed (or a sleeping bag), there's no screaming, shouting, banging, or any loud noises. Just peace. Wheeler Peak 2010 was one of the peaceful trips--an escape, if you will.

First, I'll sum up the remainder of the week. Basically, this week was pretty peaceful. Teachers gave me work, and I did said work. On Wednesday evening, we had matriculation night, which I discussed in my last post. As promised, below are photos from the event. (I'm signing the book, and sitting next to me is Lisa Darling, President of UWC-USA)

Signing the book

A slightly more photogenic shot

Thursday and Friday flew past in a blur. On Friday evening, after several nefarious activities, I got to bed around 1 AM. I had to get up at 5:45. Talk about a painful wake-up! It was alright, though, because we were off to Wheeler Peak!! Wheeler Peak is the tallest mountain in New Mexico. It's located wayyyy up in the north of the state, about a 2.5 hour drive from campus. We left UWC at 6:30, and arrived at the Trailhead around 9 AM. The trailhead is actually located next to the parking lot for Taos Ski Valley. For those of you who don't know, Taos is famed for it's incredible and challenging skiing (Yes, in New Mexico).

Taos!

Base Area.

Once we were organized, we set off. Who do I mean by we? On my team were Charlotte and Tad, our team leaders, and then me, Andreina, Kyoko, and Jane. We had a really small team, which was really nice, because we got to know each other a lot better than we would have if we had been in a big team. Ironically enough, our team was the only team chosen not to summit Wheeler Peak. Due to the high interest in the trip (we had over 50 people!!), there were too many teams going up for everyone to go to Wheeler Peak. Instead, our team went to Gold Hill. Hill is somewhat of a misnomer, given that this "hill" has its summit at a little under 13,000 ft. In actual fact, the summit of Gold Hill is only 400 ft below Wheeler Peak, so it's not bad at all!! We hiked for about 3.5 hours up through Aspen, then Pine Forest. It was incredibly beautiful, but also hard work. The trailhead for our hike was located at about 9,000 ft. We climbed about 3,000 ft to our camp--really, really hard work. The trail itself wasn't that steep, but just a long, gradual incline.

The trail up...

At about 3 PM, we reached the treeline. It was almost surreal to be walking in a thick pine forest, only to emerge seconds later into a bowl, with massive ridges all around (and no trees!). It was absolutely stunning! We had a quick lunch, and then set up our Megamids. Megamids are like a hybrid between a tent and a tarp. A tent would completely enclose you (including the floor). Megameds are identical to a tent, except they don't have a floor.

The view at the top

Megamid!

Once we'd set up our tents and rested a bit, we got ready to climb up to the ridge. I don't really have a photo that does it full justice, but the climb was intense. We probably climbed ~700 ft at about a 50-60 degree incline. Given the altitude (over 12,000 ft or 4,000 m), we were all panting heavily by the time we reached the top. The view from the top, though, was insane! The sheer beauty of the surrounding mountains was overwhelming. The ridge was covered in wild grass, which made for great photo material.

My favorite photo of the entire trip!

Our tents are so small (can you see them??)

The valley we hiked up...just beautiful!

Some context...

We hiked along the ridge for a while, just overwhelmed by the beauty of it all (at least, I was!!) We took a few more photos, and then headed down. Of course, we managed to choose one of the harder routes down. Picture this: A sheer slope, with rocks everywhere, and no grip. Welcome to our descent. In actual fact, it was a lot of fun, and we had a great time.

Looking up the ridge

Don't look down!!

Our fearless leader surveying the slope!

