在拱门国家公园.

我23岁的朋友霍普·纳尔逊赢得了 Haseltine奖 去年，我找她帮忙. 我是 出国留学 在匈牙利我去年的秋季学期, 我记得我坐在咖啡馆里，琢磨着我要做什么. Basically, my project was to do a month-long road trip of the American West by myself. My grandparents live in Arizona, so as a kid, I would go visit them and I always loved it. 我想探索更多的领域. 我爸爸的家庭来自怀俄明州的一个小镇, 所以我想在那里探索一下我的家族史, 同时，我也要走出去，有我自己的冒险. 我的旅行就像杰克·凯鲁亚克的旅行 在路上，但搭便车的机会要少得多.

I spent three weeks at home at the beginning of the summer, then I went to the Coe College 荒野野外站 在明尼苏达州的伊利，并在大自然中. 在那之后, 我在德卢斯和我的叔叔婶婶呆了几天, 然后我开始了我的公路旅行.

我的冒险

我去了南达科他州和荒地，那里太棒了. 然后我去了怀俄明州——谢里丹是我的家乡. 我爷爷的表妹苏还住在那里, and together we went on a family history research project at the Sheridan Library. My great-grandfather Don Diers was a photographer who was well-known in Sheridan. He did a lot of portraits and landscapes; he was sort of the town photographer.

我们去了图书馆，问他们有没有唐·迪尔斯的资料, 他们有五个巨大的文件夹，里面装满了他拍的照片. 其中一些我认出来了，因为我们把它们挂在家里. 真是难以置信. 我们没有意识到的是，他的父亲也是一名摄影师, 所以在他们两个之间, they basically had photographed the entire history of Sheridan and my family from the late-1800s until when my grandpa was dating my grandma. 看完这些东西真是难以置信.

He had also taken portraits of all the winners of the Miss Indigenous Pageant in Sheridan. 其中一位获奖者是莎拉·路德·约翰逊, 谁赢得了1967年的选美比赛并且在做选美比赛的研究. 我得跟她握手. 这是命运，命运和天命的结合. 唐和一些土著妇女在华盛顿特区获得了一个奖项.C.我们看到了他获得的奖章.

和苏在一起真是太棒了, who I didn’t meet before this but welcomed me into her home and told me wonderful stories. 她给我讲了她奶奶的故事, 艾拉球, 我的名字, 她穿得多么得体得体. She was six feet tall and had married twice and worked in the lingerie department at a department store, 在那个时候，哪些都是疯狂的事情. She was liked so much there that a favorite customer brought her a chicken one day, 她只是很礼貌地说, “谢谢你 so 这只鸡多了.”

和我爷爷的表妹苏去野餐.

这只是旅程的第一部分! 我去了犹他州和拱门国家公园——不过那里太热了. It was 106 degrees every day, so I had to wake up at six every morning to go hiking. 然后我去了科罗拉多西部和新墨西哥州的陶斯. 我祖父曾到西南部旅游, 所以他对建筑和文化有很多了解. We had a portrait of the famous San Francisco de Assisi Mission Church in our house and we got to see it in person. 我现在觉得和爷爷奶奶更亲近了.

I went 备份 into Colorado and my mom was able to come out for a couple of days — it was really awesome to spend time with her. 然后我们到了爱达荷斯普林斯, 有一座山，你可以开车爬上去- 14,000英尺——山顶上有山羊, 这太酷了.

然后我们去了内布拉斯加州，因为那是我们家的发源地. 他们在内布拉斯加州一个叫苏厄德的小镇上开了一系列杂货店. 我们在城外扎营，来到这家杂货店所在的街角. 我们有一张我三次曾祖父埃尔文和他妻子的照片, 当他们刚结婚的时候, 在后台, 你可以看到戴尔兄弟的遮阳篷. 百货商店.

Then my mom left and I went to Iowa and then back to Beloit, where 我是 an orientation leader (OL). 我是 glad to be back here two weeks early so that I could adjust back to civilization.

独立性和物流

有时候确实有点孤独. 我在副驾驶座位上放了一堆毛绒玩具，我可以和它们说话. 我在怀俄明州有亲戚，我和他们一起住过一段时间, and my grandparents have a friend in Colorado Springs who I spent a couple of nights with, 我以前从未见过的人. 和她谈论我的家庭真是太棒了. 然后我妈妈来了. (在这两者之间)有一点孤独. It was mostly in the moments where something really cool or beautiful was happening and there was no one to turn to that I could say, “嘿, 这不是很棒吗??” I think it was really cool to sit with myself and be able to experience those things on my own and have all of the emotions of the moment.

