Alright, so I have been camping before: with my terse involvement in Girl Scouts we always did one or two camping trips a year, so I think that added up to five trips total over the four years I participated in Scouts. Only two of those times was in tents, the other times we were in “safe” cabins and on top of that, the other girls in my troop were not the “outdoor” type and had to have all the comforts of home or else they would complain about roughing it. This was my first time camping out “in tents, on-the-ground camping” (as one of the girls referred to it later), and I really didn’t know if I really could break away from the air conditioned environment I immersed myself in the entire summer as I sat in front of the computer or Nintendo and took advantage of the technology I have in my house.
True, I did have my GameBoy and CD player with me, but so did almost every other person of the nine who came from the school cross-country team. These are the two things of technology that have become so engrained in everyone’s life that we can hardly go anywhere with out them. As I was setting up inside the large tent with the other two girls attending camp with me, I soon learned that the one girl was similar to the girls I had previously “camped” with: a typical Indian Hill person. By that, I mean she was pampered by air conditioning, technology but even more so she just acted like a person of her “stature” was too good to be sleeping in a sleeping bag in a tent on the ground. Her motto for the week was “I will survive” (and later on in the season, she was the only one to really throw up an objection to a pre-meet campout). I didn’t really set any goals for the week regarding surviving the outdoor living, in fact I found it a lot of fun.
Looking back on the experience now, I can actually see how much experiencing one week of living outside without much technology, and reliance on the things we think so normal when at home, has changed me. I admit that I really was not a fan of the platform tents back in my scouting days, but that was more so because of the large bugs (spiders) I found a few times in them upon arrival. As of now, I really regret the fact that our troop didn’t do more camping trips that required staying in tents, and maybe without the cots supplied at all Girl Scout campgrounds, because it is a chance to really find out more about yourself. By putting the “pressure” of living without the luxuries of air conditioning and beds, etc, I really discovered a love for camping, and learned that these things are not required for life to go on. The simplification of life I experienced through this camping trip really helped me to see that nature is much more than just “what is outside,” because being outside almost 24 hours a day for 7 days. Having nothing, not even a tent wall, separating me from nature from about 9 in the morning until 10 or 11 at night gave me a chance to really appreciate all aspects of nature, especially how important it is to use the natural light to its fullest (because when only 2 people of 9 have flashlights, it’s hard to do anything at night).
Just a little addition about the one girl who definitely is not the camping-type: she is possibly returning to camp this coming summer because of one of her friends who is going, but she is not looking forward to the outdoor experience anymore than she was the first time.