Once we were down, Charlotte and Jane cooked a delicious dinner (Curry!!), and then we headed to bed. While we were eating dinner, we were interrupted several times by a mysterious howling. We looked around, and Tad spotted a mysterious animal up on the ridge. By its stature and size, we deduced that it was either a) a feral dog, or b) a coyote. Either way, neither options seemed particularly pleasant. With that on our mind, we snuggled up for bed for a long sleep. Or at least, that was what we had planned. Fast forward to 4:30 AM, and our camp was awoken by a sharp noise. We all lay there, all pretending to be asleep, while we tried to figure out what on earth that sound was. Finally, when I heard Tad and Charlotte moving next to me, I asked them what the noise was. It was Elk. We're not quite sure what they were doing, but the options range from A) the elks mating to B) the elks scaring off the coyote. Either way, it sounded as though they were dying. This delightful noise continued for at least an hour, each time seeming closer and closer to camp. Needless to say, it was very difficult to go back to sleep with that racket going on outside. We actually ended up getting up around 6 AM. Boy, was it cold!!! It was not a pleasant feeling getting out of my sleeping bag and slipping on my cold jacket and shoes. While I shivered, Tad packed up the Megamids, and Charlotte and Jane prepared breakfast.

A rather cold breakfast...

It took us about 2 hours to have breakfast and pack up camp, throughout which I felt really, really cold. We rolled out of camp (we literally rolled, we were so stuffed after breakfast...) at around 8 AM. The descent was quite a lot easier than the ascent. About 20 minutes into the hike, we stopped at a mountain stream to gather water.

A beautiful, cold mountain stream!

Ultimately, it took us about an hour and a half to get down. That's right...we went twice as fast coming down. We arrived at the bus before everyone else (Yay!!), around 10 AM. The other teams slowly trickled in behind us, and we pulled out of the parking lot around 11:30. The ride home was uneventful, with nearly everyone (including me) sleeping. Once we arrived back at campus, however, we couldn't leave. (Oh, no...) We had to help clean-up! Wilderness cleanup is definitely my least favorite part of Wilderness. Even with roughly 50 people working, it took us about 2 hours to cleanup. I felt totally spent when I finally arrived back at my room around 4!

Ultimately, Wheeler Peak (or Gold Hill) was an amazing experience. I got to know some great people, and I learned a lot about myself and my limits. I'll definitely be doing more wilderness in the future! The unfortunate side-effect of Wilderness, however, is that I didn't have a weekend. That means I did no homework. Thus, this week is going to be difficult. I'll try to blog on Wednesday, but I hope that this post slightly makes up if I don't! In sum, my first proper Wilderness expedition was pretty cool, and the sky's the limit!

A more mudane week (Days 25, 26 and 27)

Well, let's say that this week has been a little quieter than I'm used to here. The pace of life hasn't changed--in fact, I'm totally exhausted right now! The tough thing about UWC is that--no matter the hour of the day--there's always something going on. It's really difficult to force yourself to get enough sleep with so much going on around you!

Monday was a fairly normal day. My teachers continue to drive hard--a pace that I don't think will let up until I graduate! My favorite class continues to be History. The subject matter is fascinating and the discussions are usually one of the high points of my day!

Tuesday flew by in a blur--mainly because my day starts at 6 AM and ends at 6:30 PM. (I hate Tuesdays) I'm learning a lot, though, in Red Cross Emergency Response Training (a great supplement to my CERT skills).

Wednesday, by contrast, is my favorite day of the week. My classes end at 11 AM (hallelujah!!), and I spent the rest of the day relaxing (and catching up on some sleep). Wednesday evening, however, was matriculation night. At UWC, there's a book that every new student is required to sign, and I signed it this evening. It was a nice photo opportunity (photos coming soon!).

Unfortunately, there isn't much more to report! This week has been pretty quiet--though it will pick up towards the end of the week. This weekend, I'm going hiking to the highest mountain in New Mexico--Wheeler Peak. It should be a really cool trip! I'm excited--but I won't be able to post until Sunday at the earliest. Stay tuned for more!

