ARCH ACADEMY GLOBAL TRIP 2016 - DAY 13

May 13

COOPER:

Back to Bordeaux!!

Today was our last day at Plum Village! We enjoyed a "lazy morning" as they call it, although most of us were up by 7 purely out of habit at this point. After cleaning up our rooms and packing up, we enjoyed a standard Plum Village vegan lunch and enjoyed a few more mindful games of ping pong. As the students and staff said their goodbyes to the monks and other Plum Village visitors, I couldn't help but marvel at how much all the students had grown over the course of the trip.

I saw CJ go from missing his video games to gaining an appreciation for nature. This coupled with a quiet and respectful approach for problem solving revealed a side of him some of the new staff had never seen before. He even read his first book for American Literature while on the trip! Although he is a little worried about applying this to his life outside of the village, we're confident that with a little help this is more than possible. We can't wait to see the go pro footage from the San Sebastián swim!

Chip has overcome his shyness around the students and staff and continues to crack up the entire staff and student body. He has also been pursuing his passion of photography on the trip, and it's been nice to see his friendship with Matt develop as they went off on adventures in Plum Village. Chip is a great traveler and an excellent addition to our group.

As I've stated before, Noah is arguably the most mindful of the whole bunch. His enthusiasm for Plum Village kept our spirits up when some of us were pretty done with the whole farming thing. I've also seen him talk to his peers a lot more on the trip than I have at school, something we expect to continue well after the trip. I also got a glimpse of his dry wit on this trip, and I expect he has many more one liners up his sleeve.

Wesley learned a myriad of life lessons on the trip, and successfully handled a week of quiet mindfulness. At times he handled it better than even the staff could! He was always the one willing to try the craziest thing on the menu throughout the trip and had great questions for the monks. He was truly a positive driving force throughout our time in Europe.

Diana was an excellent traveler throughout the Spain portion of the trip, but the real treat was seeing her branch out and talk to people outside our group in Plum Village. She joined pickup soccer games, ate with new people, and always kept her head up even though she was the only girl student on the trip. This was great to see because it means one thing to us: Diana is ready for college this Fall. We couldn't be more proud of Diana for getting into Mills College, not to mention her scholarships!! Besides that, Diana was a great morale booster during the times when Cheryl was sick on the trip. Well done, Seabiscuit!

Matt maintains his status as the wild card of the group, but a growing sense of maturity has shown itself as well. He really took charge as a leader, and it was nice to see him making decisions that positively affected both himself and his peers. We really couldn't have done this trip without his planning and constantly emailing the monks. We can't wait to see the video he puts together! Mundaka surf club!

As I sit here in my Bordeaux hotel room, I am sad to see the trip ending but happy to have been a part of this amazing experience. I'd like to thank John for introducing us to the wonder that is Plum Village and accompanying us on this journey. I'd also like to thank Cheryl for sticking it out while being sick, and most importantly for her 25 years of dedication to make this school a reality. I wouldn't be writing these sentences without her.

Most importantly, I want to thank the kids and their wonderful parents for facilitating this life-changing trip. We wouldn't have a school without students, and Arch just wouldn't be the same without the support group that you parents provide for your children.

Also, shout out to my life coach Beth for handling logistics for this trip and making sure we all arrived at each destination in one piece. Another shout out to Eric for his French skills, without which we would still be on the wrong platform at the Bordeaux train station asking, "Qua?"

And of course thank you to all of our chaperones and Plum Village monks for hosting us. I apologize for not writing more but I need to head to bed for our flights home tomorrow!

While we would love to answer any and all questions you may have about the trip when we arrive at the San Diego airport, please save them for Monday as we have just one day off to adjust to the time difference before hitting the cove for Zombie swimming.

Au revoir!!