As I'm sure almost everyone knows, Sophomore Trips took place this past weekend. I had the opportunity to hike some 20 miles along the Appalachian Trail from our starting point to the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. They say it's always good to get away, even if it's just for an hour, and this statement certainly rang true over this past weekend. During the fast-paced times of sophomore summer, it is easy to miss out on so many of the opportunities that are readily available during this term. One can definitely have a satisfying sophomore summer experience by staying within the friendly confines of Hanover, but it is perhaps more fulfilling to take this time to participate in all the outdoor activities that make Dartmouth's summer term unique.
I could not help but get a little nostalgic as I walked to Robinson Hall on Friday afternoon, fitted with a brand new pair of hiking boots and my trusty backpack. The fanfare was certainly less intense than it was in Sept. 2004 when the bus pulled into Hanover for freshmen Trips, but excitement was still in the air. The familiar plastic bags of couscous, dehydrated vegetables and yogurt raisins were being distributed amongst the trippees. New introductions and last-minute adjustments were being made. The only things missing were the awkward Salty Dog dancers and crazy H-Croo members dressed as pirates.
As cliche as it sounds, the most noticeable aspect of Strips is that they demonstrate how much things have changed, yet at the same time how much things have also stayed the same. It has been almost two years since freshmen Trips and by now every single student has created a complex network of friends, relationships and activities. Because of this, I think we all approached the second round of DOC Trips with quite a different mindset. We participated in Strips hoping to have a fulfilling outdoors experience and perhaps make a few new friends -- in fact, many of us relied on freshmen Trips to make our first friends at Dartmouth. We all by now have been fully exposed to Dartmouth and know its strengths and weaknesses; for many of us, freshmen Trips gave us our first impression of life at Dartmouth. It is safe to say that we are all at a very different point in our careers at Dartmouth than we were when we first stood in front of Robo as the brand-new Class of 2008.
But Strips seem to be able to bring us all back to the time of freshman orientation. While our trip leaders no longer seemed like wise veterans of Dartmouth, we still reverted back to the time when we were all open to new ideas and meeting new people. This weekend, mafia and contact replaced pong and dice as our games of choice. Trail mix and Cabot cheese replaced Billy Bobs and fro-yo. We slept under the stars instead of on fraternity couches. In short, I was taken back to the time when I didn't have serious deadlines, meetings or corporate recruiting.
By the time we arrived at the lodge on Sunday afternoon, I think it is fair to say that everyone was pretty exhausted. It would be impossible to replicate the energy and anticipation that was ever-present on the original DOC Trips, which was made clear when most trippees wanted to get back to campus to watch the World Cup Final rather than stick around to play games.
I guess, in the end, that Strips were not an attempt to repeat the adventures we had as freshmen, but rather were meant to remind us of how far we had come as rising juniors. More importantly, they gave us a chance to relive the simplicity and innocence of pre-matriculation as we stand at the chaotic halfway point of college.
