Jenna Lea's All Things "Bloggable"

Twitter

2010-02-02T19:36:00.000-08:00

I joined the world of Twitter since I don't have the time to keep up the blog as well as I should. I'll try to "tweet" often, so check it out!
www.twitter.com
Look for jlrist

P-365, Part 1

2010-01-20T22:33:00.000-08:00

Mom talked me into doing a "Project 365" with her this year. Essentially, I just capture any moment from my day in a photo...and do it every single day for the year. I made a few collages of the first 10 and 20 days/pictures. The point is to know a little bit of what's happening in my life every day, so I'm happy to share!

EARTHQUAKE!!!

2010-01-07T22:45:00.000-08:00

I guess my news today is that I experienced my first minor earthquake! Technically, I guess it was just a tremor since it was minor, but to me it will be called my first earthquake - more of a ring than "my first tremor." Anyway, it was a 4.1 magnitude tremor, or so I'm told. All I really know is that I was sitting in my apartment on my computer between classes, when all of a sudden I felt myself - and my computer, TV, and entire room - start to shake. I didn't think much of it, just that it was a little odd. I do live on the 4th floor of a building with a lot of HUGE football players, so maybe it was their fault. Then I remembered that I live in earthquake country and I got excited!
Well, that's my story, time for bed!

Christmas Card

2009-12-09T19:37:00.001-08:00

Yes, we are "those roommates." We made a little digi card to share our Christmas spirit!

Wrapping up the quarter

2009-12-09T19:32:00.000-08:00

Finals are almost done (I have one more on Friday).
My room is covered in piles of clothes in the process of being packed.
The emails from Yaz about training camp are almost hourly.
Mikayla and I are going on mad cleaning sprees as study breaks.

Yep, Autumn Quarter at Stanford is almost over!

I had a final last Thursday and two this past Monday and will take one Friday morning. All my projects were due last week. It's really almost done.

I fly out with the team first thing Saturday morning for "Fun in the Sun" a.k.a. winter training camp in Tempe, Arizona and will be there until the 21st.

The 21st through Jan. 2nd will be spent at home, bouncing between Mom's house, Dad's house, friends, and relatives. I just hope the weather cooperates and I don't get snowed in again like last year since I have less than two weeks to catch up with as much family and as many friends as possible!

Midterms...bleh

2009-10-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

So...I definitely spent all Sunday night, Monday (when not at practice or in class), and Monday night cramming for a Tuesday midterm, then I turned around and did it again for a midterm today while I was sick. Now I'm avoiding a paper that I need one more page on by tomorrow morning to write to y'all.
The midterms never end here. I have two more next week and have already had a couple. That's the one bad thing about the quarter system, but I guess I can't complain too much.

Okay, now to be more upbeat:
Fall racing season ended for our upperclassmen last weekend after kicking some booty at the Head of the American. I am starting PT for my knee - again - on Monday, so hopefully we'll get things straightened around this time.
Also, I have officially bought my plane tickets for winter break. Finals wrap up on December 11th, we're heading to Tempe as a team on the 12th and I will be home the evening of the 21st for almost two weeks!

Decisions

2009-10-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

At just over two weeks into the quarter, my first papers and midterms are coming due. With that though, I have a finalized class schedule for the term, as well as a plan for the rest of my Stanford career, including a major! If all goes according to plan, I will be working on my declaration next quarter.

This weekend was ridiculous. The team had a teambuilding trip and a regatta, all beginning after a marathon practice and trailer-loading. De-rigging twenty boats and fitting them all on a single trailer was quite a puzzle. After we finished the trailer and the extra Excursions showed up at the boathouse, we all climbed in and drove up the 101, through the city, across the Bay bridge, and into Marin for lunch. We then drove along the 1 and through all of its crazy zig-zags along the coast until we reached the parking lot for the trail we were hiking. The hike was about an hour up and down to Bass Lake where most of the team - including Nate - jumped in via the rope swing, multiple times! Of course, after that, we had to walk an hour back to the vehicles. We then drove another hour to Petaluma and the campground we were all staying at. Grilling burgers, veggie burgers, and chicken-apple sausages over the fire long after dark with teammates and coaches in the freezing cold was an interesting event. Most of us were in bed and asleep shortly after 9:30 because it had just been such a long day. The next morning we rolled out at 6:30 headed for the Wine Country Rowing Classic where I raced in one of our 8+'s, which won gold.

