A Trek to Remember
Camel trekking through the Sahara Desert was an amazing and fulfilling experience. My friends and I were excited to begin this journey. We each had the choice to select a camel for the trip. After we made ourselves as comfortable as we could be on the camels, we began our journey straight to the dunes. Within 15 minutes, the view of the city was replaced with endless sights of the dunes. That was the moment I realized we were officially in the middle of “nowhere” and we had to truly rely on each other.
About an hour and a half later, we finally arrived to our designated campsite. The tour guide informed us that the tents were set up a few days prior to our arrival and special fires were set around the campsite to discourage snakes, scorpions and other animals from wandering into our tents. With no outside threats, we were all very comfortable in this new environment.
In the Sahara Desert, I had the opportunity to reflect on this adventure. With the beautiful scenery in front of me, I acknowledged my passion for traveling and experiencing something new. Although the trek tour was all planned out, it was a relieving moment as it was an adventure that was outside of the ordinary routine. For days, we have quickly traveled from city to city. It was finally a good time to relax in a different environment without the rush. Surprisingly, the middle of the desert was a great place to think thoroughly without any distractions.
The entire camel trek venture motivated me to immediately purchase a world map once I arrived back to Arizona. On this world map, I added stickers onto the cities I have either lived in or visited. When I took a step back to look at all of the stickers, I was surprised to see I have visited many countries but only primarily in America, Europe and Africa. The rest of the world was blank without a sticker. Now, I have a goal to visit as many countries as I can along with friends.
The Sustainable Development across the Mediterranean Study Abroad trip has given me the confidence to travel around the world at ease. This trip has helped me gain new skills that will be very useful when I travel. With this knowledge, I plan to visit several countries such as Thailand, Brazil, South Africa, China, and Congo. This time around when I find myself in the middle of “nowhere”, I can always think back to camel trekking through the Sahara Desert to remember the passion I have for experiencing something new. Overall, the study abroad trip exceeded all of my expectations!