The Junior Retreat

A couple weeks ago, my school's junior class went on our retreat to Bar-T Ranch over in Gaithersburg. 
When we got there, we went to a barn, ate lunch, and went to yurts, where we would be sleeping. The girls took one yurt, us boys took another yurt, and Patrick and Christina, the teachers who came with us, each got their own yurts. An important thing to note here is that "yurt" is an exceptionally fun word to say. Yurt. Yurt. Yurt.
For  those of you who don't know, a yurt is like a big, structured tent. In our yurt, there were several bunk beds, and like any sane person, I took the top bunk.

Having thought we would be sleeping on the ground, I had opted for an air mattress rather than a pillow. However, we were not sleeping on the ground, we were sleeping in bunk beds, so I folded up my air mattress to use as a makeshift pillow.

After we unpacked, we did some "team-building exercises," and then we went over to a climbing tower, with a bunch of challenges to get to the top. Having done a reasonable amount of rock climbing in the past, I was the first to climb the rock-climbing wall. After that, I helped cheer everyone on as they took on one of the climbs.

After everyone had a chance to climb the tower, we were handed over to Farmer Josh, who maintained the farm on the ranch. He had us pick vegetables from his garden, and I found the hot peppers. After we were done, we were treated to some fresh roasted peppers, from the batch we picked. Well, all except me. I'm not really much of a vegetable person.
Jordan convinced Patrick and Christina to eat pieces of hot peppers, and Patrick couldn't get enough water after that. Then, I picked up an orange one, and wondered if it would be less spicy because it was less red. I didn't really realize I had said so out loud until Jordan said I should try a bit and find out. I was reluctant to do so, but David convinced me with the compelling argument of "do it for the Vine."

Unthinkingly, I ate the WHOLE PEPPER. And as it turned out, it was not less spicy. My mouth was on FIRE, but I played it off pretty cool.

I stuffed my face full of crackers, cheese, and water, and that seemed to help with the burning.

Once we were done there, and my mouth cooled to a gentle sizzle, we went off to our next activity, the zip line. It was a pretty cool, albeit short, ride. If you've never been on a zip line, I highly recommend it. It's a great experience.

After those willing went on the zip line, we got to hang out in our yurts for a bit before dinner. We had a pretty good dinner, and afterwards, we played a high-stakes game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. Then, we all gathered around in a circle and talked about our favorite parts of the day.

After we left the barn, we went over to an adjoining campfire to roast marshmallows, and I got to show off my mad marshmallow-roasting skills once again. 
After we were done there, we went to our yurts, got in our bunks, and went to sleep without any chatter.
Ha ha! No, seriously, what really happened was, the girls invited us all into their yurt, and despite their yurt being more full, we all fit in there. We talked and talked, which was fun, we played a game of Never Have I Ever, and we shared a lot of secrets. I can't reveal a lot of it due to yurt confidentiality, but I have a new respect for my classmates.
​I thought it was a great experience.
After a long while, the talking ceased, and I ended up sleeping there.

The next morning, we went to the barn for breakfast, and I tried in vain to heat up my biscuit. We went outside and said hi to the two local dogs. Maggie, a big galumph of a dog, was a new mother, and not really in the mood for people, except to give her belly rubs. Zeus, on the other hand, was very friendly, a little too​ friendly in fact.

After breakfast, we went back to the climbing tower, and did some new climbs. I did the Tarzan Swing, which was basically a rope climb where you swung to platforms. Then we went to the Giant Swing, where you get harnessed in with a buddy, and everyone else pulls you up. Then you swing forward at an alarming speed. It was pretty awesome.

Then we got to go chill in our yurts for a bit, and then we went over to the zip line again, going through an obstacle course this time. After I went, I sat with Aki and watched everyone else zip by. After that, I did the Leap of Faith, which is where you jump from a telephone pole and try to catch a bar. I failed, but luckily I had a harness on.

After that, we ate some pizza, and then went to our yurts for the night. Well, not exactly. After an hour, we went over to the communal yurt and talked about the day. Then some of us stayed back and played this fun game called "Teeth," where you are given a phrase to say, and everyone goes around asking the person a question, and they have to respond with that phrase. It was pretty fun.
Then we went to bed.

The next day, we got ready to leave. I tried again to heat my biscuit, and again failed. We got together, and talked about what we learned during the trip. Then, we got our stuff together, and headed back to school. I tried to use the trip to quietly contemplate on life, which, to be honest, was kind of hard with Marcelus blaring rap music through the bus.

We got back to school, where everyone was watching Futurama, and I had a little time to say hi to everyone before I left.

After I left school, I went to this really cool thing I've been doing lately. It's called a "makerspace," and I can go there after school and build stuff, which is just awesome for me as an engineer. They have multiple 3D printers, and I've 3D printed a lot of really cool stuff. It's really fun to go to. More on that later.

If there's one thing I've learned over this trip, it's that sometimes, there's stuff that can be done-- should be done, but sometimes it's really scary to do. And the thing is, it's easy to do the scary stuff. You just have to sort of stop thinking, and unthinkingly just throw yourself onto it, and not realize what's happening until it's already happened. And then, look back and say, "I'm glad I did that."