To be honest, I had my doubts joining my class on DP orientation. I knew at the start of the year that I wouldn’t be able to participate in most of the physical activities on the trip such as white water rafting, abseiling and canyoning. For a while I assumed it wasn’t worth my time going with my class. However, when the trip came around, my teachers urged to me consider going for the purpose of bonding with the people in my class. Eventually, I realized they were right and that even though I wouldn’t be able to do all the activities, I could still come away with some tighter friendships and crazy memories.

Of course safety was a major concern for my parents and teachers so a plan was made outlining specific activities I would and wouldn’t be allowed to participate in. In other words, I was cleared to join my grade on a single hike.

When we arrived at camp, my bags and I were unloaded from the bus and taken into to the lounge area of Borderlands while the others went straight into rafting. In the girls’ room, I set my things down, chose a bed and prepared to spend a long, long time by myself. My speaker and a book were two items on my packing list that were as important as shampoo or extra shorts. Spread across my bed, I spent 7 hours reading and listening to music in the the absence of traffic.

Finally, my grade returned for dinner and it was then that I realized what my teachers had been talking about. As I sat with my classmates laughing with and listening stories of the day’s events, I understood the value of coming along.

The hike was on the second day of the trip. I suited up, brace and all, and prepared to have to pluck leeches off the parts of my leg that were concealed by it. A small group of friends and I, supervised by Mr. Lockwood, were brought a little further up the mountain than the others. We trailed the rest of the group all the way up the mossy steps and gravel-y terrain until we reached the destination: one of the oldest human inhabited caves ever discovered. In the cave, we were told the parable of the prisoners and were asked to draw a map of our hike from memory as this was the ToK segment of the trip. The height and stillness of the cave proved to be a much needed establishment of contrast between the present and our usual classroom environments.

The rest of the trip followed a similar pattern to the first day. I would have breakfast with my grade and when they left for their daily activities, I would stay at camp in my room, doing homework and listening to music. By about 4 pm, the camp would be filled with chatter once again as the rest of the grade returned for showers and downtime followed by card games and dinner.