I grew up in a city. Not a posh city like New York, but a city with prairie as far as the eye can see and a very big shopping mall. I played outside and explored our neighborhood but I never spent any significant amount of time in the wilderness. I never grew up camping in my backyard, let alone camping in the wilderness.

One of my best friends is completely opposite of me. She grew up in a small mountain town doing small mountain town things like camping every weekend and hiking the trails that were at her backdoor. In sixth grade, each member of her class was left alone in the wilderness for 24 hours with a tarp, a sleeping bag, water and a book. I marvel at the idea of this because I would lose my mind within the first two hours. She grew up in a world completely unfamiliar to me.

When she suggested the idea that we go camping in Moab for Memorial Day weekend I jumped at the opportunity to try something new. A new experience with new stories to tell. Maybe subconsciously I knew it would make a good article for my writing gig at Odyssey… Regardless we went ahead with our weekend in Moab.

If you’ve never been to Moab I highly recommend it; the town is adorable, the scenery is something out of a movie and the hiking is amazing. However the camping and the unfamiliarity of it all made me introspective into the things people like based on the way they were raised.

Now I understand this isn’t true for everyone, this is just something I believe. My friend grew up spending weekends in Moab; the red rocks made her feel at home, she was happy to disconnect and experience nature. Meanwhile the red rock mountains made me feel far away from home; I am used to the grey and snowy Canadian Rocky Mountains staying in log cabins with lots of family around.

I learned a lot that weekend. I learned about my friend and her experiences, I learned about myself and what I enjoy doing and why I enjoy doing it. I learned that next time I go to Moab I will probably stay in a hostel or hotel, because I am far from rugged.

I guess the moral of it is, that’s OK. It’s OK to be who you are. It’s OK to enjoy whatever you enjoy. But you cannot determine you don’t like something until you try it. As cliché as it sounds, friendship means doing things that push you outside of your comfort zone if it means getting to know the other person a little better.