Harris

So this base phase not much has happened yet. But I have taken a 

small interest in piano. I was hoping to get a full length Yamaha

 keyboard at some point. Later this week we are going to the Drum

 circle.  I think that it is going to be a lot of fun. We also are going to

 this place called COOKOUT. It is an awesome restaurant. You can 

only eat out side because the place is only the kitchen. I love that 

place we went there over the last X. It was delicious. When I got

 there I ordered 5 things of chicken nuggets. They were only .99 

cents apiece so in the end I got about 25 chicken nuggets and a milk 

shake. Dang they were good. Then we went to the drum circle. 

Sophie met this guy from her childhood and we saw the creepiest guy

 ever. He had this really weird moustache and an extremely weird

plaid shirt. He would just stare at you. It was so weird. I hope that 

he is not there this time around. It kinda was a buzz kill to have that 

creepy of a guy following your group around. When we go this 

week, I am going to bring a free hugs sign. It is going to be 

hilarious. I wonder who will hug me. I got this idea from Andrew 

who made one last week. I can’t wait to see my parents in just two 

weeks.

What about me this semester suprised me and why By: Ivan Allen

Blog #7

By: Ivan Allen

                There have been many things that surprised me about myself this semester. First off I have surprised myself with my frustration management coming into this semester compared to where it is now.  For example when I came here I use to blow up on a kid named will all the time while now I rarely ever blow up upon anyone.

I also surprised myself with how much my tone changed unwillingly and what it is now compared to when I first came here. I would sometimes unknowingly raise and lower my tone while in a conversation with someone while now my tone is more of my choosing not what it used to be

I’ve also surprised myself with how much my patience in general has improved. While my patience would last me a couple days at the start of the semester it is small compared to the weeks I can last before I blow up.

 I have surprised myself in how much I have improved in all aspects of socialization this semester. Another thing is what I do when I’m not giving something my full attention like a couple mistakes in my journals. For example I wasn’t paying attention to what I was writing in my journals and I wrote stuff that was completely wrong and messed up about one of my partners here at S.O.A.R and made our friendship fall apart.

Another thing surprising to me is how much I am attached to things like books and bottling up my emotions until I explode at someone for even the smallest thing like who is sitting where. For example if I don’t read a book for 15 minutes every couple hours my patience starts to become a lot more questionable than before.

 Another thing that’s surprised me about myself is how much I jump into conversations that don’t even involve me and I sometimes don’t even know what I’m talking about. An example of this is when I find a conversation that I feel like adding my two cents and I think of what I would typically say it goes out of my mouth instead of staying in my mind

Finally the last big thing that surprised me about myself this semester would be the realization of how much I’ve still got to learn to even consider becoming a performing adult in life. For example I was doing well in all forms of things you need to do to succeed and I completely spaced and found out that I left a lot of the stuff I needed to make dinner was left back at base which I have never done before since my usual issues usually are in places like social awareness and food making/organization has been one of my strengths for years now.

Will Calland's Last Expedition!!!!!!!!

On this expedition we went caving, fishing, paddling 74 miles down the Suwannee River, dancing with girls at drum circles in Asheville, and shooting water guns at each other.

This was a really cool expedition. At first, I thought that I wasn’t going to be really fun. But it turned out to be one of the best. I didn’t know what kind of fish were in the river and I was insanely amazed and shocked when there were many red sturgeons that were at most 8 feet long that we saw. We didn’t catch any but it was still amazing to watch. 

Our first campsite was a river camp. I really enjoyed staying there because I never would have thought that we would have the luxury to have our own screened in porch with a fan and lights in it. I was able to discover by accident the creature know as an ant lion. They eat by making a small pit in the sand, and then wait for a passing bug. When something manages to fall into it, it is very hard for it to crawl back out because the sand is vey unstable and the ant lion feels it struggling. The ant lion then sticks its jaws out and kicks showers of sand out to make the creature slip into the bottom of the pit, straight into the jaws of the waiting ant lion. We all spent quite a lot of time seeing how big of a bug one of these little demons could drag under.

                                                 These are the pits of Ant Lions

                                                  This is an Ant Lion eating an ant

                                                       this is the full view of an Ant Lion

Anyway, we had a lot of paddling and we all got very tired by the end of it. I was so sore that I felt that if I were to even touch another paddle that my arms would instantaneously fall right off! We did however experience some outdoors when we camped at the primitive campsites. We all slept on a ground tarp and had absolutely no cover from rain, animals, ticks, ants or anything else that we DIDN’T want to have around us. But, even after all of our many attempts, just about everyone except me got a tick or two and a lot of ant bites.

                                This is a Red Sturgeon

When we finally left the river I was actually kind of starting to like the place and it was at that time that we had it swept away from us. We came back to base very late and got to sleep in until 9:00 AM and I was very happy to hear this.

