Travel Writing

The phrase, “Remember when” conveys a shared experience, doesn’t it?  If someone approaches you and says, “Remember when,” chances are you’re going to share a memory with that person. We have so many shared experiences in our ESA community, don’t we? Field Day, senior prank day, Coffeehouse. Experiences at Camp Allen, Dauphin Island, and, of course, GlobeTrek.

I love that phrase “Remember when” even more now that I teach eighth graders and seniors. I get to hear that phrase for the weeks and months following my eighth graders’ week-long GlobeTrek experience in North Carolina. And I also hear it from my seniors as they reminisce on their own GlobeTrek memories. 

Today, I invite you all to listen to the shared GlobeTrek experiences - some a few brief sentences, some a bit longer - of our eighth graders. 

Molly


Lila

The first night we were out in the forest my mind sped up to a million miles per hour. I constantly was thinking about “what ifs”. Things that most likely wouldn't happen but I was overthinking about the slight chance that it would happen. Toward the end of the trip I learned how to live in the moment, and how to ignore the small slight chances of something going wrong. Slowing my mind down and just taking what I'm physically doing in. I could be overthinking about my life back home or my family, and I’d be hiking through the forest with life and colors and beautiful scenery. So during the last two days on the trail, I thought about that. Taking in the life and colors around me, and enjoying what I was doing. After that, I could sit with my thoughts and I wouldn't be immediately upset because I would automatically think about things that could go wrong or make me sad and miss my life back home. 

It was still light outside which was amazing because the past nights we had been eating in the dark. We all asked Kyle to walk back to the peak we had eaten dinner on to see the sunset. This was special because the past nights we had been sleeping under the trees. They were so tall that we could not even see the stars let alone the sunset. This night we were so close to the edge of a cliff that we wanted to see at least one pretty sunset. 

We walked back to the opening and it looked like it was straight out of a  landscape painting. My whole group sat down close to the bottom of the mountain and started talking about the day. We talked about how we can not wait to go home and how we finally made it through the trip. Then we started fooling around. This part had to be my favorite moment throughout the whole trip. I had the camera that Mrs. H had given us on the first day, and I carried it around the whole trip to document every experience. Earlier in the day me and Ella were playing around with the camera and realized that it had a special setting that had filters on it. While watching the sunset we were all trying to take a cute group picture. However, it turned into us taking funny photos with the filters and laughing because we looked so stupid. 

We settled down just a little bit and embraced the slight cool breeze. Then, we realized that the sun was about to completely go down. This is when it really hit me that I had actually finished the trip. It was over and I did not have to deal with the woods anymore. We looked through all the photos  one more time to remember the good parts. It was finally dark and Kyle had called us over to go back to the campsite.

We were almost at the campsite in the van when Olivia yelled, “IT'S SNOW” 

We all looked out the window seeing little snowflakes falling. Finn was super excited because he has never seen snow before. Everyone was amazed as we climbed elevation and the snow came harder and the ground became covered with more and more snow. When we finally got to our destination, Mckee informed us that we were at the highest elevation and that he had never seen snow before in Pisgah. As we were waiting to get our packs off we realized the snow might not be our best friend. I looked at Audrey and realized her hair was white. As we got our packs and had a very short hike to our campsite the sun started to fade away. This is where the real nightmare begins. 

We put down our packs and McKee told us we need to start setting up our tarps. At this point everyone was wearing gloves so their fingers wouldn't freeze off. Finn and I started setting up the tarp while Dylan was “helping us”. This was an impossible task. It was our first time setting up tarps and we had no idea how to tie these knots and set up our tarp. We made no progress in the first hour. No one wanted to take their hands out of the gloves to help. 

Mckee said “ Wow, do y'all want a place to sleep tonight or not.” These new knots Mckee taught us made no sense to us and we kept trying and trying but almost no success. Eventually mckee basically gave up on us and started helping us set it up and basically  did it for us. We rejoiced as we finally got the tarp up and we were ready to go to sleep but oh this was just the beginning. 

Mckee gave us a little break and we were still not hating the snow that much because it was kinda fun to throw a. But when it got down your own shirt it felt like the sensation of someone dumping a whole ice bucket on your head.

“Who wants to go get water?” said Mckee.  No one volunteered but me and Finn were forced to go and just to take one for the team. This was the best decision of my Globe Trek experience. We walked a very short walk to the van, and he said we were going to drive to the water source. Finn and I were ecstatic. First of all we're not going to get snowed on, and it's going to be room temperature. It was a dream come true.

One big lesson that GlobeTrek taught me is that a lot of the little things do not matter as much as I thought they did. Before I left for Globetrek, every tiny detail of everything felt like a big deal to me. Every time I said something wrong, made a bad grade, or even just made a stupid mistake, I felt as if the world would end. I was such a perfectionist that I thought everyone would judge me if I made a little mistake. I was so concerned with how other people perceived me. By the end of GlobeTrek, I realized that little things like appearance, grades, and tiny mistakes, do not matter as much as I thought they would. By the end of the trip, I was eating food with leaves in it and stirring my hot chocolate with sticks. I truly did not care what the people in my group thought of me. Now that I am back home, I still do not care as much about what people think of me, so that is one lesson I learned on GlobeTrek.

