After Mass today - which was, thankfully, a normal Roman style mass - I went and did some serious studying for History. That class is going to be really difficult, just because, well, Dr. Hass might be pretty picky on names and dates, but we're overviewing history itself at the speed of light, so it feels like I'll miss everything important that will be on the actual exam itself.
We also have to write a paper related to medieval history and our travels, which might be tough because I haven't traveled anywhere or made any plans. (It can't relate to our university sponsored trips.)
Anyway, I was doing some reading (and re-reading!) for that class when Nathan or Christian (who even knows) came down and dumped himself face down in the couch right next to me and started taking a heavy duty nap.
I was surprised and amused, but who knew that was going to be the start of an adventurous afternoon? I kept studying, but about a half an hour later either Christian or Nathan (the one who wasn't sleeping) came down to grab his twin, and proceeded to tell him that they were going on a hike with Father Matt up to the Russian hut that's located somewhere on the top of one of the mountains around here.
He then invited a couple of the other girls he knew, and I, being adventurous, said, "Oh, is everyone invited?" and he kind of thought about it and went "Yeah, sure, why not!"
So I geared up and checked with another girl to make sure it was alright that I came, and it turns out that this hike was more widely known than I thought it was. Quite a few people were getting ready to go, including Jessica and Christine (I always think of them like a pair because they're always together), Elizabeth, Emily, Sudie, Cole, and Alona, Irina, and Monika, who are LCI students, Nathan, Christian, Leslie, and I am pretty sure there are a couple other girls whose names I don't know or forgot.
Anyway, we started up, and it was intense. It turns out that there's a trail that leads to one of the roads I walked up on my own the other day, so I was pretty excited to see that I'd already explored that area before everyone else. But Father Matt walks fast, and he showed us another trail that took us straight up the side of the mountain off the road.
Father Matt said it takes about 45 minutes to get there. Maybe if you're walking as fast as him.... we lost Sudie near the beginning because it was muddy and slick and very, very steep. The rest of the group sort of broke up due to speed - I sort of floated between the people in the front and the people in the back (the LCI students), because I tend to go faster than the average, but not nearly as fast as the speedy people.
The twins kind of rounded up the herd - Nathan caught up with a couple of us that were sort of in the middle, while Christian hung back and encouraged the LCI students on, who were struggling. He even found a stick and broke off all the branches so that Monika could use it to walk with (she was the slowest).
The hike was really intense and I was breathing pretty hard, but I wasn't as tired as I thought I was; it was mostly because my right leg was cramping up. By the time we got up to the top and a large ridge that sloped sharply down on either side, I was feeling pretty good, and racing ahead of Cole and the twins.
At some point Cole, Nathan and Christian, Irina, Alona, Monika and I got separated from the main group (I think that we took an easier way to get up to the hut, frankly), and we all stopped at the top to take pictures.
I have no idea why a Russian would want to build a shack so high up. It would be incredibly difficult to get to each day, and it was really tiny. Still, the view was breathtaking!
On the way back down it was even slipperier than I remembered coming up, and when I got all showered up I headed straight for the Mensa and scarfed down a huge dinner - I'm feeling pretty full, sleepy, and exhausted, but it was definitely worth it. After this blog post it'll be time to get studying for tomorrow's philosophy quiz. I'm pretty sure I'll be fine. I also might take some time tonight to write, since I've been just hiking all weekend.
It was really nice to have some hiking companions. I reintroduced myself to Cole, chatted with the twins some, laughed with Irina about the word "bouquet" (she kept saying "bookit"), and traded some smiles with Alona, whose English is kind of awful and she doesn't understand most of what is being said.
The twins said they'd take me up to the caves sometime, so now hopefully I'll get to look forward to having some pals to go up on an even more strenuous adventure! They said they ended up crawling up on their stomachs and clinging to the weeds to get themselves up. I'm stoked.
 |
| The view of Gaming from our spot, standing on the front porch of the shack |
 |
| Monika, Irina, me, Alona |
 |
| Alona, Christian, Nathan - seriously, can you see the "deeper cleft in Nathan's chin"? I can't. |
 |
| On the way back, both of them decided to collect flowers to put on a shrine for Mary. We all collaborated in finding nice wildflowers to make an arrangement. I asked for a picture, and then they both got distracted at the same time... |
No comments:
Post a Comment