I promised this post back when I wrote about Rome, and with almost a month between the end of my Europe trip and now it's time to share my final thoughts on this amazing life experience.
I firmly believe that any travel or outdoors experience completed mindlessly is an opportunity wasted. To get the most out of an experience like this a little bit of reflection goes a long way. You can really learn so much from experiencing the world first hand as opposed to from a screen or in a lecture. For example let's talk travel, say the day trip Jess and I took to see the castles of Sintra, Portugal. We did not just gain first hand knowledge of what they look like, Sintra's history, and the cultural experience of the town. We learned about how to navigate this foreign country, to buy train tickets to get 40 minutes out of Lisbon, and to cheaply but effectively plan and purchase our eating for the day. We learned about our personal comfort zone when it comes to heat, humidity, and steep hills, and we relearned the pleasure of four hours of conversation with a lifelong friend. After adventures of any kind, no matter the scope, it is important to reflect on what you learned simply by being in that situation. My mom used to tell me that the material I was learning in school (before college) was simply examples with which I was learning how to learn. I see this theme reflected in my adventures as a young adult. I don't just travel to learn travel skills and cultures outside of my own (although these are a great bonus). For me "Portugal" was the example with which I was able to learn life skills such as how to adapt if plans go awry, how to practice flexibility when things don't happen exactly my way, and how to harness my underestimated freedom. This freedom I refer to is that warm feeling of "oh my gosh I'm 20 I can do literally anything with my life". I feel very lucky to have had a number of amazing travel and outdoors experiences in the past few years especially. It is through these experiences that I have gotten to this point where I know that the world is my oyster. With a little emotional and time investment I can set my mind to something and make it a part of me. For example, I am currently learning to rock climb. I have books, mentors, facilities... and I am on track to be co-leading rock climbing trips in the backcountry by next semester. I picked this rather randomly, mainly because there was a need for female climbing instructors at my new job but also for the enjoyment I had of the sport as a kid. I have simply made the commitment that I will make this sport happen for me and I am highly confident that I will be successful. This I believe to be a trick learned from my experience thru-hiking the Long Trail. That experience was the perfect bridge from what I was familiar with (backpacking) to what I wanted to learn (thru-hiker mental toughness). The Long Trail was a positive experience with the element of risk, which gives me the confidence to take the leap with something more unknown such as rock climbing. Back to my trip this past summer, moving on from the heavy stuff above. Europe did teach me a number of lessons about culture and history, travel skills, and personal preference among many others. Here are a handful of those lessons organized so it's not as overwhelming to read.
While I did not like being in cities my main goal of this trip was accomplished. I learned a TON. About myself, about Europe, about traveling. Life experiences like this are worth every penny. I hope to be going on some new adventure during the winter break this year, I learn more when I'm out of the classroom than when I'm in it! The biggest change in my life heading into my Junior year at Penn State is that I was recently hired by Penn State Adventure Recreation as a trip leader. This Fall semester is my training semester for this job, called the "ARO (Adventure Rec Orientation) semester", and my "ARO class" has 6 new trip leaders in total all being trained just like me. This is a fantastic organization to be a part of and I can't wait to learn the ins and outs of planning, leading, specialized technical skills, and group dynamics. Our first ARO Field Training Experience was to Penn State's Stone Valley Recreation Area where we were able to complete the "Vertical Adventures" high ropes course. The course had 8 obstacles, which we traversed as a team. In addition to the 6 ARO class trainees our group also included our boss and group leader bringing us to a grand total of 8 awesome people. We got all suited up in harnesses and got "lobster claws", 2 carabiners on the end of ropes, to keep us safe on the course. The "lobster claws" were a system that I had seen before, at Monkey Trunks, a small New England Chain, which is the Chuck E. Cheese of high ropes courses. The purpose of this Field Experience was for our ARO group to get to know everyone and touch on some basics of group dynamics as well as problem solving. A high ropes course was the perfect activity to achieve this goal. The equipment was great and the high ropes rig was stable, so my first concern of safety immediately subsided. My next concern was having someone in the group who was dramatically slower than the rest, since we were only as strong as our weakest link because we moved through as a team. Fortunately, Adventure Rec did a fantastic job hiring and all 6 members of my ARO class are amazing and adventurous people, highly qualified for the job. Now I wouldn't say we moved through the course super easy, because each obstacle definitely presented huge challenges. That being said, it was really cool to see how our group worked together to pass each obstacle. Whether we were literally catching someone who was jumping to the platform we were standing on, or even simply cheering someone on before they took a leap, our class worked really well together. I have always loved high ropes courses. In 5th grade while at Lane School in Bedford the Project Adventure program was totally "my thing". I loved the obstacles, the problem solving, and the sheer strength (mental and physical !!) that it took to conquer the challenges. This experience as a kid pushed me to take up rock climbing at the Boston Rock Gym during my summers. I did a number of outdoor climbing camps and always really loved being in a harness, being high off the ground, and choking back fear in order to achieve a goal. Stone Valley's "Vertical Adventures" high ropes course fed right into my desire for some fun and some challenge.
Fortunately, Penn State has recently completed updates to their Intramural Building which include a bouldering wall and climbing wall. One of my goals for this semester is to utilize this awesome resource and feel like a kid again. I have not climbed in a few years, but that is soon to change! Additionally, through Adventure Rec I will be able to participate in more fun field experiences like this. And to top it all off- I get paid to do so! I am super enthused about this new job, which is the perfect out-of-the-classroom addition to my major (Recreation Park and Tourism Management, Outdoor Recreation option, Adventure Based Programming track. It's a mouthful, I know). We are currently into our 3rd week of classes here at University Park, the Nittany Lions won their first football game in a fantastic 52-0 blowout, and we are now ranked #4. It's a great day to be a Penn Stater and I can't wait to see what the rest of the semester brings! |
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