Laura G's super fun week

This past week was super fun! We went on the Garden Route, and it was so amazing. Not only was the scenery breathtakingly gorgeous, but all the activities were fun too! We got up bright and early at 5am to make our bus at 5:50. We actually met two really cool girls from New Jersey, too!

In the midst of our four-hour drive, I realized that I forgot my wallet. This was very bad. We paid a flat rate for the trip, but a lot of the excursions (like bungee jumping and elephant walking) were extra. I had a mini meltdown on the bus, but luckily my amazing co-educators helped me out (shout out to Alex, she was literally my bank for the weekend). I think if that experience taught me anything, it’s 1. Don’t forget your wallet EVER and 2. I need to share more, because if someone else was in that situation, I should help them.

Back to the fun stuff! After four hours, we arrived at the safari, and that was AMAZING. We got to see elephants, giraffes, springbok, zebras, and lions! My favorite was being able to see and be close to the female lions. They exude power, and they’re just really beautiful animals. After the safari, we went zip lining. It was more like a ropes course than a zip line, and it was much more of a workout than I expected. I think we were all pretty proud of ourselves at the end. Following that, we went to the beach, and we got to see the Indian Ocean for the first time. The water was the perfect temperature, and a few of us decided to jump in in our clothes because why not.

The next day was the big day. We went to the elephant sanctuary first and we got to hold their trunks while we walked with them. The next activity was bungee jumping. It was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done, but I would totally do it again. I was the last UConn person to go (there were a few non-UConners on our trip), so watching everyone go before me made me super anxious to jump. It was absolutely insane. It’s really hard to describe, so everyone should just go do it!

On the last day, we went to either the Cango Caves or the Cango Wildlife Ranch. About eight of us chose to do the caves. There are two different routes that you can choose to go on in the caves: the adventure route or the historic route. The adventure route includes the historic route, but it goes an extra 700 meters (I think) into the cave, and it involves squeezing into small tunnels and even some climbing. I don’t really do well in super tight spaces, but I decided to go with the adventure route. Once we heard the tour guide start talking about how small the tunnel entrances are, I got a little scared, but I stuck with it anyway. It was arguably the coolest thing I’ve ever done. We did have to squeeze and climb, but we all supported each other and it was so worth it in the end. A great workout too!

So that was essentially our weekend. I’m still not completely thrilled by my internship, but Vernon and I have talked about it, and I feel confident in the future. Hopefully, we’ll go hiking this weekend. I’m sure we’ll find something fun to do.