Back from the Wilderness

As it is prone to do, the summer has slipped by extremely quickly and the school year is already underway. A week ago I found myself packing up my belongings and leaving Wilderness Canoe Base to return to college and to begin my senior year. After spending three months in the North Woods of Minnesota, I became very accustomed to the slowed down pace of life, the extremely close community that I lived and worked alongside, and the beauty of my surroundings. Being able to be in the wilderness and lead multi-day trips into the backcountry was an absolute dream job for me and suited me perfectly, making Wilderness a very hard place for me to leave by the end of August.

However, by the month of August I was beginning to feel the desire to return to the university environment, to start learning again, and to continue my ministry at my campus through Intervarsity. But it was also extremely hard for me to leave my newfound friends and to leave the wilderness lifestyle I had adopted, especially because I am not sure if and when I will return to Minnesota and Wilderness Canoe Base again. I also experienced some aspects of culture shock when I returned to the "civilized world", from small things lilke not paddling and using a canoe at least once a day and not being used to seeing women wearing make-up, to bigger things like trying to find quiet places to meditate after being surrounded by places after by places to go all summer long. I almost felt like wanting to be in two places at once, somehow either moving ODU onto a raft in the Boundary Waters, or digging a giant hole in front of my dorm room, filling it with water, then paddling and portaging on it from time to time whenever I wanted to.

I have now officially returned to ODU and still absolutely love the college atmosphere, but I still am searching for some way to blend the two environments that I love so much. I now very well that I can't canoe everyday and camp every night while I am here at school, but I do know that I can try to foster the close community that I experienced up there into the relationships that I have withe people back here at school, honestly caring about them and loving them, not because I have to, but because I have seen what happens to people when they are cared for and I know that it is good. No matter where I am, hopefully I can draw in the "wilderness" experiences that I have had and will treasure, even if I never go back to the north country that I have newly begun to love dearly.