This past weekend was incredibly boring. We didn't manage to get off campus once because all the cabs were refusing to drive out to AUS. I was sick with a cold anyway, so it is probably for the best. On Saturday, I did manage to get myself actually out of my room and took some beautiful pictures of campus (see below). I also saw a car accident (nothing serious) but was too far away to take pictures which is a shame since I had my camera in my hand.
A lot of my classes this week were canceled, which is strange since we have a two week vacation coming up, one would think teachers would be around, but apparently a lot just choose to check out early. Anyway, I used my free time to get work done and managed to get a lot completed.
Last night, a bunch of us decided to spend the night in the desert. We had a 4x4, so luckily we were able to drive in the desert. It took us a good two hours to get to the good desert (nice sand, big dunes) because we had to keep stopping for gas, firewood, ice, etc. When we finally got there, we started driving and very quickly got stuck. It was then that we remembered the little thing about letting the air out of the tires. So we let some out, pushed the car out of its hole, got back in, and drove for about twenty feet before we were stuck again. Once again, out of the car, start pushing. Unfortunately, the only direction the car could go at this point was backwards down hill. Unfortunately it was dark out. Unfortunately there was a barbed wire and chain-linked fence behind the car and the bottom of the hill, and once we got it going, it didn't stop. There were two people in the car, but I guess neither one realized. We took out the fence, but the damage to the car was minimal.
As what usually happens at this point, some random person comes driving out of nowhere to rescue us. Apparently, we hadn't let enough air out of the tires, and that was why we were having such issues. They let more air out, got the car away from the fence, and we went on our way. We decided to try the desert on the other side of the highway since there were more people there and it might be easier to drive.
Of course, easy never seems to be the case. We started driving the big dunes and soon got stuck on a really steep slope. I was afraid the car would flip, so I got out. Luckily, it wasn't that stuck and we got it free. We continued driving around looking for a place to camp and almost hit a parked car. Then we drove up another sand dune, against my very vocal will, and got stuck, again. This time, we were really stuck and the car had bottomed out in the sand. It was also sideways on a very steep grade, so this issue of tipping came up again. After failing miserably to push it out, another desert stranger drove up out of nowhere. Within a minute the car was unstuck and we were on our way.
At this point, I was getting a little tired of getting stuck and suggested we just park and walk. It took awhile for everyone to agree, but we eventually ended up doing that. We found a nice campsite in a depression on top of one of the higher dunes, built a fire, and started camping. The rest of the night consisted of singing, dancing, and running down/throwing people down dunes. We also got to see a lightning storm which was awesome. It was all cloud lightning and the bolts were very well defined. Of course, it has actually started to get cold here, and last night was brutal. Even with the fire and my sleeping bag, I still froze. Two people didn't even bring sleeping bags. They didn't sleep and left at 6:30 to go back to campus. We ended up leaving around 7:30 to go back to civilization and warmth.
Today I have been packing, and I had one class. I'm all done packing and managed to fit my enitre life into one backpack! Unfortunately, my entire life in one backpack makes a very heavy backpack. I'm a little worried I won't be able to carry it around with me and am considering lightning my load, but I'm not sure what should go. A two week trip does require a certain amount of stuff. Anyway, we leave tomorrow early in the AM. Hopefully, our trip will go off as planned! I'll try to keep this updated as we travel, but I have no idea when and where I will have access to the internet. Until then...
-Lindsay
Main Building:
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Main Building Up Close:
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