Einav Palmer

Aurora VEGA
Reaction Paper
10/11/2017

The summer between graduation high school and going to college is supposed to be a

memorable one. You go to the beach, party, enjoy the break you have between school before you

catapult into college. I didn’t really do any of that. I worked, worked, and worked. And before I

knew it, it was a week before VEGA, and I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to my

house, my family, my dogs, my friends. After the trip, I would come back home for less than

twelve hours before moving into my dorm and saying goodbye to all of that. So I was kind of a

wreck in the week leading up to leaving for VEGA. Added to that, I didn’t know anyone going

into it, and I felt very unprepared in terms of physical ability too, so I was super nervous going

into it.

Without recounting every single detail of the experience, through our nightly campfire

talks and just talking to other people in the group, I found out that basically everyone felt that

way. Everyone was nervous about not knowing people, saying goodbye to their family, not being

fit enough for the trip, etc. I don’t know where I got the idea that I was the only person in the

group going into it not knowing anyone else, but I found out we were all essentially in the same

boat. After school started, knowing that I wasn’t the only one nervous about making friends

made it a lot easier to make friends. It was so easy to just ask someone to hang out because,

without sounding rude, it was safe to assume that they too were looking for friends. VEGA made

me feel better going into college, into a setting where I barely knew anyone, with the confidence

that I would meet people easily.

All my life I’ve been going to summer camps, so a week without my phone seemed like

no big deal. And it wasn’t. But at the other camps I had gone to, I felt an unnatural disconnect
from society, my friends, my family, the news. But I didn’t during VEGA. It felt very natural not

to have my phone, I never missed it in my hand, I never really wondered what was going on in

the world. It felt like we were in our own little bubble. Every moment there felt very real and I

felt very present in what was going on all the time, without the distraction of phones or other

technology. Since VEGA, I’ve been a lot more aware of what phones do to us in terms of living

in the moment. I’ve noticed that when I’m on my phone when something else is going on, I’m

unable to be present and fully involved in whatever it is. I really tune everything else out when

I’m on my phone, which isn’t always a bad thing when I’m alone with basically nothing else to

do, but now when I’m with people, watching a movie, in class, or whatever I may be doing, I try

to put my phone away and turn it off so I can be fully present in the moment I’m in, not

distracted by my phone, because of VEGA. Overall, my VEGA experience is one I will never

forget. I saw beautiful sights, met great people, pushed myself harder than I ever had, and

learned about myself and college as a whole. I loved it!