We went caving in Worley’s cave. I have never been caving in Worley’s. In fact, I have never been caving at all. It was pitch black in there and I was glad that I had a headlamp with me that didn’t shut down. We had to climb up a wall called Devils Staircase and I was freaking out the entire time because I thought I was going to fall straight of the edge of the edge every time had to climb straight up on the wall. There was also a very thin bridge of slippery mud that we had to crawl across. The only problem that I had with it was that there were two giant hole on either side of the bridge. The hole on the left was 200 feet deep while the one on the right was 50 feet deep. They said “ you’ll be fine as long as you don’t fall.” So much for subtlety! There were little mice every where and when we were sleeping they would be squeaking and rustling around on the cave floor. We went in the river that flowed in the bottom of the cave and it was freezing my shoes are still soaking!

 I absolutely loved this expedition and I will go back as soon as possible to have a little more time to see the beauty of the cave.

LAST BLOG james bisland

James Bisland

4/23/12

Blog Base Phase 5

Something that I have experienced this semester is all of the awesome expeditions I have been on. I’ve had a lot of fun on them and so now that I have been through all my expeditions I can share all of my experiences. My favorite expedition was the student led.

In the Everglades, I saw the really nice white sandy beaches and got to spend my birthday out there. Next, we went to the Florida Keys. I got my scuba open water certification. This was a lot of fun because I always wanted to be able to scuba dive because it’s really cool and a completely different experience. Also I really enjoy being under water.

Next, we went to Costa Rica. I had a great time there with Logan being able to leave the country and go to paradise. Then we went to the OBX. We had some good times and some bad times but mostly good. I really liked when we went surfing because we had huge waves and caught a few but just being out there was the best part.

Now we went to our student led expedition. This expedition was one of the group’s best expeditions. We all put in a good effort and made this expedition a lot of fun and we were all positive. The best thing about this ex though is how we completely changed and everyone trusted everyone. We started out on the Suwanee River. When we started off we were all angry at each other and didn’t want it to be like that. After a while we finally realized that fighting would get us nowhere. So we all started working together and ended up doing really well.

We then went to Whirly’s Cave; we had a lot of fun. There was nothing that went wrong and we all had a lot of fun. The staff pretty much stayed back and the people that lead the tour were Alex R. Harris D. and I. We had a really safe trip also everyone enjoyed it and we got through very fast.

alex R last blog

4/23/12

This expedition was really fun. We went to the Suwannee River and Worleys Cave. We paddled 76 miles on the Suwannee river in 6 days. The best thing about the Suwannee river was the screened in porches that they have so no bugs that can bite you when your sleeping.

Also when we were padding we saw some huge Sturgeons jump out of the water. One actually jumped 10-15 feet away from Sophie and almost killed her. There were also some big alligators we saw and maybe even paddled over. 

Next we went caving in Worleys cave. I got to lead the cave trip which was very fun and gave me a chance to step up to a big leadership role. I led the group through Railroad and Boy scout loop. Some of us also got to go swimming in the cave river which was kind of cold. This trip was a very fun trip and I hope to go back soon with someone I know.

Alex s' blog

Alex Solomon                                                             4/20/12

I learn a ton of stuff at SOAR. I think that the most prominent thing that I learned this week was that I always can do whatever I feel is right.

That realization is rewarding in many ways. The main way that it is rewarding, is how I am able to tell the staff if something is up. When doing this I always win in both ways. What I mean by that is that I gain the respect of staff and students because; I work with both of them.

Another way that my realization is important is because I will always be capable of governing my own self. If I let other people control me, I will never be able to truly be me.

The last way that I know that my realization is important, is because it allows me to bring people out of the dark on major issues. These ways I can save people a myriad of problems and confusion. It truly sucks to have absolutely no idea what is going on when your job all around is at risk because you may miss something major that your students are getting into.

Way down on Suwanee River

In this blog, I will be saying what experiences I will share with my friends and family at home, basically summarizing the trip. In this expedition, we went to the Suwanee River in Florida and Worley's cave in Tennessee.

In the Suwanee River, we went 76 miles in 6 days. That was the biggest and most exhausting trip I've ever been on. The whole trip was basically canoeing, having dinner and going to bed. We did some school while we were on the river camps. We typically did school before we went canoeing though. The last night, we went armadillo hunting with my field staff Judson. It was the funniest thing watching Judson running after them. Also, James had one come up to his feet and James kicked him in the face and the armadillo managed to bite his foot some. The armadillo just jumped back 3 feet and ran away.

After that we went to Worley’s cave and get a lot of exploring. We also slept overnight in the cave. The next morning in the cave, we did a typical SOAR tradition of having muffins in the cave. It was very delicious. In the cave, we hiked through a lot of boulders, under boulders, and in the creek that this in Worley’s cave. This was one of my favorite expeditions ever at SOAR.

This was my final trip of the semester and possibly ever at SOAR. This was one of the best expeditions I've ever had at SOAR. I can't wait to share these experiences with my friends and family and I also can't wait to see my family in 2 weeks.

Blog prompt # 5 on team work by ivan allen

Blog prompt # 5 on team work

By: Ivan Allen

I think this team can do very well. It’s just even though we use Logan’s strategy of ignoring the little stuff there are still a lot of petty stuff going on  other than our own issues (which we don’t always have time to take care of) things like depression wears on us. Which the weariness of it goes to the point where we break down every once and a while and need to be redirected.

