Instant Camaraderie
Bonded by Mountains, Mud, and Marmots
By Jon Gorey
Throw together a bunch of passionate, outdoor-loving volunteers, unite them behind a common goal in a far-off place, and there’s bound to be some group bonding. Between the awe-inspiring surroundings, the communal meals, the sometimes-intense field conditions, and the shared sense of purpose, participants on an Ӱ̳ expedition often form fast friendships.
But in what may be a first, one group of students—strangers, mostly, from several different countries—so enjoyed each other’s company on “Wildlife in the Changing Andorran Pyrenees” they’re already planning to reunite the whole team on a second Ӱ̳ expedition next year.
One reason for the team’s quick camaraderie? The challenges they faced together, including miles-long hikes at high altitude. (“Wildlife in the Changing Andorran Pyrenees” is one of the most physically demanding expeditions Ӱ̳ offers.)
“The difficulty of everything kind of brought us together as a group,” says Ciara, an American high school student who joined the expedition with her Irish cousin, Hannah. “When things get hard, you kind of bond through the struggle.”
Connections started to click on the first full day of the trip, when the team embarked on a long, difficult hike, Ciara says. “It was really grueling... I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is so hard,’” she says. “We finally reached this little top, and I'll never forget, because Lulu was right behind me—and you didn't really know people yet—and she turned to me and she's like, ‘Ah, that was easy. I could do that 10 times!’ And it made me just start hysterically laughing, it just kind of lightened the mood and set a really nice vibe for the rest of the trip.”
Bonding through hardship is one thing. But after their first huge hike, the team earned a day off to go shopping and tour museums together in the city of Andorra de Vella. And the expedition’s semi-luxurious lodging arrangements were a morale-booster, too.
After long days spent hiking through the mountains, weighing and releasing small mammals, measuring trees, and monitoring and tagging birds to evaluate climate-related changes in the landscape, the team would return to their rather posh hotel each afternoon to get cleaned up for a communal dinner. “The food was insane, it was so good,” Hannah says.
The scientists were just really amazing people—Anna, Albert, and Bernat, they were just awesome to be with every day, and you had meals with them every day. So it was kind of like this huge family that you were a part of. It's just such a great experience to meet people across the world and just get to know them.
—Ciara
CLIFF RESCUE
Quickly forged bonds grew even stronger on what the team now fondly remembers as “Site 11 Day,” named for that day’s sampling station.
A gentle morning drizzle gave way to heavier rain, making the steep, rocky hillside terrain slick and muddy. For some participants—like Andrê and Youssuf from Dubai, where rain is a rare event—it was a whole new kind of challenge. “Bless their souls, they were just freezing,” says Natalia with a smile.
Later that day, the group split up to check camera traps. Hannah, Charlotte, and Ian were navigating with GPS alongside Anna, one of the scientists. “Ian was leading us, and then suddenly the GPS pointed straight up this incredibly steep hill,” says Hannah. “So we climbed it—and made it to the top! But then, somehow, I lost my footing.”
“Charlotte remembers the moment vividly: “I saw Hannah slipping, and my heart just dropped.” Luckily, Hannah caught herself, and with help from Anna and Ian, she was safely pulled back up. “It was an experience,” Hannah says with a wry grin. “I got back up, and I was okay—but poor Charlotte!”
Later, the group posed for a photo at the top, their smiles full of relief and accomplishment. “We jokingly call it the ‘Not Dead Yet’ photo,” Hannah laughs. “It definitely brought us closer together. Nothing like a little unexpected adventure to bond a team.”
SUMMER SNOWBALLS, AND A SEQUEL IN THE WORKS
There were other, more serene “moments of awe” and wonder that, while perhaps not as memory-scorching as dangling off a cliff, will nonetheless resonate long after leaving Andorra.
“The day we did the really long hike, we'd climbed over the mountain and then back down, and there was this really beautiful lake,” Anna recalls. “And then just slightly further on there was this big patch of snow, and we all had a massive snowball fight, because a lot of people hadn't seen snow before. That was really, really memorable for me.”
One of Charlotte’s favorite memories was spotting marmots—a kind of large land squirrel—lounging at an off-season ski resort. “Before going on this trip, I had done a little bit of research on the flora and fauna of the Pyrenees, and the one animal that stood out to me was marmots, these amazing, adorable creatures,” she says.
As the trip progressed, it seemed like everyone else had seen many marmots, while Charlotte had only glimpsed one, from a distance. Luckily, the lead scientist, Bernat, knew where to find them: the rodents like to congregate at a nearby ski resort on summer afternoons. “So, after a day of hiking, we went back, showered, and then we all got back in the vans, and we went and saw a ton of marmots. It was so awesome.”
Natalia says she left Andorra in awe of the natural world. “I definitely gained a new appreciation for nature, and the urgency of why it's important to care about the changes in the environment,” she says. “Especially just being close to it, it's like, imagine all this being gone in so little time, just because of human beings. So that's something invaluable that I won't forget.”
For Lucia, the friendships formed may outlast everything else. “I don't think I expected to make as close friends as I did, because I've been on other hiking trips and stuff where I've met people, but we haven't kept in touch the same way that we have,” she says. “This time we said we’d keep in touch, and then we actually did—like, I've been talking to some of these people most days, and I didn't realize how much I missed them until I saw their faces like this.”
To that end, the group is already planning to reunite next summer on another Ӱ̳ expedition—possibly joining an archaeological dig on “Unearthing Ancient History in Tuscany.”
Hannah says the Ӱ̳ expedition helped show her what a career in science might look like—which she plans to pursue at university next year. Unlike a doctor or an accountant, she says, “I could never really put my finger on what the job was like,” she says. “I couldn't really tell you exactly what a scientist would do. But now I definitely have, like, a clear vision of what that job could possibly look like, and it was really interesting.”
Charlotte, meanwhile, doesn’t plan to study science in college; she was drawn to the hiking aspect of the trip and wanted to challenge herself. “The entire experience was amazing,” she says. “The people I met, just pushing my body, everything—it was just so incredible.”
Others in the group agreed that the trip pushed them to their limits—in the best possible ways.
If you're thinking about Ӱ̳, but think it's too difficult, always remember you're capable of more than what you think you are.
—Lucia
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