Semester 51: Second Academic Block

Written By: Siena Esposito, Clare Mahedy, Calvin Johnson & Izzy Ha

Written by Siena Esposito

As the second academic blog comes to an end, I’m excited for the new adventures of the third expedition to come, yet saddened about leaving 34 other peers behind as I travel with 10 through the desert. This academic block, we started it off by going into downtown Leadville the day after we got back from the second expedition. I was filled with joy as I got to catch up with my closest friend, Penny, outside of the expedition and spend a day exploring all that Leadville has to offer.

Additionally, during the second academic block, we had a “Casino Night!” This was a night where all of us got dressed up in our fanciest and silliest attire and pretended HMI was truly a casino for the night. This was most definitely one of my favorite things we did this academic block.

Also, we ran 6 miles! This is the first time I’ve ever ran that far and I will admit I enjoyed it thoroughly, as I loved the challenge. As I ran alongside my classmate Maddie, she cheered me on everytime I felt like walking. I made it through the whole route at a running pace, which I’m extremely proud of myself for. However, I know I couldn’t have done it without her. In our HMI community, I’m so thankful that we all pick each other up, whether it’s struggling on a hike or crying because you miss your parents, we are there for each other.  

This academic block, I got even closer with my cabinmates: Alana, Lily, Eli, Sage, Tatum, Fran, and Narina. We even developed our own routines together. We get into the cabin, debrief our day, pick out our outfits, throwing clothes all over the floor. After that, we sit around the fire with the lights off and every night I’m astonished that I have the opportunity to spend this time with these 6 other beautiful and truly special people. Cabin 6 feels like home to me, and I hope it always does. 

Like I said, I’m excited for the third expedition, as it’s mostly student-led. I can’t wait to take more initiative in the back country and apply my newfound knowledge and skills from the second expedition. I also can’t wait to sleep under the beautiful Utah stars every night!

Written by Clare Mahedy

Every morning I open my eyes to a dark cabin, lit only by the faint moonlight coming in through the windows and the glow of my watch. Groggy and unable to move from the warmth of my blankets, I blindly feel around my dresser for my headlamp and slide it onto my head. Reluctantly—knowing that only the harsh cold of Leadville mornings awaits me outside of the comfort of Cabin Seven—I slide on my running clothes and lace up my shoes and meander over to the bathroom. My airpods are blasting my pre-run hype music in my ears as I brush my teeth and begin to gain consciousness. As I step out of the Barnes building and begin to run, my breath is illuminated by the stars above me. The cold rushing in my chest burns at first, making my first steps ache and my mind wanders back to the security of my comforter, but soon after my first left turn the arch of trees above the trail reel me in. 

Coming up the first hill, my legs burn but I’m soon met by the warmest hues of the sun rising—combating the stars that hung above my head just twenty minutes before. The white mountain peaks stand out in striking contrast to the pink and orange sky just behind them. My run continues along, sometimes I trip over rocks when I’m distracted by the view. Soon, I’ll return back to the West Building bathroom to defrost in the shower with the familiar whir of a hair dryer and groggy voices in the background. The first hours of my day, from 6:30-8:00 AM is where I find my peace. I start my day initially surrounded by the trees, I take moments to breathe and remember where I am and how lucky we all are to be here, then I surround myself with the people I love most throughout the day. 

Written by Calvin Johnson

Closing off the second academic block of this semester, I can’t help but think a little bit about what life has been like for the almost three months I’ve been here. Every day is special, pretty much. There’s always something going on, an ‘HMI TV,’ if you will, where there’s always a channel to turn to with something interesting going on. For me, these special moments have been eating with a sunset coming over the mountains, playing spikeball with my whole cabin, laughing harder than in any English class before this as Jacob rants to us about society, waking up and running in a beautiful winter wonderland (sometimes saying hi to a big, fluffy, white dog on the run to the Fish Hatchery), vibing to John’s Saturday morning cook-crew playlist, and, as you’ve probably guessed, I can go on and on. Sure, I’m occasionally hit with a wave of homesickness, but it’s easy to forget about the fact that I’ve been away from home longer than any time in my life when I’m surrounded by awesome people, sights, and experiences. Even with masks on, due to a COVID-19 case on campus, the magic of this place isn’t lost, and, in fact, I think I’ve only become closer to the people in my cabin. Third expedition is coming soon, which means that academics have slowed, and we’re about to get packing for another long hiking expedition. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous; the prospects of drinking lemonade pothole water and hiking long days (into the dark of night, maybe) in the coldest hiking we’ll have had yet is somewhat intimidating. But during expeditions, days only become more special and I only feel closer to everyone here. The pace of things seems to slow down, people seem to relax, and, weirdly, days seem to get faster. I remember looking back on the first expedition and thinking it felt like 5 days rather than 15, even though I was homesick basically the whole time on it. So, even though the prospects of 3rd expedition are certainly intimidating, I know it will be great. Say what you will about the lemonade pothole water, but it certainly brings a group together, that’s for sure. I, being a big reader, also get to read more books than I could imagine on the almost 8 hour drive there. I love it here, and every day it gets better. That’s the truth of HMI; hard to comprehend as it may be, and unfortunately I can only help this predicament so much; but it’s great, and I’m sad that the days are closing to an end; after this expedition, there’s only a couple weeks left.

