Tag: college volleyball

Mid-Term Evaluations: What is College Really Like?

Hello and welcome back to The Grow Up Project! Us college students have been getting hit with midterms the past few weeks, and I thought that this would be a great time in the semester to point out the differences I see between college and high school. I’ve put together a list of 5 things that stand out to me at this  point in college.

My First Year Experience Class (also known as the McGilley House) won the first house competition-trivia!
  1. Meetings: College is all about meetings. I know I’ve said it before because I was amazed at the amount of meetings that I have to go to. Meetings for my volleyball team (on top of practice), weekly student government meetings, professors want to meet with students outside of class. If you want to talk to someone who is not a student while in college, you have to schedule a meeting.
  2. Tests: I have had all of 1 test (max) per class this semester. ONE. I’m scheduled to have about three total tests in most of my classes, including the final. It’s weird not having a test after every chapter or unit like happens a lot in high school.
  3. Teachers: I don’t know about you, but most of my high school teachers didn’t have a PhD. Almost all of my college professors do. And surprisingly, these people are honestly very lenient. They take attendance at my school, but not at most bigger institutions. They almost always let us out of class early (there’s a few exceptions, of course). A lot of my professors are hilarious, too.  The thing that I like best about the professors at my school is that they care. One of my teammates was going on a visit to a different college this week, and my theology professor called (yes, like on the phone) her to try to convince her to stay.  That’s dedication.
  4. Living Conditions: Okay duh Reagan. But hear me out. Yes, clearly I’m in a completely different place than I would be at home, but it still feels like home to me. I feel like I live in a giant apartment building where I know all my neighbors. Where we hang out and watch scary movies in the lounge. Where we have the loud side of the hallway and the quiet side. Where there’s music playing at almost all hours of the day. Living in the dorms is actually pretty fun if you make it that way. That’s the thing about college, it is what you make it.

    My house won the second competition, too! We Escaped!
  5. The People: At my little school in Kansas, we have a lot of people from California. The first few weeks, our dorm hosted several meet and greet opportunities and a lot of people showed up. People from California repeatedly told me that people from Kansas were “so nice”. That we weren’t super judgy or materialistic. Now, despite what some may  be thinking, I actually agree with them. And my college showcases that well. I have met some of the most amazing people here on campus. People are really nice because everyone is in the same boat. At the beginning, no one knows each other, then the friend groups form, but for some reason college students are extremely open to meeting new people and trying new things. It’s honestly a great atmosphere.
  6. BONUS–The Homesickness: I am only 45ish minutes from home. But I have friends who are 2, 3, 4+ hours away. If I get homesick, I know they must, too. Going away to college has its appeal, until you’re there. It is weird being “removed” from your old life. I  notice how much I’m missing when I do go home. My siblings are growing up, my pets are getting older, and my high school has changed a ton. You take for granted all of that when you are right in the midst of it. But when you’re gone, even for just a few weeks, a lot does change. And goshdangit, it is really hard to shop for presents for people you aren’t around all the time!

College so far has been all it’s cracked up to be. I love the people here, classes aren’t bad at all (right now), and this is for sure one of the best experiences of my life.

I also want to let y’all in on a little secret. Well, I’ll give a hint.  A few of my friends and I had an idea over breakfast for dinner (at 11pm). It involves cameras. Stay tuned next week for the big reveal!

 

Image result for quotes about college

College Rule #1: Take Care of Yourself

This was the week that the professor’s hit us with tests, papers, and lots and lots of homework. Which hits us college students with lots and lots of mental breakdowns.

Honestly, reflecting on my week helps me to actually realize that it goes much better than I think during the rough situations. It’s weird how the bad always pushes out the good. You could be having the best week of your life, one thing goes wrong and it becomes the worst week. Odd.

But now that I think about it….

Last week was busy. Very busy. That is probably why this past weekend, my body felt like it’d had enough. The cool thing about our bodies is that if we don’t stop to take the the time to properly care for ourselves in every sense, physically and emotionally, our bodies force us too.  Sunday evening I began to get migraine symptoms. I don’t use the term ‘migraine’ lightly because it bothers me when people refer to a headache as a migraine. In my opinion, they are not the same at all.

Migraines don’t hit me very often, maybe once a year or every two. The last one that was pretty bad hit my freshman year of high school, so it’s been awhile. First, I’ll wrap up my week so you can follow and compare the events that led up to this. Feel free to skip my weekly wrap and head to my main point at the bottom.

Monday: Early morning position sessions for volleyball, practice, cafeteria, and a soccer game. I really should have been starting a paper, but that’s beside the point. Not a bad day all in all.

Tuesday: The volleyball team had an away game, and I didn’t travel so I got the evening off. After class that day, I started reading the chapter for next theology class. And I woke up and hour and a half later. Looking back, that was the first sign that I was tired and needed to pay a little extra attention to myself. I proceeded to stay up late that night to finish several homework assignments.

Wednesday: quiz over chapter that I fell asleep reading (don’t worry, I did finish it!) and then practice. Then bible study, then more homework, another late night.

Thursday: I looked at my planner and stressed about all the things I needed to do and wouldn’t be able to because of our home volleyball game. Those who know me know that I stress out pretty fast and it consumes me. Don’t be like that. I am currently working on it.

Friday: 6:30 am morning practice at which we ran SO MUCH. Literally, probably the most I’ve ever run in any practice of any sport for discipline reasons. That afternoon, my management class was cancelled and my day was made. We had a test (which I of course was stressing about) and because class was cancelled, it got moved to Monday! I was so happy that it was finally the weekend and I could just relax. I sat down that afternoon, wrote a paper, felt super productive, and allowed myself to stay up into the early morning hours watching a Netflix show. (I highly reccommend The 100!)