Brand New Year

2009-09-22T10:11:00.001-07:00

The new quarter officially started yesterday, with the first classes, first practices, and first "official" team meetings.

Mikayla and I got to campus Friday and worked on settling into our apartment - and stocking it with groceries! - over the weekend. Our pickup full of stuff came in last night, so it is still a mess as we are trying to decide how best to organize everything, while still making it to classes.

Apparently I have a death wish, as I am taking 20 units this quarter. All my classes seem like a lot of fun, so hopefully it won't be too terrible. I'm taking Psych 1 (Intro to psych), Psych 60 (Intro to developmental psych), Psych 147 (basically teaching preschool), CS 105 (Intro to computer science), and sign language.

We had our first watts test of the year this morning, and we have our big 6k on Thursday, so practice is crazy. We are up in numbers right now, even though most of my class quit over the summer. I think I am going to be hosting a recruit this weekend too!

My only other news is that I am auditioning for two of the campus a cappella groups this week for fun. Mixed Company is kind of a pop-based group, while Harmonics is the rock group on campus. I'm not too concerned with how they turn out, but friends in the groups asked me to audition, so I figured I might as well give it a try!

Done

2009-06-08T18:48:00.000-07:00

Done:
-Spring Quarter finals
-my freshman year at Stanford University
-crew season
-a year living in Roble with three great roommates
-nearly six months away from my family
-packing

I finished finals Saturday afternoon, while some of my roommates still have yet to begin.

My Sunday, for once, was not packed with homework and studying, but instead packed with much more fun events.
The Stanford Openweight Women's Crew team had our end-of-year banquet as a brunch at the boathouse yesterday. Rog made a fantastic slideshow recapping the entire year, from the first day of practice to the winning of the NCAA Team Championship . . . oh yeah, I should say that the Women of Stanford are National Champions! Yaz handed out the "oarlock" awards for leadership, potential, inspiration, most valuable, and most improved. The 2008-09 captains "retired" and the new ones were named and given their first tasks as leaders of our team. We also got the chance to watch the "cox-cams" from the NCAA finals in each boat which was a treat, to say the least.
That afternoon, Laura and I went into the city and had the perfect evening with an old neighbor and her fiance. We listened to some live jazz in a little bookstore before going back to their apartment/house/thing and talking and catching up while supper was in the oven. Not only was the meal fantastic, but the conversation was as well. I completely lost track of time but we still made it to the BART and the Caltrain for the last trains home. It was the perfect almost-last-evening at Stanford for the year.

Today was pretty basic, running errands, doing laundry, cleaning, and finishing up the last of the packing. My uncle picked up all of my stuff to store over the summer, so it's pretty much just me and my two suitcases left here. Leaving campus around 5:30 am headed for the airport!

I can't wait to be home with family and friends, but it's sad to realize that I won't see my roommates and hallmates every day, this summer or next year.

Oh well, time to go home!

Year Recap

2009-05-29T13:20:00.001-07:00

In my attempts at continued procrastination and celebration of rocking my presentación ultimo de español, I decided to make a few photo/story collage images giving a [very] brief overview of this year in two main parts: friends and crew.

The End is Near

2009-05-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a busy past few weeks (and months)!

Last weekend wrapped up my freshman crew season with PCRCs and PAC-10s. The team finished second and received a bid for NCAAs. The 1V won, the 2V got 2nd, and the V4 got 5th, so a very solid performance across the board. The NCAA group leaves this weekend to train and compete and I wish them all the best of luck! I love those girls all as sisters now.

With the end of the crew season comes the end of the quarter, meaning papers and projects galore. I'm working on a research project on Peter Pan for my writing class, as well as an argumentative piece and presentation on siestas for my Spanish class!

Draw results will be posted in a few days, but my group got special pre-assignment (meaning we found out where we will be living weeks ago) and three of my best friends and I will be living in Mirrielees! Mirrielees House is apartment-style housing on campus, so Mik and I will essentially be sharing a two-bedroom apartment with full kitchen and bath next year! Only downside: she can't cook to save her soul! Actually, it's not that bad, but she has more learning ahead of her than I do.

