The following statement may disappoint some people, especially since Athens is such an outdoorsy part of the country, but I feel very strongly about it and I feel that it must be said:
I hate camping and other extended outdoor adventures.
I do not make this statement lightly, and I really wish I did enjoy outings like this, but my reasons are very legitimate. Every time I have gone on an outdoor excursion, something bad has inexplicably happened. On my first weekend camping trip in seventh grade, I forgot that my very first cell phone was in my pocket (which I had only owned for a week) and I went swimming in the creek. Naturally, my phone was ruined and I spent the rest of the trip freaking out and worried that my parents would think something awful happened since they couldn’t call me.
All in all, things worked out, at least until the next time I took another outdoor trip. In eighth grade, my class took a rafting trip; a tradition that the eighth graders do every year. It was a week-long trip and everyone always described it as a very enriching, life-changing experience. I was fated to be the outlier, apparently. After two days of general information about raft safety, environmental etiquette and such, we finally embarked on the river. Everything about the trip was exciting until my raft capsized and I was trapped under the water in a whirlpool. Being the third day of the trip, I was in no mood to step foot in a raft the next four days. Maybe it was the near-death experience, but I was 100 percent done.
These trips would lull me into a false sense of security where I thought that the next time would be different…but alas, it never was. So, I decided just to give up and remain indoors.
These aren’t the only two stories about how Mother Nature does not enjoy my company, but I will leave you with this: please, no one ask me to go camping or hiking or whatever-ing with you, because if you have read this, then you already know how I feel about trips of this nature (see what I did there?).
One lesson I have learned though, is that in spite of how bad travelling and trips can turn out, we still embark, we take the gamble and roll the dice.
Zander Myers is a senior studying English. How do you feel about camping? Email her at am154312@ohio.edu.
