For those of you who don’t know (namely, everyone but Erica), I have just returned from a 6 day adventure in the middle of the woods. I was asked at the last minute to serve as faculty for a leadership retreat and thought it sounded like a good idea. I had heard good things about this program and thought, at the very least, that it would be good teaching experience. A part of me was sad about losing 6 of my remaining days of winter break… but I figured I packed about 3 months of fun into the 2 weeks I spent in SF and Berkeley, so I could make the sacrifice.
So, I flew back to Maryland, worked four 12-hour days (packing in all of the work I wouldn’t be able to do in the woods), purchased my very first set of long-underwear (I swear I’d only heard of long underwear in storybooks that involved dwarves and lumberjacks…but real live people really do wear the stuff), and head off for the woods. When I arrived, I was told that all of my leadership sessions would take place HERE. Well, not exactly. Take this picture and add a layer of snow that has hardened in the cold and turned into ice. Yes, cabin 7 was to be my classroom for the next week, and I was going to like it!
The crazy thing is, that I actually DID like it! The students arrived and they were amazing. They were brilliant and hilarious and thoughtful and everything I could have hoped for. They almost made me forget about the bone-chilling cold.
I returned last night weak and weary from sleep deprivation and an oncoming cold. My throat hurt from breathing in cold air for a solid week. My head hurt from dehydration. And my stomach muscles hurt from the almost constant laughter that being stuck in a cabin with 10 witty college students for 6 days can induce. I can’t really explain it, but I’m sold for life. If I could sign up to do it all over again tomorrow, I would be there in a heartbeat.
Instead, I’ve been bumming around my house, sucking down Dayquil. I was supposed to start class today, but we got 6 inches of snow last night, so campus is closed. More snow is expected tonight, so I don’t know if I have class or work tomorrow either.
In the end, it turns out that I get both fun times in the woods AND an extended vacation. Sometimes everything just falls into place.