A little background about me, I enlisted in the Army Reserves right out of high school, leaving for Basic Training at Fort Benning Georgia the September after I graduated. I am not going to take credit for this line, but I believe that one of my fellow Soldiers hit the nail on the head when he said that the experience was “the best fun I never want to have again.” Looking back, almost four years later and remembering all the stress, shenanigans, and friendships that I had made makes me both happy and proud of all I have been able to accomplish. One of the events that made me the proudest was the completion of our final 12-mile ruck. To give a little bit of context, we completed this during our last week of training exercises. We had stayed out in the field for a week, did a Night Infiltration Course, went back to the barracks for 3 hours of sleep, and then stepped off for this hike. Upon our return after 5 grueling hours of marching under combat load, I will n...
It is interesting how there exists a dynamic contrast between the Gardens of Versailles and Central Park in New York. In Dr. Redick's on aesthetic tourism, he brings up the stark contrast between the artificially constructed gardens of Versailles and how the wild and more natural grounds of central park acts as its antithesis. On the one hand, man has taken over nature because man fears it, on the other he lets it grow inside his land because he marvels at its beauty. Though the Americas and Europe are considered Western culture, there seems to be a distinct difference in how both sides view nature. In Europe, according to what Dr. Redick had written, they are more fond of the contemporary and geometrically refined landscapes. Because Europe has a lot of human history it must be more uncommon for one who hikes on the trails in the continent to experience much untamed wilderness. The opposite values can be found on the American continents where ther...
Throughout the duration of this class, I have been reading Wild by Sheryl Strayed for another class. Wild is about Strayed's through hike on the Pacific Crest Trail and her journey to move on and process the death of her mother. While the narrative itself is really engaging, I have noticed some common themes that we have discussed in the class on her through hike. The first of which is 'communitas'. Strayed, while hiking primarily by herself, finds people on the trail who would look out for her, even people she has never met. At one point in the book she discusses how she hikes up on a person, but she recognizes him from the trail log. They greet each other like they have known each other their whole lives. The other theme I noticed was her reason for hiking the PCT. When we watched the documentary on the Camino de Santiago, It was shown how common it was for people to ask why you were hiking the Camino. Most people had a reason that typically had to do with them processin...
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