- Ella

Alaska Is...  

       Alaskais...just what is Alaska? There isn't a single phrase, word, of sentence to describe what I've seen, heard, and experienced on the AGLP trip. You can take pictures, you can write about it, you can paint it, but you can never truly capture the beauty that is Alaska. It's one of those places that you can never fully appreciate until you experience it for yourself. I can't even begin to describe what I would have missed out on if I hadn't come on this trip. I'm really starting to feel like a little kid again. What I mean is that I'm starting to really appreciate all the little things in life, like seeing wild flowers on a hike, or playing ring-around-the-rosy until I'm too dizzy to stand up. Alaska is everything I ever imagined and more. For the first time ever, three weeks is starting to feel like a really short time and this trip is flying by so fast.

Final Reflections

As I’m writing this, all I can think of is Ishtar was right. The three weeks have flown by faster that any three weeks ever before, and the closer we get to leaving, the more I feel like I want to cry. I’ve experienced so many things on this trip that most people could only dream of. I’ll never forget climbing the mountain, or kissing the sea star, or getting sprayed by a whale only fifteen feet from our boat. I’ll also remember the little thins that could have happened anywhere to anyone, but still make this trip special, like staying up all night with the girls in my tent on the fourth of July, or when I fell on exit glacier and slid half way down the mountain, laughing the whole way. I’m so grateful to my parents and teachers for encouraging me to go on this trip. Especially Mrs. Edwards. She was the one that talked me into applying when I wasn’t going to. I’ve grown so much by coming on this trip and I can’t imagine why anyone would want to miss an opportunity like this. To a lot of people, camping for three weeks doesn’t sound like an ideal way to spend their summer, but there’s so much more to the AGLP than that. There are the things you do, the friends you make, and most importantly, the memories you’ll have forever.