Okay, At the top...been awhile. Sorry I haven’t posted anything since, well, Halloween, but I’m going to put up a bunch of shorter entries over the break, especially since so much has happened between then and now.

First and foremost:

CAMPING.

A couple months ago, I found out about this really great organization called FUOC, or Furman University Outdoors Club. Basically you pay $10 for your t-shirt, and all other activities are free, more or less. You can even rent out tents, sleeping bags, kayaks, whatever you want, whenever you want. So anyway, FUOC scheduled a camping trip the first week of November to Table Rock, which is located a on a mountain about 45 minutes north of Furman. I decided to go even though I couldn’t convince my very un-hardcore friends to go with me. As much as I love them, I’m a little glad I did this by myself, because I met some really amazing people, one of which has backpacked through China and wandered aimlessly around Europe, and another rafted down the Savannah River... on an air mattress. (And I thought I was brave for camping with a bunch of strangers.)

The hike up to Table Rock was gorgeous. We ate peanut butter and banana sandwiches and fruit snacks at the top, looking down at this amazing view that, to be cheezy and cliché, took my breath away and made me feel really small. After stumbling back down the mountain a couple hours later, we exhaustedly set up tents, collected fire wood, and started the spaghetti over the Coleman stove. That spaghetti was by far the best pasta I’ve ever eaten, and I’ve had a lot of pasta in my life.

Eventually it started to get dark and cold. Really cold. We huddled around the campfire and made smores Survivors of the Wildernessand talked for awhile, and eventually I found a smoky spot that made me feel cozy. Even though we were cold and filthy and sitting on the hard ground, there was no place I would have rather been. For that one night, nothing else mattered but the stars and the wind and the crackle of the fire, and I wanted to set up my own personal tent and stay in the woods forever.

Awhile later, we had moved on from smores to roasted bananas, roasted apples, roasted fruit snacks, and a combination of all three. It was about that time when we were all getting really sleepy, and I had dozed off a couple times. I didn’t want to crawl into the tent and miss anything, so I had the bright idea that maybe the girls should sleep outside, too, since the boys were already doing the same thing.

Um. Bad idea.

I “woke up” the next morning (the quotation marks because I don’t know for sure that I ever went to sleep in the first place) with frost and ice on the end of my sleeping bag. I was FREEZING. If you ever go camping, might I suggest that you take something better than a 30 degree bag for below 30 degree weather. Of course one of the boys THEN goes on to say that there had been five or six extra sleeping bags I could have curled up in. Somehow, I still didn’t want to leave. After some oatmeal and fruit snacks for breakfast, we packed up the car and headed off to Furman, where I took the best and longest shower of my life.

To all of you new Furman students, congratulations! I can’t wait to meet you!