The only word that comes to mind when trying to describe Walden Pond is tranquility. After traveling, exploring, learning and discovering, our visit to Walden Pond calmed our group and gave me, in particular, time to reflect. When visiting something as incredible as Walden Pond, the very inspiration for Thoreau’s Walden, one must dip their feet in the water. This was at least my philosophy while visiting the site. Cold though it was, I walked along the shore of the pond, shoes in hand, thinking about this amazing trip, and the authors around which it is centered. After visiting the homes of Hawthorne, Emerson, the Alcotts, and now Thoreau, I realized how influential their surroundings were in their writing. Emerson, at The Old Manse, sat at his desk, looked out the window and used his backyard as the inspiration for Nature. Louisa May Alcott took the home in which she grew up to set her novel Little Women. And Thoreau, inspired by Walden Pond, wrote Walden.

Though I love Kentucky, New England is a beautiful and inspiring place to be right now.