Adieu (which is a fancy way to say farewell)

Farewell is a fancy way to say good-bye

Storm Grey

As many of you know this blog is a school project. The 2014-2015 school year is coming to an end very soon. At the end of this week on Sunday May 10th at 11:59 PM our blog project is over.

Blue and Grey
Photo Courtesy AlphaCoders

Storm grey is a mix between blue and grey. I specifically chose this color for my last post because my feelings are also a little mixed.  Grey is a kind of sad color. I am sad that this project is going to be over because I really enjoy writing this blog. Blue is my favorite color and it is kind of a summery color and I am really excited for summer and school to be over.

For this final blogpost I have to answer a specific question...

How have I changed this year? 

Looking back on the year I am amazed with how much I have grown as a person and a writer.

Today I was reading my very first post of the year, Thinking In Pink, and I found myself cringing with each sentence that I read. Even though I linked it, PLEASE, whatever you do, do not go read that post. I will die with embarrassment at my awful writing skills.

My second post, A Color For all Seasons,  was a lot longer, with more pictures and an improvement over my first one, but it still didn't really sound like me.  By the end of first quarter with my fourth post, The Nature of Brown, my grammar dramatically improved, though my writing remained factual more than being entertaining. I still hadn't realized that blogging was less about writing and more about self-expression.

My very first post of second quarter, Once in a Blue Pool, is probably my best post to date. It is a more serious post but I really put a lot of myself into it. Blue it turns out, represents a lot about me. I suggest that you read it because I am really proud of it.  Something clicked, and since then I have really worked at making my posts more personal, which actually made them better. I began to tell stories about colors and how they relate to things that were happening to me.

This year has been all about change, and blogging isn't the only new thing I have learned...

I now know how to be a high school student.  This was my first year in public school since fifth grade so the first couple of weeks of school were pretty nerve wracking. I was going into high school for the first time and I had no idea what to expect. It turns out though that high school is like anything else,  once you know what is expected of you, it's not too bad.

I was also worried that I wouldn't be able to make new friends. This year I have become more outgoing, so much that my long-time friends think I'm becoming sassy. I have learned so much and made so many new friends and even reconnected with old ones. The best part of living in a small town is that you can make friends with someone you played with in preschool!  I really think that if I were to see myself from before this school year started, I would hardly recognize her, but I think I like the new me.

Sometimes endings can be a little stormy.  However, I think I will share a couple of my favorite pictures and memories from this year with you guys as a fond farewell.

Sunrises and Sand in Death Valley
Photos Courtesy of Me
From my post Sands and Sunrises

From the same trip I bring you whale watching!

I love this picture it makes me laugh. It is from when my brother went to Disney World without me (you can read more about it here).

Ok here are a couple more pictures I want to show you guys (notice most are blue too!)

As some of you know my birthday was over spring break and I went to the Bahamas (read more about it here). I mean what can get better than that?

Well I am really sad to say it but this is the end of the very last post that I will post on this blog. Thank you readers for sharing this fun (and colorful) journey with me.

So without further ado I say adieu (or farewell or goodbye, whatever floats your boat).

-Sabine

MUD

Yes that is all this post is about,

MUD

In case you didn't know mud brown is probably one of the ugliest colors on the planet.

There is, however, a reason to acknowledge this awful color.  It's related to a recent trip I just got back from to Zion National Park.

Let me explain...
For the past three years my family and our friends go down to Zion to run a weekend-long relay race. The race is a Ragnar. If you have not heard of it, the concept is pretty interesting and involves camping, running, and lots of fun.

But back to the color of mud.  I know that most people think of Zion, they don't think ugly, brown mud.  Zion is unique, majestic, and one of the most beautiful places on Earth,  and not too far away from Park City.

A picture of Zion National Park
Photo Courtesy of Fodor's Travel

Ragnar is also pretty unique.   If you have never done a relay race,  it's better than most kinds of running.  You have eight people on your team and each person runs three different runs. The first one is a 3-ish mile one, then a 4-ish mile, the last one is about 8 miles; and you run in cycles: person 1, person 2, person 3, and so on until you get to person 8.  Then you start the rotation over until all of the runners have run all of the runs... it takes about 24 hours.  While you are waiting for your turn you sleep, eat, swim, and hang out. It sounds fun, right????