A Wild and Sedate Weekend (Days 23 and 24)

I know, a contradictory title, right? Well, it's a pretty apt description of this weekend. The weekend started out in a pretty wild fashion...due to Buddy Dance! As I explained in my last post, no first-year knows his/her buddy, so it's a total surprise. For me, it was a really big surprise. At 10 PM, second-years can officially start picking up their buddies. All the first-years wait in their rooms until their buddy comes. In my dorm, Mont Blanc, it's a tradition that all the first-years switch rooms, in order to confuse their buddy. As I sat in Sebastian (my RA)'s room, I was excited, nervous and worried. (What's new?) My biggest fear was that I'd open the door and not know the name of my buddy. Fortunately, that was not the case. After waiting for 40 minutes, and getting more and more worked-up, my buddy finally arrived. She went to my room first, and found that I was not there...but then she found me! Who is/was my buddy? Nofar, from Israel! She's really, really cool, and a great buddy.

After "picking me up", we went off to another dorm. When we got there, I was amazed. There were about 5 other couples there (I say couples for lack of a better word), and a TON of food. Seriously, Nofar had cooked up a storm! We hung out there for about an hour, just talking and getting to know each other. Once we'd finished chatting, we headed up to the actual dance. Although Buddy Dance is officially a dance, its mainly a night to spend with your buddies. Several people didn't go to the dance and just hung out with their buddies (which I consider a bit boring), but Nofar was basically in charge of the dance, so we went. At the dance, you get your official picture taken before entering the dance.

Buddy!

Group Pic!

The dance itself was really fun, lasting about two and a half hours, by which time it was 2 in the morning. My friends were all teasing me about being up "past my bedtime". (On weeknights, I generally go to bed pretty early, but on weekends I stay up late). After leaving the dance, Nofar and I hung out for awhile, just talking and enjoying each others' company. It was a great night, and I had a fantastic time.

The rest of the weekend by comparison, was well, sedate. When I went to bed at 4, I had no expectations of getting up before noon. Unfortunately, my body just isn't used to sleeping late, and I woke up at 11:30. The rest of Saturday just went by in a blur. Sunday was slightly more eventful. Rising at the early hour of 10 AM, I worked out for an hour, and then got some homework done (what a foreign concept). In the afternoon, we had something called dorm day. Dorm Days occur every once and awhile, and they are basically a chance for the dorm to hang out and get to know each other better. Today, we hung out together in the fieldhouse for a couple of hours, just playing soccer and basketball, which was a lot of fun. Afterward, we had pizza and soda (a nice break from the monotonous routine of the caf), and watched Green Street Hooligans together as a dorm. All in all, it was a pretty good afternoon, and enough to distract me from the crisis of the day. On Sunday morning, one of my good friends, Hannah, had severe stomach pains and the nurse thought it was appendicitis. Nothing like a little excitement for Sunday morning. Fortunately, despite my worrying, it turned out to be nothing at all!

So, all in all, it was a wild and sedate weekend. I certainly miss the peace and quiet that I used to get at home (you must be crazy to think that you'd get that here), but I also love all that's going on around me! Sadly, it's the start of another week--back to the grind. I'll post on Wednesday--I hope everyone has a great week!

The end of the beginning (Days 21 and 22)

Thursday marked 21 days--or three weeks--since I arrived at UWC. It's really hard to believe that just over a month ago, I was on a family vacation, and UWC couldn't have seemed further away. Three weeks seems like a really short time, but it feels like I've been here a really long time! I guess that's just part of UWC--the experience is so intense that each day seems to last for a week!

Friday marked the end of my first full week of classes! It's been an interesting week--with a lot more free time than I thought (that's going to disappear...). My favorite class right now is definitely history--it's a really cool class! My CAS have been fun so far (though most of them haven't even started yet!). On Thursday, I had theater lighting, which is my smallest CAS, and should be pretty busy! The UWC theater is definitely smaller than the CA one, but it's pretty well equipped, and we're given a lot of responsibility. The fun thing about UWC is that there are productions and such going on all the time, so there's never a quiet moment! All in all, though, the last couple of days have been pretty quiet!

