Lessons Learned

People say you learn something new every day, which is true. There are also lessons that take a person longer to learn, maybe months or years. This year I learned a valuable lesson that did take me awhile to discover, it was not something I learned over night but throughout my first year of college.

This significant lesson reminds me of two of my favorite songs, one of them called The Hard Way and the other called Mountains. The song, Mountains by Rascal Flatts is a song that many people can relate to and contains a good moral to it.

The lesson I learned this year is about friendship. I have had a variety of friends, some that come and go and some that have been at my side since preschool. This year I learned who my true friends are, the ones that come to my games, support me no matter how I play or if I even play, and the ones that call me when they have problems and I can call when things in life are hard. These are the friends that I can tell anything to and trust, and believe it or not there are not too many people I can trust anymore. When it comes to meeting new people, I usually am not quick too judge. I have and always will respect everyone I meet until they disrespect me or someone close to me.

I have also learned by becoming a student athlete that there are people that will just want to become close to me because I am an athlete or for the connections I have with other athletes, and I have learned to look out for that.

Many changes occurred throughout my first college year and I learned that my closest friends will love me no matter what. Before coming to college I was told by many people how difficult it would be to stay close with my friends from high school. I learned that if you are close enough to your friends and you are willing to except the changes and remain friends, then there is nothing that can pull you apart from each other.

Every day I think about and miss my friends from home but I know that no matter what they will always support me as I will them.

How would you rate your '08-'09 college year?

School is running out the summer will be here before we know it! Part of me can't wait for summer but the other part of me goes back to the fact I will be at school all summer, training and taking summer classes. Although I will be home for the month of May, it will be hard not to be home for the whole summer.

Now that my freshmen year is winding down, I have started to recieve the common question as to how I would rate my freshmen year in college on a scale from one to ten. If this applied to volleyball I can honestly say it was in the nine/ten zone. Although im sure if I was asked this question before a 5:45 am workout I would have rated it a ZERO, but overall my freshmen volleyball experience has been great.

When it comes to school, I can say that my classes were not too bad, I have had a pretty light schedule which has been great. A few tough classes have kept me on my toes but overall I think my parents will be proud when they see my grades. Rating school would probably be a seven because I can't say I love waking up early to go to class or staying up late to finish homework. So school will remain average in my book!

Knowing my thoughts on volleyball and school, the only thing left to rate is the fun I have had during my first year in college, which I can say is a nine. I am only saying it is a nine because you can never have too much fun! Which is true an the song by Daryle Singletary can tell you that as well.

I think it is important to reflect on your years in college and know what you liked and what you didn't. Who you enjoyed hanging out or who you absolutely could not stand hanging out with. This is something that will teach you more about yourself and the things you enjoy doing and the people you like to spend time with.

This is my last blog unfortunately, thank you everyone for reading and I hope you all enjoyed it!

Accidents Happen

I have had two bad injuries in my lifetime (knock on wood), one when I was in 3rd grade and the other happened a week before my 8th grade year. When compared, I would say the 8Th grade injury was more memorable and familiar to me because I was older.
The day began with my sister and I hopping on our bikes and heading to a friend’s house for a day of swimming. We had a great day and before we knew it, it was time to start peddling home. Being a twin, everything was a competition growing up. You name it and I am sure I have a story about us competing to finish or win it first. As Liz and I began our two mile journey home, we began to race.

We started to approach a stop sign about 100 feet in front of us, which led to a big road that was not too busy, but if not playing attention a car could be flying by. Luckily there was no car in sight. I know you a probably thinking I got hit by a car, but that's not the case this time. As I began to peddle faster and faster, I didn't realize how soon I would have to slow down. At the last minute I grabbed the brakes, accidentally grabbing the left brake which stops the front wheel. With that being said, the front wheel stopped immediately and I kept going. I flew over the handle bars and my chin smacked on the road with the bike landing on top of me.

I can't remember it hurting but I do remember jumping up and asking my sister if I was bleeding. Her response was simply, “no, I mean it is bleeding a little but not much”. She then took off her shirt (she had her swimsuit on under it) and gave it to me to stop the bleeding. I rode my bike the rest of the way home.

When I got home, which seemed like hours, I showed my parents my “battle scar” and my mom took me to the hospital. I had gravel scratches on my legs, hands, and chest and ended up getting 6 stitches in my chin. As the doctor finished up the stitches, he pressed around on my head to check for any other injury. At that time, I noticed a spot in my head that was a bit painful to touch, so I let him know. He looked closely and realized that I had a gash in my head, probably from the spoke when the bike landed on me.

He ended up giving me two staples in my head. I left the hospital late that night with all my injuries and a bit lucky I wasn’t seriously hurt. But I’ll tell ya, starting my first days of school with stitches and staples was really a cherry on top of my 8Th grade year!

When You Want to Know!

