Blue Mountains
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQNrRSycOJ0
Picture #1: Waterfall
Picture #1: Waterfall
This photo represents learning related to the self as physically being present in the blue mountains allowed me to reflect on myself as well as the experience as it was happening. Not only was it easier to look inward being removed from countless distractions, the natural beauty of mountains inspired me to ponder a number of areas in my own life. As I was awe struck looking over the canyons and admiring the subtle scenery on each trail, I realized how important adventure as well as the outdoor environment are for me. Ever since I was a kid, I've always had an interest in hiking and exploring nature, but this trip revealed that this interest is far more serious than I thought. As I wrote in my last blog post, I love challenging myself, especially physically, and hiking is the perfect avenue to do so. Of course the difficulty of a hike is largely dependent on the trail, but the individual is able to choose a trail that best suits their abilities and willingness to push themselves. Additionally, there are often certain obstacles or activities on the trails, such as a freezing cold water hole, that allow an individual to challenge themselves further. I think I enjoy the difficulty because it has such a large role in self-improvement. When an individual is placed in such a situation they usually grow to meet the challenge unless its past their limit. Even then, the best lessons one can learn are in failures.
Picture #2: Swimming hole
This photo represents learning related to others as this was one of the many instances where I realized how similar we all were. This was the first occasion where I spent a significant amount of time with people from other countries and I learned a lot about them and who they are. Even though we've grown up on opposite sides of the world, we all have so much in common. In my cabin specifically, we had a similar sense of humor, we grew up listening to the same music, and we all had similar life experiences. During our hikes, I talked with a good deal of other students and I found that we all have similar struggles in school. Of course we all had our differences as well, but overall I felt as if we had all grown up in the same town or something along those lines.
This trip also taught me the true value of teamwork, which might've been my favorite takeaway from the experience. Throughout my schooling, there has always been an emphasis on teamwork and each year there's been some form of team building exercise. I always disregarded these as they seemed so artificial; however, there were so many opportunities this trip where all the concepts from these activities became easily applicable. I've played on sports teams and worked on group projects for school, but I never felt like we were truly working as a team. In those cases, each individual had a clearly defined role and acted fairly independently from each other. Obviously we worked to achieve a common goal, whether it was winning a game or presenting an idea, but we were working next to each other, not with each other. I think the best example of this on the trip was rescuing the phone on the cliff side. Without any real organization, we all sort of came together and collaborated to reach the phone. Several people tried their own method to grab it and even though most were unsuccessful, we learned as we went and eventually combined our efforts to scoop it up. It was such a natural process and people just felt inclined to do help out in any way they could. This was the first time where I noticed the true benefit of teamwork. It would've taken one person far longer to rescue the phone assuming they hadn't given up in the first place.
Picture #3: Cliff View
This photo represents learning in respect to nature. I would say I'm fairly experienced with hiking as an activity; however, I've only had the experience of hiking in the northeast of the US. Seeing the Blue Mountains opened up a whole new world for me as they are vastly different from the White Mountains of New England. Along the hike, I realized that both areas are beautiful in their own way, although they are vastly different from each other. At home, the mountains are considerably taller, Mt. Washington is around 2,000 m whereas the Blue Mountains are around 1,200 m. In the White Mountains, the summit views allow one to see for miles and appreciate the effects of the changing elevation. The hikes are usually static, plenty of unchanging woods until the uppermost sections of the trails. In the Blue Mountains, specifically the canyon trail, you can see all of the valleys and cliffs but not a great deal outside of that. The trail itself is dynamic and almost equally beautiful as the view at the top. There was a large supply of caves, cliffs, streams, waterfalls, etc., constantly adding variety and showing a hidden beauty that can't be seen from clifftops.
Picture #1: Waterfall
Picture #2: Swimming hole
Picture #3: Cliff View
Picture #1: Waterfall
This photo represents learning related to the self as physically being present in the blue mountains allowed me to reflect on myself as well as the experience as it was happening. Not only was it easier to look inward being removed from countless distractions, the natural beauty of mountains inspired me to ponder a number of areas in my own life. As I was awe struck looking over the canyons and admiring the subtle scenery on each trail, I realized how important adventure as well as the outdoor environment are for me. Ever since I was a kid, I've always had an interest in hiking and exploring nature, but this trip revealed that this interest is far more serious than I thought. As I wrote in my last blog post, I love challenging myself, especially physically, and hiking is the perfect avenue to do so. Of course the difficulty of a hike is largely dependent on the trail, but the individual is able to choose a trail that best suits their abilities and willingness to push themselves. Additionally, there are often certain obstacles or activities on the trails, such as a freezing cold water hole, that allow an individual to challenge themselves further. I think I enjoy the difficulty because it has such a large role in self-improvement. When an individual is placed in such a situation they usually grow to meet the challenge unless its past their limit. Even then, the best lessons one can learn are in failures.
Picture #2: Swimming hole
This photo represents learning related to others as this was one of the many instances where I realized how similar we all were. This was the first occasion where I spent a significant amount of time with people from other countries and I learned a lot about them and who they are. Even though we've grown up on opposite sides of the world, we all have so much in common. In my cabin specifically, we had a similar sense of humor, we grew up listening to the same music, and we all had similar life experiences. During our hikes, I talked with a good deal of other students and I found that we all have similar struggles in school. Of course we all had our differences as well, but overall I felt as if we had all grown up in the same town or something along those lines.
This trip also taught me the true value of teamwork, which might've been my favorite takeaway from the experience. Throughout my schooling, there has always been an emphasis on teamwork and each year there's been some form of team building exercise. I always disregarded these as they seemed so artificial; however, there were so many opportunities this trip where all the concepts from these activities became easily applicable. I've played on sports teams and worked on group projects for school, but I never felt like we were truly working as a team. In those cases, each individual had a clearly defined role and acted fairly independently from each other. Obviously we worked to achieve a common goal, whether it was winning a game or presenting an idea, but we were working next to each other, not with each other. I think the best example of this on the trip was rescuing the phone on the cliff side. Without any real organization, we all sort of came together and collaborated to reach the phone. Several people tried their own method to grab it and even though most were unsuccessful, we learned as we went and eventually combined our efforts to scoop it up. It was such a natural process and people just felt inclined to do help out in any way they could. This was the first time where I noticed the true benefit of teamwork. It would've taken one person far longer to rescue the phone assuming they hadn't given up in the first place.
Picture #3: Cliff View
This photo represents learning in respect to nature. I would say I'm fairly experienced with hiking as an activity; however, I've only had the experience of hiking in the northeast of the US. Seeing the Blue Mountains opened up a whole new world for me as they are vastly different from the White Mountains of New England. Along the hike, I realized that both areas are beautiful in their own way, although they are vastly different from each other. At home, the mountains are considerably taller, Mt. Washington is around 2,000 m whereas the Blue Mountains are around 1,200 m. In the White Mountains, the summit views allow one to see for miles and appreciate the effects of the changing elevation. The hikes are usually static, plenty of unchanging woods until the uppermost sections of the trails. In the Blue Mountains, specifically the canyon trail, you can see all of the valleys and cliffs but not a great deal outside of that. The trail itself is dynamic and almost equally beautiful as the view at the top. There was a large supply of caves, cliffs, streams, waterfalls, etc., constantly adding variety and showing a hidden beauty that can't be seen from clifftops.
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