I was nervous. Mostly because I had been told that this would be a life-changing experience, but what if it wasn't?
Hi! I'm Elizabeth Mountz, and this past Summer I had the opportunity to go on a backpacking trip in Shenandoah with amazing people from all around the world. Alcoa and NatureBridge both helped prepare me for the trip - through informational emails, a meet-and-greet at Alcoa's headquarters in Pittsburgh, and finally through gear checks and introductory activities in Virginia. I had heard that the trip would be life-changing, but nothing prepared me for how incredible the entire experience was. I met some people who I will never forget, and I can't thank Alcoa and NatureBridge enough for it.
I met the Alcoa scholars from Pittsburgh on the one hour flight down to Shenandoah, and was quickly introduced to everyone else through Culture Shares. Each person on the trip shared an interesting aspect of their life from their home country. I learned some Hungarian dance moves, how to make Australian fairy bread with hundreds and thousands, and how big the bugs in Peru are. I loved meeting everyone in the group and talking with them about their cultures and languages.
On the second day, all 16 scholars were separated into 2 groups of 8 scholars to make up a hiking group. My hiking group was made up of Tamas from Hungary, Inés and Nico from Spain, Lára from Iceland, Liam and Naomi from Australia, Ryleigh and I from Pittsburgh, and our instructors Dani and Christina. From the second day on out, we worked with our hiking groups to make sure that all of our gear was packed and ready, and to make sure that all of the weight was shared equitably.
I was surprised to see that each of our homemade flags, which we had made on the first day to reflect ourselves, were on the packing list. Dani and Christina explained that we would hang them up each day at our campsite to make it feel more like home, and we would write a few words on them each night to summarize the day. At first it felt cheesy, but now my flag has become my favorite dorm accessory. :)