The Ragnar start

Well, we have a bit of a Zion Ragnar curse going.  We have started the race three years in a row and haven't finished it once.

The first year that we did this race it was promising; warm and sunny and everyone was having a great time, until... our very last runner on her very last leg got heat stroke.  We were all waiting at the finish line only to see her being brought in on a cart and off to an ambulance.  She ended up being okay after some fluids, but our Ragnar ended there.  Oh well, we had next year, right?

The runner that got sick and one of our other teammates

Fast forward 364 days... The race started well and it looked like our team would redeem itself, until... it snowed, not jet a little, but 10 inches in fact, in about 3 hours!  Several runners were lost on the trail, everyone was frozen, and search and rescue were kept busy for 20 hours!  Obviously, they canceled the race. Defeated yet again, our team went home wet and cold and without another finish.

A picture of some teammates braving the snow
Photo Courtesy of Joni Hemond

Fast forward 364 days... So finally this year we were all like "OK, we are going to finish this time no matter what!" It was only supposed to rain the day after the race ended, perfect right?  Until...
About three hours into the race my brother and his friend (on the left) had just started running, in their shorts and matching tee-shirts,

They look so happy, little do they know... 

when it began to downpour and the temperature dropped like ten degrees. When they got back to camp the kids were soaked through, freezing, and really, really muddy.  It went downhill from there. We all just waited, miserably, for our turn to run while the rain just kept coming.  I wasn't running until the next day so I ate dinner and went to bed early. It took me hours to fall asleep because the minute I got into the tent it began to downpour again.  The rain was pounding down so hard that it sounded like bullets!

It probably looked a little like this
Photo Courtesy of Berkley Lab

When I woke up I was really surprised to find that it was still dark out and my dad was still in our tent. In fact, everyone was still in camp.  He was supposed to still be running. Did I mention it was still raining? It turned out that the rain did a number on the trails and they were impassible in the dark.  Ragnar decided to force a delay by skipping all legs of the race that were that night and early the next morning. There was too much rain and people weren't safe and kept falling.

If you are going to fall you have to do it in style
(superman style that is)
Photo Creds

You can guess, dear reader, what happened next.  We DID NOT FINISH THE RACE.  Again.
My mom tells me there is a psychological phenomenon called the Sunken Cost Effect.

1. The sunk cost effect is the tendency for humans to continue investing in something that clearly isn't working. Because it is human nature to want to avoid failure, people will often continue spending time, effort or money to try and fix what isn't working instead of cutting their losses and moving on.      Courtesy of What Is

See you in 364 days. 

Let's Go to the Beach, Beach...

Turquoise 

Just so you know readers, I have been saving this color for several months. The reason is spring break...


Spring break was last week; most of you knew that already.  For spring break my family decided to go to the Bahamas!!

I have been stoked about this trip for a long time. I think I bored many of my friends to death by telling them for the sixteenth time that I was going to the Bahamas for spring break and that I was really excited.

We rented this cute little cottage in this little community on the beach.

This is a picture of the back of our house
Photo Courtesy of VRBO

The beach was a short walk down a path out of the back of the house.  The beach is kind of hard to explain, but colors is a great place to start...

I mean I had heard about how white the sand was and how blue the water was, and seen lots of pictures. I can tell you, seeing it in person and in a picture are two completely different things.  I was struck a little speechless (and sightless on account of the sun) when I first saw it!

Right into the water with me!

I know, reader, I keep saying it, but the water is an incredible turquoise color, it almost looks like someone dyed it. The sand is unlike any other sand I have ever seen/felt in my life. It is super, super soft, and warm. Did I mention it is also a brilliant, blinding, creamy, white color?  I was in heaven!  

Me and my brother on the beach
Photo Creds to Me

For my birthday,  we went on a guided kayak/snorkeling tour. This guy took us kayaking to this cute little island called Peterson Cay (pronounced "key").  It's actually the smallest national park in the Bahamas.  We dropped our paddles once we got there and put on some snorkeling gear he brought for us. We snorkeled for the rest of the morning. When we went back to the island he made us lunch! Then we had some free time and kayaked back to the mainland. It was pretty fun to be out in the middle of that turquoise water.

I would have more pictures to increase the jealousy factor but I blew it. I bought this waterproof phone case especially for this trip and it was working great until we got back from snorkeling and I opened it up to find that the inside was soaked. The camera on my phone is completely broken now... Whoops.

