Last month I took my first trip out of town. Seven of my new friends and I spent the weekend at a cabin in the Spanish Pyrenees that belongs to Xavi’s family. It was Petra, Birgit (BEER.git), Ann Kristine, Antje (ANT.yuh), Bob, Jordi, Xavi (CHA.bi), and myself. We packed into two cars and headed north for four hours to this little town called Arroz which I swear couldn’t have more than 35 people living there. They actually had a town fool. A real town fool. His name’s Rafael. Scary guy. With a scary little dog. Anyway… the cabin was great! There was a fireplace and we had plenty of mattresses to go around. The best part of the trip was hiking. We split up for a while and explored on our own. Xavi and I crossed this river in front of a waterfall using only a stick, small stepping stones (quite far apart), and our wits. Then I climbed what seemed like straight up the mountain (next to the waterfall) with Bob, Antje, and Jordi. When we got to the top we rested and talked for a while, but on the way down, Bob has this crazy idea that we should try and make it without using any of the paths that we’d found. We told him he was crazy. After a few minutes the craziness spread to Jordi and me, as well. Antje was apparently the only one with common sense and said, “Bye bye”. I don’t know how we got into the situation, but I distinctly remember holding on to fistfuls of grass next to Jordi so I wouldn’t slide down the hill. Bob had somehow made it to the bottom by climbing trees. I still don’t know how. Then I remember watching as Jordi let go and proceeded to slide for about 50 feet until he stopped himself by hitting a tree. Feet first. He was fine. We eventually made it down to the bottom and met up with the rest of the gang just in time for a nice siesta in the sun. My second favorite part of the weekend was that night back in the cabin. We had brought way too much alcohol but were damned if we were going to bring any of it back. Then I remember a rousing game of Truth or Dare. Did I say rousing? I meant interesting. In any case, we’re all going back to Xavi’s cabin in two weeks to go skiing. I’m going to learn how to snowboard.