Relaxing Away Relaxation Days

Good morning everyone! The day has finally arrived! The new freshmen are packed up and unloading their lives into their new homes. I woke up this morning at 8:00 and headed down to the cafeteria at 8:30 for breakfast to find campus already buzzing with activity. The orientation leaders, who I've witnessed working very hard and planning fun and exciting events all week, were swarming around anxiously waiting to greet the young, nervous souls. Though it will be a busy weekend for all of you freshmen, it will surely be fun as well!

Because I play volleyball, I could not be an orientation leader. But, this weekend is a big one for my teammates and I as well. Tomorrow morning at 11:00 is our season kick-off. We are hosting a triangular with Waldorf and DSU. Varsity will play at both 11:00 and 3:00 and JV won't be left out as we play at 3:00. All 25 members of the team have survived the first two weeks of practice. The soreness is wearing away and the rustiness of the summer months has been cleared. We have all been working hard, sweating away gallons of water from our bodies, and I think we're ready to play. It's always a bit nerve-racking for me to step back on the court for the first time without a clue as to where my team stands in relation to opponents. It would be fantastic to start the season off 2-0, and we've been working for it and together believe it is possible! So fans out there, come on down and watch the show!

As I'm writing this, I'm debating how I want to spend all my free time today. Now that two-a-days are done, I have the time to relax, and it's almost a bit overwhelming because I have so much free time to occupy. :) Yesterday morning I drove to Hartington, NE to get my official 21-year-old license. Woohoo! My birthday isn't actually until Sunday, so let me explain for non-Nebraska residents. In good ole NE, our licenses expire on our 21st birthdays, so the state issues new ones up to 10 days prior to your actual birthday. I was pretty pumped about my morning adventure for two reasons: 1) I made it to Hartington without getting lost and then only drove around for about 3 minutes before randomly and luckily stumbling upon the courthouse's whereabouts and 2) I look decent in my picture and mastered that stupid little touch screen signing machine. Once back in Yankton safe and sound, I edited the last of the papers I needed to read as the student editor for Scholastica, an undergraduate research journal of MMC students' papers. Call me what you will, but I actually enjoy editing (maybe a grammar cop? :)). Having enjoyably occupied myself all morning, I decided to make the afternoon just as exciting. I went with a friend and fellow volleyball player, Kate Carda, to her grandma's house here in Yankton to play a rousing card game of hand and foot. I had never even heard of the game, but it turned out to be relatively easy to catch on to and wasn't too challenging but did require strategy. I came in second and was fairly pleased with myself for catching on so quickly. Kate's grandma is an absolute sweetheart! Though getting up there in age, she gets around incredibly well, and I was shocked to learn she even has a three wheeler bike thing. She told the cutest stories and definitely held her own at cards. I really enjoyed visiting with her and was sad to leave when practice time rolled around. I survived practice, though I was far from impressed with my play last night, and came back to my room where I spent a few random hours chatting and wandering and then settled on my futon where I finished Nicholas Sparks' At First Sight. It was a great book and incredibly sad at the end, so I was literally crying on my futon for about 2o minutes before bed (don't judge me, I get really into my books!). That being said, yesterday was a great day. It would be wonderful if all days could be so carefree, but I think my goal for today leans more toward productivity. Right now I'm debating whether to attempt a start on my research paper over my summer research or some studying and application completing for grad school. Icky, I know.

I'm working on enjoying these last days of this week as much as possible. My birthday week is going to be off-the-wall crazy. All the returning students move back in on Sunday - I'm super excited to see my friends again! Classes start on Monday - ugh. I need to dig my motivation back up from somewhere. Tuesday I have my first lab of the year and spend the rest of the day in work study. I'm continuing to volunteer tutor one of the boys I worked with this summer at the library on Tuesday nights, so I am excited about that. And then Wednesday the volleyball team leaves at 6:00 a.m. for San Diego California!!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!! I'll leave the details of that trip for a future post. :) I can say that it is sure to be a great time despite the fact that we will miss and have to make up work for three days of class in this first week.

I'm signing off now to get my productivity on the ball. Happy school days to all of you!

