After traveling the world as a wilderness guide, Richmond Eustis, assistant professor of English and Spanish, became one of the latest additions to the Nicholls faculty and brought with him an entirely new English course.

Eustis, a New Orleans native, has been a wilderness guide through a company in Wyoming for seven years and has traveled to places like the northern Rocky Mountains, Costa Rica and most recently went sea kayaking in the San Juan Islands.

Eustis said he brings as many as 15 people on his trips that include backpacking, hiking, sea kayaking and white water rafting.

“I bring people around and make sure they get wet and scared to death,” he laughed.

Speaking of being scared to death, Eustis said that he had several encounters with bears while on his trips, but he never had one charge at him.

“You just have to let them know you’re there,” he said. “When you wander away, so do they for the most part, unless you are in a condition where you are near their food or kids, or you surprise them. It’s kind of hard to surprise them though.”

The company that plans his trips is based out of Wyoming. Each summer, Eustis tells them where he would be interested in going, and they set him up and tell him how many trips he will have to go on.

“It’s usually North or South America,” he said. “I don’t really cross the ocean for guiding purposes. There are a couple of contracts in the Alps that I wouldn’t mind doing one year though.”

A normal trip with Eustis can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. His longest trip was three weeks in Costa Rica where he went sea kayaking, white water rafting, mountain climbing and hiking in the rainforest. Daily paddles are about 15 miles when on a group trip, but Eustis covers more distance on solo trips.

“I’m not looking to wear people out,” he said.

Of all his trips, Eustis said that it is difficult to isolate an aspect that he likes more than anything else.

This is Eustis’ first semester as a part of the Nicholls family, and he teaches a course that is new to the Nicholls English department. The course is English 210, Literature in the Wilderness, which Eustis said is based on the way people as writers and readers have looked at questions of nature.

“We start with a text from 2,500 B.C., so it is about a 4,500-year-old text,” he said. “It is some of the earliest forms of poetry, and then we wrap up the semester with Jon Krakauer’s ‘Into the Wild.’ “

This is Eustis’ first full-time teaching job. He was a newspaper reporter in Atlanta, Ga. for 10 years before coming back to Louisiana.

“I was just ready to get out of Georgia.”

Eustis said that while he was in graduate school, he never thought he would become a teacher. He just wanted to do research.

“To my surprise, I actually liked the teaching,” he said. “I like the aspect of discussion and challenge. I think my students are sometimes sort of surprised that I keep pressing them on particular points. They have learned and responded really well.”

Marie Cazaubon, culinary junior from Houma, is a student in Eustis’ course. She said that she likes the way Eustis makes his students look a lot deeper into the text rather than just reading it.

Aside from his literature in the wilderness class, Eustis also teaches Louisiana and world literature classes, as well as two Spanish introductory courses.

“I’m sort of the utility infielder of this place,” Eustis laughed. “I like all my classes for various reasons. I’m actually very fortunate that I get to teach. I have a great schedule, and I love teaching.”