That all changes tonight. Tonight (Friday night) is Buddy Dance. It's a big UWC-USA tradition. Basically, the idea is that a second-year picks a first-year "buddy" to spend the night with. The catch is that the first year has no idea who his/her buddy is. It's pretty nerve-wracking to just be sitting here not knowing who your buddy is!! Anyway...buddy dance calls! It's been the best three weeks of my life so far...and I have only more to come--the end of the beginning!!

The real UWC... (Days 18, 19 and 20)

The inevitable has finally happened--I now have enough homework to make me forget about my blog! Monday evening, I had a lot of work--something I'm not used to after nearly 3 months off. It wasn't until I was lying in bed when the thought flashed into my mind: I haven't posted on my blog! By that point though, I was already in bed, and there was no way I was getting out of it again!

Why was I so tired? An excellent question. I had gotten plenty of sleep the night before, and all I had done on Monday was go to classes. There's something about being here--the constant energy--that manages to exhaust you. Each day, when I climb into bed, I'm completely exhausted. It's an unusual feeling, but a good one!

Monday was a fairly normal day, with a schedule similar to the one I had last week. Tuesday, however, was totally different. After waking up at an nightmarish 545AM, I dragged my semi-conscious self over to the field house for my first CAS! CAS is an IB requirement, and it stands for Creativity, Action, Service. Basically, the IB requires you to get out and do something creative, something physical, and some sort of community service. UWC usually easily surpass the IB requirement, and CAS is a huge part of the UWC experience. In the first semester, I'm doing Admissions Internship, Castle Tours, Grand Canyon Prep, Red Cross Emergency Response Training, NAD (North American Day), Casa de Samaritan Shelter, and Theater Lighting. (As each CAS starts, I'll explain them in more detail.

On Tuesday morning, my 6 AM CAS is Grand Canyon Prep. It's a physical CAS designed to get us ready to hike in (and out) of the Grand Canyon. So far it's been grueling, but I hope it will be worth it! Tuesdays are my toughest day of the week. After Grand Canyon Prep, I have a full day of classes 8AM-3PM, with no breaks or free periods. After classes, I have another CAS--Red Cross Emergency Response Training. The idea of the CAS is to get us certified in three Red Cross Certifications--CPR/AED, Oxygen Administration, and Emergency Response. It's really long (3.5 hours each Tuesday), but we're going to learn a lot, and it should be a LOT of fun! Finally, at 6:30 PM, I finish for the day! That said, I usually have a delightful little pile of homework waiting in my dorm room. When I finished on Tuesday, I wasn't just exhausted, I was dead on my feet!

Wednesday, by contrast, is a very pleasant day. I only have two classes and one CAS (Grand Canyon Prep at 6 AM). When math finishes at 11 AM, I'm done for the day! It's very nice to have some time to unwind and relax (especially mid-week). Once I finish writing this post, I'm heading into town to pick up stuff for Buddy Dance (more later). Basically, over the last few days, I've begun to experience the REAL UWC!

A quick note

So...today was tough. My day started at 6 AM and ended at 6:30 PM, so I'm really tired. I have a lot more time tomorrow, so I'll post then.

A busy weekend! (Days 16 and 17)

This weekend was insanely busy! Friday afternoon, I went on my second trip to town (actually, to Wal-Mart). I needed to pick-up some more school supplies. Friday evening was filled with Patio Party! In between the castle and the lower dorms, there is a large patio outside the fieldhouse. Every so often, we have a party there. It was so much fun!

Saturday morning was pretty quiet...I didn't get to bed until 2 AM, so I was fairly tired. After a late brunch (by late, I mean noon), Daniel (from South Africa), Scott (Colorado), and I went on a long hike. Around the school, there is so much open space, it's easy to find somewhere to hike. On this specific hike, we went to Sebastian Canyon, a small canyon next to the school. The school is very relaxed about students coming and going. As long as I hike with someone else, we can hike pretty much wherever we want. We had a really fun time, climbing to a really high point overlooking the school. (Pictures coming soon) We finally got back to school after about 3 hours of hiking.

