February 02, 2003

An Entirely Enlightening Experience

So, what's been going on recently with me? Well, on Thursday night, I went out and played rugby for a couple of hours. Rugby, you ask? Why yes—rugby. And yes, I know I only weigh like 135 lbs. And yes, I got crushed and now my back hurts and I have huge bruises on my shins and ankles, etc. Am I going to go again and play next week? OF COURSE! Wouldn't miss it, unless I had to do homework or something. Going outside and playing was really fun. I haven't played a fun game since... summer. But this wasn't my enlightening experience of the weekend. Read forth and learn of my enlightenment.

My enlightenment occurred on the retreat I attended for CalSO this weekend. I went into it slightly apprehensive of dealing with what I assumed would be the same old team-building activities that I find to be rather annoying to start with and as they get more intensive, just obnoxious. Also, I was feeling rather nervous about meeting and getting to know 45 other people. I had definitely never been on a retreat with people I didn't know. I was thoroughly impressed by the entire experience, however.

When we filled out the evaluations, I reviewed the entire weekend, and couldn't think of a single bad thing about the experience. I rated every activity between 8 and 10, and I really meant it. It was a lot of fun getting to know all the different counselors, not just on the Hi—Hello, my name is Joe, and I'm majoring in Poli Sci, type of way but in a really intimate fashion that one doesn't normally encounter in the course of day-to-day conversation. Also, we did a night hike that resulted in playing around in Army bunkers from World War II, which I, being the history nerd that I am, really enjoyed.

Playing football was awesome, not only because it initiated bonding, but also because I love playing football, and I don't play it as often as, say, basketball, because it's much harder to get a game going then with basketball. Finally I also really liked hanging out with people and watching the other counselors play mafia, while cracking jokes and insulting one another, because I love insulting others and being insulted (all in good humor, of course). All in all, I would say it was a great experience, and now I'm really looking forward to summer. Also, this has inspired me to work on a little project, which will track my sensitivity rating, and see how it is altered by my experience training and being a CalSO counselor. Coming soon to a website near you—mine!