Going to Colorado for a semester in my Junior year was the best decision I have ever made and I am so lucky that I have this positive experience to share with the world.

Most people who meet me are shocked when I mention that I attended a semester school instead of the first half of Junior year. Apparently, I don’t seem like the type who would leave everything from home behind and start fresh at a school in Colorado. I spent my semester abroad in Leadville, Colorado at the High Mountain Institute and it was life changing.

The school focuses on the outdoors, specifically backpacking through some of the most incredible wilderness landscapes in the entire United States. Leadville is the highest city in the USA, reaching about 10,000 feet in elevation. Due to this elevation, the areas surrounding the town are pretty remote. We backpacked through the Sawatch Mountains in Colorado and the canyons of Utah.

Even though I highly doubt that I have the psychical strength to relive the program, it was the absolute highlight of my high school career.

HMI was not easy at all. I was pushed physically and emotionally to the brink, at some points. During my first expedition, I had infected blisters on my feet from hiking and took many falls while trying to find balance with a 40-pound backpack on. It was pushing my body to persevere even though I was tired, lacked oxygen, and felt weak compared to my peers who were hiking effortlessly.

Throughout the hardships, there were good times. There is a certain type of camaraderie that comes with backpacking. It's the satisfaction of finally reaching the camp site that was so far away and the laughs that echoed through the forests we walked through. The people who surrounded me saw me at my worst, my best, and sometimes just in-between.

The academic setting was very different for me as well. After going to the same private high school for years, I was very set on my study techniques. My ways of working totally changed at HMI.

I started to realize the value of learning and the importance of knowing where you are located. Everything we studied was place based, for example, we would do water quality experiments in the local river or did math problems that related on the buildings on campus. It was a really interesting experience, considering that most of my learning was done through a text book.

I also met some of the greatest teachers who are truly passionate about their job. HMI gave me a new perspective on learning that I would have never known if I stayed at my high school.

The High Mountain Institute was a roller coaster of emotions for sure. Full of laughs, beaming smiles, and some tears. At first, the tears were from physical exhaustion and the mental strength to continue hiking. Those tears transformed into tears of joy while reaching mountain tops and eating a well-deserved dinner of Mac and Cheese.

And those tears eventually became those you often get when leaving your final summer at camp. It's a guttural type of sadness because I would never be in this exact place, with the same people, ever again. No matter how much time passes by, choosing to attend the High Mountain Institute was the best decision I have ever made in my life. I am forever grateful for the experience I was able to have with some of the best people I have ever met.