Not long after getting back to school, it was time for the first year vs. second-year football (or soccer) match. The match is one of those rare time when the atmosphere gets really competitive. The second years came out with a huge pirate flag, trash can drums, and various noise-making instruments. They were fairly intimidating, but our team performed really, really well, eventually losing to the second-years 1-0.

Sunday, by comparison, was a very quiet day. After another late start, it was time to do some homework! Sunday is often set aside as a homework/quiet day at UWC. I didn't have too much homework, but it still took awhile. This week is my first full week of classes, and it's going to be very strange to have to do serious work! CAS also starts this week, which I'll blog much more extensively about in the coming days.

Back to Earth (Days 14 and 15)

For the past couple of weeks, my mind been floating wayyy up in space, in the vicinity of the moon. On Thursday, it had a crash landing back to earth. After waking up at 6 to work out, my first class was History. I can already tell that history is going to be a blast! In our Friday class, we spent our time discussing what makes a strong country, the top 5 countries in Europe in 1900, and the top 5 countries in the world in 1900. In my group, I had an Afghani, an Italian, a Latvian, another American, and me. Needless to say, the opinions were extremely diverse.

Immediately after history, I had Spanish. The teacher, Aleyda, is also my advisor, so we already knew each other. My Spanish class is going to be so much fun! There are 7 of us in the class...so it's really intense. The idea of the class is that I can be proficient in Spanish at the end of two years...It's a tall order, but I'm really excited for it!

Later on Thursday, I had Environment Systems and Societies. Ben, the teacher, is one of the most interesting guys, I think I will ever meet. He is TOTALLY into the environment, and his enthusiasm is infectious. Although the class seems pretty intense, I think it will be a lot of fun. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up learning a lot about the environment.

On Friday, the cycle repeated, and the only new class I had was Economics. Econ sounds pretty intense, but it should also be a lot of fun. The teacher we have this semester is just a fill-in for the normal teacher, Eyad, because he's on sabbatical. Thanks to debate, I already have a really firm grounding in Econ, so the course should be fairly enjoyable.

On a final note, the schedule here is insane. It is one of the most bizarre schedules ever invented. Each class meets three times a week--for 2 50 minute periods (or codes) and 1 2 hour period. Classes run from 8-3 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Wednesday, they end at noon. There are a bunch of extra codes (or periods) built into the schedule for different purposes. 

Overall, the last couple of days have been fairly quiet. Tomorrow, I will finally have caught up--I'll be writing about the weekend.

First Day of Classes! (Day 13)

Wednesday was the first day of classes!! I got up at 6 AM in order to workout (wayyyyyy too early), and so as I walked into the dining hall at 7 AM, I was wide-awake, unlike the majority of my colleagues.After a quick breakfast, it was time for my first UWC class!

My first class on Wednesdays is English. My teacher, Hannah, is one of the best IB English teachers in the world. She even wrote the textbook for our course! The one side-effect of her prowess is how hard her class is! In my first UWC class, she made us write an essay for 40 minutes...Intimidating? I think so.

After English was over, I had a double code (or block) of Math. The teacher, Dan, is a really cool guy. IB Math Standard looks like a fairly solid course. Thanks to Ms. Ed, I won't have to worry too much about it this semester. Classes here are pretty small, with a couple of exceptions. My largest class is right around 18, but this number is constantly fluctuating as people switch in and out of their classes.

Once Math was over, I had a free code (aka...free period!!), and then school was over for the day. Yes, on Wednesday, we finish at noon. Usually after classes on Wednesday, we have CAS (I'll explain in a later post). Today, however, was CAS fair, where we get to choose our CASes for a semester.

Tomorrow will be a more general post, about Thursday and Friday.