我的自驾游同伴.

Being abroad in Hungary taught me how to travel and exist in different spaces and frequently changing environments. I think it was helpful to learn how to travel independently, having the confidence to do that. Being at the 荒野野外站 helped because it’s first-come-first-serve campsites, 我还得想好每晚睡在哪里. 你必须划独木舟. 你必须有一个应急计划. It used the Campgrounds of America because they’re everywhere and are easy to find. 我总能找到好地方.

独自旅行确实需要很大的信心. That was something that people kept asking me and my mom about: “She’s doing this 靠自己的?“独自一人, 无论是在陶斯, 新墨西哥, 布拉格或伯洛伊特, 你必须保持头脑清醒. A lot of people emphasized safety to me, which is important, and I made sure to take precautions. 我确实学到了一点旅行技巧.

我开的是一辆普锐斯，它是一款混合动力车，所以我的油耗非常高，非常棒! 它的存储量惊人. 在西部的很多营地, 尤其是在犹他州, 他们有方形的托盘，你可以把帐篷放在上面, 但基本上都是泥土和砾石. 你根本不能把帐篷放下来，而且风很大. 我有一个行李袋, 我不得不把它放在我的帐篷里, 我有我整个帐篷被炸飞的照片, 你可以看到我的行李袋的轮廓因为风太大了! I ended up sleeping in my car a couple of nights when it was too windy and dusty. 我设法把所有的东西都塞进去了. 我的车很好，只是布满了虫子.

一路上的惊喜

The only thing I had really planned before starting was my general route and the timeline, so I kind of knew how long to be in places in order to be in Beloit on my move-in day for orientation. I’d only booked campsites at the Badlands and the Arches because I knew those would be busy in the height of tourist season. 我有一些地点和活动，我觉得, “那太酷了, 我应该点击它,“但有些最酷的东西是我没想到的.

在犹他州, 我真的不知道我的路线, 因为天气太热了, 我不想去犹他州中部. 羚羊岛是大盐湖中部的一个岛屿, 这里有一个很棒的, 漫漫长路在中间, 直接去岛上. 当我开车时, 一个牌子上写着露营的事, 我问别人有没有露营地. I ended up camping in the middle of the Great Salt Lake in the middle of this beautiful island and there was this incredible sunset. 岛上的每个地方, 标语上写着, “警告:如果你看到野牛，不要靠近,我开车去看看能不能找到他们.

长途跋涉后的日落.

It was just before sunset and I turned around the corner and there was a herd of a hundred bison in this field. I just sat and watched the bison move across the plains in the middle of the Great Salt Lake in the middle of this island, 这真是太不可思议了. 你可以听到它们低沉的声音. 那里有小野牛，整个牛群都在移动，吃草. It was an incredibly unexpected moment that was so beautiful and something I could never have imagined that I would experience.

期待

The premise of the project was to have this experience and be able to tell some kind of story from it, 我在 下面和超越 会议. 我的家庭故事比我所期望的要多. 我还了解到我喜欢露营, and that there are a lot of different opportunities to be outside and traveling and in nature and doing things related to that that I could do with my life. 它激励我进入一个新的方向.

I’ve never known what I wanted to do — coming into college, I didn’t know what my major would be. 我有点陷入 媒体研究, 我很喜欢, 我想我可能会在新闻或广播方面做点什么, 我一直喜欢亲近大自然. I grew up in New Hampshire, and there are a lot of hiking and outdoor activities out there. 但我从没想过我能在没有 生物学 学位——这是我以前认为我能把它结合起来的唯一方法. 现在我有更多的选择. 我发现了我很喜欢的东西, whether I translate that into a career or just make it a bigger part of my life.

我与人共同主持了一个电台节目 WBCR 星期一晚上10点到12点.m. 我在 全球体验办公室. 我是学生报纸的主编之一 圆桌, 和我最好的朋友之一Ezekiel Kingsbury在一起，所以我很兴奋. 这是我以前从未经历过的领导能力. I’m lucky that I’m able to do that with one of my best friends and that we work together well.

We have a clean slate to become the community we want to become and foster a cool and encouraging and friendly environment. 我们会继续把消息传出去. Even if 40 people — the number that came for the interest meeting — don’t come every week, 还是有40个人来听了 圆桌 然后读一下. 我也在做一个特别的项目做一个 圆桌 新闻 广播 at 名人, pulling out some articles and having fun and engaging with another side of campus and the Beloit community. 我很兴奋能建造 圆桌 备份.