A head-and-shoulders illustration of Victor. He is smiling and has medium-toned skin, dark brown hair down to the nape of his neck, and an orange shirt.

i went camping again by Victor D. '27

putz camping 2

Last weekend, I went camping with my living group (Putz in East Campus) in Myles Standish State Forest, Southern Massachusetts. We went camping in early October last year, which was far too cold, overcast, and rainy. Moving our trip was definitely the right decision; warm enough even to take a swim in the pond!

a meadow with trees sparsely distributed
would you consider this a meadow? when they told us we were going to a meadow this isn't what i imagined...
a lake with algae and a tree reaching over it
a lake of algae with a forest in the background
a pond with a forest in the background
this is where we went swimming. i mean i didn't because i don't like the feeling of being wet outside of the water lol

Unfortunately, the area we went to didn’t have much elevation compared to last year when we submitted Monte Monadnock in New Hampshire. But our walk around the pond was nice. My friend and I were reminded of our walk around Walden Pond we did last semester, so we picked up our conversation on panpsychism from back then.

For what it’s worth, you may appreciate having talked about the transcendentalists in your high school English classes because I just can’t stop thinking about them whenever I’m near a small body of water anywhere in New England.

It’s always nice to get away from MIT and to have a day or two to be free of problem sets and “the grind”. Though come backing is always a struggle, and I’ve just barely caught up with my classes even though it’s been a week since camping.

I think I’ll miss these activities with my living group. This is my last time I’ll go on this camping trips with them, and I’ll miss the conversations that come up when we immerse ourselves in the forest.