Saturday, June 30, 2007

Made it.



Hey, this is Joe, I'm one of the youth participants from Vermont involved in the Exposures program. After a long a crazy travel day we finally arrived at the Oglala Lakota College where we will be residing in the dorm shown in the photo above. Arriving at around 3am mountain time people sorted themselves into their rooms and got a much needed sleep. Around mid morning today everyone gathered around and shared names and discussed what was ahead for us in the next two weeks. After a few hours people started getting comfortable with each other and got into the groove of things. Today for activities we drove through some great scenery consisting of plains as far as the eye can see and I'm glad everyone brought their cameras. I myself have never seen anything like it so I couldn't turn my head away from the car window. Eventually we arrived at the scene of a Lakota sun dance in the making. Our purpose there was to assist them in the construction and to learn all about it. Unfortunately they never arrived but during the wait John took the time to give a explanation on how everything worked and we discussed our opinions on it. We all were really hot and decided to swing by a swimming hole on the way back, we enjoyed talking with and photographing the people who were also swimming there. It was nearing dinner time and it was a good time to head back to the dorm where we prepared dinner and just relaxed. Well that concludes day one of many to come on our adventure here in South Dakota.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Joe

I enjoyed the description of your experience so far. It definitely was a long trip for all of you traveling half way across the country and taking so long.... crazy don't you think?

The scenery that you described of the " great scenery of the plains as far as the eye can see" is quite unique. Wait until you see the Badlands, especially at sunset... it truly is a magnificent experience.

I hope you enjoy your time out there.

Regards

Pauline