I've lived in New York City for a decade and throughout the years, I never realized the gateway to my ultimate enlightenment was bound to happen. I was just so blind to fancy such things. At my university, there is a center dedicated to supported students of color on campus, specifically those of African or African American decent. We were taken to Cape Cod this past weekend and I feel that you all need to hear about my experience in the Cape.
Generally, I am not a fan of the woods. Hiking, fishing or even just camping. I am just not one with nature (thanks to the snake incident that occurred with me when young). Leading up to the trip, I was very curious as to what the Cape was like because I have never been there. EVERY SINGLE PERSON THAT I SPOKE TO (including kids that participated in it last year) SAID IT WAS VERY NICE AND FUN. Not once was I told that the Cape was a bunch of camps spread out around the ocean.
When our bus arrived, I had just woken up from a nap that I had no idea how long it was. I looked around and saw fields with cabins. This was not what came up in Google when I looked it up. I took a look at my phone and realized I had no service. I begin to ask "Are we really here? Or are they trying to pull one on us." I got no replies but after realizing that everyone was leaving the bus, I anxiously walked behind.
Later on that day, after getting room assignments and seeing our hard rock beds, we got to sit together and participate in activities that brought us all closer to each other. Getting to connect with more people that were mostly first-gen and low income and shared similar struggles to mine gave me a sense of comfort and warmth. This certainly made up for the highly anticipated beach waterfront, which was actually eroded.
It may seem like I had a terrible experience, but actually, I did not. Was I uncomfortable? At first, yes. But eventually, I got really comfortable with the beautiful people around me and basically forgot about the fact that I was practically in the woods. I am very appreciative that I got the opportunity to experience this because now I can say I am confident that I have those friends that I can confine in that aren't Questbridge.
So after all, I guess everyone was right about it being fun and nice. Little did I know they were referring to the bonding experience and the food. Or at least I'd assume so...
