Groaning, junior Matthew Burdeshaw summons his last bit of strength and reaches up for the hand-hold.  Burdeshaw finally makes it to the top of the rock wall he is climbing. He feels the thrill of victory before he is let down on his rope.

Burdeshaw has been rock climbing regularly for the past two years. He is one of many students that use the summer as an opportunity to go somewhere other than the beach. Many teenagers are doing new things during the summer that push their boundaries. Burdeshaw started climbing after attending a rock climbing birthday party  in middle school. He now climbs at the Earth Treks in Timonium, Md. Earth Treks is an indoor gym filled with rock climbing walls and workout machines.

“Climbing is a lot of fun but very hard. By the end of the day, your muscles are burning,” Burdeshaw said. “It is technique and strategy, not all strength.”

Rock walls at Earth Treks can be anywhere from 10-50 ft. high. The walls range from beginner to experienced. Burdeshaw explains that he is not intimidated by the walls, because a rope is attached to him when he is higher than 15 ft. up. He finished his hardest climb at Smith Rocks in Oregon last summer in 2012.

“Climbing is painful until you get to the top, then it feels good,” Burdeshaw said.

Not everyone spent their summer doing extreme sports, others traveled to foreign countries to see the world.

Sophomore Taylor Sommer looks nervously at the ‘delicacy’ on her plate.  She is about to eat a sushi roll containing pig’s blood and spleen.

“It was actually was really good,” Sommer said.

Sommer was served the sushi when she went to Spain by herself for three weeks this past summer.

In the past, Sommer has been part of the Friends to Friends exchange student program. The program matches students from other countries up.  This year, she decided not to be a part of the program, but she still wanted her Spanish friend, Fabiola Revilla-Sanchez, to come to the United States.  However, this year, Revilla-Sanchez’s parents explained that she could only visit the United States if Sommer went to Spain as well.

Sommer was apprehensive about the trip. She would be traveling alone and did not know how to speak any Spanish, only English and French. However, according to Sommer, “most people spoke fluent English.”

“I was really nervous, because I don’t like flying at all,” Sommer said.

In Spain, Sommer got to visit Madrid, Burgois, and Segovia. She stayed in Burgois for a week and Portugal for two weeks. “The only bad part was that nowhere had air-conditioning,” Sommer said.

At night, Sommer enjoyed going to a huge community bonfire in Burgois. People danced, and she could listen to music. Sommer enjoyed her trip and seeing her friend so much that she is planning on going back again next year.

More students used summer as an opportunity to go to concerts and meet celebrities. Vans Warped Tour, Imagine Dragons, and One Direction were some of the favorites.

Surrounded by screaming and crying girls, junior Emily Kern patiently waits for an hour to meet the band members of One Direction. When it is finally her turn, she steps up to hug the band members and talk to them.

“I was a little nervous, but mostly excited,” Kern said.

Kern paid a large sum of money for a meet and greet followed by a sound check and concert with One Direction on June 25 in Philadelphia. She had to wait in the back of the line for about an hour with 30 to 40 other people waiting to meet them.

All the fans could meet One Direction, get hugs, and take pictures. The band members danced around and acted crazily, because they were hyper from energy drinks. “Niall smashed his red bull can next to me,” Kern said. They drank the energy drinks because they did not get enough sleep the night before.

“I couldn’t believe I was meeting them, it was surreal,” Kern said.

Kern could not wait to meet her favorite One Direction member, Harry Styles. Styles hugged Kern and said that it was nice to meet her. When she left, he hugged her a second time.   “It definitely exceeded my expectations. I didn’t expect them to be so nice and funny but they were,” Kern said.

Rachel Amrhein is a Multimedia Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.