Have you ever wanted to know something so bad it just frustrates you to think about it. Well that's the exact position that I am in right now. It starts with a person that knows two others and finds out something and tells one of them leaving the other not knowing the "source". Confusing right?

One of my classmates wrote a blog about gossip, saying those who gossip with you will gossip about you. Which is a good point. There are many people, and I will not say girls because there are boys that do it as well, that love to gossip. It makes them feel like they are better by putting another person down. When in reality I believe that the reason they are gossiping is because they have nothing better to do. Although my problem is not really about gossiping it is more about people thinking they know things and me having no idea where they came up with it or who told them.

The worst part of my problem is that I have no idea who did it. I mean I have a general idea but not a definate answer, which bothers me. Not that knowing will do anything for me, I just want to know.

I know I am making a big deal over nothing, and I will stop worrying about it now, but it is something that bothers me and maybe others when they just want to know something that they can not figure out!

"Study" abroad

Studying abroad, doesn't that sound amazing! Well, my brother is studying to be an architect and went to study in Australia. He went Ball State and is spending this semester enjoying the adventure of a school in another country. Andrew, my brother, has been having a great time in Australia, and although I have only talked to him about once sense he left, his girlfriend updates me on what he is up to and how he is. So far I believe he has going scuba diving, hang gliding, and has been stung by a jelly fish.

My oldest brother, Eric, did the same thing when he was in college. He brought back many pictures and had so many story's about the people he met and the things he did. It was all he would talk about. Eric didn't do much studying while he was in Australia and didn't get very good grades, but according to him, it was totally worth it. He says that the experiences are unforgettable and had the best time. Although, Eric was in Australia for six months, Andrew is only there for three.

We missed Eric very much, just like we miss Andrew now, we pray that his is being safe and gets home safe.

I think studying abroad is a great opportunity. As an athlete the only time I would be able to study abroad would be second semester my senior year. But by then, I think having the opportunity to be a regular student would be just fine as compared to going to another country. But we will see when the time comes.

Poor Bunny

I bet everyone in college is excited for Easter, I know I am, I get to go home. And although it will only be for one night, I can't wait. I am dedicating this blog to poor bunny that will not be celebrating Easter this year.

A couple days ago I was at some friends house ready to leave when the guys noticed a bunny outside and thought they should grab their guns to "take care" of it. Of course, the bunny didn't do anything wrong and was just out for an evening stroll, the boys ran outside with the gun in their hand. I stayed inside, discussed at the thought they would kill an innocent rabbit.

The first two boys shot at it and missed, thank goodness, but the last boy actually hit the bunny. They went over to get the bunny and it was still breathing. At this time I was heading out to the car with my friend to leave and I noticed the suffering bunny. I said to the boys, "you all are so mean, what is the point? and now the bunny is suffering!". One of the kids then picked up his foot and held it above the bunny (I thought he was just kidding around, he wasn't) he slammed his foot down on the bunny killing it.

I could not believe my eyes. It was a horrible sight and I instantly got a stomach ache. The rest of the night I could not believe them, how mean! One of the boys ended up taking the bunny home and was later going to eat it, but I didn't think it was worth it.

I feel bad for this poor bunny and hope that it is happy where it is now, celebrating Easter in heaven.

Dogs vs Cats

I have 3 dogs that I love and miss very much. I never knew I could miss them as much as I do until I moved to college. It sounds silly but sometimes I think I took them for granted. It’s easy to do when you can mistreat them and still rely on them to always be there for you.

I believe that dogs are probably the best pet to have; I don't think there is any pet that can compare. Although I have a cat and I like her, I don't really like other cats. I don't like that they rub their back on your legs, or the way they arch their back, or that they scratch people. They usually don't want to be by people and whenever I think of cats it reminds me of a message I learned in church that was related to cats verse dogs and their owner. The service said that dogs think they are humans and look to their owner as a God and cats think they ARE God. If you think about it, it is so true!

I think another main reason why I do not like cats are because I was bitten by one when I was younger. Growing up on a farm, we had many "barn" cats, meaning we
would find kittens all them time, not knowing whom their mom or dad was. The kittens would usually be born in the upstairs of our barn in between the walls. It was very difficult to get them out and sometimes my brothers, sisters, and I would have to use a shovel to get them out. I don't think we hurt them too bad but it was our only way to get them out.

Once we got the kittens out of the wall, we would play with them in the grass. But for this particular day we took the kittens into the house to play, I believe it was because my parents were not home at the moment. They were crying a lot so I figured they were hungry and went back out to the barn to get the cat I thought was the mom. As I was walking into the house carrying the cat, it bit me! I couldn't believe it! I was so angry and at the young age I was, I began to cry.

From that moment on, I have never trusted another cat and my dislike for cats has increased! Overall, I think this proves my point that dogs are better than cats, and although dogs can bit people as well, I think that they are more fun to have as a pet and have more qualities of a best friend!