OA: Where mountains become molehills

I cried on the first day of my Outdoor Action trip freshman year. But you couldn't tell because it was raining so hard. And that is precisely why all of my friends were so surprised when I told them that I was becoming an OA leader. "You hated OA," they said. "You're too delicate . . . too prissy . . . too pampered." Well, yes, sometimes you will find me in pressed khakis and a collared shirt with a leather shoulder bag.

And yes, perhaps I will be complaining about having to walk "all the way up" to Ichiban for sushi or lamenting that I hate to get dirty.

So I guess you're wondering why someone like me would ever consciously choose to go out into the woods where basically all you do is walk around and get dirty.

I say it is precisely because I am so stereotypically 'un-OA' that I became a leader. It is very easy to come to Princeton and fall into a routine, to become comfortable and complacent with your place here. And let's face it: Princeton isn't huge, and it can get boring and stifling at times. So, after some time away from campus, I thought it was important, now that I was back, to try something new and to expand my experience here.

So I signed up to become an OA leader. I learned CPR, took my First Aid HEART class and did the workshops with none other than Rick Curtis. I had stayed inside where it was warm, clean and dry learning all about OA, and now it was time for the hard part: my Leader Training Trip. Six days hiking out in the woods, with all the dirt, rain, snow, cold and GORP that comes with an OA trip. Needless to say, I was apprehensive.

But I put my khakis back in my closet, got some long underwear and some Gore-Tex and ventured out to Harriman State Park in New York this spring break. The six days I spent hiking were some of the best times I've had at Princeton. The most wonderful thing about a hiking trip is that all the things that seem to matter in the 'real' world of Princeton fall away. No one cares what you're wearing, whom you know, where you eat your meal or even how you smell. All the hierarchies that exist at Princeton disappear and everyone is on the same level.

All you really care about is the experience — getting through the trip and having fun. This allows for interaction that you don't always find on campus. There's really a sense of connection since everyone feels that whatever they say or whatever they do will be uncritically and non-judgmentally accepted. It's radically liberating. You can sing "The Sound of Music" or "Wind Beneath My Wings" at the top of your lungs if you want. You can lick your bowl and eat with your hands. Or, you can play all sorts of random, weird games and no one thinks anything of it.

So, for all of you who think that you could never be an OA leader, I'm living proof that you can. Just forget about the assumptions you and others make about yourself and try it. And if you cry on your LTT, then at least you tried it. If nothing else you'll have 10 new friends that you wouldn't have met and connected with were it not for the trip. So a shout out from Loverboy goes to H-Bomb: Hurc, Tenley-Bear, Baloo, Pips, Sunshine, Michael-Bean, Norm, Scott, Lydia and Mr. Clean. And, by the way, if you see anyone jumping and shaking their booty on campus, please let me know because I would love to join them. John Lurz is an English major from Lutherville, MD. He can be reached at johnlurz@princeton.edu.