May 1, 2010

This week there were no activities on Monday because it was de-issue day. Instead, we had fun laughing and catching up on each other's expedition. Then we went into town for laundry and finally cleaned all of our clothes, which were from the expedition and had accumulated in the time since we've been back.

Then, on Monday evening, three wolves were on campus! The wolves were from Mission Wolf, a small organization based near Colorado Springs focused on the preservation and care of wolves. The wolves that Mission Wolf takes into their care usually have had a hard past, whether it was in captivity, circuses, or that they were simply not wanted anymore. Mission Wolf specifically does not keep their wolves in cages but rather they let them wander in large areas of enclosed acreage. Mission Wolf concerns themselves with caring for and teaching others about wolves by giving educational presentations to schools and organizations around the United States.

We all sat in a circle in Who's Hall, excitedly shaking, while the Mission Wolf representatives brought three wolves around the room. The wolves were playful and excited, eager to smell and lick faces as they circled the room. This proved to be one of the highlights of the semester as we were all sad to see the wolves leave. We also learned a great deal of information about wolves and were very inspired by the end of the evening.

During the rest of the week, we've had other fun activities (though hard to compare to seeing and touching wolves!). On Wednesday some students went to the local middle school and tutored the students there. They had fun reading stories and playing guessing games with them. Others stayed behind and tie-dyed t-shirts and played a game of "washers" (think horseshoes, but with washers and holes instead of horseshoes and bars) on our recently de-snowed washers' "courts." On Friday, some of us played board games such as Settlers of Catan and others decided to tackle the challenge of the rock-climbing wall. All in all, we had a blast!!

We have also been settling back into our regular routine here. For morning exercise this week we ran our six mile loop for the second time this semester, passing by the fish hatchery and the Outward Bound base on our way. We also got to play an amazingly fun game of capture the flag, with cabins 2 and 3 against cabins 1 and 4. Going back to the daily routine also meant going back to chores and cook crew. In chores we had to clean off the dust that had settled all over campus from our two-week trip to the canyon. And on cook crew, we cooked meals ranging from chicken parm to breakfast fondue! Overall it was easy to adjust back to life on campus.

With our adjustment back to life on campus, we also have returned to our full array of classes and to the world of standardized testing. Next week we will have several Advanced Placement tests taking place on campus and today many of us are taking the SAT in Salida, CO. In general, classes have already ramped up to full swing again. We did a stream velocity lab in science class (in spite of the fact that it's snowing again!) this week. In English we're getting ready for our debates about whether Chris McCandless (the main character from Into the Wild) was a hero who died following his dreams, or foolish, ill-prepared, and careless. In French, the intermediate students are in the midst of a project in which they plan a trip to a French-speaking country and have a couple of days to visit the sites and describe their discoveries. This week, the advanced Spanish students were in the kitchen practicing the commands tense, cooking up delicious Colombian cuisine, and working on presentations about food and culture of a variety of Latin American countries. Meanwhile, the accelerated advanced Spanish students hosted a local Latina Women's group on campus for a tour, presentation about the Rocky Mountain Semester, and lunch. Having them join us on campus was a lot of fun.

So, as you can see, we're pretty busy with life back on campus.  Tonight we're having a murder mystery party - should be a blast!

By: Pamela Steger, Andrew Spina, Micaela Tepler, & McCabe Sommers