Altai: beautiful mountains, lush forests and quiet nights. Or that's what you think. The nights are far from quiet. They are filled with noises of insects and animals.

Hushed whispers of students talking to each other all night long.

The rush of the river flowing.

The drops of rain dripping on the roofs of the cabins. Sounds relaxing, right? Wait until you hear what- I shouldn’t spoil too much. You’ll just get to read about it. But first a short introduction.

Our class was on a trip to Altai for a whole week, and it was the night before a big day. So far we’ve gone rafting, climbing on a ropes course, gone up a ski lift and learnt how to play the komus. And now we had to wait for hiking, horseback riding and we had a bunch of skits to look forward to in the evening. We were all getting ready for the next day by getting a good night's sleep but we had some complications.

I am exhausted, so tired from the long day we had. I can’t wait to finally go to bed. Even the thought of the hard lumpy mattress feels comfortable right now. I eat my dinner in silence and sit with everyone else around the campfire. We all are so, so tired. I forced myself to go change and brush my teeth before I finally collapse on the blanket. “Finally!” I think.

I lay curled up under the thin blankets armoring myself against the freezing cabin. I’m slowly drifting to sleep.

BANG BANG BANG!

I am jolted awake. Breathing heavily, I sit up.

BANG BANG BANG!

It's closer this time. I hear girls from a nearby cabin shreek. Has this beautiful trip turned into something from a hellish horror movie!?

BANG BANG BANG!

I turn to my roommate who seems just as confused as me but both of us are smiling with excitement. “What’s going on?” I whisper.

BANG BANG BANG!

This time it's on our roof. I whip the blanket off of me and jump up to look out the window.  I rip the curtains out of my  way and peak outside. I sigh in relief. So far nothing is to be seen.  Out of the corner of my eye I catch two of our teachers, Mrs. Zimmerman and Mr. Wolf. I jump up and run toward the door. As I struggle with the lock in the dark I scream “Mr. Wolf! Mrs. Zimmerman! I saw you!”

I run out into the cold night air looking for the culprits. I repeat angrily “Mr. Wolf! Mrs. Zimmerman! I saw you outside our window about to knock on it!” I watch Mrs. Zimmerman walk out from behind our cabin and before I get a chance to speak again I’m being scolded by Mrs. Zimmerman. “What are you doing outside your cabin after lights out!?” I try to defend myself by accusing her of being one of the many people keeping us awake but she wouldn’t have any of it. I drag myself back to the cabin, disappointed at the fact that after I caught her red handed she gets to scold me for being unhappy. I turn to my roommate who looks like they’re going explode with laughter. I turn away from her trying not to laugh at her tomato like face, which is is suppressing a laugh. I drop onto my bed like a stone and lay there exhausted. I was ready for another round of chaos outside but to my relief nothing happened. Once I fell asleep I didn’t wake once, that night was one crazy thing that we still talk about to this day.

The next day the teachers were blaming the whole ordeal on bears and and guy in my class named Vladik, but I know the truth. Mrs. Zimmerman and Mr. Wolf: I saw them both part of the chaos that night, and I know they weren’t the only culprits. There were the other teachers among them. It wasn’t any bear attack that scared half the camp to death. And it wasn’t Vladik making us white like ghosts from fear. No, the teachers were running outside like wild animals hitting our roofs and making us shudder at the thunderous noise. It was the teachers blaming us poor innocent students for what they did because they have power. The teachers were the culprits that night but yet they pretend they weren’t.

Despite all the craziness and arguing we could all agree on the fact that we were hungry, so we spent the next half hour eating a nice big breakfast. All in all, it was fun. We had a big day ahead of us so we trotted down to the bus, stopping to pet the puppies, and left for yet another day full of adventures that included horseback riding, a skit put on by us, a campfire, and surprisingly, fireworks! We all had fun on our last day in Altai and hoped to go there again. As sad as it is, all good things must come to an end.

We learnt a lot of new things during the trip. Including that teachers are far more fun than you think… Sometimes. And even though we went tired and sore to bed almost every day, I bet the teachers did the same. We did a lot of crazy and fun things that I want to do again in the near future and hope that I will. All of us were exhausted when when we came back to Moscow but each one of us had learnt something new, crazy things are fun too.

Our trip in Altai may not have been what we expected but it was fun nonetheless.  We went rafting, horseback riding and on a rope course. We had fun despite all the complications and all the adrenaline that kept us awake past lights out. Although we kept on whispering to each other all night long, we were able to stay awake all day long, well not me, I slept on the bus. And on the ground when I could. When we were on the plane back to Moscow a kept on wishing we could have stayed in Altai at least a week longer. I wish to get to visit Altai once again in the near future, and experience the great outdoors once again. Maybe someday in the far future I’ll be taking my own kids on trips to Altai annually and meet new people each time. I hope that future grade eights get to have as much fun as I did in Altai and that they’re more prepared than me. And one word to Altai, I’ll be back. That's a promise.