THANKSGIVING!!

Thanksgiving is definitely not my favorite holiday but I still enjoy this day. It's a time that I get to spend time with the people who are closest in my life, my family, and am able to eat good food. I think that this year I looked forward to Thanksgiving so much more because of two things. The main reason I was exctied for Thanksgiving was to see my family and after my friend's misfortune, it just made me want to see them even more. It had been about three weeks since I had seen my family and I missed them a lot. The second reason I was looking forward to Thanksgiving was for the food because the food at Wartburg definitely does not compare to homemade meals. I ate so much that day. I might have gained my freshman 15 in one day (just kidding!). My grandma made the best spread of turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, different side salads, homemade rolls, and homemade pies. There was no way that I could pass all of this up so I had it all...in small portions of course.This break allowed me to spend a lot of valuable time with my family, create new memories of decorating the house for christmas, and get caught up on sleep. I didn't want to come back especially because I know these next two to three weeks are going to be stressful/busy ones. I know this because I have two final projects due, a speech, a normal exam, and two final exams. On top of all this work, I also have track practice everyday except Sunday and have to work at the pool. I can't wait until it's over and I am back at home for a three week break. Hope it comes fast. Wish me luck(:

Learning to be more thankful

This last week I really learned how much I have to be thankful for. Ironically, I didn't come to this realization because it was the week of Thanksgiving though. This past week, one of my friends went through one of the toughest things possible. She unexpectedly lost her father. Friday morning her dad went in for a routine gall bladder surgery. Her family was told that there were to be no complications. However, during the surgery her father unexpectedly started hemorrhaging. He was lifeflighted to the hospital in Des Moines. Before he was put onto the helicopter, he started singing to his daughter, "I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again!" She told me afterwards that at that point she knew in her heart that her dad was not going to make it through the night and he didn't. He slipped into a coma before the helicopter reached Des Moines and was put onto a ventilator. The family was told that there was no possible way of bringing him back. The only way that he would be able to stay alive was by being hooked to this machine but he would never regain consciousness. When I recieved this news Friday night, I realized how grateful I was to have all of my family members safe and healthy. I can't imagine the pain my friend and her family were going through. I know that if this were ever to happen to me, it would be unbearable. I now thank god everyday for everything that I am thankful for. It has really put what is most important in my life into perspective.

Max Outs

Strength and conditioning for track started seven weeks ago. We started off the first week by maxing out except it wasn't a full max out. Coach Norton was only letting us go to 85% so this week finally are able to try to lift 100% of our maximum weight. We had our first day of max outs yesterday that included the power clean, front squat, 300 m shuttle, sit ups, and push ups. It was a tiring process but in the end it was totally worth it. Seeing how much my maxs had gone up made me feel really good about myself. I found out a lot about myself. I realized that if I put my mind to something and told myself that I could accomplish something I actually could. For my first lift, the power clean, I ended up raising my max by 25 pounds. I could do over 100 pounds and I never thought in my four years here that I would be able to do that so getting it done in my Freshman year here. The second lift, the front squat, I thought I was going to be done at 135 because I struggled with it a little bit. However the girls at my platform thought that I could do more so they encouraged me to try going up five pounds. I trusted them so I said I'd try it. I told myself that I could and with a little encouragement from my teammates I ended up being able to put it up. The best part of being able to lift that was looking at Coach Norton and seeing her give me a big smile of appreciation. The only thing she wanted out of us for that day and the day to come is to give it our all and to push ourselves. Every girl in that weight room gave her just that and made her very proud. It's a good feeling knowing that you did something right and that someone else is proud of you for it. It makes all the pain and fatigue worth it.

Basketball Game

I went to my first Wartburg basketball game the other week. It was technically a JV game but some friends of mine who live on my floor were playing so I felt obligated to go. Before I start talking about the game, I want to talk about one thing that I found to be interesting but kind of sad at the same time. As I was sitting in the crowd, I noticed how segregrated we were. The white people sat with each other and same with the black people. There was no intermingling. This surprised me becaues I thought that we had gotten past all of this segregation in our generation. Anyways, the girls played pretty good for their first college game. It definitely took them some time getting used to playing with the play clock which makes sense because it isn't used in high school ball. There were a couple times where the buzzer went off and some girls stopped playing while other girls continued so they ended up losing a couple points because of this but they eventually got the hang of it. The girls ended up losing to the Loras JV team by ten points. For their first game, I didn't think that was bad. When I was watching them play, I found myself missing the game which is surprising because in high school after my freshman year this was my least favorite game out of the three that I played. The reason was because the coach that I had didn't make it fun. He was constantly chewing us out, screaming at us, and throwing clipboards. I remember this one time at a halftime of a game where he actually ended up breaking one. He was putting so much emphasis on winning that it took away from everyone's joy of the game on the team. I feel like quite a few high school coaches end up doing this. They get so hung up on winning which is a good concept but they forget that most of the team is just out because we enjoy the game and find it fun. By taking that away, they take away the fight and will that the team has to put forth the effort to win. Who wants to work hard for a coach that's going to make his team dread the game?

First SNOW!

