View from cave
Big Cave!! (2nd one of the day). That’s Lee Carleton and Jordan far back there.
This weekend, on October 20th, eight students, including myself, and Lee Carleton went caving in West Virginia. We drove the three hours to the gravel spot wide enough for a car by the road, scampered up the steep slope to the first cave system—very much like a maze—and split up into groups to do a little cave searching for ourselves. We even paused long enough to take pictures and create cave art with the baby poo brown mud lining the walls and floor. My contributions included a pyramid, an alien face, and my initials. I also did some extensive army crawling—some of the passages were only as wide as my shoulders and as tall as my head when I’m flat on my stomach! I had such a blast! Then, we crossed over to another one of the caves. This one, however, was much different, much larger and deeper. I don’t have a fear of heights. I have a fear of paralysis and there were several instances when I was VERY cautious. And shaky, hehe. Descending back to the car, four of us decided to wash some of the muck off of ourselves and crossed to a nearby stream. After much tomfoolery and wetness, we changed back into clean and dry clothes and hit the open road once again. Then, the whole gang went to a little burger joint in Charlottesville, VA and came back to campus refreshed and exhilarated by our exploits in the wilderness.
All in all, a pretty fulfilling day.
The car I was in…Nolan is driving and Natsumi is playing passenger.
You can’t tell it, but I actually know the shadows in the car…left is Oliver and right is Jordan. Jordan claims to be a calm person but secretly is a daredevil driver.
We’re in last place in the race to the caves…but the forest was on fire with the colors of fall. Absolutely beautiful.
Almost everyone who went caving is in this picture…from left to right, Nicki, Zach, Nolan, Ryan, Jordan, Mr. Carleton (in far back), and Oliver. Natsumi is behind me and obviously I’m behind the camera.
Here’s Jordan army scootching through a tight spot.
The gang outside the first cave.
I’ve been participating in a number of events for the clubs of which I consider myself a member. On the 19th, Student Voices against Violence (a sexual violence awareness group, formerly known as Stealing Home) conducted its annual Dating show. This time, however, it was titled “Lust or Love” and worked out sort of like the Newlyweds game on television. We had four couples participate to determine whether they had healthy relationships…and the questions were hilarious! The winners received a gift certificate to the Melting Pot—a local fondue hotspot. They were very excited and all four couples did really well.
Pretty soon, there will be a number of other neat events to check out on campus…AND HALLOWEEN IS COMING! My favorite holiday is almost here! YAY!
What’s more, the past few days have been a wonderful reminder of the intricacies of college life. You never realize how big life is until you’re responsible for your own.
Love and peace,
Jordan
Quote of the week:
“The word Being explains nothing, but nor does God. Being, however, has the advantage that it is an open concept. It does not reduce the infinite invisible to a finite entity.” - Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now
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