Tahsinur Rahim, Grade 12
UWC-USA
A significant moment that I have got to experience at UWC-USA was my project week trip. Project week at UWC is a week-long trip that aims at having students collaborate with each other, get to know each other more, and simply live the UWC mission. At my school, we had different project week trips. Mine in particular was a backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon.
A particular moment that I will forever be fond of, was this magical moment that we had near the end of the trip. It was the second to last day of the trip, and we had finished backpacking through the canyon. After an endless day of hiking 3.5 miles back from our campsite in the canyon to the camping grounds on top of the canyon, we realised that we had gone from the top of the Grand Canyon, to the bottom, and back in three days. We went to the Colorado river in the canyon, slept under the stars in the canyon, hiked through mud, gravel, and dirt. It was this feeling of accomplishment that made us realise how important and valuable collaboration and teamwork was.
This is not the moment in particular I would be fond of though. Later that evening, after we went to the camping grounds to have our lunch and take a shower for the first time in three days, we would go to the rim of the Grand Canyon to watch the sunset. To say that the sunset at the Grand Canyon is special would be an understatement. No photograph can ever capture how exceptional it was to see the red, glowing sun, set at the canyon. The vibrance of the deep blue, orange, then red hues at the canyon’s mountain tops is a true testament to how beautiful nature can be.
Me, my friends, and teachers were all at awe at this. We would spend our time at the canyon, watching the sunset. Then we all decided to start singing ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy. It could be described as the group’s theme song. It gives me chills thinking about it.
It was not the singing or anything that gave me chills, but the symbolism behind it. How we are friends that backpacked over 13 miles at the Grand Canyon. How we: camped together, cooked food together, told jokes together, shared our stories together, tackled hardships together, and connected together better than we did before. It was also our last opportunity to connect with the second years (the graduating class), before they graduate in about a months time.
As we listened Vance Joy’s singing, and accompany that with our raspy, squeaky, off-pitch, yet-orchestral-somehow, singing, it was something that was hilarious, and forgetful at the time, but as time goes on, it is something that one can get really nostalgic about. When I first learnt that UWC does not have a spring break, but a project week that everyone has to do, I was disappointed, because I thought I could go home again. It only took a week for me to realise that I would not trade that experience for anything in the world.
A particular moment that I will forever be fond of, was this magical moment that we had near the end of the trip. It was the second to last day of the trip, and we had finished backpacking through the canyon. After an endless day of hiking 3.5 miles back from our campsite in the canyon to the camping grounds on top of the canyon, we realised that we had gone from the top of the Grand Canyon, to the bottom, and back in three days. We went to the Colorado river in the canyon, slept under the stars in the canyon, hiked through mud, gravel, and dirt. It was this feeling of accomplishment that made us realise how important and valuable collaboration and teamwork was.
This is not the moment in particular I would be fond of though. Later that evening, after we went to the camping grounds to have our lunch and take a shower for the first time in three days, we would go to the rim of the Grand Canyon to watch the sunset. To say that the sunset at the Grand Canyon is special would be an understatement. No photograph can ever capture how exceptional it was to see the red, glowing sun, set at the canyon. The vibrance of the deep blue, orange, then red hues at the canyon’s mountain tops is a true testament to how beautiful nature can be.
Me, my friends, and teachers were all at awe at this. We would spend our time at the canyon, watching the sunset. Then we all decided to start singing ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy. It could be described as the group’s theme song. It gives me chills thinking about it.
It was not the singing or anything that gave me chills, but the symbolism behind it. How we are friends that backpacked over 13 miles at the Grand Canyon. How we: camped together, cooked food together, told jokes together, shared our stories together, tackled hardships together, and connected together better than we did before. It was also our last opportunity to connect with the second years (the graduating class), before they graduate in about a months time.
As we listened Vance Joy’s singing, and accompany that with our raspy, squeaky, off-pitch, yet-orchestral-somehow, singing, it was something that was hilarious, and forgetful at the time, but as time goes on, it is something that one can get really nostalgic about. When I first learnt that UWC does not have a spring break, but a project week that everyone has to do, I was disappointed, because I thought I could go home again. It only took a week for me to realise that I would not trade that experience for anything in the world.
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