“Cowboy, Take Me Away” – Thoughts after Spring Break
(In response to “Thoughts Before Spring Break”)
It’s just about a week after Spring break and I’m sitting in Rand dining hall with three new friends friends – people that I hadn’t known at the beginning of the month.
This is the third time in one week my Alternative Spring Break group has hung out. Granted, not all 12 participants have not made every event. I have been too busy studying, but earlier this week my ASB group went to Waffle House at midnight. The following night they took a road trip to Kentucky to get a Shamrock Shake from McDonald’s in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Apparently none are sold in Nashville and my ASB group was up for another adventure.Spring break itself was quite the adventure – life changing. I hope our after-ASB activities illustrate how close knit our group became over the trip. Not only do I have eleven new friends, I feel closer to them than some of the girls I have lived with all year.
The trip started with two days of travel. We spent the night in Ranger Todd’s house in Flagstaff. On Sunday we arrived in Lee’s Ferry, set up camp, and bought groceries. Monday through Thursday we worked four long days from 8am – 4:30pm. The afternoons were typically spent exploring, then cooking dinner. Friday we packed up camp and drove back through Flagstaff, stopping to tour the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Friday night we were back in Phoenix and we watched Alice in Wonderland in a local theater before we flew back to Nashville on Saturday.
I will admit the highs and lows of the week were extreme (the lows were largely dependent on the weather). When we arrived on the campground in Lee’s Ferry it was cold, raining, and the prospect of being outdoors for the next five days felt like an impossible feat.
The week only could get better from there, and thankfully it did. Our service focused largely around invasive species removal, working in Lee’s Ferry to remove African native Sahara mustard weed and Tamarisk. We also participated in a native species seed collection.
This ASB trip consisted of hard, physical, work but it reminded that everything I do DOES effect the environment. I learned everything from the importance of Cyrtobiotic soil to the techniques of camping without a trace. Also, watching our service group transform from strangers to ASBest friends was incredible. I feel like I accomplished something over spring break and I am thankful for the opportunity.
I would highly recommend ASB to any of my friends and peers. Simply getting to know a variety of students I would have otherwise never met made the entire trip worthwhile.