There are officially two weeks of class left of Spring Quarter 2009. After that comes finals week, and I only have one sit-down final on Saturday. Once I'm done with that, it's all packing and cleaning before heading home!

Easter :(

2009-04-12T20:26:00.000-07:00

If I have ever felt anything close to being "homesick" it was today.

Easter has always been a family day for me, and this was my first holiday without any family around.

My team was great today, though. We all met this morning at the gym and split up into our sides to hide eggs for the massive team Easter egg hunt. It was a really fun way to just relax after a long week with people who had gone through the same stressful week as I had.

Laura and I laid in my bed reading Shakespeare (for IHUM) and doing some other miscellaneous homework for most of the afternoon. Then we went to Mass together, another Easter oddity for me.

The two of us grabbed some supper and I got to talk to most of the family on the phone; I was passed from person to person around the house. Now we are at the stacks of homework in my room and will be until we both go to bed.

It was a day spent with friends. I definitely can't complain about that, it just would have been better to be with family as well. Maybe next time?

Wow! Someone is coming to SoDak to see me!

2009-04-08T22:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry to make this so short, but I really need to get some sleep . . . practice in the morning :S

Spring Break went by uneventfully . . . all I did was row, and row, and row, and sleep, and row some more. I also had the first 2K races of my collegiate career!

The new quarter is under way. I am taking a lighter load this quarter, with only Modern Quests, the Rhetoric of Dreams, Spanish 2A, and a lecture series on Race & Faith.

The exciting news, and main reason for this hasty post, is that Mikayla (my roomie) bought tickets tonight to come visit me at the end of summer break, stay with me for more than a week, and then we are flying back to school together! I can't wait for everyone to meet her back home!

South Dakota Summer!

2009-03-12T23:45:00.000-07:00

I just found out yesterday that I'm coming home for the summer! I'm so excited to get to spend this summer back in South Dakota.

I need to figure out work for the summer, but hopefully that won't be too difficult.

I hope it will be a summer filled with old and new friends, fun in the SoDakota sun, showing at the fairs, and enjoying time with family. Not to mention, it will be my only time off from rowing. I know I'll miss my team and will be looking for a way to row at home, but it will be nice to be on my own for workouts for a little while.

Right now the thoughts of the summer are carrying me through Dead Week and finals more than the idea of Spring Break. That is probably due to the fact that my Spring Break will actually be Spring Training Camp with the team, getting ready for our first weekend of races at the end of break. My entire break will be nothing but rowing and sleeping. At least I'm in California, so I should be able to enjoy a little bit of sunshine both on and off the water, and maybe take a dip in a fountain!

This quarter needs to end!

2009-03-05T11:50:00.001-08:00

I can't wait for this quarter to end in a couple weeks.

It's not just because of the video presentation, three paper revisions, oral presentation, play, oral exam, project, and finals I have in the next week and a half.

This quarter has been amazing, but my [genetic] clutziness has really shown through. I got in a fight with a spin bike, and lost, leaving gashes and bumps on my leg still.

Then last week I got what some of my friends call a "flesh-eating virus." I had a hypersensitivity reaction to - my doctors think - the tape remover they used on me in the training room. It took a couple different creams not working to decide that this was going to take something pretty strong to clear up. They finally gave me some pills that seem to be taking care of it!

At practice this morning I was walking the boat down the ramp to the docks, it was raining, the dock was slick, and I actually bit it on the dock. I managed to keep one hand high enough in the air that I kept the boat from hitting the ground, but the quick motion tweeked my knee a little bit. Nothing major, it's just outrageous that I fell walking down the dock . . . and fought with a stationary bike . . . and had a rash take over my leg when they were trying to make it better.

Busy time

2009-02-23T09:28:00.000-08:00

Right now, I feel like my body has never been so physically exhausted in my entire life. We pulled an 8k this morning, and then had weights! Right now I'm chilling in Meyer, killing a little time before Spanish, having already finished my ODA (Oral Diagnostic Assessment).

The quarter is wrapping up, and all the papers and project proposals are coming due. I'm actually getting really excited for my final paper in my intro sem/drama class. Another student and I are going to attempt to rewrite Antigone, whether together or separate we're not yet sure. I'm thinking of doing a "hick" version, which would definitely be different from any of the other versions we've read in this class. My IHUM paper is a different story entirely. It's due next Monday and I barely have ideas. I feel like I can't get enough thoughts on one topic of Dante's Inferno together to fill five pages, but I guess that's why I'm meeting with Davy this afternoon . . .

