George Fox University has a program called Juniors Abroad. The idea is that multiculturalism is a useful thing to cultivate in students, and there's no better way to cultivate multiculturalism than by going to other countries. To this end, the university sends groups of about 20 students to various places in the world for 3 weeks at the end of their junior year and after taking a once-a-week class for the duration of the spring semester. They even pay for a lot of the trip cost.
It likely comes as no surprise that this would be a popular program. In fact, waitlists for some trips often exceed 30 or even 40, and though all students who register for Juniors Abroad will definitely go somewhere, where that somewhere is depends greatly on how fast they sign up. Which brings us to a well-known George Fox tradition: Tent City.
The idea is that students set up tents outside the registration center the night before registration for Juniors Abroad becomes available, ensuring that they get their top pick. In reality, the idea spread so fast that it's now put on by the school itself, and tent number assignments are done by lottery.
Each tent of 1-5 people receives their number and spends the night in a tent in their portion of the quad. One year, it snowed. This last weekend, it rained a fair bit. Somehow, though, Tent City continues to be a fondly remembered experience by the majority of the soon-to-be-juniors involved.
When I did Tent City with 4 of my friends last weekend, the same became true for me. While I spent most of the night cold and unable to sleep, and while I even now feel a bit sore from the discomfort of the muddy quad ground, the most vivid memories I have of that night are of the fun times.
The portable speaker that we blasted everything from pop songs to Phantom of the Opera through, singing along to many of them. The other friends of ours who stopped by for a couple hours, and trying to fit more than 5 people into a tent meant for 4. Waking up the next morning and groggily making final adjustments to our preferred trips, and ultimately all deciding to go on the same one.
None of us really talked about which trip we'd all be going on beforehand, though of course we all had several we were excited about. Somehow, though, on the morning of registration, at 7:30 A.M., we all made the decision to go to the same place: Scandinavia. And we all got in!
George Fox's Juniors Abroad program is giving me the chance to travel across the Atlantic with some of my best friends, and Tent City has already given me a very memorable night. I'm excited for the trip ahead, but I already feel like the experience of Tent City was a trip all its own, and an event I'll remember for a long time to come.
