Goodbye bright lights

Trekking across mountains, hiking through forests and paddling in the ocean are not the typical activities that spring to mind when thinking of Boston University. But some students are plugging their ears to city life and getting out with the Outing Club.

The club is open to all BU students and was formed to connect students interested in seeing more than bright lights and the big city when coming to school in Boston. Through the club, students have been able to go biking on Cape Cod, downhill skiing in New Hampshire and white water rafting in Maine.

“[The club is] a way to get out and relax,” says School of Management junior Anisha Shastri, Outing Club vice president. “You can get away from school, computers, phones and all that. It’s a chance to truly relax. You can relax at home, but there’s the TV and phone. This is an opportunity to cut yourself off.”

Coming from Portland, Ore., Shastri says adjusting to city life took some effort. She found the Outing Club reminded her of her more environmentally focused hometown.

“BU was a bit of a shock with all of the city and the T and taxi cabs– the concrete jungle,” she says.

And it is to escape this “concrete jungle” that Shastri says students join the Outing Club.

School for the Arts freshman Brian Dunn agrees. As a native of Milwaukee, Wisc., Dunn is used to the city but not used to the commute it takes to commune with nature.

“In my city there are a lot more parks,” he says. “It’s right on the lake with a beach. Here it takes a while to get to the coast. I wanted to see the ocean.”

This past week one student saw more of the ocean than she bargained for while sea kayaking on Cape Cod. After 10 minutes on the water, her boat capsized, leaving her cold and wet.

“She got swept over without even knowing,” says SMG freshman Ying Tan, a friend of the drenched kayaker. “But we were all laughing when we got out.”

But leaving a trip soaking wet is not an uncommon feat.

“On the canoeing trips we usually end up getting into big water fights,” says College of Engineering junior Rachana Kheraj, secretary of the Outing Club. “There are lots of pictures of us completely soaked.”

The prices of these retreats are adjusted to college student budgets. The majority of the trips cost $10 – 15 including transportation and equipment.

“I know the price individually is like $25 or $30,” Tan says. “But we pay only $15. That’s pretty good.”

This past Saturday, Dunn paid $15 to join 29 other Outing Club members for a full day of sea kayaking on Cape Cod. It was his first time attempting the sport, but Dunn says he felt right at home with the others on the trip.

“We try to do broader trips so that everyone can come,” Shastri says. “It’s not only for experts.”

Furthermore, the club grants a large amount of freedom on each trip. Members are only restricted by the times they must meet up at the end of the day to get back to the city on time.

“We try to do simple trips and don’t try to put restrictions [on members],” Shastri says. “If we go hiking and someone wants to go to the top in one hour and the rest of us want to take two hours, that’s fine.”

Hikers don’t even have to follow the same trail if they don’t want to.

Shastri admits there have been times she has strayed off the intended course of action as well.

“I know when I went kayaking I couldn’t do it for the life of me,” she says. “I beached myself on an island and fell asleep.”

Part of the club’s uniqueness is its ability to be either an individual experience or a group one.

“[Some] people come by themselves,” Shastri says. “Most people come in at least pairs, sometimes groups of three.”

Dunn was introduced to the club when a friend invited him to go on the biking trip.

“On this most recent trip I went with a friend,” Dunn says. “It’s good to go with friends, and everyone is nice and open. I saw people that made friends on the trip.”

Kheraj says it is common to see people make new friendships and bond over the day-long trips.

“You’re never really alone,” she says. “We have officers and we don’t like to leave people out. We try to make people feel as comfortable as possible. We take really long rides, and people get to know each other really well in confined spaces.”

Tan, who attended the sea-kayaking trip as well, usually brings friends along also. She says the Outing Club is an easy way to spend time with friends doing something active.

“If I can’t go with the Outing Club, I have to organize it myself,” she says. “[With the club] I don’t have to worry about driving or anything, the only thing we have to do is bring ourselves.”

Aside from the early morning meeting times, 6 a.m. for the sea kayaking trip and 4 a.m. for the white water rafting, members have few complaints. In fact, each trip has members lining up to sign on.

For the upcoming rafting trip in Maine, officers had to turn away 15 people. There are approximately 500 students on the e-mail list that notifies members of trips, and each trip averages 30 people.

Usually vendors have room for more than 30 people. But the club doesn’t have the capacity to drive more than 30. For members and officers alike, this can be a frustrating dilemma.

“[It would be better if] there were more trips, more often,and if there is a way to make it accessible to more people,” Dunn says. “There is usually a limit to how many people can go.”

What many people don’t know is that the club does allow members to drive using their own cars. But if students don’t alert the officers that they are choosing to drive instead of using the van, those spots in the van can’t be filled with more people on short notice.

However they get there, it is a general consensus that getting out of the city is important.

“Boston is not a big city, but it’s a city, and we don’t really have a campus,” Kheraj says. “It’s important to see your surroundings. People in Boston don’t realize New Hampshire is not even an hour away, and Maine is only three hours away. They just see Boston.”