Welcoming Ceremony (Day 12)

On Tuesday, there was a very large cloud hanging over the school. No, not literally, but definitely figuratively! We had classes the next day, and it certainly made everyone slightly depressed. I arrived back on campus around 1 PM, after a 3 hour drive back from Ghost Ranch. We had to clean everything up from Wilderness which took forever...

Tuesday evening, though, was special. At UWC-USA, the day before classes means Welcoming Ceremony. The Welcoming Ceremony is comprised of two parts: Dinner and then the Ceremony itself. It was deliberately kept a secret from most of the first-years so that we would be even more surprised. All students are asked to wear either a national costume or nice clothing. I chose the latter due to a dearth of ideas on a national costume.

Looking good! (Photo: Max)

The dinner itself was amazing. The dining hall really lends itself to such grand occasions, and everything looked amazing! After all the first-years were seated, the second-years led the flag march. The flag march is where students from each country parade in carrying their national flag. It was incredible to see the number of flags! I would post a picture or two of the flags as they came in, but nearly all of my shots were obscured by the sun shining into the lens.

The incredible-looking dining hall!!

We had a speech and a piano piece. It was a delicious meal, but the best part was still to come!! After we had all eaten, all the first-years were taking downstairs to the student center, where we lined up in two long lines. Needless to say, I was at the very front of the line! It was really exciting, as well as nerve-wracking, because we had very little idea of what was about to happen.

After an endless wait, we were finally led out of the student center, up the stairs, and through the main doors of the castle. Standing outside, around the flags, was the entire second-year class. At their feet were candles; they were all holding hands in a big circle. Off to one side, a few second-years were softly singing There Can be Miracles. It was one of the most inspiring, beautiful, and amazing images that I have ever seen.

The Welcoming Ceremony--Not actually us, but I didn't have a good pic (Photo: UWC)

All the first-years created a larger circle around the second-years and held hands. Standing there, listening to that song, reminded me of why I am here, and what an amazing place this truly is. UWC-USA is just a school, a home, or a community--it is a very special place and somewhere that I don't think I'll ever forget. As the song ended, all the second-years turned around, gave us a lanyard with UWC-USA on it, and hugged us. We then joined into one huge circle, and sang a beautiful song. (Sadly, I can't remember what it is...)

Once the formal ceremony was over, it was picture taking time. There is a tradition here that everyone takes pictures with each other to celebrate the beginning of the year.  In the space of about an hour, I took around 120 pictures. There are way too many pictures to put on here, so I've included a link to all my photos on facebook (No, you don't need an account, these photos should be public): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079676&id=1432428819&l=7dc2ac5246

 That's it for today. Tomorrrow (Saturday), I'll write about the first day of classes! Stay tuned.

Wilderness Orientation Trip (Days 10, 11, and 12) PART TWO

*This is part two of yesterday's post*

The view from the top, however, is incredible! Standing on top of that mesa made me feel as though I was standing on top of the world! After we had set up camp, it was time to go and fetch some more water! We had each carried in 3 1.5 Liter bottles of water, but after a couple of days, this stock was greatly depleted. Ben, Daniel, Jomar, and I all went off to collect water. We headed to a "tank"; in this case, a large dirt pond that is usually used for watering cattle. After about a 20 minute hike, we arrived at the tank. While Daniel and Ben filled up the water bottles from the tank, I used iodine to purify the bottles. My hands were a lovely yellowy color when we finished...

The view from camp!

Our Kitchen!

After a short hike back to camp, we had to start preparing dinner. In the wilderness, dinner prep begins very early, so that all clean-up can be completed before dusk. In turn, this means that we were in bed by 9 PM. Dinner, of course, was delicious! We had beans and rice, with cornbread on the side and cherry cobbler to finish. I think I've said this before, but my wilderness leaders were excellent cooks! After a few...mishaps...we finally settled into bed and went to sleep!

The sunset!