Walking back to the center part of the campsite I remember hearing discussion about dinner and then I heard the exact words I dreaded on this trip, “ I think Whitney should cook.” I was so close, the trip was almost over and  I didn't cook once. I was going to get out of this trip without cooking. Knowing that I am terrible at cooking, I get everything out and the instructions are like math. I understood them but I knew something was about to go wrong . Lauren decides she will help me cook. I took most lead in cooking though because Lauren cooked many times on the nights before. Lauren and I tried to start the stove multiple times and kept failing. Finally Johnny angrily walked over and started the stove first try. I could tell he was stressed. It wasn’t cold but windy and the wind was killing me. My fingertips felt like they were being pinched.  Lauren and I talked and time flew. Camille joined every now and then but was redirected by Johnny. We talked more then our conversation was interrupted by this awful smell. Lauren suggested we look in the pot and see if the smell was from our cooking. Shockingly, the smell was our food. So here we are, the food looks burnt, the food smells burnt, so what do we do? We put the lid back on and let it cook longer. If you asked me why I would say I don’t know. We did not think this through. A thought  hits us like a ball on the head both at the same time that we should probably take the food off the burner because it was burnt. I don't know why this took so long for us to think about, but after burning the food, we decided ten minutes later we should take it off the burner. We are serving the food, and the food looks awful. Orange colored noodles with an occasional black noodle. We get to the bottom of the pot and it is pitch black and ruined. The food was borderline abuse. Our noodles were pretty disgusting in my opinion. Apparently most people in my group thought so as well. Cruz very clearly expressed that he was not a fan of my food. Danny thought so too but seemed afraid to admit it. The noodles were supposed to be soup. If you couldn’t tell from my description there was no soup element to this meal.

 It was tough, but eventually, I pulled my hat and headlamp over my eyes and fell asleep.  

Later, I heard the emergency blanket rip open. I felt a few raindrops then fell back asleep. Later, I woke up again, this time I felt something poke into me. Probably just Emma Katherine’s water bottle under the mat or something. I thought. Then I tried to reach for my backpack, to use as a pillow. I didn’t grab anything. Must’ve scooted down the mat, kind of like what happens at home.  I would have used my headlamp, but earlier, when I used it, everyone told me to turn it off. If I was in the tent, I thought I would wake everyone up.

Around what looked like 6 A.M, Lauren woke up. She noticed that something was missing from the tent. She woke up Camille, thinking she was Emma Katherine. Eventually, she woke everyone up and said, “ There’s one person on this side, there’s supposed to be two.” They looked outside and saw me. 

“Victoria, get up!” I heard Whitney. At first I thought it was time to go, still not realizing I was outside.

“Victoria, get up. Girlie,  you’re out of the tent!” Emma Katherine said, as she was getting out of the tent. I sat up as soon as I heard her say I was out of the tent. 

“What? How did this happen!” I said after I was dragged back in by Emma Katherine.

“Are you ok? Are you dry?” Lauren asked.

“Actually I’m-” I tried to say that I was completely dry.

“No she’s not dry! She’s soaked! Actually she’s dry, the sleeping bag’s soaked though.” Emma Katherine said as she felt my sleeping bag then my rain jacket.

“When stuff like that happens, tell us.” Camille said to me.

“I couldn’t tell y’all, I didn’t realize it.” I said.

“Yeah, she was in a deep sleep.” Emma Katherine said.

We had about thirty minutes before Johnny would wake up. Whitney and Camille fell back asleep and Lauren and Emma Katherine stayed outside for a while. I stayed up staring at where I was outside trying to figure out how that happened. Did Emma Katherine push me in her sleep? Did the wind change direction and blow me out of the tent? These were two of many thoughts of how I woke up outside.

“Ok guys, let's start packing up!” Johnny said from outside his tent. Camille and Whitney woke up almost immediately. 

“Think about this Victoria, we're about to get into the warm van and now you have something interesting to write about in your English narrative.” Camille told me.

GlobeTrek allows students to see how teamwork can make such a big difference in making tasks easier and more fun, and is a perfect example to have first hand experience of this. Teamwork can be taught by telling younger students about the difference it can make, but they will never truly understand it until they unlock working together in a stressful situation, without even knowing about it until after the fact. 

Around the campfires each night, we spoke about how we thought that teamwork had made such a big difference in cleaning dishes, setting up our tents, and much more many times easier, faster, and more fun. Our final night in the woods we made necklaces for each other of what we each appreciated, and it came up multiple times that everyone enjoyed how well we worked together to get things done by the end of the trip. ESA students who have not been on GlobeTrek do not get to have this experience of collaboration with each other to take back home to use at school, home, and throughout life. After going on the GlobTrek trip, students can apply teamworking skills to use during projects for classes, on teams in a sport they play, and can then show the difference teamwork and collaboration can make to seemingly difficult tasks to their friends, and how it makes tasks much easier to complete, while also learning more about each other. 