Practice is still insane, obviously after this morning, and I'm one of our slowest ergs, but I'm still enjoying it and am looking forward to racing in a month!

Parents Weekend is next weekend and John's parents are coming back, so I'm pretty excited to see them again. It's a funny situation since everyone calls me John's "mom" here, so it's great when his actual mother is in town and we can gang up on him.

Tonight my PAE group is having our alumni dinner, I don't know where, but I'm really excited! I don't even know the names of all the people in the group, but they are so much fun, I love my group.

Okay, time to get ready for class I guess . . .

Chocoholic Cake!

2009-02-15T21:13:00.000-08:00

I'm in the process of baking this cake right now, so I figured it'd be the perfect title!

Happy Late Valentine's Day to all (or Forced Affection Day, if you prefer to celebrate that)!

Valentine's Day falling on a Saturday was very convenient for me this year. Mikayla, Kate, and I decided to make it an all-out girls day and boycott the holiday. We took the train into the city and spend the afternoon shopping and chatting. A cute little 50's-esque diner was perfect for supper before hopping on Caltrain again to come home. It was chick-flicks and chocolates in our room for the rest of the night, rather than going to an over-crowded frat party and being drenched in other people's spilled beers.

On another note, my phone screen mysteriously broke a week ago Saturday, so I have been essentially without a phone. It's really frustrating to hear myself receive a text or picture message and know that I'll never be able to see it! I think I have a loaner phone on the way though now, yay!

Well, time to glaze!

Cold vs. Wet

2009-02-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

This week on "Vs."

Cold vs. Wet

Today officically made my decision for me. I choose cold.

The temperature was in the 60's all day, and is still near 55 right now, which one cannot complain about in early February. However, it rained off and on (mostly on) ALL day.

A body can get used to be being cold, you just put on more layers and soon you don't notice it. Being wet, all the time, is not something you neglect to notice!

While this "winter" we have here is a lot shorter than the real winter at home, I can't wait for monsoon season to be over so my bike, my butt, and my backpack aren't always wet!

Tears

2009-01-22T21:37:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, I'm not depressed or anything, I was just reading an email that said something about crying and all of a sudden there were lines in my head I just had to get down...some parts are kinda cheesy, it's just a rough, so bare with me...

Tears
Tears of joy, tears of fear,
tears of longing,
year after year.

When life has you down
and you're hurting inside,
let go and drown;
all that pain,
disappointment, and grief
are not all you contain.

Tears of old, tears of new,
tears of life,
my journey with you.

Sometimes it's too hard
to always be right,
we wind up scarred;
free your heart,
your mind, your soul, your self
make it all a new start.

Tears of struggle, tears that empower,
tears for strenth,
when things go sour.

This place can be cruel,
knocking you to your knees,
feeling a tool;
life goes on,
we wake up tomorrow,
to face the new dawn.

Tears for you, tears for me,
tears for the world,
set us all free.

Yay school!

2009-01-13T06:33:00.000-08:00

As of right now, I'm happy, I'm enjoying my classes, and I'm the 11th-ranked Starboard on the team! How much better can the beginning of January get? Oh yeah, it was also over 70 degrees yesterday.

This quarter I'm taking Spanish; IHUM Epic Journeys, Modern Quests; Introductory Seminar: Antigone; and Sleep & Dreams. So far my IHUM seems pretty cool, which is more than most people are saying about theirs. My intro sem is great, there are only five of us in the class and it's basically just a discussion on literature for two hours at a time! The two hour chunk of time actually goes quickly for me in this class which is incredible! The professor for Sleep & Dreams is the same man who discovered/invented REM sleep, but I am convinced that he is certifiably insane. Class is a hoot, he tells all these totally irrelevant stories and squirts people sleeping in class with squirt guns before giving them bonus points!

With sleep & dreams we have to do what is called a "sleep project" which is basically keeping track of when and how much you sleep, as well as how well and alert you feel at certain intervals during the day. I was already making a conscious effort to sleep eight hours every night beforehand because of crew, but this project has helped me realize how happy I am again now that I'm sleeping enough! I actually learned something from the crazy Dement!

