Category: FITting In

First day for our team FITting in — a great team bonding road trip that ended with a lot of laughters.

The morning started out a little grey, rain pouring down when we tried to pile all the packages into the vans. But by the time we got to Durham county in North Carolina, seeing the warm sunset outside the window made our bumpy trip totally worth it. After we settled in, and had a dinner served by our host in Chestnut Ridge, we had more team bonding games in our lodge– Mafia is one of my favorites. “Successfully” being a Mafia until Dale(the narrator) gave out the secrets! We had so many laughters until midnight. And the group made me feel more comfortable to open up myself!

After today, after getting to know each one in the team much better, I cannot wait for the upcoming week and adventure that awaits us!

No, I don’t mean Star Trek…today we started the long journey from Lafayette to Chesnut Ridge Retreat Center in North Carolina. We left Lafayette campus at 8:30 am, bright eyed and bushy tailed. We were all ready to go. Eleven hours later, after endless road trip games, sing alongs, and naps (especially by a certain team member) we arrived at our destination!! Right away, I knew we would be getting the full camping experience, and I was very excited, as long as S’mores would be a part of the deal. After a great dinner thanks to Chesnut Ridge and much to the surprise of the group, we played some interesting ice breakers. Things got pretty heated, but in the end we are a better team because of it. Overall, it was a great way to spend our first day. WE OUT!

We made it at last! After hours of driving, laughing at good (and bad) jokes, and the occasional foot cramp, we arrived in sunny  North Carolina! Although it was dark and late, we were all very happy to be at our new home for the next week! Once we moved in, enjoyed a delicious dinner and three ninja games later, everyone was ready for the next day! As we all settled down for the night, I thought “I wonder what’s next? What awaits us tomorrow? What will the week bring?” As I turned over in my bunk bed and looked out into the darkness, I knew this break would be one to remember.

12 hours of team bonding, 20 questions, and pump up music later, we arrived in North Carolina!  Everyone here is so friendly and kind.  For me, yesterday was an exercise in being gumby and in trusting the process.  Our vans were quite packed (one might even say cramped), and we were driving for 12 hours in the rain.  However, we all kept a positive attitude and turned the experience into a great bonding time.  I was also so nervous the night before because I knew I would be driving for a large portion of the trip.  I have an almost maternal attitude towards everyone in ASB.  I want so badly for everyone to have a safe, meaningful, affirming experience.  While the first toll I went through was a little panic-inducing, and the Jersey-girl I am struggled with pumping gas (shout out to our friendly neighborhood Zack for swooping in and saving the day), everything else went smoothly!  I even took the lead for the second leg of our journey.  ASB is all about pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone.   Yesterday reminded me to trust that process this week and to trust in my team to be there to help me when I run into roadblocks, both literally and figuratively.  I can’t wait to see where this week takes us!

The day started off with weather I hadn’t seen in a while nor did I want to see on the day we were starting our trip: rain. From trying to use the sleeping bag cover to protect the pillow from getting wet to keeping half of my body dry while the other half was out of the car as we fit our luggage, we somehow managed to fit in 12 people and bags in 2 vans. Spending most of the way there getting much deserved sleep was the right decision, at least for me. The rest was spent singing along to music, playing 20 questions with words/phrases like Gross National Happiness, ..-.-.-.–.-.(Morse Code) and Ali Baba, and trying to consume the sauces from the Wall-of-Flame ranging from your average Death Sauce to the menacing Endorphin Rush. Finally arriving, eating food and settling in led us to playing a series of games which involved a lot of karate/ninja chops and pretending to be townspeople out to find out who the MAFIA among us was (one of the MAFIA’s hits was coincidentally, by hot sauce). Safe to say , by midnight, we all (except for me because I slept most of the way here) were falling over each other to get to sleep.

It’s a strange feeling to be sitting here, writing my last pre-trip ASB blog post.  This will be my fourth, and last, Lafayette ASB trip.  I remember being so nervous before my first trip and not fully understanding what I was getting myself into.  I certainly did not expect to become so deeply involved in ASB.  Three years later, I feel much more prepared and excited for this trip.  I think our team has formed strong bonds with each other already, which we will need for this week.  We have discussed causes of childhood obesity at great length and have come to understand that this is a social issue, not just an individual health issue.  Our education the past few months will put our service in a new, more informed context.

I am very much looking forward to the coming week.  As intern, I have been working since last April to help plan these trips start to finish.  While my experience on Executive Board has given me a new appreciation for the work needed to make these trips a reality and helped me develop valuable skills that I can apply to multiple areas of my life, I think sometimes I lose sight of why we work so hard to put these trips together.  In the midst of reserving vans and compiling housing information, it’s hard to remember the mission and vision of our club.  Finally going on this trip will be meaningful not only because I’ll experience the end result of all our planning, but also because I think it will help me remember my values and why I wanted to devote so much of my college career to ASB in the first place.