"Oh, the Places you'll Go" Janki Shah

"You're off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting.

So...get on your way!"

Somewhere in a far off town in Australia, these words penetrated the deafening silence that pervaded the room in which I stood, deeply immersed in thoughts. It was my last day here and suddenly, it all seemed like an incredible dream. Like several teenagers from the United States of America, I had spent my summer participating in an Outward Bound program, an unconventional yet extraordinary experience that truly had an enormous impact on me as an individual.

I remember very clearly. It was nearly six o'clock in the morning and my mates and I had gathered for breakfast around the now discolored plastic mat that had served as our portable dining table for the past five days. The temperature was negative three degrees Celsius and my hands quivered as my numb fingers struggled to grip the spoon. While attempting to gulp the unsavory, bland mixture of Weet-Bix and powdered milk with Vegemite on toast for the last time, I listened carefully as the plans of the day were discussed, trying desperately to ignore the tiny vestiges of leaves and soil in my meal. Thirty-one more laborious kilometers to the top of Mount Tenet...