I survived Arizona ! !

192 hours, 14 ham & cheese/peanut butter jelly sandwiches, 13 strangers, 7 days of no cellphone reception, 7 dogs and their equivalent amount of hair all over our clothes, 6 nights of sleeping on the floor, 4 states, 3 road accidents, 2 blizzards, 2 lost baggages, 1 sick girl we had to return home because she was allergic to dog hair, 1 Navajo Nation Arizona with its endless driving time later, I am sitting in my room wondering if the past week really did happen. No words can describe our crazy adventures that came and left in a matter of seconds. In Nina's (President of Alternate Spring Break Penn and participant to four of such trips) wise words, this trip has been the roughest she has ever been on.

Whether it was driving miles just to shower in that one bathroom shared by 13 people or a car stuck in the ditch, or getting lost in the desert with no cellphone reception, or spinning off an icy road, or seeing the faces of little children light up, or hearing them laugh about "making sure your injured friend doesn't become a speedbump" during our road safety presentation, our emotions were taken on a rollar coaster ride this trip. Fear, helplessness, apprehension, joy, euphoria, you name it we got it.

This trip has been the greatest learning experience of my life. There was so much culture, so much wisdom, so much knowledge to be absorbed from around me. One man has dedicated his life to using therapy to heal the "generation of trauma" that our world has created from wars, civil strife and persecution. One man and woman chose to leave modern civilisation to come out to nowhere because they were needed here. Soaring diabetes rate, high levels of alcoholism, insane number of car accidents, increased meth usage, low health care levels ...the list goes on.

When I looked at the endless desert that stretched around me during anyone of our thousand hour car rides, I think about how wonderful it is to have that spiritual connection with the land. Rock scuptures that no human could create lay around as testimonials of nature's power and God's hand. Through circumstances and those car rides with only myself to entertain me, I made friends with myself. How would I look like in a black and white photograph? What would the lines on my face show? I overcame some fears, found some strengths and accepted some weaknesses. I learnt how i react to crisis. I learnt how i can serve others. I learnt to have genuine female friends. I learnt I can connect. I learnt how to love better. So much beauty around us and so little initiative to discover.

Quote of the trip:

"This place better be the most f**king beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on with naked women and beer pouring out of the sky." Mic P. says while we try to get the car out of mud on the way to canyon chelly.