Here begins the epic tale of my trip to South Africa. Most of the content will be taken from my journal that I kept (quotes will signify journal material). Enjoy.
June 30, 2008
This entry was written on the second floor of the Wilson House, a large mansion similar to the Story Mansion in Bozeman. Campus Crusade operates out of here; and Pat and Tammy McLeod, two of the group leaders, live here.
"I made it to the Wilson House, where members of the team are trickling in from all over the country. I am meeting a lot of people and trying to remember all of their names: Rebecca, who is ferrying people here from the airport; Stephanie, who runs track at Stanford; Mike, who graduated ? [NE Univeristy] in criminal justice; Susie, a beautiful graduate student at Harvard; Paul, who almost qualified for the Olympic swim team [by .03 s]; and all the McLeods- Mr. and Mrs., Chelsea, Zach, Nate, and Sorren.
I was pretty nervous on the flight out (it was my first time flying alone), but everything went smoothly. My connecting gate in Minneapolis was extremely far away, though as that was the biggest hassle I encountered, I'm OK.
All of these college guys and girls make me feel humble - many are athletes attending top-ranked schools (Harvard, Stanford, and NorthEastern). I'm just a pre-frosh [or pro-fro] who hasn't yet been tested. I am a little concerned that the consensus says Caltech is an extremely hard-working campus where a ton of studying goes on. We'll see.
One more thought - I wish now that I was going for the entire five weeks, not three. It seems too short to do any quality work, and I'm afraid it'll be awkward to leave half-way through. If I did this again, I would go for a longer time. Yet the decision was made when I felt overworked and overwhelmed with graduating, the plane tickets are purchased, and a family trip back East is planned over the last week of the mission; so it will stand. I didn't realize that this would be a break from the work at home.
The epiphanies, rants, wonderings, and events in the life of a former student of Petra Academy, now at Caltech.
About Me
- Richard Gianforte
- Bozeman, Montana, United States
- I am currently attending Caltech in Pasadena, though I will always be an alum of Petra Academy.
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Quote
"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win" - JFK
Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
-John Donne "Meditation XVII" in Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
-John Donne "Meditation XVII" in Devotions upon Emergent Occasions