I pulled my first 8k and my first test at all for Yaz on Friday afternoon (right before snow trip). It was painful and incredibly difficult, but it wasn't as terrible as I had expected. After each test, the rankings are redone by your finish and by your side [of the boat]. I am "bysweptual" meaning that I row both sides, so Yaz has now turned me into a Starboard for ranking purposes and I'm ranked 11th!

White Christmas, Brown New Year

2009-01-01T07:52:00.001-08:00

After Thanksgiving recess came dead week and then finals week: the downpoints of any college student's existence. I made it through my first Stanford finals alright and it was time to go home for the first time in three months to see my family for Christmas.

To say I had an uneventful trip home, though, would be a stretch...My friend John/Gym took me to the San Jose airport, arriving there around 5:20 am for my 7:08 flight. I went through the "easy check-in" right away, noticing that my flight was already delayed by over two hours. i waited in the line with the other Denver passengers to check my bag and luckily was at the front of the line. When they announced that the flight was on a mechanical delay of at least 4-6 hours, the ticket agent booked me onto another flight...this one out of San Francisco. I hopped in the shuttle (a.k.a. really small mini-van with six very large people in it for 45 minutes) and made it to SFO, got checked in, and got on the plane on time. After we had been sitting at the end of the runway for a few minutes the captain came on the intercom saying that they couldn't get the left engine to turn over and that we would need to return to the gate to have mechanics look at it. All of us sat in the airplane waiting while the starter was changed and finally took off, only about 2 1/2 hours late...Once I made it to Denver I was supposed to have a three-hour layover, but because of my habit of breaking airplanes I only had about twenty minutes to get to my next gate. That flight went on time and I made it to Omaha a few minutes early!

When I got home that evening it was about 55 degrees, but when I woke up the next morning it was 0 and decreasing quickly and never made it back into positive temperatures for the first three days of my visit. In that time we had Grandpa Gene's funeral and I just spent time with friends and family. Our "heat wave" that week brought us up around 15 degrees one afternoon! My last/only weekend at home was spent snowed in after a blizzard bringing not only snow, but temperatures in the -20s with wind chills as low as -47.

Christmas Eve was spent with my dad's family, Christmas day with Mom and Jay and his family, and the next morning it was time to head back to the airport.

My flights went off without a hitch. I made it back to San Jose, met Mikayla at the airport and got to the hotel where we repacked and got ready for the early morning. We loaded the bus with about half the team and headed for the airport.

I have now been in Tempe, Arizona for five days and still don't quite know what to think of it...I was just getting used to things being green in December at school, and now everything is brown!

Our New Year's Eve was spent with a supper for the team at Kerry's family's gorgeous house in the area and then at the Tempe Town Block Party where we got to see Styx perform.

Training camp has been very intense, but I'm really glad I've had this experience. The workouts can get crazy, but the moments over supper or in hotel rooms are irreplaceable.

Things I've realized...

2008-12-05T11:08:00.000-08:00

A short list of things I've realized since I've been here:

-the words "hella" "tight" and "legit" can be used in any and every sentence, and can be used together in the same sentence (That's hella tight and legit.)
-it's apparently okay to say "like" twenty-seven times in one sentence...
-I have been californianized and am going to die in the South Dakota winter when I go home next week
-being from a farm is unique
-varsity athletes at Stanford sell their life for the school's Nike contract
-in my dorm room, I'm in the minority by being white
-our yellow boat (the Kwak) was flown here from Germany and the shell alone costs around $48K
-having callouses on my hands from working on the farm has kept my hands from totally falling apart rowing like everyone else's
-I don't like math
-it's not a week at Stanford if you don't see naked people running around
-primal scream is really irritating when you've already been asleep for two hours

Dead Week

2008-12-02T10:28:00.001-08:00

Stanford University is now officially in "Dead Week" which, at most schools, means no classes and no new material, but here it means new classes, new material, papers, and sometimes tests.
At most schools, "dead" in dead week = nothing to do.
At Stanford, "dead" = literally dying from the insane amount of problem sets, papers, projects, and tests due this week on top of classes and "optional" practices.

Besides the fact that I'm dying this week, life is pretty wonderful. I will be home in something like 11 days and I can't wait!
Before that though, I have a project, a paper, and two exams to take...wish me luck!

