[escape]

Have you ever felt like retreating? Have you ever felt like taking a step back from your life to think about the chooses you have made and the ones you will have to make? Well I have.

During the Fall Gateways [HC’s orientation] my leader couldn’t stop talking about how amazing some retreat at Holy Cross was. She said that it was such a great way to make friends, and the perfect opportunity to relax [spoiler alert: I did, and it was]. When I expressed the smallest bit of interest, she went for the kill and got me to sign up. November 9th-10th, that’s ages away I told myself, and for any soon to be college students out there, September and November are much closer together than they may first appear.

Escape Retreat 2012. I really didn’t know what to expect. When I showed up to the bus carrying my school backpack and a large black trash bag, stuffed with just about anything I thought I might need [I’m terrible at packing], I didn’t recognize a single face.

We all struggle with this one question: am I going to try or not? When I sat down on the bus, I was just about to put my head phones on and not try at all to talk to the strangers around me. But then, a friendly girl named Kat came up to me and asked me if I wanted to play a group game she was organizing. Right in that moment, I had to answer the question: am I going to try of not. I choose to try. I felt a little awkward at first, but over time I realized how nice the people around me were. And thus began the best 24 hours I have experienced with Holy Cross students so far.

The Escape Retreat is designed to give students an opportunity to reflect on their time at Holy Cross so far; a time to contemplate if we are on the right path, or being the people we wanted to be. Without getting to mushy-gushy, I came to a deeper understanding of who I am and who I want to become during my time at HC. During the closing ceremony, we were asked to stand up and tell the group something we would take away from Escape 2012. When I stood up, I said,”I learned that it is never too late to meet new people.” I met some truly amazing people on the retreat and am so glad that I went on it. I highly recommend any prospective students [if you choose Ho Cro] to attend this retreat; it will change your college experience.

from the left: Francesca, Micala, Kat, Joe, Christina, Oriola, Me, Pat

I now understand why my Gateways Orientation Leader spoke so highly of Escape. At the time, I thought she was just asking me to go on some retreat, but now I know she was just asking me something much more important: are you going to try or not?

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 11th, 2012 at 6:29 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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