- Emma

Alaska Is...

      Alaska is something that words could never really fully describe, something that pictures could never truly capture.  The way you feel when you breathe in that fresh Alaska air, and the way the clouds hang low over the mountains, so close you feel as if you could reach out and touch them.  It’s the beauty of nature, spread into one place.  Huge, yet small.  A place where every animal, tree, plant, flower, water…anything and everything is peaceful.  The beauty of Alaska varies from the highest mountain to the smallest stream and gives you a sense of amazement that no other place could ever give you, and no matter how far life takes you form Alaska, no matter how much you change or the people around you change, Alaska will always be here waiting. 

Final Reflections

            What people don’t realize is how much Alaska changes you.  Three weeks goes by in the blink of an eye, and before you know it, it’s all over.  At home, I had started to become a person that didn’t think she looked good enough without makeup to leave the house without it on.  But in Alaska you have no choice; you don’t wear makeup.  So, just like everything else, you learn to adapt.  What I have learned about myself in the past three weeks is hard to describe in words.  I have so much more confidence, I feel comfortable around people.  No one really knows how good they have it until you have to go without certain things for almost a month.  Things like showers, my bed, and a dishwasher.  By the time you realize how much you depended on stuff like that, it’s hard to change.  But in Alaska you have no choice.  When people don’t have a choice, they adapt faster.  I know that’s what happened with me.  I have a completely new personal image I never would have had if it wasn’t for AGLP.  On a trip like this you realize that you don’t need things like makeup or dishwasher.  You will be just fine without them because in Alaska you have to be.  I appreciate my home so much more now, and I will never forget some of the things we did on the trip.  The first four days felt like the longest days of my life and I thought, “Wow, this is going to be a long trip.”  But as soon as we reached the halfway point, the trip went by in a blur.  I still can’t believe all the stuff we did and how fast it went by.  It wasn’t all fun.  At times during the trip I wondered why I was even doing it.  But in the end, it’s all worth it.  I surprised myself.  I ran a 10K, I climbed a mountain.  Nothing can compare to the feelings you feel when you climb a mountain or do something you never thought you could do.  All I know is that I needed this trip, and it has changed me for the better.