We had to get up at 4:30 AM. Grueling doesn't even do it justice. Especially when it's cold outside and my sleeping bag was lovely and warm. We took forever to pack up, eventually breaking camp 50 minutes late. We had a slightly harrowing descent down from the rim of the mesa, but afterward began to making real strides down the trail. We had a deadline of 9:30 AM, and we arrive back at base camp right on time! It was a fantastic intro to wilderness, and the first of many expeditions to come!

Heading Home.

*For more photos, see this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/Harry.Lambert2/TheRamblingsOfATransplantedBrit?authkey=Gv1sRgCMjijNy786DVggE&feat=directlink *

Wilderness Orientation Trip (Days 10, 11, and 12) PART ONE

*This post is pretty long, so I decided to break it up into two parts. Check back for part two tomorrow!*

Yesterday, I posted about my experience at Ghost Ranch...now it's on to wilderness! On Sunday, we woke up to a very wet campground--it had rained overnight! Fortunately, I had slept under a shelter, so I wasn't too wet! After a fairly lazy morning and lunch spent talking to co-years, it was time to get ready for wilderness. It was pretty crazy as we packed up all of our stuff and got ready to head out on the trail, but we were eventually ready! The school provided all of the equipment (if needed), though I had my own boots and sleeping bag (thank you Patrick). Carrying a pack is a very different sort of hiking than what I've done before. One doesn't appreciate quite how easy day-hiking is until they've had a 50 pound pack on their back!

We were hiking up to a place called Upper Camp East, about a 7 mile trek up a canyon. We left Ghost Ranch at about 2:30 and began hiking. We hiked for about 3 hours before making camp in a large meadow on a plateau. There were about 9 of us in a group--5 first-years, 3 second-year wilderness leaders, and 1 Wilderness Guide along as a guest. Hiking in such a small group allowed us to get to know one another really well. The team members were:

Myself
Cheyenne, from Barbados (Firstie)
Svenja, from Germany (Firstie)
Jomar, from the Philippines (Firstie)
Titan, from Indonesia (Firstie)
Ben, from the USA (Wilderness Leader)
Daniel, from Venezuela (Wilderness Leader)
Zeinab, from Lebanon (Wilderness Leader)
Mars, from the USA (Guest Wilderness Guide)

Ben, Zeinab, and Daniel were the second years in charge of leading the group. Mars is a graduate of UWC (Class of '08), who came along as a guest. Ben and Daniel are two of the funniest people I have ever met. All three Wilderness Leaders were excellent. The first night, we ate like kings. Ben and Daniel are amazing cooks, and so, after making camp, we feasted upon quesadillas with chicken, pepperjack and cheddar cheese, and salsa. They were so good! Unfortunately, during the middle of dinner, it started to rain and we had a rather wet dinner on our hands. The food still tasted wonderful though, and we went to bed with full stomachs. Overnight, it rained quite hard and we awoke in the morning to find a pretty soaked tarp! Fortunately, nearly all of our equipment was still dry.

Ben hard at work in the kitchen!

Our (rather wet) tarp...

We had a rather extended breakfast. Unfortunately, one of our fuel bottles had malfunctioned and we could only use one stove to cook breakfast. We finally broke camp at around 10, about 2 hours later than we had planned. We had a hard 3 hour hike up to our final campsite. The vistas were beautiful, although most of us were too out of breath to really appreciate them...

A mid-hike photo break

Two of our leaders...

The view, halfway up!

Finally, we reached the top of Upper Camp East. The final 20 minutes of the hike involved climbing the rim of the mesa above. It was steep and hard work with a big pack, but we finally made it. We found a beautiful campsite close to the rim of the mesa. The kitchen had especially beautiful views. As we poked around in the area around camp, we came across a rather interesting pile of junk. Someone had left a huge pile of stuff in the middle of a (former) campsite. Among the various items we found were: a jacket, a rake, several videos including Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and yes, a Playstation 2. Incredible as it sounds, we actually found a PS2 in the middle of the wilderness. We were rather surprised.