Something that I wanted to do throughout my undergrad, but never got a chance to do, was plan a ski trip. The great thing about planning a trip is that: you get a discounted price for yourself for booking, you get a lot of responsibility, and thus satisfaction from helping everything come together, and of course, you get to set up a trip doing something you enjoy, with people that you like.
It was finally this year that I went ahead and did it, and I'm really happy that I did. The trip that I planned was really difficult to pull together. I first started looking for people interested in late October, and once I had a lot of people, I started looking for a place to book the trip. Suddenly, people started dropping like flies, and then there were issues with dates because of other events, a lot of different factors made it really difficult. However, a lot of hard work and persistence allowed things to finally come together, and for my post-midterm Blue Mountain trip, I had just over 20 people signed up with money paid to come.
We had a fantastic time on our trip, leaving for Collingwood just after we finished our exams Friday morning, and staying until Sunday afternoon. We skied in beautiful weather on Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday. We had a wonderful time enjoying a big chalet, spending time together in the hot tub and sauna, playing games in the big great room, and talking late at night. We also went out to the Village Saturday night and created our own party at a small club, having a lot of fun there too. Sunday we went to the spa at the hotel at the Inn at Blue, and enjoyed going from hot tub to cold pool, to massage, and finally a really nice sauna. And a big part of the enjoyment was from spending time together and talking about lots of things, most of all not talking a lot about school. The 2 hour drive there and back was also a great time to talk and enjoy each others company.
Now I'll mention that this was not actually the only trip. Another friend of mine booked a trip to Blue for us to a similar type of chalet just at the end of Finals in December. Same thing, we drove to Blue right after finals were over, and went up to have a great time. The only difference, is that there was no snow in December! So we didn't ski at all, I didn't even bring my skis! That being said, we still had a wonderful time, getting away from the city and just hanging out with each other.
So I guess the reason that I wanted to write this blog post, aside from reminiscing about some great times with my friends, is to talk about the importance of getting out. Escape. This works for people in areas of life of course, but I think this is really important to CCNM students. Depending on how diligent you are or how important going to lectures is for you, CCNM students can spend well over 30-40 hours a week at the school, many more of course if you live in residence (I'm fortunate enough to have my home close enough to school, and a car, so I do get away). There are many wonderful people at CCNM that you get to become friends with and connect with, but when you're at school, we are in a little bit of a bubble. It's not the same as the outside world, and the things that you talk about are very different. Realizing this, it is vital to get out of the school and experience the world with these wonderful people. I have found that the connections you create become much stronger, and the experiences you get to have are amazing. Whether it is going out to a bar on a Friday night, taking in a museum, going to a Harry Potter Trivia night (yes I did that in February, it was really fun!), or going on a ski trip, it's just awesome to connect with your friends in a different setting.
I hope that you, blog reader, take my message to heart, and ensure that you take opportunities to connect with people outside of your bubble. If it is CCNM, push yourself and your friends to participate in activities outside of the school. If you have friends that you work with, offer to do things outside of there. The connections that you strengthen, and the experiences you will have are worth the effort.
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| Fun picture from the first Blue Mountain trip. Since there was no skiing to do, we wandered and enjoyed the village together, and ended up taking a picture with Santa Clause. It was a really happy and fun day! |
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