The Balancing Act

Life, it seems, is one big balancing act for junior Tanya Hunt.

You might think she’d have little time for anything beyond studying, considering her courseload in the fall 2010 semester includes classes and labs in physics, physical chemistry, biology and biochemistry. But the counterweight to this academic overload is Hunt’s oversized passion for travel and outdoors fun. If you happen to spy a tall, thin woman walking a tightrope of sorts strung between two trees on campus, it’s a safe bet you’re watching Hunt slackline.

Slacklining, for those in the dark, is the art of walking along a one-inch-wide nylon strap suspended a few feet off the ground. Hunt and her friends usually practice this unique balancing acts on campus and in the public parks around Charleston, but this past summer she took her sport overseas to Spain, where she traveled for three months. Hunt spent half of her trip living in Trujillo, where the College has a study-abroad program, and the other half living out of a rental car, which presented its challenges.

“It was really tiny, and I’m really tall,” Hunt says of her mobile home. “It was 
an experience.”

One time, outside the city of Valencia, Hunt and her boyfriend made a friend while slacklining in a park. They invited the Spaniard back to their car for a meal of curry, and ended up talking for hours, discussing everything from Buddhist philosophy to the death penalty.

Back at the College this school year, Hunt is trying to keep her wanderlust at bay while concentrating on her studies. When she graduates, though, she says she’s ready to spread her wings again, and will likely join the Peace Corps, bound for destination unknown.

Wherever she ends up, rest assured she’ll be sure to pack a slackline.