Since it's been awhile since I last wrote, I will replay my Thanksgiving break in fast-forward for you! We had an entire week off, so it went something like this:
sleep, eat, watch movies with Mikayla, work out. repeat for 3 days. go to Fremont with family for three days, same pattern exempting the work outs. come back to campus, repeat previous pattern for two more days!
It was a very relaxing, unproductive break, yay!

The day before break I had what felt like the best row of my life thus far. Four of us (and Joanna) went out in a four that Friday morning for our last row with Katie as our coach. I had stroked a four the day before and done terribly, I don't deal well with a coxswain in a big pink puffy coat right in front of my face; but that day we went out in a bowloader (the coxswain is in the bow of the boat rather than the stern) and I stroked the boat and it felt amazing! I was pulling hard and I was consistent and I was relaxed and it was just an overall incredible morning!

First 5K Test -- COMPLETE!

2008-11-13T22:41:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this by saying that testing makes for one of the worst two practices possible as a Stanford Women's Crew member.

Of course the day started off at 5:30 with a morning row...only I didn't actually row, I was stuck in the boathouse erging and spinning. Then I got breakfast and a nap before my only class of the day, so I really couldn't complain too much.

Afternoon practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays is on land in the Ford Center, generally with some erging in the workout. Today was ALL erging. It was test day! We spent some time outside talking with Katie about what to expect and that we could all pull our goal splits, that we were strong enough, etc., etc. Then we warmed up for over 45 minutes, which just makes the nerves sooo much worse considering we didn't even warm up that long for our race last Sunday.

That 5K erg test was definitely 20 of the longest minutes of my rowing career this far. A "5K Test" is basically sitting down on the rowing ergometer (erg/rowing machine) and pulling 5000 meters as hard and as fast as you can, all while trying to keep your mind and body from totally shutting down on you, not to mention the fact that you're competing for a spot in a spring boat against everyone on the team, not just the other walk-ons. With about 250 meters (2 minutes) to go, I actually felt like I needed to throw up. That's how hard your abs have to contract through the whole piece.

I ended up pulling 3 seconds lower than my goal and having the fourth best time of the twelve of us, but that was still a killer workout...rewarding, but a killer.

My girls after our first race

Newport Autumn Rowing Festival

November 2, 2008

7th place baby!

Catching Up

2008-11-07T00:55:00.001-08:00

So, it's a little depressing that I'm so terribly behind already, but it happened, so here's my attempt to catch up during my 1 am study break.

I spent the weekend before last in Fremont with some family. My second cousin got married and when I got there I only knew him and his parents. By the time I got back to campus on Sunday evening, I not only had a bunch of new family, but I also had flown an airplane and had a great new friend in my "cousin" (second cousin, once removed) Michael. Michael even brought me back to campus and just hung out on the hall and in the dorm and watched Grey's with Brady and I before going back home that night.

Mom's birthday was the next week, I love you Mom!

I also had a midterm for my Comm 162 class which was surprisingly awesome (or at least I think so right now, haven't gotten my scores back yet). It was a "blue book" test, so it was mainly writing and it was all on political campaigns so it was actually a little fun.

Other than classes, pretty much the only thing I did was crew. Practices were crazy because we were preparing for our first race. We also got together a couple different nights as a team to tye-dye t-shirts for our unis! It was such a fun "team bonding" activity for us!

Halloween was Friday, but we were leaving for crew at 5 the next morning, so I dressed up (as a Little Black Book) and just came home REALLY early!

8 hour bus ride, starting at 5:30 am + some really weird rowing movie = 8 hours of sleep on the way to NARF (Newport Autumn Rowing Festival)
After we got there, we rigged the boats and practiced on the course, then went back to the hotel and got ready, then went out for supper with all the teams, then we had our team strategy meeting - complete with "ejector crab" stories from Katie, and then it was bed time!

We raced on Sunday and it was incredible! It started raining when we picked up the boat to walk it down to the beach and launch, and it didn't stop until we got out of the boat after the race and the sun peeked out of the clouds. Despite the weather, we ended up placing 7th out of 21 crews, 2nd out of the "B" boats, and beating 7 "A" boats!

This week has been filled with election mayhem and a devilish IHUM paper and that's about it! More later!

