Best trip of my life By: Aubree Rasmusse

Sunday was our first day in India not teaching. We all went on a beautiful hike.  We hiked to a temple on the top of the mountain with such a cool view. We went into the temple and got a dot and an offering. It was a super cool experience.

After we spent time on the mountain and in the temple we headed back down. The hike was very steep and rocky and kind of difficult to get down. On one steep part I slipped a little and fell on my butt. It was embarrassing but everyone was super nice to me after I fell. We kept going down and there was another rocky part. I told Hannah “okay I can’t trip on this one” and started to go down. On the first step I stepped down and felt my ankle bend. I heard a big pop and realized it probably was not good. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of my ankle so I tried to keep walking but the second I tried to use my foot I realized I definitely hurt it pretty bad. I sat down on a rock and Talli came to help me with the my foot. We decided it was sprained but I had to keep going down the hill so I could go home and get wrapped up. The hike down was kind of difficult but luckily I was already half way down when I hurt myself. After I made it to the car I had and hour and a half car ride. Everyone in my group was so nice and let me lift my leg across them on the way down so it doesn’t swell as much. I felt so guilty but they were so nice.

I finally made it to the hotel and hobbled my way to my room and got ready for bed so Talli could help wrap me up my ankle. My ankle was pretty bruised and way swollen so Talli wrapped it up with a compression wrap and wrapped ice around that. (You would be surprised how difficult it was to get ice but ashley and Allison have there ways and got me ice.) I then had to prop my foot up on a chair with a pillow for the rest of the night. It was so embarrassing just having my bare foot exposed in the middle of the room but everyone was nice and didn’t make me feel bad at all.

That night we had our gratitude night and I got to read all my notes from my family. It was exactly what I needed after having a tough day hurting myself. I’m looking forward to seeing the fam and I miss you guys.

That night I slept with my foot elevated and hoped that it would start to heal well because I had a lot of fun plans the next few days.

Monday morning I woke up and my foot was looking better than I expected but still hurt pretty bad. In the morning we went and did yoga at a temple in the mountains and it was beautiful. I had my foot wrapped and it still was hurting so I wasn’t able to do all the yoga poses but I still got to do so many and had a lot of fun.

After yoga we went zip lining between maintains on a zip line that was 500 meters long. It was absolutely beautiful and such a cool experience that I didn’t want to miss so I went even if my foot was hurting. My foot was in a ton of pain and I was on lots of medicine so it was so much fun. After the zip line there was a hike back to the top where we started and it was one of the hardest hikes I’ve done. It was so steep and just kept going. But I kept going just slowly. Seth caught up to me on the mountain and helped me up so that was super nice. Everyone in this group has been so helpful and nice to me I haven’t been worried at all.

We ended Monday with a nice Italian dinner which was so good because I needed a break from the Indian food. It was a fun night and I’m glad I was still able to go even if I was Injured.

Today is Tuesday and my foot is doing so much better. It’s still big and colorful but less than Monday. I’ve been able to put more pressure on my foot and was even able to do the dance with the rest of the group for the culture exchange. I’m so grateful because I put a lot of work into that dance in the US.

Even if my trip on the hike caused some problems and made it a little more difficult. It hasn’t stopped me from doing anything I’ve wanted to do and I’m so glad. This really has been the best trip of my life.