Back at it

Hello all! I've been so busy since coming back from that "precious" Iowa town I spoke of in my last post, that I don't even know where to begin. Well I guess first off, I have successfully moved out of the apartment and into my dorm room. Everything is unpacked, I love my carpet, my dad built me a reliable loft (he brags about it every time he puts it up), and my walls are decorated. The decorated wall thing was quite the dilemma. You see, my nails didn't appreciate being hammered into the cement walls, so they bent under the pressure and failed me. I tried these cheap plastic hook things next, only to have pictures and posters dropping from my walls like flies and a series of exasperated, angry words coming from my mouth. So yesterday, I splurged at Walmart and bought expensive hooks that are not failing me thus far (knock on wood!). That being said, my little "hallway" of a room (I live on 4th floor Bede where the rooms are long and narrow) is quite cute and homey. =) And the best part: I'm getting a good breeze coming in my window and amplified by my fan, so it's not even grossly hot up here!

Beyond moving back to MMC, my life has been volleyball, volleyball, volleyball. The team moved in on Monday and we were supposed to have a camping trip that evening, but an angry storm stopped us in our tracks. SOOO, we "camped" overnight in the gym and had quite the team bonding experience. We played speed ball to loosen us up and then bonded around the campfire in the gym.....I mean just kidding. We bonded in a circle around the imaginary campfire. We then watched a movie and went to bed. Let's just say I'm not as young as I used to be and sleeping on the hard floor didn't make my hips so happy. We woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed and headed out to the beach to start the morning off with a jog along the bike trails by the river. It was beautiful outside and I enjoyed it (do note that I enjoy running - it is my stress reliever - but a majority of the team didn't find the 20 minute run to their liking). We got funny looks from campers along the way. I shouted a few "good mornings" to elderly people staring at us. I can't say I blame them for their curiosity though. I mean, how often do you see a troop of 28 people running along - some giddy and some half dead? Run completed, we then hit the sand for a round robin sand volleyball tournament. It was a relaxing way to introduce practice. We ended our overnight bonding experience with lunch at pizza ranch. We had meetings all afternoon on Tuesday and then our physicals at 6:00. And then ....THE SEASON BEGAN!! We had our first official practice on Tuesday night. It was a short one to basically introduce the freshmen to our offense.

I'm happy to say that I survived the next three days of two-a-day practices. I believe I lost about 10 pounds of sweat, but feel like we have accomplished a lot as a team. Everyone is fitting in nicely. The 11 new freshmen are starting to get the hang of things (and I know all of their names =)). The inevitable soreness hasn't been a lot of fun, but this afternoon I feel like it is starting to go away. Yesterday standing and sitting and walking and just being was an achy experience. My knees exploded with pain with every bend. My right achilles tendon has been a bit under the weather but is hanging in there.

And who makes it through volleyball practice without an injury? Apparently not me. Yesterday afternoon we were doing a conditioning drill called shadow defense. Coach yells "Down" after a while and everyone has to get flat on the ground and back up as fast as possible - it is a race between you and your partner. Well, beings I am clumsy and manage to acquire the dumbest injuries known to man (usually in a very dumb way) I....well...I definitely got down. I whacked my chin on the floor. It wasn't a very hard hit and didn't really hurt that badly, but I have a scar there from when I was 10 and fell on my face ice skating. I hit the scar straight on and split my chin open. I ran to Andy the trainer who informed me I needed stitches. I was so devastated at the news that he agreed to try and sew me up himself with glue and butterfly strips....and he did it! I So I have a big ugly bandage contraption on my chin, but the wound is holding together and I'm living with it. I'd rather live with a split chin than hip surgery like last year any day!

And as if volleyball wasn't enough to keep me busy, the Riverboat Days celebration is going on in Yankton this weekend. I'm off now to walk around by the river, eat, listen to music, and watch some fireworks. I'll be back early so I can get up and be functional for 6:30 a.m. practice tomorrow. ugh. We practice and then get to walk in the parade. :)

Have a great weekend, and fellow MMC students I will see you soon!

Iowa!

Greetings to all of you lovely people from Larchwood, IA!

Exactly two days before I am expected to move out of my apartment and back into the dorms, I find myself visiting my fabulous friend and roommate Brittany Sehr in her hometown - none other than small town Iowa. I came down with Tiffany Heck and Adrian O'brien, also friends of mine from Mt. Marty, and together we dubbed Larchwood as being "precious." Brittany lives in the perfect little neighborhood with green luscious grass and light brown brick houses (the kind I dream about living in someday). Her neighbor across the street is a hardcore body builder. This morning I looked out her kitchen window to see a young father pulling his three kids down the street in a mini-wagon train thing. It's just the cutest little neighborhood. Good location as well beings that it is only about 30 minutes from Sioux Falls. In fact, we drove to Sioux Falls at 4:00 this morning for some pretty fantastic strawberry banana french toast, and we are getting ready to head back soon for an afternoon of shopping - definitely great memories to end my summer with! As much as I love staying up until 5 in the morning with friends, I doubt I will have the opportunity to pursue such an adventure for quite some time. Goodbye lazy summer days and hello demanding volleyball practices. ugh.

