It is clearly not about the destination, but about the journey and obstacles that I encountered throughout my 14 day course of backpacking and rock climbing with awesome instructors, great students from completely different places, and overall interesting and wise human beings in the High Sierra. This journey of mine contained adventure, and I am so glad that I was able to be part of this experience because the challenges that I faced made me find another person within myself. This is a discovery that Outward Bound California exposed me to, not only through its obstacles, but through its willingness to help others discover the character traits that are truly valuable. The experience is difficult to fully take in, even several weeks after the end of the course. Everything seems unreal to myself, even after sitting and looking back at all that I achieved: hiking more than 50 miles over rough, off trail terrain, summating Blackcap Peak with an awakening at 4:00 am, climbing a pass above Devil's punchbowl which was one of the scariest, yet rewarding things that I have ever done, sitting through multiple hailing storms in a lightning drill with my foamy matt drenched in rain water, spending an entire day by myself swimming in the North Fork of the King's River and plenty of other ice cold rivers. There is simply just so much that I accomplished. You may ask, "What didn't you do out there?" Well, I pretty much took every opportunity that I could so I would not spend time regretting the things that I didn't do. There were many of those times in the High Sierras. There was times where I did not want to take "a quick dip" in the lakes because it was so cold, but I still did it and at the end of the day, I found myself extremely happy for doing so. On the other hand, I am not going to lie, there wasn't a day that passed by and I didn't think about my family, nor my bed. I learned to not take anything for granted and to appreciate all that you have. On my solo expedition, I found myself in tears, just reflecting upon the hard workers that my parents are and how much of their time they devote to providing my siblings and me with the very best that they can. The most touching thing was realizing that my parents don't complain about a thing; if it's for their children they will gladly do almost anything. They're a huge inspiration to me.

Many thoughts came into mind when I was by myself and sleeping by myself. I'd say that this part of my expedition was the most valuable. I had trouble being vocal to my group because I found myself uncomfortable, but I am looking forward to working on this skill that has not yet been enhanced, but soon will be. If I had the opportunity to relive this experience, I'd take it within a blink of an eye. This journey was that great, and extremely memorable. When I found myself wanting to give up the most, that was the time where my true character evolved because I craved to find the type of person that I am: a quitter or a doer. My mind commanded my body to complete what had already been started; I couldn't just turn my back and say "I'm not doing this anymore," but rather I chose to keep going. Everything was worth the experience. I couldn't have done it without my awesome donors and the people who simply wanted the best for me. They wanted me to follow my dreams and also saw a spark within me that would ignite something greater with my life. Thank you all so much.

This summer, on July 14, 2015 I will officially obtain the opportunity to attend the program that I have been dying to become a part of: Outward Bound California. Through this program, I have been granted the chance to follow and imprint my soul upon the true passion that I personally hold towards Mother Nature. I will accumulate a total of 14 days out in the wilderness with complete strangers that I will more than gladly create powerful relationships with. Not only this, but the adventure awaits! High Sierra alpine backpacking and Rock climbing is what this program consists of. We will be hiking and exploring one of God's greatest creations, nature. But we will also be covering an exploration within oneself, and will definitely be testing the best of our capabilities. Honestly, just having the chance to be a part of such experience is what I look forward to the most. Engaging and communicating with others is another; lastly, because I will be working on the person that I currently am. I will most certainly be challenged out there and just imagining how I will deal with such things give me great curiosity but deep and genuine excitement.

This program was the best selection that I could have made. I chose it because I want to be challenged, I want to feel like I hold great potential within myself, and I want to also show those who doubt me that I could achieve anything that I put my mind into. I will most certainly expect the unexpected during this summer, all because my donors granted my wish, an opportunity, and a chance to further pursue my dreams, goals and passion! I couldn't be more thankful!