From climbing mountains in North Carolina and seeing the beautiful view to scoring a goal on your soccer team and feeling the satisfaction of winning, none of it would be as feasible without working together as a team. GlobeTrek is so important for every ESA student to experience because of the necessity of learning how to be a good team player, preparing them to use this throughout anything in their life ahead.

 Even during my time in the woods, I still had things to be thankful for. I had the help and support of my friends. My friends helped me come to think that I am not only thankful for material things but extremely appreciative to have people who I love. 

Another lesson I learned was to always be positive not only during rough times but just in your daily life. During Globetrek, Lauren, Lillia, Kellen and I helped each other stay positive and we never got into a negative space. 

I learned that there is always something to be grateful or positive about. Keeping an upbeat attitude creates a better place to be in and makes other people feel better. 

When we were on one of the hardest hikes, when everyone was super negative and wanting to go home, we stopped and took a minute. This not only reminded me of how many blessings I have but also changed our mood positively. 

Lastly, a lesson I learned is to not judge anyone. Before the trip I knew that judging people was a sin, but GlobeTrek helped me really understand that meaning. Globetrek helped me get closer to one of my friends I previously had tension with. I got to see a different perspective and side of them after spending so much time together and grew our relationship. If I would have continued to be closed minded, and judge, I would not have the friendship with them I have today. They are now one of my closest friends and I am beyond grateful we reconnected. 

GlobeTrek taught me many lessons and grew my perspective so much and I will take these lessons with me throughout my life.  

The group gathered at the campfire and everyone was just so tired and wanted to go to bed. We all sat criss-cross applesauce around the campfire that was barely living on one firewood. The orange sparks of fire dying out was mesmerizing to watch. McKee took out a ziplock bag full of beads and string. One was red, one was blue, one was green, and one was black. McKee told us to take each bead in a color and pass the beads to the next person. We did as he said and it was pretty chaotic. Most of us either couldn’t keep track of who got beads and who didn’t, and the other half took three or two beads in a color instead of one. McKee said that each bead had a different meaning to this trip. The meanings were things that the group had to do in order to work together as a group. First we put on the red bead on our necklace. The red bead meant patience. The second bead was the blue one and that was flexibility.  Next, was the black bead that represented silence. While hiking I would just listen to the rustling of the trees and bushes. Lastly, was the green bead that represented kindness. This bead meant a lot to me. 

The trip really made me think deeply of the meaning of kindness. Kindness is small gestures, kindness is quality time with those who you care about, kindness is compliments from strangers, kindness is everywhere. Kindness motivated me to keep going on the trails, it made me want to help out with dishes and cleaning up, kindness was everywhere. After lots of laughs and thoughts about what these meanings really meant in a deeper aspect, the last orange sparks of the fire were dying out.

We walked over to the girls tent and the girls had some laughs about the trip before bed. That moment made me appreciate my class more, these laughs will be cherished and sometimes I can take them for granted. Watching sunsets with Audrey, breaking firewood that was almost unbreakable, deep talks by the campfire, and laughs can all be taken for granted. These things should be appreciated and cherished, because one second they don’t have any meaning to them and no love and kindness in these memories. 

I learned that it is good to push myself and take risks. I’ve been dreading this trip ever since I heard about it because I do not consider myself an outdoorsy person. I knew this trip was going to push me to do things I’m not used to doing and I was not ready for that, and that is another one of my life lessons. You are not always going to be ready for something, especially if it is outside your comfort zone, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it. I’ve done so many things I would not have done if I wouldn’t have gone on this trip. This trip has taught me that I’ve missed out on a lot of things in life that I could have loved because I was scared or did not think I would like it. It’s like what Coach Mike told us for the whole first month of school, don’t cheat yourself. He was implying it to doing all of your reps in the weight room but I’ve realized that it applies to life too. From now on I want to be the person that takes the risk, does that spontaneous thing, and doesn’t cheat herself out of all that life has to offer.

This leads me to the lesson that I think has helped and will help me the most in life, and that is remembering that everything happens for a reason. For the longest time I wondered how is it that I ended up at ESA, in the 8th grade, living in the woods for a week with a group of people from my grade, and some dude I just met. I’ve always said that everything happens for a reason but now I truly believe it. I believe that God has planned out my whole life and since the day I was born I was meant to go to ESA, be in the 8th grade, live in the woods for a week with people from my grade, and some dude I just met. This trip has taught me so many life lessons, greatly impacted my life, and made me so much closer to the people from my group. From now on when something that I don’t think I will like or wasn’t expecting happens I will remember that it’s happening for a reason God has a plan.