3) Beginning of the Year Retreat

This was a really fun week. Some of it was hard, just because I'm not used to being around so many people. Socializing is... not one of my skills. But that's okay, even my classmates told me, "It's okay to be socially clumsy... This is a safe place for that! ;)" So it's cool to learn how to be comfortable around people! Socializing is a good skill to acquire.

So each day we'd get up, go do something fun all day, then gather at Brie's house in the evening. And at Brie's house we all shared our stories with each other. I loved that. It was my favorite part of the week.

My second favorite part of the week was definitely the team building activities! I don't have any pictures on hand, but we all went out into the woods to have a little adventure with a giant spiderweb. >:) Cords were tied between two trees, and every member of our class had to go through the holes in the web... without touching the strands. Not an easy task. It required strategy and leaning on each other. To add to that, several students were handicapped. Three had blindfolds, three had their hands tied together, and three were mute. I had no handicap, and spent most of my time around those blindfolded. I felt kind of like Laura from the Little House series, the way she would always describe what was going on to her blind sister. And... yeah. This activity was definitely my absolute highlight of the week, other than the evenings. I'll have to get a picture from one of the interns later! It was just so amazing, the way we were all working towards a goal together... we weren't socializing and making small talk, we were... accomplishing something! We were interacting with each other for a PURPOSE!!! It was just... so... ahhh! I loved that. x)

One morning the girls made breakfast for everyone, and another morning the guys made breakfast for everyone.

We spent one day in Seattle, just wandering around in groups. There were five others in my group. Megan, Rachel, Clara, Matthew, and Isaac.

The next day we went to a waterfall. When we all go somewhere, we either use our bus or we pile into two 15-seater vans. Or, rather, one 15-seater and one 11-seater. The bus is like... a 40 seater? I'm not sure. But there aren't any seat belts in it! And that's not okay! @_@ Haha.

After the waterfall, we went to a park. Here's the view from the top of the swing set.

On the last day when it was over, six of us girls came over to my host house for a hair cutting party! I hadn't planned on cutting my hair just yet, for Dawnmarie's sake... but considering the circumstances, I went ahead with it. It was a lot of fun!

Here's Sarah, Clara, and me. Sarah was a student last year, but she's repeating her student year again this year. Just because it's an awesome year and she wanted more of it... while not feeling quite ready to be an intern. And she loves Lord of the Rings and Narnia!

On Sunday I spent the afternoon with Megan, Clara, and Isaac. We went to a park and took pictures and fed ducks and played on the playground and such.

Then went back to Megan's host house, and she taught me how to crochet. ^_^ Megan is the one I was messaging the most several weeks before class started.