On the good side of things when we aren’t bickering with each other we get lot of things done within short amounts of time. That of which leads to our team being in an overall better mood which even makes things even more great and time manageable.

Will Calland's Outer Banks Expedition

On this expedition we went fishing, surfing, jumping off of giant sand dunes, sightseeing, kite flying, shopping, ice cream eating, and sand flea hunting on the beaches. This was by far one of the best expeditions that I have ever been on in my entire time of being here for the last two semesters.

Our car ride was very surprisingly short. It was at the most 8 hours long and I got some good resting time on the ride there and back. Towards the end of the ride as well as the day, we had gotten a little bit lost and when we looked at the directions we saw that we had passed the County Line campground. So we had to turn around. We were in a little back road and we saw a house that had a drive way that we could turn around in and we were trying to do it as quickly and as quietly as we could. But suddenly, the lights came on inside the house and a man came outside. At first we thought that we saw a gun in his hand, later to be told that Judson was kidding and the man had just had a flashlight.

 When we got to our campsite it was really damp but there seemed to be no signs of mosquitoes but then after a minute or so we started to get uninvited guests that decided to make themselves at home on our arm, legs, and faces. It was a good thing we got that Yard Guard from the store because the mosquitoes there were huge!

We left the next day because we could not tolerate the bugs there. We next went to the Rodanthe water sports campground, which we stayed at for the rest of our time there until we headed back home. The sunsets were beautiful there. Here is one of them that I took a picture of.                                                                             

The mosquitoes weren’t nearly as bad as before and that night I slept like a baby.

Next morning we went to jockeys ridge in Kitty Hawk and we spent our time there making fools of ourselves jumping off the edge of the dunes.

When we got back to our campsite, Judson took us all fishing in the surf. Nolan was the only person who caught anything and it was a 2 foot long skate, which is a member of the shark family.                    

That night there was a nor eastern storm and it was very very windy outside. It was so windy that the other tent flipped over and Sophie had to help the kids pin it back down in the ground.

The next day we went to jockeys ridge and flew Sophie’s kites on our fishing rods. We were even able to get her penguin pup there as well. Harris tried to get his GoPro camera on the kite and it worked a little bit but the kite struggled with the weight of it.

 Two days later we left the outer banks. I was very unhappy that we had to leave and I will never forget the fun times that our group had there. I hope every one back home is having a good time and I hope you enjoyed my blog, PEACE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OBX trip james bisland

Blog

James Bisland

4/3/12

My SOAR experience so far has been quite interesting. Being my first semester, I have learned a lot of really awesome things. I have had a really good time so far and I have been a great leader to this team.

One thing I’ve done well this semester is probably my motivation skills towards my fellow peers and even my base and field staff. Another good thing is my activeness towards this group in workout and pushing us through our work so we can have fun. Usually I motivate my team in the right way but I have made some slip-ups. I have gotten people to side with me on the wrong things, but I am improving drastically.

One thing I haven’t done so well with would be following a strategy that Logan made in Costa Rica about a few people and it has been really hard to follow but I am pushing myself to follow that and by the end I will be using the strategy easily. The strategy that we are working on is to ignore the bad/ negative behavior from some group members and include them when they are being positive, so they will feel wanted in the group.

When I leave SOAR, I will have learned a lot about my life and also a lot of good life lessons that I have learned over the 4 months I have been here. I am excited to go home and use these life skills and show my friends and family how much I have changed here at SOAR and tell them to go.

Alex's Blog

Alex Solomon                                                 BLOG                                                                    4/2/12

I have learned so much on this expedition. The first thing that I learned this expedition, that has helped me become a better person is, something that will really benefit me in the future. It is my ability to take a horrible, situation and turn it into a learning experience. For example, when I received a consequence of loss of privilege, I did not get the consequence again because I found out what I shouldn’t of done and I fixed it. I think that this branches out to cover many a thing, since what I learned promotes continual learning.

The second thing I learned on this expedition was the ability to cope with supreme annoyance. I am able to take a very annoying thing or person, and just embrace as well as forget it.

This has been my blog this week

alex r obx

 4/3/12

This trip to the Outer Banks was fun. We had to drive nine hours to the Banks. Once we got there we were getting attacked by bugs (thank you Thor). The place we first camped at was right next to an alligator refuge. We stayed at that place for 2 days.

Some activities we did when we were in the Outer Banks were bird watching, surfing, fishing, swimming and sand dunes. When we went surfing there were 4-5 foot waves. We also went fishing a lot and Nolan was the only one to catch a  fish. Well actually he caught a Skate I didn’t catch any but I still had a ton of fun.. A Skate is a shark but it looks like a sting ray. 

My favorite part was the HISTORY of the Outer Banks. The visitor centers we went to were very interesting and very interactive. I forget what visitor center it was but they had a jester costume and it was pretty sick. I think I might get one when I get home and troll people in Mall of America. I also found a lot of shark teeth in OBX. Jockeys Ridge is a huge sand dune and it was really cool. I jumped of the sand dunes like 1 million times and I tried to do killers up the sand dunes and it was super hard. 

I think this trip was the best trip for learning the history I have been on. I hope to go back someday in my life.