Last Undergraduate Semester Underway

Wow it has been a busy last few days. I guess I should go ahead and get used to it though shouldn't I. I have just got onto a non-stop one way ticket straight to May 9th. I am in like with my schedule this semester. It is the best I have had in a while, at least over a year. Monday and Wednesdays are the best by far. In at 11 and done at 3, you can't ask for much better than that when you have to fit in classes and a practice. So my day during the week to work is probably going to end up being Wednesday nights. Tuesday and Thursday isn't horrible, but I have a gap of over an hour in between class and practice which means I'm in at 9:30 and out at 4-4:30ish, but its not too bad. I can live with that schedule.

My classes are a different subject completely. My psychology class is going to be fun I think. I have a British professor and it isn't too hard to pay attention to that. I think accents are so interesting. However, the rest of my classes are business classes... I have a marketing elective I'm really not so sure about. It sounds like it could be a fun class, but it has a really boring professor and I have to do an individual presentation! I hate those... I also have a group project and presentation in that as well as the other two business classes. My two senior "capstone" courses are going to be just plain hard. There is no way around it, but at least I know one of the professors (and what he expects) and the other seems really nice. That always makes it easier or more tolerable I think.

On to more interesting things. The Master Knitter has shown me some new tricks! So I took all I had done apart and I am redoing it. I must say I am quite impressed with myself. I will post a picture soon I promise. I am also loving my new study Bible! I find myself looking forward to diving into every day, which is never a bad thing.

Well now it is on to day number three in the life of a last semester senior/student athlete. I am overall happy to be back. It is a complicated love-hate relationship. I don't like sitting in a class room and taking tests, but I love being back and walking across campus and seeing people I haven't seen in months. Being on the field with my teammates who have become my family. My goal is to enjoy my last semester to the fullest. (Which according to Kali is about 155ish days.)

"I'm a college athlete. I'm a team player. I play with my friends and with some of my enemies, but I respect everyone when it comes to my sport. I know I'm not going to get a multi-million dollar contract to play professionally. I know I may not even get my name in the paper. I play for love of the game. For the pride and honor, for the blood, sweat and tears it takes to make the team, to earn the spot, to win the game. I play because I can, I play because I know that my life would be empty without the sport I play. I would have a lack of everything my sport gives me... integrity, courage, talent, fearlessness, pride, strength, stamina, will, and the heart of a champion. If I didn't play, I would lose a part of me. I'm an athlete. I'm a girl. I'm a champion, not because my team always wins, but because when we don't, we learn from our mistakes. We try to fix them, and most of all because we have fun. I have built lifelong friendships and memories because of my being an athlete. I leave everything on the field and continue to push myself. I am never happy with second place, but I have learned to accept it. I have learned to get over and through my anger and be the athlete and player I have always dreamed of being. I don't play for my parents, for my family, for my friends; I don't play for my coach or my teachers or my school. I play for myself but when I'm playing I represent them. It isn't about winning or losing, but I hate to lose. I won't settle for a tie, and I am not satisfied with 100%. To play, you have to sacrifice everything, your body, your time, your sweat, blood, and tears, everything... for your team. I am a player, and athlete and a champion, not because I know what it is like to win, but because I know what it is like to lose. I know what it is like to feel the anger and pain that comes along with "second best." I have been that girl with tears in her eyes, walking out to receive the second place trophy and clapping as the other team, my opponents, receive the first place one. I know what it is like to lose, to win, to want to quit, to want to cry, to not want to get up. I know what it is like to hear the cheers and yells for you. I know what it is like to feel the pressure of everyone on your shoulders, and I know what it is like to choke under that pressure. I know what it means to be an athlete, a true player, and that is why I play. I AM AN ATHLETE, A CHAMPION, A TRUE PLAYER." - An Athlete's Pride