I don't know how long it has been since we made it to Winter without getting snow a month or more before hand. This year I thought that we might actually have had a chance because the weather was being pretty cooperative. It wasn't getting unbareably cold like it usually does around this time. It has actually been quite warm. There were days in October that I wore shorts because it was that warm outside. Granted I did have to wear a sweatshirt but still. Fall weather is the best. Being able to wear jeans and a sweatshirt and still be comfortable is my favorite. Usually this kind of temperature doesn't last long. Last year if I remember right, I think that by the end of October it was freezing. However, although the weather had been super warm and it looked like we were going to make it to winter before it snowed, that didn't happen. One day in November it decided to snow. It wasn't even a pretty first snow because the minute I walked outside and looked at it, it was basically slush. The grounds of Wartburg were a wet mess. People did have a lot of fun though having snowball fights and making snowmen. There was one guy who was making tons and tons of snowmen who told me he wanted to break his record from last year which was 92 snowmen. That's a crazy amount of snowmen. It hasn't snowed since and the days still aren't too terribly cold. I'm hoping that it will stay this way at least until I am home on winter break. I don't want to walk through the snow to class or have to deal with my car in the snow. So let's pray for the snow and ice to wait until everyone is home safe on break! (:

Successful week for Wartburg Athletics

When I took my first college visit to Wartburg, multiple people bragged about how the athletics at this school were superior to many other colleges. I was shown the banners lining the main hall in the W and saw the many trouphies also but I never realized how truthful they were being until this past week when the football team, girls soccer, and girls cross country team proved it to me. Friday night, the soccer team started it off by winning their first national tournament game 2 to 0. Everyone on campus was really excited for them and were ready to go out the next night to support them at their next round game. Then Saturday morning, I worked the Regional Cross Country Meet. This meet determined what teams or individuals would be moving onto the National Meet that will be held this coming weekend in Wisconsin. Anyways, I was really excited to watch the girls run because they are also part of the track team and it's fun to cheer your teammates on. Also, I was anxious to see the Freshman on the team, that had already broken the cross country record, run. I had heard from numerous people about her talent as a distant runner and saw exactly what they were talking about. She came right out of the gate and maintained her second place position until the very end. The rest of the girls on the team also did a awesome job with all of them finishing in the very first portion of the group of participants. They ended up taking home the Regional Championship. To add to all the excitement, was the exciting football game that was being played against Luther, our arch rivals. Throughout the week, the suspense had been building with different groups selling "Beat Luther" t-shirts, handing out stickers, and placing signs around campus. The football team ended up making everyone proud by winning the game. So this week the fall atheltics of Wartburg set the bar high for the remaining athletic groups that have yet begun or competed yet. Hopefully the Knights can keep it going!

Feels like a SAUNA....

There were four days in the beginning of October where it felt like it was only 40 degrees outside and it didn't feel much warmer in our room. We had gotten an email from our building advisor a couple days before saying the heat had been turned on but no hot air if any at all was being blown out of our vents. We decided to send him an email asking if there was something we were supposed to do to turn it on in or room or if our heater was just not working. Not even five minutes later after sending that email, I discovered our thermometer. It had been hidden by our microwave since we had moved in and we hadn't seen it. It was set on the lowest temperature setting and that's why our room had been freezing. There were nights where I would be wearing sweatpants, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, coat, and boots trying to stay warm. Now however, sometimes I wish my room was freezing again because it has become ungodly hot. Our thermostat is set on 60 degrees and it feels like it's set at 80. Our windows are cracked to let in some cool air but it's hard to find a happy medium. Another problem that comes along with having our heat on, is how dry our room gets. My hands, lips, and nose feel dry all the time. It gets hard to breathe in and out of your nose at night. My mom tried giving me some ideas on how to make it better such as placing a cup of water on top of the heater or buying a small dehumidifier. I guess this is just something you have to deal with when you go to college. Have to love it :)

Midnight Madness Cancelled!! :)

Thursday afternoon I recieved some really good news. Our midnight madness practice for track was cancelled. This coming Sunday night at midnight we were supposed to have practice until 2 in the morning. I guess this is a tradition for the Wartburg Track and Field program because Monday is the official first day that teams can start practicing so Coach Newsom thinks that practicing right away at 12 would put us ahead. It actually kind of sounded like it might be fun except for the fact that everyone is expected to be in class the next morning and I have class at 7:45. If we don't show up for class, we would have extra conditioning to do on top of our practice that we would still be having at 4 o'clock on Monday afternoon. So basically we were going to be having a two-a-day practice day. Anyways for this so called midnight madness practice, I was kind of excited because we were going to do some kick boxing type exercises. All the upperclassmen had told me that it absolutely stunk but I wanted to be able to find out for myself. I mean I know that none of these practices this season are going to be easy by any means but kick boxing has been something I have always wanted to try. I guess I will just have to wait until next year though which in a way I am still okay with because I like my sleep and only getting four to five hours of sleep before a full day of classes the next day and practice again does not sound appealing.

Halloween

Halloween is not my favorite holiday but I still get excited for it. I like seeing all the costume ideas everyone comes up with as well as decorations and let's not forget about all the candy that is involved. I used to love it when my brother would go trick-or-treating and bring home his bag of loot. There was so much candy that he'd finally give in and share. This year I was home the weekend before Halloween for fall break so when I got ready to come back on Sunday, my mom gave me a huge bag of candy since I wouldn't be able to steal any of my little brothers this year. She also wasn't sure if people would go trick-or-treating through the dorms which surprisingly no one did. Anyways, since halloween was on Monday this year, I was kind of excited to go to class and see if anyone had been brave enough to dress up. Turns out my Professor for Biology was. He dressed up in a Star Wars costume and even had a light saber. It was a pretty good outfit and seemed to brighten everyone's moods in class. Then during my class in the afternoon my professor handed out candy and also was dressed up wearing a huge graduation hat. That night for supper there was supposed to be a Monster Bash where anyone could dress up and there would be a contest to see who had the best costume. I didn't participate because I didn't have a costume yet and wasn't sure what to be but it was fun to see everyone elses. Although there weren't very many students that dressed up. Overall, Halloween was an okay day but it wasn't at all what I expected it to be like in college.