Getting Acquainted

Shortly after school starts each year, my school has what they call "Get Acquainted Days". The previous times we've had them, I didn't really care for them at all; they were no more than some kind crappy and poorly explained games none of us could figure out how to play properly, and you never got to know anyone new at all, since you'd just quit attempting to play something you didn't understand and would go hang out with your normal group of friends. This past year, they were much better, since they were all pretty much games that we'd all played before ((volleyball, kickball, etc.)) or something very easy to figure out; however, they were still lacking that thing that would encourage you to get to know more people. They got closer to it this time be separating the student body into several teams, and thus over the course of the two days you always played with the same people, but it still didn't result in much getting to know anyone new. I'm really not sure what they can do to further encourage you getting to know more people aside from breaking us up into random groups and sticking us in various rooms with each other, and not having us bother to play all these lame games that normally result in more yelling than teamwork anyways, but one thing I do know is how I recently got to know some people much better in only a few hours.

Not too long ago, my youth group had an activity in which we went out to a church member's land in the country and had a "Harvest Party". Pretty much, we all got to hang out for the evening and just chat and stuff. Me and two of my friends took the time to wander out down a path in the woods, and follow it all the way out to the road, and then back around to the house and eventually the field we were supposed to be in. During this walk, we got to talking, starting off with the normal topics, music, school, etc. but one of these ((I don't recall which for sure, but I believe is was discussing school and teachers)) evolved into a much deeper conversation which, even though I was left out of a lot of it for lack of input, I enjoyed very much. In addition to this, we had a few other conversations that just allowed us to get to know one another better than we had before, which I again greatly enjoyed. In this way, I got to know a friend of mine that I didn't know very well much better in a short period of time, solely because we put ourselves in a place with very little distractions where we could talk, but also, due to us being in the woods, a place that raised enough caution in us to give us more of that banded together feel, a kind of dependence on one another in case something went wrong. Either way, it was a great time and I sincerely hope the school's Get Acquainted Days can soon come to reflect this type of even more so than they do know. They maybe they will finally do what they were originally intended to do, get us better acquainted with one another and with those that we may not have known previously.