"I was like, 'I'm seriously going to die today,'" said Falloon, of Munster, Ind.
Nevertheless, Falloon said that her trip leaders' encouragement and fear of being the first to ask for a break made her persevere. She says she has returned from the wilderness with new friendships and already feels like she belongs at Dartmouth.
Falloon was one of 1,007 members of the class of 2011 who took part in the 136 freshmen trips offered by the Dartmouth Outing Club this year, the largest number of incoming freshmen ever to participate, according to Lauren Bennett '08, the assistant director of DOCTrips.
Though a few excursions experienced logistical difficulties, including an organic farming trip that did not pack an adequate supply of food, Bennett said that overall this year's trips program was successful.
"I've already noticed how much post-Trips love there has been," Bennett said the day after Section E (the fifth of 10 sections of trips) had returned to Hanover. "There was a crowd of almost 50 people on [the lawn in front of Robinson Hall] yesterday after everybody had showered. The post-Trips love is really the most phenomenal thing I've seen so far."
Pen Vineyard '11, whose trip enjoyed a 20-scoop Vermonster at Ben & Jerry's after returning to Hanover, and Cynthia Akagbosu '11, who said that the members of her trip continue to spend time together on campus, echoed Bennett's sentiments.
This year's trips saw the addition of several new bonding activities, such as a dance to the YouTube phenomenon "Crank That" by new rap artist Soulja Boy, in addition the classic repertoire of the "Salty Dog Rag" and Michael Jackson's "Blame It On The Boogie."
"H-Croo are my heroes," Arianna Heiderer '11 said, speaking of the group of flourescent-haired students that greets freshmen in Hanover. "They were like walking cartoon characters ... everyone was off of their normal footing, and I think the Trips were better for it because there was no way anybody could keep up any kind of pretense. You had to just be yourself."
Matt Dahlhausen '11 said that in addition to H-Croo, nighttime raids of trip-goers' camps were one of the most memorable aspect of the 2011 trips and explained how his trip was raided by a group of upperclassmen pretending to be students at Harvard.
Many participants said that they enjoyed pranks that their own trip leaders had played on them. Falloon's trip leaders carried a pineapple with them from Hanover and secretly placed it behind the Lodge. They then told Falloon that the pineapple was the rare White Mountain grapefruit and encouraged her to go pick it. Dahalsen's leaders played a similar trick, telling their trippees that a pineapple that they had left in the woods for their trippees to find was the extraordinary New England ground fruit.
Trip leader Alex Cook '09 and his co-leader had their trip put temporary tattoos of superheroes on their butts.
"That made for an interesting picture in the woods," Cook said. He added that leading a trip provided him with a unique opportunity to meet incoming freshmen and share his love for Dartmouth with them.
"[DOC Trips] is one of the only things that I know of that is only about fun and welcoming the new class to Dartmouth," Cook said. "There's an energy and a magic to trips that isn't found anywhere else."