Tempe!

2008-10-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

So, I got the official invitation to join the Varsity Openweight Team at Winter Training Camp in Tempe, Arizona! Katie and Yaz had each talked to me a couple weeks ago, so I knew I was going, but it's still really cool to have the official invitation! Only three other walk-ons were invited!

I will be home December 13 - 26, then will fly back to school on the 26th to meet up with the team, then we fly to Arizona the 27th and are there over New Year's and move back into school January 4th, just in time to get settled before classes start the 6th.

I'm really sad to have to miss nearly half of my winter break at home with my family and friends, but at the same time I cannot contain my excitement at training in Tempe and being a Varsity D-1 athlete! Coming from Viborg, SD and never having been a really exceptional athlete makes it almost hard to comprehend being on a varsity team at the college that has won 14 consecutive Director's Cups (meaning we have the best college athletic program in the country).

( Water + Boathouse floor ) * Early Morning = Possible Disaster

2008-10-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

So...I almost bit it this morning, big time! And with Al and Katie looking right at me too! Just a warning, when carrying oars in-house (or the boat) walk very very slowly and almost shuffle your feet!

Anyway, besides the fact that I almost died this morning - and almost caught a HUGE crab at practice yesterday afternoon - I am loving crew! The early morning stink - especially when you're up 'til midnight working on IHUM papers - but the girls are great, the coaches are fun, and you can't beat being in an eight on the Bay as the sun comes up.

I can't wait for our first race on the 2nd!

Everything's Better On Ice

2008-10-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

As I sit on my common room floor with a giant ice pack on my knee, I realized I had the perfect opportunity to reflect on my past week.

Classes are difficult, but that's to be expected here. I really enjoy them, but they are pretty intense. My first IHUM paper is due Wednesday!

Our floor has been gradually spreading the plague...everyone is getting the first cold of the year, including two of my suitemates. Hopefully this round is about over...

Last Friday Mikayla and I saw the Stanford Boathouse for the first time when we watched practice and had a team cookout with all three Stanford crew teams. It's technically in Redwood City, only about fifteen minutes away from campus, only a couple years old, and has everything a rower could possibly need for a workout...or slumber party! haha. And I can't forget V's favorite part, there is always peanut butter and jelly in the kitchen :)
Our second time at the boathouse was this morning...six o'clock this morning... :S The five walk-on rower and one walk-on coxswain were at practice this morning, mainly to learn the ins-and-outs of the boats and the boathouse. We did a little rowing on the dock but didn't have enough time to actually push out and row in the bay :( It's happening tomorrow afternoon though!

Okay, enough rambling - plus I'm done icing - so it's time for "shower power" now!

One down...

2008-09-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

The first week of classes at Stanford is almost done! And boy, has it been a long week! It took me until about Thursday to actually get my classes all figured out and get my schedule made, but I think I've got everything sorted out now! I'm in the "Journeys" IHUM with Tobias Wolff with two lectures and two sections every week. I'm also taking calculus 41 with three lectures and two sections per week. My hardest class this quarter will probably end up being Comm 162: Analysis of Presidential Campaigns. As far as I know, I'm the only freshman in the class and there is one sophomore and the rest are upperclassmen and grad students! The lectures are really interesting - so far, at least! - but they run from 9:00 - 10:50 on Monday and Wednesday mornings, ick! And that's pretty much it as far as classes go...

The only other thing of any real significance is that I've started crew workouts! As of right now I'm just working out in the walk-on/try-out class from 12-1 every day, but I'm hoping to be on the water Tuesday! After the first day I had some crazy blisters on my hands, but they're getting better already, yay!
The team BBQ is this afternoon as soon as the girls get out of the water at the boathouse, so I can't wait!

Physical...

2008-09-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

I'll just start this off by saying that Stanford takes care of its athletes...

The women's crew team had our NCAA compliance meeting Friday and I am through all the formalities of being on a D1 TEAM! We have our own gyms and doctors and massage therapists and all kinds of stuff, not to mention being sponsored by Nike! The sports medicine center is incredible, and we're encouraged to go there any time we have any problems, even if they're not sports-related!

