Friday activities at the Adventure Semester have the distinction of being participated in only by groups who have already seen every other group rotate through them. Every member of our group, as a result, had heard a good deal about the activity we were to participate in today, spending 5 hours alone in the woods with nothing but a note card, a pen, and our own thoughts. We had heard a wide variety of stories, from on and off napping, total boredom, and great philosophical realizations, and found that our own group had equally varied reactions.
I have participated in this activity before, but not at this time of day. Rising at the ripe hour of 5am to walk under starlight where I would watch the sun rise allowed me to very closely pay attention to the passing of the day as the sun climbed higher and higher into the sky. After getting over the cold of early morning, I found my thoughts began to wander, and I decided to go with it. My mind wandered from existential questions, to my favorite movies, and while the time occasionally dragged, it was overall a positive and pleasant experience. -Max C.
I came into this challenge scared and at a loss to what I would even do for 5 hours. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how my experience went, and how comfortable I felt. The day started by waking up just before 5am, then walking with only the light of the stars to guide the way. My place of rest for the day was slightly different than the others. The rest of my group walked up a treacherous mountainside. But, due to personal physical limitations, I could not do this. I walked a small distance from camp with my group, stopped, and was lead into the woods to rest alone. There I slept on and off all day, stargazed, ate some food, listened to the sounds of the woods and wind, and saw the sunrise. After the 5 hours was done, I walked back to camp. -Jill
It’s hard to say that any lives were changed by the end of the day, but none of our group found the activity to be negative or as hard as they had feared, and all gained at least something from the experience.