<p>who is interested in doing the Outdoor Action trip the week before orientation?
I LOVE things like this. The trip is one of the reasons i love princeton so much!
current students--tell us about your experiences :)</p>
<p>I'm interested in Community Action.</p>
<p>I'm with Euphrasie -- I want to do CA. I love hiking and camping and I'll definitely do it some other time (and I hear there are some pretty nice trails nearby), I can't do the troweling and no showers thing. Hehe :p</p>
<p>I guess this is a really dumb question but... do we have to pay for OA or CA? Yeah... the only thing I ever read about them was in the viewbook but I definitely want to do CA.</p>
<p>OA costs ~$400 and CA ~$200 but you may be eligible for financial aid.</p>
<p>Not a current student but the mother of a freshman. She did OA and absolutely loved it. Her trip was extremely challenging, and the scenery as beautiful as the hikes were difficult.</p>
<p>Fast forward a few months and her OA group still has reunions and dinners. One of her best friends she met on the trip.</p>
<p>If you like the outdoors, and physical activity, if my D were here she would tell you absolutely do it.</p>
<p>I have a question... what is troweling?</p>
<p>Troweling -- where one person in the backpacking group digs a deep hole (with a trowel) and then collects and buries all of the human waste.</p>
<p>I've also head of everyone digging their own holes, but when you have too many people in the group it's kindof inconvenient.</p>
<p>lol thanks frozen-tears, although now I'm kind of sorry I asked...</p>
<p>Im another parent whose child loved the OA experience. You will be given the opportunity to pick from four different types of OA experiences and four different levels of difficulty, so even couch potatoes who have no interest in roughing it should find something. I much admire the spirit of those interested in CA but regrettably I have heard it is not nearly as much fun or as well organized as OA. If doing good is enough to raise your spirits then by all means go for CA. Also OA ,and I presume CA, is about much more than being in the woods and creating an initial support group so there will be some familiar faces when you arrive on campus. The leaders are given a curriculum of sorts so that they can help prepare freshmen for college life. The two main points: if you didnt drink or drug or hook up before, dont think you have to start now to fit in, and if Princeton admitted you, dont worry, youre smart enough to do the work.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I much admire the spirit of those interested in CA but regrettably I have heard it is not nearly as much fun or as well organized as OA. If doing good is enough to raise your spirits then by all means go for CA.
[/quote]
It's not that CA is less organized... it's just that with CA you're working with a real organization with real needs. Admittably, therefore, not all of the tasks are fun. For instance, I spent an entire afternoon scraping paint off the side of a house. However, I absolutely loved my CA experience, and OA wouldn't have been the same. I was at Kimberton Hills, a home for developmentally disabled adults and sustainable farming community. Mornings were spent working together in the orchard, afternoons helping out our individual houses with cooking or maintenance. Evenings we had team-building fun stuff. We got to work outside, but we could shower. Best of both worlds.</p>
<p>You get a chance to specify where you'd like to go for CA; do a little research and make sure you choose a CA experience that fits you. The bottom line is do either OA or CA. It's a really great way to start the year, and if you don't, you will probably feel that you missed out -- at least for a couple days.</p>
<p>How long does OA last?</p>
<p>a week</p>
<p>So if OA starts on a Saturday but dorms are only open the Wednesday after that, where can I put my luggage after I arrive?</p>
<p>They let you move into most dorms early. They will tell you which are open and which are not.</p>