I really was immersed in turquoise for the rest of the trip... pretty much just beach days! It was really great.

Me and my brother on the beach in front of our house

 Photo Creds to my Dad

On my actual birthday we dressed in something other than a bathing suit and went to this garden down the road from our house. It was called the Garden of the Groves and it was really pretty, with several trees and plants that don't grow anywhere else. 

Garden of the Groves

After that we went home and the man that took care of our house, who is also a chef, cooked me a special birthday dinner!! It was so yummy!! Thanks Andrew!!!

Eating my birthday dessert!

Creds to my Mom

You are probably by now getting a little sick of hearing about my turquoise adventure, but I have just one more thing....

On our last day we went to Paradise cove, yes, another beach.  It was also, gorgeous, but the best part? There was a reef called Dead Man's Reef that you swim out to and snorkel! This wasn't just some seaweed and a couple of corals, it was like a full on reef! It was like Finding Nemo or something.  It was super cool! There were all sorts of fish in different colors shapes and sizes!

See a similarity?? Creds me

Creds here

I'll just share a couple of highlights. First of all were these turquoise parrot fish that we found that I thought would be perfect for my turquoise blog.

Some turquoise fish.
 Creds to Me

Then there were these freaky barracudas (that fish that killed Nemo's mom) that decided to band together to scare Sabine. Actually they didn't really do anything but there were like twenty of them just sitting there looking at us with their creepy little bug eyes. Ugh, they give me the shivers.

This is the one from Finding Nemo, I didn't get a picture of the ones we saw

Creds

Then whenever you swam in and out of the reef there was this one place on the way back to shore that like six or seven sea turtles liked to hang out. It was really cool to keep seeing them! There was even one that had these fish that were cleaning its shell attached to its back!

Here is one turtle

And another one 

Creds to me

The last thing that we saw was this manta ray! It was kind of far away so there isn't a really good picture but it was huge! That was pretty cool.

You can barely see it

Creds to me

It was really fun to be able to spend spring break and my birthday in such a cool place! I suspect you can figure out why turquoise truly is my favorite!

Mango Madness

^^ See what I did there?

The color for this post is

Mango! 
(it is like a combination of Orange and Yellow)

It is like March Madness for foodies, but not really. Well March is over and it is April now.

You know what that means? Well for one my birthday was last week (that is over spring break by the way. Yes be jealous).  More to the point, it is also a time when some of my favorite fruits come into season. I mean of course we can get any kind of fruit at any time of year, but we all know that it tastes better when it is in season!

I just ate like ten minutes ago and now I am hungry again!
Photo Courtesy of Therapy Works

Of all of the spring and summer fruits mangos are my favorite (if you couldn't tell by the title). I have been in love with mangos longer than I can remember. They are just so juicy and sweet! In fact I love mangos so much that it is making my mouth water just talking about them! I know they are in season, because they are cheaper and taste a whole lot better.

I was kinda wondering why things taste better when they are in season even though we can get them all year long. So I used trusty Google and looked it up. I was really disappointed, because Google told me that I was wrong and fruit doesn't taste any different. Well I think that Google is wrong, who's with me? ✋

Foods most definitely taste better when they are in season. Obviously these people have never, ever been to a farmers market!

A farmers market with all their fresh produce!
Photo Courtesy of Utah Courts

It is quite a special treat to finally be able to eat all of the delicious fruits and vegetables that I have been waiting for all year. Grocery store peaches, raspberries, strawberries, and nectarines have been forever ruined for me by farmer's market quality ones.

As I have said, (Mango Madness) my favorite fruit is mango. Mangos are not found in Utah farmers markets, but I am still very picky about my mangos and other tropical fruits.

Mangos are a spring fruit so the ripe, yummy ones are just starting to come into grocery stores. Let me tell you I am stoked!!!!!! And the biggest problem with me and yummy fruit???  Among other things I start to let my mind wander to all of the other tropical fruits I am desperately in love with: pineapples, kiwis, bananas, and papaya.

Some yummy tropical fruits
Photo Courtesy of Pictures For Ever

Disappointed with my Google experience but still kind of wondering what "In season fruit" is, I looked it up again. This time, I found an article about the health benefits of eating only in season fruit.

