When I began Earth Lodge, I didn’t expect to love the class as much as I do. I was super excited about the camping, hiking, outdoors aspect of this Living Learning community, so that somewhat overshadowed the whole academic side. I assumed that I would enjoy the class, but I didn’t realize that it not only helps our Earth Lodge community to grow even stronger, but I’ve also learned so much about the James river and my hometown. Because we are learning about the city near where I grew up, this class has a very personal aspect for me as well. I feel that I’ve grown not only as a member of Earth Lodge, but also as a Richmonder (Proud to be a Richmonder). Every class, I learn something new about a place that I thought I knew so well. Over my past year and a half on campus, I never knew about the Gambles Mill Trail, how close the campus was to the river, or the beautiful creek that existed behind the Commons. Also, over my past fifteen years in Richmond, I had only been to the river a handful of times and didn’t know anything about the city other that the history, the art, science, and children’s museums, and that Maymont and Carytown were a popular places to go on a warm Saturday.
This semester so far has been so full of great experiences and being in Earth Lodge simply amplifies them. For example, now that I have finally declared my International Studies major, I feel as though all my classes are interconnected, even with the Geography of the James River Watershed. I’m taking one class as a prerequisite for my major called Human Geography which discusses demography and how humans relate to their environments. TLB was a guest speaker for this class and talked about perspectives of wilderness and how that can affect how people treat that wilderness (Wilderness). Although I couldn’t really identify specifically with one of the viewpoints that were discussed, I remember having the adventurous feeling of the frontiersman and the awestruck feeling of the romantic during our fall break trip when we were surrounded by nature. However I also am a firm believer in the fact that an element of wilderness is present in every living thing, and therefore agree with the “homebody” view. Seeing the beauty of the water in the creek leading to Westhampton lake, even with the styrofoam cup floating in it and other traces of human life surrounding it, showed me that nature is everywhere (Westhampton Ecosystem). Although the lake is manmade, in that it was dug by humans, the water flowing through it, the sediment at the bottom, and the ducks swimming in it were not made by people. There is still wilderness even in the middle of our very paved and constructed campus.
Since becoming a part of Earth Lodge, my view of nature has been drastically changed. I had always had a love of nature. When I was little, I loved exploring the woods surrounding my home, discovering animals in my backyard, and hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains with my family. However, I had not had many of these experiences of getting lost in nature since elementary school and my memory was foggy. Going on trips with Earth Lodge has sparked my love of the outdoors again and showed me again how wonderful it is to appreciate nature for what it is. The tubing trip on the James allowed me to take in my surroundings at a leisurely pace and see how beautiful the river was and how gentle it could be. I remember spotting some kind of huge bird flying over, feeling the thrill of how inherently wild and uncontrollable the river was as it took me over rocks, and seeing the dazzling colors of the dragonflies. The feeling I got when I made those observations was very similar to the one I felt when I stood at the top of Linville Gorge, marvelled over the transparency of the water in the swimming hole at one of our campsites, and hiked through a sea of green, moss-covered trees near the top of Mount Mitchell. The fact that I can’t even fully describe what I was feeling at that moment makes me realize how amazing wilderness is.
Even on campus, sitting in my reflection spot in the gazebo, I get these same feelings (The Gazebo). I love the concept of a reflection spot because I like to reflect on my life a lot, and sometimes it can get overwhelming. When I have a place I can go to specifically to do that, it helps my reflection to be more thorough and fills me with a sense of calm, as I look at the beauty of the lake and the trees. I have had some of those awesome moments that I had at the top of mountains in that gazebo as well, when I saw my first shooting star, watched the sunset, and listened to nature with my fellow Lodgers. During that discussion of the wilderness surrounding us, I felt so connected with the people that live in my hall. Community is another huge part of living in Earth Lodge and since the class has started, I feel like we have connected so much more. We have explored nature together and learned together, and we are all getting excited about the James together. The relationships I’ve built and am continuing to build within Earth Lodge have been so special to me, and I love that we all have that similar excitement about nature. Especially during the interviews for next year’s Earth Lodge, and talking to the interviewees about what Earth Lodge is and aspects of the program that we enjoy, I realized how close we all have become over the past semester and the beginning of this one. I’m so thankful to be a part of this living learning community, and I can’t wait for whatever this semester has in store.