This past weekend ...

Lizzy here from NY. South Dakota has been very amazing for me in many different ways. So far I've made a lot of new friends and have experienced and witnessed so many new things. I want to write them all down but i cant! The first week I was iffy about the whole trip even though their were some good times but I think with every trip your not going to have fun 100%, I think that's impossible. Anyway, I'm here and I'm happy about. I wouldn't of been able to experience a lot of the things that have changed my life and made me look at life in new ways. This past weekend we all headed out to the Badlands which was the most beautiful thing I've witnessed in a very long time, the sunsets there are just magnificent and so colorful! We all, and saying that I mean the group that has come from Vermont New York, Arizona and from here right in Aouth Dakota have gotten very close and that has made the trip much better. When we finished with the Badlands we went to the Black Hills where we camped and saw Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monument, both were really exciting, especially Mount Rushmore because I've wanted to see that ever since I was a little kid, but never knew where it was and if I ever would get to actually go. The superintendent of the park, a Native American named Gerard Baker took some time to speak to our group as well. I also have never been camping, it was such a great time with everyone fixing everyone's tents and spending time in the clean rain and jumping around in those suburbans which are very nice cars to be driving around in. It's been great, really truly amazing. Oh yeah and the Sundance was exceptional. This is an important ritual that involves 4 days of dancing with no food or water for 4 days. This time of year, temperatures are commonly over 100 degrees here. Some participants get pierced and attached to the tree at the center of the dancing area. I didn't get to see them get pierced which i would of liked but I did meet a sister who was watching her brother dance and she told me stories about how her and her brothers and sisters use to be very hot and needed water and then their grandmother would tell them to put a small rock on the tip of their tongues which would make them less thirsty and they could keep on working and it worked. I thought that was pretty awesome. It takes a lot of determination, belief and courage to do the Sundance.