Farewell, Summer.

Want your life to change forever, in a good way? Work at a summer camp with amazing people.

My summer at camp ended not with a fizzle--but with a bang.

A bang into a rock, that is.

I was rappelling while working at UCYC and fell backwards over a cliff. It's a stupid little thing, and I only broke my knee. After I fell backwards, my equipment caught me, swinging me into the rock.

Mama Rachel fed me jello in the hospital.

That was about two months ago, and I'm all better now. I'm almost done with physical therapy, and I spent a solid month sitting around watching Netflix (I'm almost done with Breaking Bad) and walking around with crutches (Yeah! Arm muscles!)

In turn, I did not get to go on the mission trip to Ecuador, which is a bummer because I raised nearly all the funds I needed to raise. I will, however, be going on another mission trip to Ecuador or to the Dominican Republic later this year. I also didn't get to go to Texas to help Hannah move back or to see Natalie.

Another bummer that came with breaking my knee is that our family road trip had to be reduced from three weeks to only two weeks, meaning I only made it as far north as Portland, as the Industrial Commission only allows you out of the state for two weeks at a time when you're on Workers' Compensation.

I met so many encouraging people this summer, it's amazing.

But the road trip--that's another story for another post, which will be coming soon! For now, the summer (as great as it was) is now over.

Travel Etiquette

I have my latest adventure post in draft stage! It'll be out soon.
Until then, I'd just like to note how much of a culture difference I have seen at NAU vs. U of A, and what has been floating around in my mind.

Correct dorm host(ess) etiquette:
Do you have someone from your childhood, home town, high school class coming to visit? Here are some guidelines for you as a host(ess) to make sure your guest's trip ends happily, and a good time is had by all.

• Understand price limits. Your guests are most likely paying for the gas to come visit you, and that's not cheap. Talk before about budgeting, and plan your half as a host or hostess accordingly. Don't expect your guests to want to pay $10 for a mediocre burrito at the campus Mexican restaurant, because 9 times out of 10, they won't want to.
• Be ready to entertain. Your guests just came to visit you! They want to see what is exciting on your campus. Plan a walking tour of the campus, go chalking or stargazing, or go out to dinner at a cheap (but yummy) restaurant.
• Prepare a sleeping station. It may be on a rug, on your extra comforter, or on a beach towel, but have something set up for your guests. Nobody wants to sleep with their sleeping bag or pillow directly on the icky hairball covered ground.
• Plan to pay. For one meal a day for your guests, bless them with food. We understand, you're all in college, and money is sparse and food is expensive. But be it through meal swipes, dining dollars, an interesting dorm-made pasta dish, or that money your parents send you each month for groceries, cover a meal a day for your guests. It's the proper thing to do.
• Return the favor! If someone traveled a long distance (long enough to spend the night in your dorm room), plan to visit them, and actually go through with it! Don't just expect your friend to come visit you because he or she had "a great time" the previous trip. Return the favor of a visit, go sleep on their dorm room couch for a few nights. Chances are, if whoever you are visiting happens to be a conscientious human being, he or she will follow these guidelines of dorm room host(ess) etiquette.

Backstory: I traveled down to U of A last year to visit some friends, and I was rather blown away by their etiquette. I and my travel buddy, Becca, had budgeted out our entire trip, and purchased groceries to take down to U of A so we wouldn't need to eat at the expensive campus restaurants. We also expected our hostess to have a few day time plans which didn't involve spending money.
As events progressed, it appeared we had a bad case of miscommunication. I ended up spending $30 more in meals than I had planned, as well as about $15 on jewelry I felt rather pressured into buying. (They were best friends necklaces, each a Hamsa hanging from a short silver chain. Ironically, I don't really regret buying mine, it's cute, and I'm the only one who hasn't lost it yet, but I was rather unhappy at the moment as I felt pressured to buy it.) Thus representing nearly $50 over my budget set forth, as I had expected our host(ess) to graciously cover our meals on campus, in exchange for the groceries we bought her, or in addition to eating from the groceries we had purchased.
Meanwhile, at NAU (where I put my lesson learned at U of A into practice, and over-budgeted) I was greeted with generous hands, only paying for two meals myself over the entire two weekends I visited, and one of those times was only because the meal-swipe system wasn't working with the card I was trying to purchase a meal on (so the generosity was still there in spirit.) I was honestly impressed by my friends (and even friends of friends) who bought me meals, shared desserts, and made iced tea lemonades for me for free while visiting NAU, so these five simple guidelines simmered in my brain the whole drive back to Phoenix today.