Personal Narrative-Home Outward Bound School

Never having been on my own before it was not surprising that I shook with fear when I was left alone at the Asheville Airport in North Carolina. I was in 8th grade and having said my good-byes to my family, I struggled into the airport with my luggage, completely alone. With my right hand holding my North Carolina Outward Bound School identification card and my luggage hunched over my shoulder, I made my way through the airport to find the greeting area. I was met by two boys who I befriended, Chandler and Colin. After chatting for a couple minutes I was relieved to find out that Colin was just as, perhaps more, nervous than I was. Colin was a blonde haired boy with big scruffy looking glasses that took up half his face. I would learn Colin was the stereotypical nerd who kept to himself and never spoke unless spoken to, muttering his one word, sometimes two word, answers before retreating back to himself. Chandler on the other hand was outgoing and persistent. He was knowledgeable and showed it, any

As the sun ducked under the horizon and clouds turned from a pleasant gray to a nasty coal black, we pulled our backpacks on and wobbled over to the vans. The drive lasted an hour or two before we made to the base of the Blue Ridge mountains. It would not be long before it was dark and we had to scramble to find a suitable position where we would set up our tents for the night. A light drizzle started as raindrops plopped from above, adding to the acoustics of the forest before we found a campsite and began to set up. Colin and I struggled to tie knots we had just learned under an hour ago, meanwhile Chandler, who had split away, was halfway done with his tent. Unable to withstand the remote possibility of having to sleep during a thunderstorm without a tent, Colin abandons me and joins