Apparently in some European countries such as Italy, the cooks and consumers refuse to cook with or eat food that has been shipped long distances. Produce is more flavorful the closer it is to its origin, as each step of the shipping process eke's out the natural flavors of the food. It isn't just about flavor. There are many nutritional and economical advantages to eating seasonal food.

Scientists in Japan have done experiments concerning the benefits of seasonal produce. They used spinach, which they found has twice the vitamin C when it is fresh as when it has been shipped long distances. The economic advantage is that most in-season produce comes from local farmers. Then the locals have more money and they spend more which contributes majorly to the economy!

The moral of this story is eat as much local food as possible, it is good for you!! Unless of course you don't like fruits and vegetables.  Then you can go eat as much McDonalds as you want, where nothing is in season.

This is apparently the "World's Largest McDonald's" (building or people??)
Photo Courtesy of Gary Wolff

In a Magic Kingdom...

This post is about

Red

Yes I know I already did red but this is very important.

My mom's work has this really big week long conference every year, and it is in a different place each time. One year it was in Hawaii another year it was in New Orleans, etc. If we can work it out my brother and I usually go with her wherever the conference is, kind of like a vacation for us. This year the conference is in Orlando, Florida. Not only is it in Orlando, but it is at a hotel that is actually inside Walt Disney World.

This hotel is called the Swan and the Dolphin.

Swan and Dolphin Hotel
Photo Courtesy of  AC Varsity

Wow cool right? We get to go there, awesome!

No, not we, my mom is not bringing me. In fact, she is there right now... Without me... and I am taking quarter finals and writing to you my readers.

So as you may know from my earlier post I went to the Tetons (Tons) two weeks ago. For that trip I missed a week of school. Last Thursday and Friday I missed school again for swimming obligations. Which brings me to this week.  This is the last week of the quarter and a stressful finals week.

So instead of being in Disney World (a.k.a. The Happiest Place on Earth), this week I am here doing homework and taking tests and fun stuff like that.

Okay, so not only is this awful, but it gets a lot worse.   She is now in Florida, not taking me, but guess who she is taking? If you guessed my brother you were correct.

My mother did not realize that we were a team.  I mean, if I can't go, he shouldn't either, right?
I am very jealous and sad that I didn't go with them. I understand my mom's reasons for not letting me go, but still it's Disney World!



Living in colors as I do, I looked up colors that had to do with jealousy and green was the first one that came up, but I have already done a lot of posts with the color green. I kept looking and the next thing that came up was red. Red represents jealousy but it also represents excitement. I realized then that I am jealous yes but that isn't all.



I am very, very jealous of my brother but I am also excited for him.

Fischer, my brother. 

I can remember the last time that I went to Disneyworld.  It was a surprise trip when I was about 9 or 10.  My brother, Fischer, doesn't really remember it, he was like 5 or 6.  Now he is just a little older than I was last time we went so he will have some memories too.

Also he is a roller coaster junkie and as a five year old wasn't tall enough to go on many of the rides which made him very sad.  Now he is actually tall enough to ride everything in the park, and he is totally excited.






Funny story actually, last time we went to Disney World there was this roller coaster that both my brother and I wanted to go on, it is called Expedition Everest.

Expedition Everest roller coaster
Photo Courtesy of Theme Park Guy

Fischer wasn't tall enough, even though he wore a large hat to try and fool the line worker.  Instead, he had to walk away with my dad went to go on a ride where you go through this dinosaur land. I however was tall enough (Did I tell you I am also quite the roller coaster junkie), so my mom and I waited for an hour and a half to get onto this ride. The line winds through a small museum and a little "village" supposedly in Nepal. Finally we got on the ride. On the very first downhill that we encountered my little nine year old self was flung against the side of the seat and the corner of my ear split open. I was screaming and crying the entire ride and my mom was trying to figure out how to get it to stop bleeding, it was pretty rough. 

Another thing that I remember from that trip was the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Let's be clear that when I was that age it was my favorite movie. Even so my brother and I went on this ride an unreasonable amount of times. I think we probably did it 16 or 17 times in a row.

Entrance to the Pirates ride
Photo Courtesy of BP

I have several other memories including Space Mountain, the Big Thunder Railroad, Splash Mountain (which was my favorite), and the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

Now my brother is doing all that stuff without me and I am quite jealous. My red jealous self realizes that my mom is spending her days working in the hotel, but he is obviously getting the best of his time at Disneyworld.  Also he gets to meet all of the characters.