Saturday: I got up and and drove back home with my boyfriend to watch the Husker game and stop by my house to pick up a few things. We got back around 4:15 and I had to leave to work the Brett Eldredge concert at 4:50. The team works concerts for fundraisers and it’s not a bad gig, except you end up standing in place literally the entire night. And believe me, it’s different to work the concert instead of just being there. We aren’t allowed to sing or dance, we have to be very professional, and be mean to people who try to finess their way into the wrong section.  Yet again, another late night.

Sunday: I get up, my roommate and I go get tickets for the Royals game, and then we leave shortly after. It was a super hot day. When we left, after what felt like the longest game ever, we got some free chocolate so that was cool. Towards the end of the game, I began to feel weird. It was that feeling that something was off, I just couldn’t figure out what. I dismissed it as being tired. That night, I had some homework to catch up on and a test to study for. The weird feeling never went away, but I still couldn’t figure it out.

Monday I woke up with extreme pressure in my head. Not the sort of pressure you get from being sick or having allergies, just pressure. It was behind my temples and back farther, and then behind my forehead. It wasn’t exactly painful, just uncomfortable. As the day went on, it got worse, and it got more intense whenever I chewed or pressed my teeth together. I called my mom (aka my doctor, basically) to see what she thought. She warned me of a migraine and I took a concoction of meds that have proven to work against migraines in the past.

This morning I woke up to slightly less pressure, but a little bit of a headache. I took some pain meds, went to my morning position session. When I came back, I noticed my vision was a little blurry. My eyeballs felt really hot and felt like they were too big for their sockets. It has continued all day and I know that is one of my migraine symptoms.

Moral of the story: TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF IN COLLEGE. Stay hydrated. I know for a fact that I have been dehydrated several times while I’ve been here, and I ONLY DRINK WATER. Imagine how much easier it is for kids who drink pop on a daily basis, too. Take vitamins. They actually help so much and you don’t realize it until you stop taking them. Take your allergy medicine. It will help prevent sickness caused by allergies. SLEEP. I can’t stress this one enough. Yes, you need to get your work done and study for your tests but you need sleep to do any of that well.

Last week, I was a mess and I was stressed. I had late nights and early mornings. As a result, I am now fighting off a migraine. This was my body’s way of telling me that I need to slow down. So put the effort into yourself. You might not get a migraine. It could be a cold, or you could get injured in practice simply because your body is so stressed. (It does actually happen.)

Listen to your body. It’s the only one you’ve got.

Related image

The Night Before School…

It is officially the night before classes begin at my university. I’ve only been here a little over a week but it feels like it’s been a month! Call me crazy, I am actually looking forward to classes starting. I love my routine and so far, college has not been kind to any sort of order.

For those of you who are interested how last week went, it went. Pre-season, more commonly known around campus as “hell week,” was very long. I only experienced it from the perspective of an indoor athlete, but I’m sure soccer and football feel similarly about this past week. Pre-season is basically a week full of two (or more) practices a day, weights and conditioning, and team bonding. The week seems to drag out forever while simultaneously flying by. Hence my feeling that I’ve been here for a month. For me, every practice felt like a day.

To be honest, no, I did not enjoy pre-season. In fact, after the first practice I was questioning if I really wanted to stick with it. The first day was awful. I didn’t know anything, felt like my skill level was miniscule in comparison to the other girls, and I was so tired and sore. To state the obvious, I was not prepared for this week. While I didn’t really like pre-season, I realize a lot of people don’t. (Refer to previous mention of the term “hell week.”) And while the first couple days absolutely killed me, the practices got better, I’m starting to learn the terminology, drills, and defenses my coach has in place. I can tell that I’m improving already. Still, at this point I wouldn’t say that I’m  having fun. Of course, I love my teammates and we do have fun times, but college volleyball is a whole different ball game than high school (which I expected). I say this having only just finished pre-season and having zero games under my belt. Clearly, I haven’t even experienced half of what is to come, which is why I decided to stick out the season.

On a completely different note, the class of 2022 was officially inducted into the University of Saint Mary this morning at a matricualtion ceremony. Basically, we all got dressed up, went to the chapel, lit a candle, and were prayed over. While we were at the ceremony, it really hit me that the students at my university are extremely cared about and loved by the staff and faculty. Coming from a small town and high school, that is something that is very important to me and I love that I was able to find a college where I still have the feeling of family.

Before the matriculation ceremony, I had to go through freshman orientation. Sunday was the main day, we had something happening from 9am to 9pm. We were broken up into houses (different groups) and we are in that house for the rest of the year. Basically, the houses are our FYE (first year experience) classes and we compete against all the other houses in different competitions throughout the year. I’m in the McGilly house (aka the honors house). We’re the smallest house ( we have 14 people, the other houses have 20+). While we are at a slight disadvantage in the athletic events (tug of war 14 vs 23?) we’re at a huge advantage in the friendship department. I know everyone in my house, can remember all their names, and we have fun when we’re together. We’re even making plans to go have dinner.

What I’ve deduced from this past week is that college is actually pretty awesome. People are nice (for the most part) and are eager to make friends (again, mostly). I’ve met so many different types of people in just one week than I did in my entire high school career. And I love it! My first friends were my teammates, but that circle has been extended so much and I’m thankful that I’ve had the opportunity to meet all these people. Tomorrow will extend that circle even more. A lot of people I’ve talked to say you meet a lot of your friends in class.

I start my college career with a 9:30am Accounting class. What direction my life will take after this week, month, semester, and year, I don’t know. I’ve met some amazing people in one week alone and if this week is any indication of how the next four years will go, I can’t wait!

P.S sorry, I still have no pictures from the scavenger hunt and sadly, we lost.