No phones, lots physical activity, growing as a group, the sound of it felt weird like a dream which is exactly how this trip felt. Without physical documentation such as photos on my phone, what do I remember, what did I learn?

Throughout this trip we were accompanied by a learning group called Pinnacle. We had sessions with them daily and during these we became comfortable with our class, the people we spend time with almost everyday, hours on end, yet we still acted like strangers. These sessions included personal reflecting on our private journals to learn about ourselves, group activites where we got to know one another like sharing our goals and lastly bigger groups where we did inticing activites such as trust falls. Each one of these helped us or at least me grow as a person and understand our driving question which is “How do the choices we make set our future path?” This is your life and the choices you make can better your life or worsen it. How do you want to be in the future, think about that before you make a hard desicion.

A quote that really stuck with me is “it’s everyone’s first time living.” Everyone goes through their own struggles, which we learned in a very emotional activity we did one night called Crossing the Line, it showed us how different yet connected we are. For me this activity was hard due to the leader of Pinnacle Johno asking us some tough and personal questions. This actvity showed me to be more gentle with everyone because if I have hard times, they can have them too, and or don’t bother negatively if someone is happy because everyone needs a break of their own. 

Besides the learning portion of this trip we also had a ton of fun! We went rock climbing and archery, as well as we did high and low ropes. My friend Syd and I did the high ropes together and we had to put a lot of trust in eachother as we crossed this rickety bridge together. In the end we made it across but we did fall, but we fell together so we were fine, more than fine we were laughing. 

Overall I learned to better analyze situations and how to deal with them with hard decision making, and lastly I learned to be more open and to think creatively in my own way. Because everyone’s thoughts can help contribute solutions. Now we’re at the very end and personally after this trip I wish I didn’t leave, but my own special goal I would like to be transferred is “I would like to be more confident for myself and for others, and speak up for those who can’t or fear it.”