Photo Guy Ackermans After my final exam of the year, I thought it would be a good idea to welcome my freshly acquired freedom by going wild camping. I invited a good friend to share this adventure with me on this tropically warm day. I gathered the key necessities for the night: a speaker, a picnic blanket, peanuts, beers, and a book about constellations that I had once bought on a whim to broaden my horizons, both figuratively and literally.
When I arrived at our agreed rendezvous point that evening, my friend wasn’t there yet. I took off my shoes and, with my toes in the tall grass, I decided to leaf through my book. I came across the myth of Orion and Scorpio: the overconfident Orion claims that he could kill any animal on earth. Gaia, the goddess of the earth, decides to test him and sends a scorpio after him. The scorpio kills Orion, but the poor creature pays with his life. Zeus then places the Scorpio and Orion at opposite ends of the starry sky to prevent them from ever attacking each other again. This is why we can’t see both of them in our night sky at the same time.
As the twilight gives way to the quiet night, the constellations slowly draw themselves in the dark night sky
While I am still contemplating about how the Mesopotamians and Greeks came up with all these myths, my fellow adventurer arrives to our camping spot, smiling cheerfully. I leave the mythology for what it is and put on some music while we nibble on some peanuts.
As the twilight gives way to the quiet night, the constellations slowly draw themselves in the dark night sky. This immediately proves to be the golden recipe for a deep conversation. Time and distance are only relative concepts when sitting under the stars. You simultaneously look back millions of years in time as many light years away. No wonder our conversation travels through time and space without paying attention to the laws of nature.
When our eyes start to get heavy, we decide to spread out the picnic blanket and lie down. Soon we slumber off to sleep under Mother Nature’s starry blanket. When I open my eyes a little in the middle of the night, I see the mighty constellation of Scorpio right above our heads watching over us.
Philip Timmers (19) is a first-year bachelor’s student in International Development Studies. He likes gardening and is always up for some fun. He enjoys reading in nature on warm summer days.
