How to Make Memories 100 Miles at a Time

It’s a fact: back roads are scarier at night. Especially if they’re gravel roads in the mountains that lead to abandoned pine groves, and you drive down them with your headlights off after midnight.

For my friends and I, our expedition to see the stars one night/real life horror movie experience is just one of the fond memories we have from our summer road trip together. We all set aside a weekend before college and drove up into the Colorado mountains, where we stayed in a family friend’s cabin and explored the backwoods and ski slopes. After walking around the tourist town of Breckenridge, we got Italian ice and contemplated getting spontaneous tattoos. Even though we used our better judgment to reject that idea, we shared lots of laughs back at the cabin, whether we cooked meals, talked around the campfire, and played board games.

I still look back on that short time with fondness because of the simplicity of it. The responsibility of planning and organizing a trip on our own bonded us together in the small ways- from getting lost on back roads to trying to figure how to grill hot dogs. Even in the things we failed at (like waking up for a sunrise hike), we made so many memories we can look back and laugh at.

That’s why I would recommend that everyone, at some point, should try to go on a road trip with their best friends. That being said, there a few details you should remember that make the trip even more fun.

Don’t Plan- It’s important to work out some of the major details like food, transportation, and lodging, but leave plenty of unstructured time throughout the day. My favorite memories are from times when my friends and I decided on spur of the moment activities and things actually went differently than I planned them.
Involve Everyone– Make sure that everyone has a part to play in the details of the trip. Have a different friend plan the route for each day, or be responsible for the day’s meals. That way everyone is invested and you get a better variety of ideas with everyone’s creativity.
Try Something New– A road trip is all about getting out of your comfort zone. Choose the local restaurant over fast food, or the quirky shops over the tourist attractions. Make your trip different from everyone else’s!
Record the Memory– Do something special to remember your trip by! Take lots of pictures, buy matching souvenirs with all of your friends, or make something together that you can all take home and cherish. Not only will it help you remember the trip, but you will also be reminded of the friendships you strengthened in the mean time.

It’s true- road trips can have a reputation for being boring, tedious, and exhausting. But add a group of best friends into the mix, and they become hilarious and memorable getaways. Enjoy the freedom, and don’t forget to get lost at some point along the way.

Featured image: http://laurakristina22.wordpress.com/tag/road-trip/

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.