Also, we had our team physical this morning as a part of the mass physicals for all the sports teams not already in session. Our team's appointment was for 10:45, so Mikayla and I and most of the team were there around 10:30...we didn't get in the doors until after 12:00! Once we got inside we had to fill out all kinds of paperwork, then in the next gym we had our height, weight, and blood pressure checked, then we moved into another gym and had our vision checked. After that we went downstairs and had our body fat percentage checked and had an EKG. Next everyone was looked at individually by an orthopedic doctor (and my knee was cleared! Mikayla has to do PT with the team doctor though...) then I had a heart echo done (I actually got to see my heart!), and then I met with a medical doctor to talk about my medical history. Yay, cleared for everything! And it only took until 2:30 in the afternoon! haha.

Roble Love!

2008-09-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

I love Stanford! My dorm is called Roble (Oak Tree in Spanish, fitting I know!). I'm in the "C" wing on second floor in a quad with three amazing girls! Roble is the largest, oldest, and BEST dorm on campus with around 300 students, 160 of whom are freshmen.

My roommate is Nina from Hermosa Beach, California, a cute, short, Asian that is SO much fun! The other two suitemates are Nicole from Sweden and Mikayla from upstate New York. Nicole has all the boys chasing her, being the tall, thin, European and all. Mikayla and I are becoming fast friends, bonding over our shared gym-ratness.

Speaking of Mikayla and I being gym rats, we sat down with a couple of the crew coaches today and basically walked on to the team already! We are going to the team NCAA compliance meeting Friday and the physical Sunday and possibly the teambuilding trip Saturday...and none of the other walk ons will know anything til Monday and/or Tuesday! I can't wait! I'm getting so pumped now, and having Mikayla to share in the fun, frustration, excitement, and pain will make everything so much better!

I love it here! I'm so excited to meet with my advisor Friday to plan out my schedule and get going with this year, it's going to be great! I have one class and an already color-coded planner, so I'm well on my way! Our suitemate shopping excursion is going to be Saturday before the football game, so after that we will really be ready to start school!

Airport thoughts...

2008-09-17T01:41:00.000-07:00

Right now I’m sitting at my gate in the Denver airport and finally have a little time to think and digest the past few days and the ones to come.

It seems like each of the past few days has held a difficult goodbye: Saturday to Chelsea after spending the evening together at the races; Sunday to Mom, Jay, and Tori after having lived with them all summer; Monday to my high school teachers and coaches, Grandma Rist, and Ali; and this morning to my dad. One would think that I’d be getting better at this with each goodbye, but every one is still heart wrenching. I’ve always been very independent, but it’s hard for me to comprehend right now that I won’t see any of these people again until, most likely, December.

On the packing front, well, I’m done! Or at least I think I am…I have boxes packed up at both my mom’s house and my dad’s house ready to be shipped to me after I arrive, but I still feel like I’m missing something. I also have some shopping to do when I get settled in - and not the fun kind of shopping! A bicycle, refrigerator, and groceries…not quite the most exciting shopping list for my first few days in a new city, but I guess I’ll adjust J

Even through all the complaining and anxiety, I can’t wait to get to campus! Moving in to my dorm room, meeting my roommates, seeing Nathaniel and my other Stanford friends, meeting new people, and starting this adventure are all just a few hours away from me now!

Before I actually get to school, I just want to thank all my friends and family for everything this summer in preparing for this transition. Also, to my new(er) friends, it has been so great getting to know you and hanging out with you this summer and I miss you all so much!

Packing and saying goodbye

2008-09-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

It's almost time to leave! I finished work Wednesday night and have spent the past few days attempting to pack and trying to spend time with friends one last time before leaving.

Packing normally comes easily for me; I make a list, pack from it, and that's it. This time it's not quite working out so well...I've been packing since Wednesday and have one bag and three boxes done, and baskets and baskets of "stuff" still sitting around.

Starting NSO and school so late has given me the chance to work a little more and to spend more time with my high school friends. Everyone I graduated with is already in school and I have only seen them a little bit, but I've spent time with friends from West Central pretty much every day. We even went out for a "girls night" Monday night, two football games yesterday, and are going to the races at Huset's tonight.

I can't wait to get to school, but it's really starting to kick in how much I'm going to miss this.

I will miss home, and my family and friends so much, but soon it will start to feel like home and I will make new friends who will become like family to me......but I will always miss the ones back home.