Touching grass is unfortunately good advice
With the large number of CS majors and engineers who never leave their room on campus, the phrase “touch grass” is thrown around quite a bit. Most of us laugh and brush it off or don’t even acknowledge it as more than background noise. At first, I found it to be a funny phrase, but that was about it. Especially freshman year, I saw little point in prioritizing anything over assignments and spent most of my time in some dorm room, be it my friends’ or my own.
My opinion on the importance of touching grass greatly changed this summer when I was in my third semester out of the four in a row I was going to be taking. As someone who’s always taking 20 credits while juggling some part-time jobs and club positions, burn out was certainly setting in. It felt like work was all I was doing and hardly ever saw the sky, even on the weekends. Fortunately, one of the few good parts of Arch is that it was highly unlikely for students to have any class on Wednesday. Being a computer science and game development dual major, this was the first time in a long time that I had absolutely nothing to do on Wednesdays.
As the monotony of another semester began to set in, my friends and I decided to take advantage of this mini weekend in the middle of the week and go touch grass. Crazy, right? Unironically, it might have been the one thing keeping us sane during the summer.
Almost every Wednesday, we would pick a nearby trail and just go for it. Most of the time, it was an hour and a half away from campus, and the long drive there felt like we were truly abandoning all of our troubles, escaping into the wild and leaving everything behind. Once we reached the mountain range, we were surrounded by nothing but gorgeous sights and fresh air. The anticipation and relief of knowing that, at least for the next few hours, we didn’t have to worry about due dates, or exams, or anything that wasn’t enjoying the trek from point A to point B was the best feeling we experienced all week, every week.
Being up near the treetops, we were forced to disconnect, unable to use our phones for anything other than taking photos of the amazing views and recording once in a lifetime memories. Can’t check your emails if you can’t get any service. It was one of my favorite parts of going on a hike, getting an excuse to put my phone away and not look at it for at least half the day. Plus, without technology, this quickly became one of the best bonding activities we could do. Our only entertainment was each other, and we had to look at each other directly instead of through screens. Even though we were already good friends, we still somehow managed to learn so much about each other and become even better friends than before.
The physical challenge proved to be a top tier ego boost as well. Obviously, we started small, picking short trails with little elevation change. While I do enjoy going to the gym and used to play team sports, I wouldn’t claim to be the most physically fit person on the planet. Hiking was also a different type of strenuous activity than I was used to doing. By the end of the semester, however, we were hiking the hardest half of the hardest trail on the east coast known as the Devil’s Path. In 13 hours, we climbed four mountains. A ridiculous feat considering it was the first time most of us hiked even a singular mountain. After that experience, all of us truly believed we could do just about anything.
As cliche as it sounds, getting outside and touching grass is one of the best things you could do for yourself as a college student. Blocking off time in your week to get your body moving and enjoy being with your friends or just with your own thoughts is almost a necessity in this day and age. There are trails for all levels of experience, meaning there’s no excuses to not give it a go. We had next to no gear and little knowledge, powered by nothing except the strong desire to enjoy the outdoors and be as far from campus as possible. So, go outside and touch grass; the most beautiful view you never knew you needed to see is waiting for you.