Hiking, biking and celebrating, students take advantage of summer months
Constant projects, homework and duties of part-time jobs may be the life of students for nine months of the year, but the golden months of summer are a time for many students to do as they please.
Though internships and other money-making duties may fill the time of some Aggies and Aggie alumni, others are take a few moments away from the “real world” for the rush of crazy and exciting adventures.
There are quite a few Aggies who have chosen the summer of 2015 to keep busy, ascend high peaks and celebrate some of the milestones of life.
Biking for peace
Emily James, who works in the Office of Research and Graduate Studies at USU, has always loved biking and wanted to do a cross-country, self-supported ride for some time. Her biggest motivation was the death of a friend who had always wanted to do a similar trek for peace.
James fundraises with her friend’s parents for an organization called On Earth Peach, through which she bikes the TransAmerica route during this summer, she told the Statesman via email while on the biking path.
“I’ve found two challenges: getting up day after day and riding on a sore body and loneliness. The answer to overcoming both has been partnering up with other riders also riding the Bicycle 76 Route,” James said.
James, along with other riders, uses routes established and laid out by the Adventure Cycling Association — there are maps, as well as services and lodging listed in the towns along each route, she said.
Currently, James is averaging about 60 miles a day — faster than she previously planned. But adjustments can be made as she matches pace with other riders along the way.
“It’s really encouraging to see the kindness and hear the stories of other riders and to receive the immense hospitality of people and communities along the route,” James said. “I’ve been hosted four times in stranger’s homes, three times by churches and spent several nights in campgrounds. If your faith in the goodness of the world needs restoration, go ride your bike across the country.”
James began her biking trip in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania and is just finishing her third week, passing through Kentucky.
Anybody interested in following along on her journey can find information at 3kmpEP.com.
The third highest peak in the world
Sometimes trips and travel are much-needed breaks for students who don’t ever have time to breathe. And then there are those celebratory, earned-it kind of trips, because some places and opportunities are too great to pass up.
For Tyson Godfrey, Jo Olsen, Matt Ditto and Cade Robinson, all USU alumni, hiking the Himalayas was something they had always wanted to do — recently an opportunity arose, and the group headed to Nepal for a few weeks.
Three weeks before their long-planned excursion, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook the capital of Kathmandu, also affecting the base camps of Mount Everest — the very place the four Aggies were headed.
Despite set-backs, the four managed to change their travel plans and head to Dubai mid-May — their first stop before ending up in India, where they hiked the other side of the Himalayas, eventually getting a clear view of the third-highest peak in the world.
“I would say my favorite part of the trip was actually summiting Goechala. Seeing the snow-capped peaks without a cloud in the sky made all of the bug bites, muddy trails, sleepless nights and bland food worth it,” said Olsen, a recruitment specialist with the USU Admissions Office, in an email to Statesman staff.
The best part of the trip, Godfrey said, were the people they met along the way, “especially the guys who took (them) on the trek” to help guide and cook.
However, not all adventures take place thousands of miles away.
Bachelor party of a lifetime
While many students are choosing outdoor adventures and travails during the summer months, Keith Ariaz decided that his friend’s bachelor party — planned by himself, the best man — would be the highlight of his summer.
“I spent about an entire year planning it out, doing research online about ways to throw a bachelor party … I probably researched more than the average best man to have a really fun, yet appropriate, party,” said Ariaz, a current student who hopes to major in journalism at USU.
The wedding was in California, so the group headed there together to celebrate and spend one last time together before the groom’s married life began.
Starting the Thursday night before the wedding, and going through the next Friday wearing matching t-shirts, Ariaz, Zak Fica (the groom) and four other friends went to Universal Studios to enjoy rides, indoor skydiving and a mechanical bull contest. Additionally, they ran into a bachelorette party at a dueling piano bar, which was not planned.
“What also made it fun was Zak had no idea what I had planned for the day,” Ariaz said. “We kept it secret and blindfolded him every time we went somewhere new so that made it pretty fun, to keep him guessing what would happen next.”
Ariaz sees the summer as time for students to relax between semesters. Getting a part time job means they’ll have some time to do what they like, but also be productive, he said.
“Also go on a small vacation with your friends. It doesn’t have to be huge. It can be Idaho if you want. Just go somewhere and have fun with it and I guarantee it’ll be a summer highlight,” Ariaz said.
—mandy.m.morgan@aggiemail.usu.edu