Of all the things I thought I would have to worry about during my first weeks at college, the last was swine flu. Right now there have been 12 cases on campus, and if it gets up to 20 classes are going to be cancelled. Fortunately I don’t know anyone who has caught it. I’m not scared but I don’t want it to impact me or the start of lacrosse.
I’m nervous if I catch the flu I could lose days of practice and opportunities to show my new coach how I can play. It will set my level of play and physicial abilities back behind the other girls, which I don’t want to happen.
Only I would worry about how something like this would affect my sports rather than my physical health.
Everyone on campus has been talking about the flu, but I’m really not that worried about catching it. I’m washing my hands a lot and trying to limit contact with other people’s possessions.
Things have really started to heat up with lacrosse this week. The team is getting united and more comfortable with our coach, and we are really getting into the swing of things. Our coach is really energetic and excited for the season, and she is making me feel the same way. Coming in not knowing the coach made me nervous but I’m definitely more excited to start.
We started testing on Monday, which consists of all the basics — vertical jump, broad jump, the 10, 40 and 300 yard dashes — and upperclassmen tested their lifting. This gives the coach an idea of our condition. I have to improve on some things but I’m feeling comfortable compared to the other girls. I definitely have to improve my speed, but I’m not worried about the lifting part because I’m a pretty big girl compared to the others, and playing on the Darien volleyball team, where we lifted a lot, definitely prepared me on technique.
I’m excited to get my lacrosse gear and see my name over my locker so it feels more official. All the girls on my team are so awesome and I couldn’t be happier with that.
In high school they prepared you for classes as if you were going to a Big 10 school, where it is 60-plus kids and they make you think you will be on your own with no support from you professors. That’s not the case here at all. The professors are very personal, they want you to succeed and they do care about you. I was nervous in the aspect that the teachers in high school made it seem like you have to fend for yourself, but that is not the reality at all.
I had to write a paper for my history class and I guess I did some things wrong, which should be expected because I am not the best writer, and my professor wrote on the bottom of my paper to come see him. At the end of class I went and talked to him and he was totally understanding. I explained why I wrote what I wrote about, and he said I just needed to change a few things and then to come back and see him and he would help me through it. I thought that was so awesome. It definitely made me comfortable. He’s a great professor. From the first day he had me intrigued, which doesn’t usually happen to me in the classroom.
Our first fall practice is next Wednesday so next week I will be able to let you know if I survived it.
Hopefully I will have avoided the swine flu as well.
Good writing is a hard thing to learn. I did in HS, and it served me very well through college and for so many years after I won’t mention it. It is the key to success, so don’t give up your blog and strive to do well in your class writing by getting all the teachers you can to give you all the criticism they can about your writing. You’ll learn from it. Don’t let them be nice, get them to tell you how to make it better. You’ll learn and you will remember if you care. And you should care. People that cannot write will not succeed. Period. And you touched on another important point, maybe you didn’t realize: be intrigued by your teachers. Find a way. If you are, you’ll learn more and will need to study less, if at all, because you’ll take it in in class.
Good luck.
Comment by bowman — September 6th, 2009 @ 12:20 am