I hope you understand, really understand, that I am a huge Disney junkie and so this is like missing heaven for me.

I know I asked for it, but here are some pictures he sent me with the caption, "Miss you" , Grrrr!

Yeah "miss you" too 😒
(also I am cooler than you because I figured out how to put emojis on my blog)

Alright that is enough of my rant. Luckily we are going to the beach over spring break so maybe I will put sand in his smoothie or something.

Jealousy is not really in my nature and I am trying to make the best of an unfortunate situation.  I keep asking for pictures and talk to my brother every night.  I even say "I love you" to he and my mom.

Creamy Goodness

Cream

Can you even see that?? Who knows, anyway I am pretty sure that cream is a color.

Many of you can probably relate to the struggles of being an athlete. I struggle with practice, endurance, strength, motivation but only once in awhile.  Daily, number one on my list of struggles is hunger. I have a serious addiction to food (maybe I should go to rehab?).

Ask any of my friends or family, it is always my first thought, several times a day, in fact most of my brain power is devoted to finding food. 

Cooking and baking are two of my favorite weekend/summer activities. I love trying fun and strange new recipes. 

I made these for my birthday last year, I was pretty proud

On family trips I am always the one who decides what we are going to eat. I have a personal relationship with Yelp!, hands off ladies! I specialize in finding yummy places to eat in cities I have never been to.  When I am out with my friends I am normally the one that calls for a lunch break (it is pretty bad). Apparently, I even, according to Anna and Sophie, talk about food in my sleep.

It's a problem because I can't eat just one big meal at the three times of day. I have to eat big meals and have lots and lots of snacks in between!

I love creamy, sweet, sour, and savory treats. Of those creamy is really my top category. It is great because you can have something that is creamy but also sweet, sour, or savory, maybe all three (but yuck!!). Most creamy things also have more calories than other foods, so I don't have to eat again in five minutes, it might be ten instead!

Here are a few of my favorite creamy items from my diet, which you probably shouldn't follow.  It is likely really bad for you.

Mashed Potatoes: Let me just put this out there, mashed potatoes with butter and gravy are absolutely the best thing that anyone can eat ever! I don't think I can even put in words how much I love them.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday (as you may know from a previous post) simply because I get to have this delicious, creamy, and savory vegetable. The best place to get them in Utah is called the Rhode Island Diner. Which is an adorable, little, old fashioned diner in Oakley, UT.

Inside the Rhode Island Diner
Photo Courtesy of Fury Effect

Mochas: Mochas are my second favorite on my list of creamy foods. You won't find me at any swim meet without them. For you uncultured, boring people who don't know what a mocha is, it is an amazing combination of chocolate and coffee with a bit of sugar, cream, and of course you cannot forget the whipped cream on top (I don't put that on for swim meets).

It is making me thirsty just looking at it!
Photo Courtesy of Better HouseKeeper

Speaking of whipped cream...

 ...that is another thing on my list!

Whipped Cream: My brother actually is the one with the whipped cream addiction; he eats an unhealthy amount of it. At Thanksgiving he always makes someone spray it into his mouth. Sometimes he just eats a bowl of it plain for dessert. But you can put it on pretty much anything and it still tastes really good. You can put on cake, in cake, or in the frosting on the cake. You can also mix it with berries or fruit. One of my favorite ways to eat it is with ice cream. I love it on milk shakes, ice cream, or doing it the Cold Stone way and putting it inside the ice cream.

This is my favorite thing from Cold Stone
Photo Courtesy of Cold Stone (link above)

Krispy Kreme: Who doesn't love these? They are probably the best donuts you can buy, especially the creme filled kind! I even associate with parental love and affection!  When my family was in Washington D.C on a trip there was a Krispy Kreme donut shop that made fresh donuts every morning that you could smell all the way from our hotel about a block away. It made me really sad because we would wake up every morning, smell them and not eat any. Finally on one of the last days that we were there my mom woke up early and went out and got us donuts as a special treat. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Mmm Yummy!
Photo Credits here

Last of all is....

Cadbury Creme Eggs: These are a favorite of mine because they have both chocolate and candy in them! These eggs are also special because they only are around during Easter time. They are my mom's favorite candy, and whenever she sees them she buys as many as she can fit in her hands. For me they also represent ice cream and my birthday, two more of my favorite things . 