Written by Izzy Ha

So many moments over these past two months, where do I start? HMI isn’t something I can totally explain or fully express to anybody who wasn’t there with me; from the first three days on campus, to being thrown on a 15-day expedition with strangers, to school life and the importance of blueberry bagels, and back to being on expedition again, so much has happened and everything is so different. So, enjoy my core memory bullet points…

  • After arriving at Denver International Airport on the fateful day of August 21st, and exactly prior to the moment our science teacher Izzy let us know we’d be at the airport for two extra hours due to tire issues, I texted this to my best friend: “I miss home, I know this is going to be hard and maybe I’m already dooming myself by voicing this but I don’t know if I can do this…” Fast forward about two months to Family Weekend, here is an excerpt from my poem: “Imagine 11 teenagers, in the middle of nowhere, hyper off brownie scramble, cartwheeling around and chasing each other in a field as the sun sets in the background. That is where I’ve been…..this, this is something that counts. It counted when I had late night convos with my cabin. When a vulnerable moment ended in a huddled, cuddling lump of the same 7 people I came back to every night. When Roy read us bedtime stories in a dream circle. When Conlan & I shared poetry for 2 hours. So much love and so different from home. These people hold a special spot in my heart.” You can see the change in my perception about this program in just two months. Here is a picture of Lila, Maddie, & I in Cabin 3 the night before first exped. We had only known each other for three days… 
  • “I want to cry. I woke up in a pool of water this morning in my sleeping bag. I’m so cold. I am drenched to my bones, I want to leave. My ankles hurt. I have no dry socks. I have an altitude migraine. I spent most of the night awake because the wind was so strong I had to hold the pole inside the tarp while sleeping.” That is my journal entry from the fifth day of first exped. This was most definitely “Type 2 fun,” or not fun in the moment but fun upon reflection, but at the end of the day, despite waking up horribly uncomfortable, I slowly adjusted to the reality of living outside of my comfort zone with only a 40-pound backpack. As I had the funniest conversation during dinner with my cook group: Ezra, Max, and Gemma, the fact that my socks were wet and that every part of my body was in pain didn’t seem to matter as much anymore. These people mattered much more. The sky above the gradual slope our cook spot was located on had become the most beautiful thing I’d seen in my life. The vast conformations of the clouds, purple, pink, blue, and orange in color, seemed to be unveiling the heavens. Everybody flocked from their separate cook spots to see the sky all together from this slope. Our I-Team (instructor team) agreed to let us have our nightly “Circle” ritual here.
  • Our hiking group missed a small social trail that crossed over Lily Ponds, so we traveled an extra ⅓ of a mile to go around it. Lost in a cluster of Aspen trees, everything looked the same, and we couldn’t trap the “X,” or our campsite, on our map. Penny, Eli H.B. and I were attacked by pesky little wasps in this maze of a forest. But look at how cool these trees are! Kudos to the three wasps whose stings motivated me and Ray for the photoshoots and facts about the Aspen trees. It was AWESOME.
  • Penny, Lila, Gemma, Siena, and I accidentally passed the spot where our X was marked and mistakenly hiked up part of the Mount Massive trail. We were hilariously delusional the entire time on trail.
  • 1 week after first exped and fully settled in, was life in Cabin 4! We come back to the same 7 people every night, debrief our days, try on each other’s clothes, fool around, have spa nights, and add quotes to our quote section on our white board. We also do nightly circles where we come up with a prompt and have a power object; inspired by exped life to encourage bonding, of course. Everyone is vital to our dynamics in cabin life: Lizzie reminds us to be clean and lovingly scolds us like a mother, Penny makes fires for us, contributing with her comical wittiness, Martha, Ahni, and Tabara bring the laughter (most of the time without meaning to), Ola, who is very chill, loves to tease us, and Lila is the cuddly, relatable one. Love you Cab 4.
  • The canyons of Utah were beautiful, and the weather was much better compared to first exped. Kudos to my second exped group for being so hilarious and therefore getting me through it; to Tatum and Maddie who put on daily choreographed dance routines, Roy who read us bedtime stories (taking over Maddie’s role), Penny and Lila who, as always, were loving and sarcastic all at once, India with her entertaining life stories, who was incredibly understanding and helped me with my ankle, Ram with his quiet but understanding demeanor, Jack with his ability to be absolutely, killingly funny, and Luke with his moments of goofiness and kindness all at once. Thanks guys <3
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