I am trying to reflect on the experiences and make something out of it. It would be easy if I had a hard time trekking or was afraid of trying new foods. If either of those things were true then I could just sit down, write about the altitude and the “samosa mix” that pushed my buttons, learn something, come back a different person, and have succeeded
–
have won at traveling. Maybe I’m just seeing things, but it feels like everyone else is taking away something meaningful. Everyone else is winning the travel game, the reflection game, the meaningfulness game –
I’m trying to figure out why I am on the bench. That’s hard. I am a competitive person. While there may be no official prize-giving, the awards are everywhere¾and they are massive: having a new perspective, a new way of going through the world, even some form of enlightenment. At this point, it seems unlikely that I will reach any of it. After my second trip to the Himalayas, I feel pretty similar to how I felt after the first: a little more grateful for my life back home, a little more aware of my body and mind, and a little more certain that squat-toilets are humanity’s greatest mistake. At the end of the day, I am basically the same person. Is that OK? I don’t know. Grappling with that is the hardest part of the trip.
-Per, Class of 2018