I arrived back from my little Seabeck adventure last night. I was very happy to see my bed again as I feel like I haven't slept in days and days. The retreat was mentally, physically, and at times emotionally draining. However, the entire trip was fantastic and so much better than I could have ever hoped for!When I set off on my adventure Monday morning, I had no idea what to expect. I was assigned to a carpool with a couple other students. That first day felt oddly like the begnnings of an MTV Real World or Road Rules episode. My carpool arrived to pick me up...then we picked up someone else on our way down. Really Real World/Road Rules like sort of scenario.
Anyway we arrived at the conference center and let me tell you....it gave me the creeps a little. Think haunted campgrounds! It didn't help that my room had an old picture of a woman staring at me from the foot of my bed. Plus, one of the girls in my carpool had been talking about campground hauntings on the way down so that didn't help. We met up with all the other students as well as the faculty members so I felt better. Strength in numbers and all that so I was a little less freaked out.
We had very long days while we were out there. Our days were pretty scheduled for us and filled with activity after activity. Some of them were just mentally draining and others quite physically draining. Fortunately, we did not have any kumbaya moments or activities which I was quite happy about. For the most part, the activities were good and some even fun. However, I feel like we were all quite overwhelmed by the amount of things we did, the amount of information we had to process, and the amount of time we had to constantly be together.
In the end though, I think it was a wonderful experience and quite a unique one at that. It's hard to explain all that we experienced to someone, but it's something I am glad I got to experience. I met some of the most wonderful people, spent time with my future instructors who are fabulous, and am really excited about starting my graduate program with all of these wonderful people.