Cadbury Creme Eggs
Photo Courtesy of Serious Eats

My birthday is almost always over spring break and is always the week before or after Easter.  Around the same time as Easter there is a Jewish holiday called Passover, which is kind of like Thanksgiving. In case you didn't know, I am Jewish.  Anyway during Passover you are not allowed to eat any bread (I know tragic right?), but sometimes my birthday is over Passover so I can't have a regular birthday cake. So instead my dad always buys me a Cold Stone ice cream cake! Which are very good if I do say so myself

One of my Faves
Photo Courtesy of Business Wire

Can you say creamy goodness ten times without your mouth watering!!!

The Tons Brother... The Tons

This post is going to be about  Forest Green...

There is a lot of green in the forest, and a lot of forest in the Tons.
Yes brother, the Tons. They are not the Tetons because if you call them that it would be disrespecting America. (you would only know what that meant if you were cool and went to Tons!)

Any way it was kinda really cool. VERY cool!

My mom signed me up for this week long school trip.

I was going with one of my best friends, Anna (she has a blog too).
When I got to school the Monday that we were leaving I found out that my friends Holly (HB) and Serena (she doesn't have a nickname) were also going on the trip.

While we were waiting to get on the bus Holly made up a song:

Tons...

Tons...

Thanks Hazel Grace Lancaster

Your welcome Augustus Waters

The song doesn't really make any sense at all, I don't know what she was thinking. Anyway, The Fault in Our Stars reference is kind of a shoutout to Mr. Parker because we are reading that book in English. 

Then we were on our way to the Teton Science School, where we were spending the next 4 days. The bus ride was okay, I stole some chips, played on my phone, and slept a lot.

When we first got to Jackson Hole, WY the people at the Teton Science School had us put all of our phones and food in this big black bucket and we weren't allowed to have them back until we left on Friday! I knew it was happening, but I was kind of annoyed.  I think I went through withdrawal for the first 24 hours, and I don't even really consider myself tied to my phone.

Phoneless and a little unsettled, we met with our field groups for the week. HB and Serena were both in my group and there were a few more kids who made us the party group for the week.  I know I do not appear to really be the party group type, but the trip really brought out a whole new side of me.

To get more comfortable, we played a game called Camouflage where you have to hide three different times and each time the "prey" holds up a number, you (the predator) have to be able to see it. Then at the end of the three times if the prey didn't see you you have to run and try and tag them, if you do that and tell them all of the numbers you win. Holly and I hurt ourselves a little trying to hide.

That first night, going to bed was hard.  The room I shared (with Anna, lucky me) was 70+ degrees and stayed that way for the entire trip; it was pretty rough. On the plus side I was in the largest bed and stretched out like a starfish.   The next day there were eggs for breakfast, and we were on our way.  Time to go get dressed for cross country skiing.

Cross country skiing in the Tons
Photo Credits to Mr. Stoughton (I think)

We skied until lunch, which we shared in a field, sitting on butt pads in the snow.  It sounds strange, but as you can see from the photo above, it was quite pretty.  Skiing afterwards we saw an elk that some wolves killed; it was kinda gross. Then we skied back to the school and went to a museum with lots of taxidermied animals (also kinda gross).

Slightly nasty
Photo Credits to Mr. Stoughton (Maybe??)

The second day we went snowshoeing. We dug some snow pits around our lunch spot so we could learn about the science of snow. We had to do all of these test on the different snow layers.  Did you know that during the winter, some animals actually live under the snow?  There is a lot of detail to snowpack and snowfall too.  Another long and tiring day outside that went by way too quickly.

On our third and final day of activities we went out behind the dorm buildings and did a low ropes course. We were pretty good at it *insert sassy emoji here*.

That person with the hat on, yeah that's me.
Photo Credits to Mr. Stoughton (I am 100% sure this time)
Other stuff credits to me

The Teton Science School is a worthwhile experience.  I can say that prior to going I was not sure I'd like it.  Leaving, I felt that I appreciated the world around me, myself, and my friends in a different way.  The activities are interesting, build confidence and understanding, all with people who you otherwise just pass in the halls.  

Well that about sums up my three days in the forest... but you should really go there yourself.