Beyond loving my life in Larchwood, nothing new and revealing has happened in my life since my last post. I'm still making disgusted faces at the thought of having to go back to my apartment tonight and tomorrow to pack for the big move in day Saturday. I still have to-do lists up the wahzoo. BUT...deep breath here, this is big: ........ I did manage to knock off a big chunk of my grad school to-do list in a couple of afternoons I like to think of as "operation get organized." I now have three folders labeled and sorted with notes telling me deadlines and requirements. I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty proud of myself for accomplishing that. I also have shadowing experiences lined up (although one's not until a week in mid-December and the other is still in the workings as they had to do the whole background check extravaganza). All in all, it has been a busy but surprisingly productive week. Things are looking .... um..... school-ish and sure to be busier.

To-do Lists - I need to "do!"

AHHHH!! That's how I'm feeling this morning. I am mortified (good word choice, huh?) that I have only a week left of summer - well kind of not even. You see, beings my parents have to move my brother into the dorms at Northeast Tech in Norfolk, NE on Wednesday and then move my sister 14 hours away to Michigan on Friday, they are coming up a couple of days early and helping me move back into the dorms on Saturday rather than Monday. Holy mound of depressing realizations of sand-less days! a.k.a. Moving into the dorms means the beginning of two-a-day practices and the end of my lazy summer days at the beach. As much as I miss my friends and even kind of miss a normal routine, I'm just not ready for the exhaustion and pain of two-a-days and the endless studying for classes. Don't worry though, I'm sure as acceptance leaks its way into my soul, I'll gradually get excited as my final week of summer vacation slams its door in my face.

But for now, I'm playing the "crap, I need to get 101 things done before I lose this time" card. At the apartment, my roommate Brittany and I have had this summer to-do list hanging up since the beginning of July. How many things have we checked off of the 12 or so tasks? Well.....ummm....like 2, and what's even sadder is that they only count for partial credit as we didn't do them together. But yesterday I was quite alone and feeling the need to accomplish something tangible, so I ventured out to this trail called south shore with full intentions of hiking in the 100 degree heat. I found the trail (an accomplishment in itself as the one and only time Brit and I tried, we ended up completely overlooking it - well looking on the wrong side of the road - and just sitting by the rocks on the river banks and talking) and started off very much alone and very hot. And I walked...and walked...and walked. And it was beautiful and peaceful and refreshing....and well, after about an hour or so, kind of frightening. I had no idea where the path was leading, and I kept coming to forks in the road and having to chose my path (such pressure!). I had about two swallows of disgustingly warm water with me and began to have fleeting images of myself passing out from heat exhaustion in the middle of the forest and no one would have a clue where I was to come and rescue me. I even contemplated just turning around and exiting the trail the way I had come in. But I suppressed the urge and continued on. The trail eventually led up to an area where I could overlook the river! It was beautiful and calming - at least if I was going to die I would be able to yell at the people down below in the boats first. :) About 30 minutes or so later, I wound my way back to my car feeling very accomplished and ready to be a go-getter this week. "Hike at south shore" - checked off the list!

I woke up fully intending to get some summer adventure time in this morning only to find out it's cloudy and stormy looking. So I'm in the library with a second to-do list - this one concerning grad school applications. If I make it through this list, I might be doing cartwheels of jubilation through the hallways of my apartment building this evening! :)

In the meantime, I have a third to-do list forming in my head. I need to get organized back at the apartment and pack, pack, pack. The prospect of moving back to the dorms for the third time in my life without a bit of pre-planning to make the task less crabbiness-inducing is appalling. Lindsay, one of my other roommates, and I need to get some volleyball stuff organized - freshman care packages and a team bonding project. I also need to burn some CD's for my sister to entertain herself with on her 14 hour drive away from me and plan a last visit up to her cabin to see her and her husband. I finally made it up there last Friday and spent a wonderful day simply playing games, talking, and being lazy with my sister.

And with three to-do lists awaitng some "doing," I need to end this brief ramapge and "do." One today is worth two tomorrows and with that being said, I'm off. Have a great week!