The Sailing Trip...
Monday morning - 7 am, the bunch of us who had chosen to attend Outward Bound got to Tuck Circle to catch the bus. There were some Donuts and Coffee from Dunkin Donuts waiting for us. After quickly grabbing some stuff to eat, we were off on the 5 hour long trip to Maine.
The group was divided into 5 groups of 11 people each. Most of us didn't know each other and we would be spending the next 5 days in close quarters. (Make that really close!) After a lunch of bread and peanut butter, we were onto the boat, duffel bags etc in place.
Our boat had a very interesting mix of people. Consulting, high tech, IT and non profit were some of the backgrounds. And the 11 of us were drawn from 4 countries, but between us had lived in over 20 different countries!! As time passed, we got to know each other very well. The first couple of days was sailing (and rowing when there was no wind).
It was my first sailing trip. Everything (including answering calls of nature) happens on board the boat. Initially, pple had their inhibhitions in using the head, but by the end of day 3 we had become so close to each other we even had a boat song.
'We could have gone to Kellogg, We could have gone to Sloan
Instead we chose Tuck, as the source of our loans
They said we would be sailing
Little did we know
The wind would not be blowing
So we would have to row
We watched each other pee
And heard each other fart
Now we are ready
For classes to start!'
We spent a night making a camp out out of just a sheet of tarpaulin and some rope (nay line). The resultant camp was so small that people were in spooning position! (To preserve body warmth!)
Prior to bed time, we had a 90 minute standup routine, 'Dirty Spanish 101'. This had us rolling over in laughter. Some people contributed with their intimate knowledge of English also and I returned with my vocabulary a bit extended ;-).
An interesting thing one person stated was that business school is rather tough on long distance relationships. Apparently, a large number of break ups happen on Black Friday (the day following Thanksgiving when lots of pple reunite. The number of single people at school seems to be substantial, and the fact that most people are at that stage in life when they are actively looking to get into a long term relationship makes for an interesting dynamic. More on this as time passes. I like the prospect of being a ringside observer as the game plays out!
On the penultimate day of the camp, we did some rock climbing. That was quite exciting. One of the members of my boat was on the rock face for over an hour. Some tenacity! I found it very inspiring. Considering that Tuck consists of such a fabulous set of people, I wouldn't be surprised if I found many such instances at every turn.
It is very easy for conflicts to arise when people live 24 hours a day in such close quarters. Surprisingly, there was absolutely no conflict or ill will on the boat or off it. Any disagreement resulted in energy being channelized in a positive manner. Then the realization dawned on me that this was possible only because we didn't bring our ego's with us. Though all of us had different accomplishments in our Pre Tuck life, we brought our experiences but not our egos.
After we returned to the mainland from our sailing trip, we had this pizza and beer party. The pizza and beer were woefully inadequate. But there was enough money left in the pool for some pple to make a beer run as well as get some soda (for non beer folks like me). About half way through the night, while the party was in full force, somebody from my boat group got the idea that we (as a boat - 11 people consisting of 8 guys and 3 girls) should streak through the party. Since I had never streaked before I wasn't very enthusiastic about the idea initially. Then I changed my mind and we all went. The crowd was rather surprised when we did the first leg of the trip, but when we returned towards our tent to get our clothes, the path resembled a runway with people's headlamps and torchlights in full blast. I just hope no photographs make their way out. That would be embarassing!
After a good night's sleep, we returned this morning. I was tanned and tired but happy at having done something that I had never done before - Sailing!! I would like to do it again sometime. It is kind of fun. But next time, I shall use SPF 50 sun screen!!
posted by Tagad_Tale @ 10:55 PM
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