A Rocky Semester in the Rockies

Nothing gets under my skin more than people referring to NOLS as a "life changing" experience. It's not. Please don't place that much pressure on three months of your life. Please be a more stable person that a course doesn't completely change who you are. However, I do think it's fair to say that NOLS gave me a new perspective. While I was going through it, I didn't feel like I was changing or getting a mind-blowing perspective. Years later now, I'm happy I did it because I learned a lot about group dynamics and I learned that I could do such a physically and emotionally challenging thing. It makes problems at work pale in comparison.
I also learned leadership skills because I had both good an terrible instructors. I still want to be more like the good instructors and I still kind-of want to punch the bad instructors.