Mama Kat Thursday: My 4-H Trip to Purdue

The Mama Kat prompt I'm doing today is to share about a time I was forced to leave my comfort zone.

I grew up in rural Indiana and I was in 4-H from age 10 to about 11th grade. My parents became local Club leaders when I was around 12. That's probably how my Mom knew about the state-wide 4-H event being held on the Purdue campus in Lafayette, Indiana. I was around 15 then and it was an overnight trip.

I went. By myself. On a bus with a gob of other kids from other area 4-H clubs. I was the only one from my club who went and the only person I vaguely knew was the County Extension Office 4-H rep who also went.

This is the first time I went anywhere without my family.

So we arrived on the huge Purdue University campus around lunchtime. As we got off the bus, a person was there with a fan of activity tickets for a variety of mini-workshops for us each to pick two of, then we stowed our gear in dorm rooms and went to lunch in a campus cafeteria.

I've always been an introvert, but back then it was more chronic. Like most teens, I had a terrible self-esteem, was fairly convinced I was unlikable and didn't know how be open with other people.

So being in a crowd of strangers was insanely uncomfortable for me and I hated that "no where to belong" feeling. 

I remember at lunch, I gravitated to the table of County Extension reps who were eating together because I've always felt a little better hanging around grown-ups then other kids. 

I sat near them, though it felt awkward. I didn't know how to engage them in conversation and they didn't know what to do with me either.

So I survived lunch.

After that, I think I attended one of the workshops I had chosen a ticket for. I clearly remember it was for a one-hour Judo session. I was into watching the Green Hornet & Kato at the time and was all into the idea of self-defense, so that interested me.

Judo has a wrestling quality to it. I remember I did very well practicing a certain hold they taught us on my opponent I was to practice it on. I did really well at it. They could not dislodge me or get up. I felt really good about that success.

I can't remember what the second workshop was, though I do recall walking there through the cavernous tunnel the crossed beneath the campus. The Purdue campus is massive.

For dinner, they did a half-chicken barbecue. I think it had like potato salad and chips with it or soemthing.  I remember finding a place to sit by myself, where I could enviously watch other kids hanging out in bunches laughing and chatting.

In the evening we all reported to the big round auditorium for entertainment. It was a huge place. Seating was arranged in a semi-circle looking down on a stage. I was about mid-way up. There must have been 50 rows of seats and they had a strong vertical stadium arrangement. I felt really high up and the stage below looked small. The entertainment was a series of skits. There was a particularly funny performance of people "acting out" the song, "Then Along Came John," I remember well. I never laughed so much as I did that night.

We'd been assigned dorm rooms for the night. I recall they were multi-story affairs with small cubicle-like rooms containing a single frame bed, a desk, a closet and a bathroom. I remember the desk was made of oak laminate with aluminum trim and it had shelves. I recall thinking, "So, this is what future college life will look like." (This is before mini-fridges and microwaves were available.) My memory says these dormitories were two tall towers, sort of apartment looking, side by side, but that was in the early 70's, so they've no doubt been replaced since then. 

That's all I remember. I don't even remember breakfast the next morning.

I just recall the general awkwardness of fitting in among strangers, the success of the Judo class, laughing heartily at the skits and that tiny dorm room with unimpressive furnishings.

Thanks for Visiting!