Somehow, I stumbled into the perfect program

I started researching gap year programs at the end of my senior year and had no idea what I was doing, but somehow I found Pacific Discovery, and I'm so glad that I did. It was honestly the perfect program for me in so many ways. If I had to describe it in one word, I would say "balanced". First of all, the leaders were so supportive and fun; I really trusted them and it felt like they really trusted all of us. It has the perfect amount of service/learning and exploring/fun. I gained so much independence and confidence in myself and my ability to travel.
I remember during our first week of service, we were camping on this beautiful farm on the coast. Every night, we'd cook dinner in this little wool shed and afterward, we'd sit in a circle and drink hot chocolate and play games like charades and mafia. Honestly, some of my best memories from the trip are just of hanging out and getting to know the rest of the group.
Halloween was also very memorable. It was during another service week, this time we were camping by a lake. During the day, we planted trees and that night we played "Ghost in the Graveyard", which is kind of like Hide 'n Seek, and ate candy. I remember screaming so loudly when someone jumped out at me from the dark trees. It was honestly one of my favorite Halloweens I've had.
I think my favorite memory, though, was of the week we spent backpacking. It rained the entire time, but it was still so much fun. I remember hiking on this windy ridge on our last day; we were all freezing and soaking wet, dreaming about the warm van that was waiting for us at the other end. A particularly strong gust of wind blew the rain cover off of the backpack of the boy in front of me and we both stopped and watched it fly away and he looked at me and said, "It was slowing me down anyway.." and I laughed and we kept walking.
I have so many good memories from my semester with Pacific Discovery and met so many amazing people. I think it gave me the break I needed after school ended. I learned so much about myself and about the world and what I want out of life, which sounds cheesy, but it's completley true. It made me excited about life again and I am so thankful for that.