Cooper’s Highlight Tape

By: Cooper Leeman

As I begin to write this, I am sitting on my patio with Andrew listening to some music. We are both reminiscing on the trip and thinking about all the funny moments throughout the days. Tomorrow, we head off to our biggest adventure yet: Agora. For my blog post, I wanted to share a glimpse of our funniest moments so everyone back home can feel connected with us in some way. This day marks the half way point in the trip, and I haven’t laughed this long in a while. I hope this blog post can share some laughs with you as well.

Day 1: After landing in Delhi, we hopped into the bus ready to travel. Over the course of the day we drank lots and lots of water. For some odd reason nobody else was affected by this water besides me and I needed to stop to use the bathroom every 30 minutes. At one point, I couldn’t hold it anymore and decided the only logical way to solve my issues was to jump out the small window of the bus. After I leaped out, I wandered the streets in search of a toilet. I succeeded. While this was all happening, our bus was blessed to hear Mr Alters true laugh. I wouldn’t even really call it a laugh it was more a “giggle” The only thing we were able to relate it to was a dying walrus pleading for it’s life.

(!) WARNING (!) ANY ANDREW UPDYKE HATE IS STRICTLY FOR COMICAL PURPOSES AND HE HAS NOT BEEN OFFENDED IN THE PROCESS!

Day 2:

This day began our journey to Pancheswar and long car rides. While on this journey, we stopped at a small shop to rest and eat some food. Andrew was in one of his grumpy moods and it didn’t help when everyone kept reminding him of his extremely large, noticeable, glaring, bald spot. To try and help cure his unhappy mood we decided to do a race. As the race progressed, it was looking good for Updyke; even though he was in dead last he was keeping up and holding his own. That was until he suddenly tripped on his face and completely injured his whole body, tearing the knee of his favorite pants. Updyke still hasn’t recovered til this day: physically or mentally.

Pancheswar Days

Day 1: Racing the locals in a swim race and getting absolutely smoked. Lucas and I drinking river water and almost having a heat stroke due to it. Luckily Dr Pausic was able to keep us company along the treacherous journeys.

Day 2: This day marked the start of our “Circle of Death” competitions and the Chicken fights in the water. Lucas v Ward, Battle of the ATL was a memorable one. We also cannot forget when Tanner St Louis finally realized he was tired of moving in the shadows and challenged Andrew to a fight only to lose.

Day 3: This day marks one of the hardest days of my life. Good ole Seaborn fearless LOD decided to embark us on a little hour hike just to get the legs moving. This hike turned out to be hiking up a 4000 foot mountain, that was constant upward steep hills. The only thing I can remember from the Hike is Ward on the ground saying he quote on quote “couldn’t see, and that he was about to pass out”. We somehow made it to the top and a kind family gave us food and juices to help us recover. Just your average day in India I guess.

Day 4: Known as the river day, this is where Parveen began his swimming lessons with Jackson and Mr. Cola. Also on this day we went rafting. Sadly we were only given one tube so Lucas made it his mission to be on it at all times. Even when Nicole and Cameron were trying to go on it alone. During the afternoon, we handed out various drawings to all the nearby homes, and towards the end it was requested that Andrew and I had to sing to a local Brahmin family. With quick thinking we put together a lovely piece of “In the Bleak Mid Winter” and everyone hated it. Oh well. This was also the day where we realized Lucas’ ability to captivate the group with his words and wisdom – funny stuff.

Travel Day – Woke up at 6 am and didn’t get to Rishikesh until 11 pm. This car ride consisted of heavy jams, and Updyke sleeping on the floor, what an odd kid. Luckily, I didn’t have to use the bathroom as much on this go around. It’s a win in my book. Another thing we had the privilege of listening to was Tanner singing Dua Lipa like he’s in the front row at her concert.

Rishikesh – Day 1: This day consisted of getting scammed by local shops, and Cameron’s strange juice addiction. Thousands of people all walking side by side, with cows in between. Occasionally you would also see monkeys chillin.

Day 2: Outside Rishikesh:

Woke up around 6:30 am ready to watch the Celtics Vs Warriors game. Following this tragedy of an event, we had high hopes on exploring a cool water fall and jumping into the Ganges. Our guide who happened to be our age, guided us through the woods and we suddenly emerged onto the beach. There is was…the majestic 3 inches falling from the rocks.. the waterfall explained to us. We then proceeded to sit in awkward silence, because we had no way to communicate with each other, and then hiked back to camp. We asked him questions about his life when we got back to camp and learned that he was away from home and having a summer job here with his friends.

So this concludes only a small bit of the amazing memories we have been apart of thus far. I hope this gave you a little laugh and reminder to always take in the little things, because they make the bigger things more impactful.