Volleyball before the Game

Pink week for sports continued today as men's soccer and women's volleyball wore pink in support of finding a cure for breast cancer.  It's great seeing student athletes coming together for such a great cause, and the student body is also embracing the cause.  I went and watched some of the volleyball game tonight, and as always, there was plenty of students on the stage to cheer on the ladies.  I didn't see J Denny Beaver though. Hmm...

School is keeping me busy, like usual.  I am looking forward to this weekend though, as it is fall break!  I get to go home again, and see my family and friends, which I am looking forward to very much.  I am ready for this break and I believe most of the students here on campus are also ready for a break from classes.

So last week was just a slow going week especially since I was looking forward to going home for the weekend after my cross country meet here at Bluffton Friday night.  It seems whenever I am looking forward to something, the week drags along.  The meet did go pretty well Friday night though.  It was our only home meet of the season.  Girls ran a 3k and the guys ran a 5k.  It also kicked off Pink Week, which is where all the sports are wearing pink in support of finding a cure for breast cancer.  Instead of wearing our usual uniforms, we got to wear shirts that had a pink ribbon with running shoes on them!  Us girls also went the extra mile and got pink bandannas for us and the guys to wear, and us girls also put pink ribbon in our hair.

J Denny Beaver came to support us!

Me (Left) and Alison (Right) Warming up for the race

Start of the Bluffton Invite!

I went home for the weekend, which was awesome!  I was so happy to see some of my friends from high school and to get to spend time with my family.  It was the home invite for my high school's cross country team, and it was senior recognition day.  My sister is a senior this year, so I went to support her and the rest of the team!  

Me(Left), Colleen (Middle), and my sister Mindy (Right) at the Troy Invite

Colleen and I! 

 Also on Saturday, I went to the OSU vs. Eastern Michigan game with my dad!  I love going to OSU football games whenever I get the chance to do so, and it was nice to be able to just have some father-daughter time. OSU had no problem as they pounded Eastern Michigan 73-20.

Double Script Ohio before kickoff

OSU's team running onto the field

It was a good weekend and I am glad that I was able to get away from Bluffton for the weekend.  I love Bluffton very much, but there are times when I just want to get off campus and go home or see friends.  Luckily I am able to do that.  

Life as a college student can be tough sometimes. Managing time between classes, work, homework, practice, and hanging out with friends, life can be stressful.  I am glad that I have the group of friends I have though.  Having a good group of friends always helps during the stressful parts of the college life.  We are now into the fourth week of classes here and just walking around campus or sitting in the commons during lunch, and I definitely can tell by the many groups of people that it seems like people have settled in on campus and have made friends.  Having a good group of friends keeps you grounded when things get hectic.  Just a thought that I had to type out as today has been a stressful day.  Yet, my friends have been here for me and we have plans for tomorrow night to make it a relaxing night!  I can't wait! :)

Life here on campus has been quite calm this week.  Although, at forum this past Tuesday morning, President Harder announced during his Presidential Planes for a new Health and Fitness Education Center.  Sounds like it will be pretty cool once it is built, but first money has to be raised to pay for the cost of construction.  More than half of the money has been raised.  Hopefully in the near future the building will be built.  You can look at drawings of the planned building at http://www.bluffton.edu/reach/hfec/.

For me this week, I have had a pretty calm week.  Just have had some homework to do, but I have been able to hangout with friends quite a bit.  I watched The Proposal with Alison, Kevin, Lyndsey, and Michael Wednesday night in the lobby on the 4th floor here in Neufeld.  Yesterday's run was pretty crazy.  Us girls got to run in the rain and we also decided to jump in any puddles that we saw during the run.  Of course, we went on the sides streets of Bluffton and jumped in every possible puddle that we could!  To end the run, there was a big puddle right outside of Founder's Hall that all of us jumped in right before we went inside to get a drink of water.  Best run of the season so far!

This weekend should be a good one.  Us cross country runners are running at the Yellow Jacket Invite in Cedarville, the women's volleyball team is competing in a tournament in Iowa, Men's and Women's soccer are at home, and the football team takes on Franklin.  Go Beavers!

"I wanna celebrate and live my life"

Life here on campus has been pretty relaxing for me these past couple of days.  The rest of the school week finished up well with my classes having good discussions and being relaxed.  I am having a great time with my friends here still.  Friday night, I watched a movie with some of my friends over in Ropp, which is where I lived last year.  It was kind of weird being over there again and knowing that I don't live there anymore.  

Yesterday, I had a cross country meet at our school's rival, Defiance.  It was quite an adventure let me tell you.  We got there and us girls thought we were running at 10 because the information our coach sent us said that the girls race was at 10.  Well, we go searching for the restroom as soon as we get out of the van, go warm up for twenty minutes, put on our spikes, and start heading over to the starting line.  As soon as we start heading over though, our coach comes running over to us saying that we don't run until 10:50 and that the guys run at 10.  Of course the guys are walking the course thinking that they run at 10:50.  Our coach goes running and yelling to them that they need to get their spikes on and head over to the starting line.  Needless to say, the guys only ran a two minute warm-up for a 5 mile race.  Us girls did another 10 minutes of warming up.  By the time we got to the starting line I was ready to just be done.  I'm not very good with waiting around after I am warmed up, and having to wait another 50 minutes to race wasn't good.  I ended up having a pretty good race though, and so do most of the other girls.  It was our first 5k race of the season, so we all know there is room to improve.  We stopped and got Subway after we were done, and some of the girls and I talked about 9/11 and politics, which usually doesn't happen with my friends.  It was a good discussion though.  In the van both the boys and girls talked about what other languages they could talk in, wanting to travel to places around the world, and football.  

Here's a video from the guys race at Defiance:

When we got back to campus, I took a nap, showered, and watched the OSU vs. Miami game!  I was very happy that OSU won.  (You'll learn that I am a BIG OSU fan!)  So it was a great day :)

Second Week, halfway done!

This week has been a busy one so far.  Monday, I had classes from 8-12, work from 12-1, lunch, then back to work from 2-3, class from 3-4, and then cross country practice at 4:15.  Needless to say, Monday was a hectic day and I was very stressed out.  During the run at practice, I had to seriously just get ahead of everyone and run on my own to clear my mind.  It helped out a lot and I was in a much better mood afterwards.  Yesterday and today have been much better.  I haven't been stressed out and have actually had time between classes, work, and practice to hangout with friends.

Last night, I played Mario Kart with my friends, Haleigh and Michael.  Let's just say it took me awhile to get my skills going at it.  I had a ton of fun though and it was just a nice way to relax after a hectic beginning of the week.  For being a girl, I do enjoy playing some video games.  Now, I won't play "Call of Duty" or games like that but I do enjoy playing games on the Wii, like Mario Kart, Super Smash Brothers, or even the Wii Sports Resort.  It is definitely a way to relieve stress during the school year and also a way to spend time with friends.  A lot of the guys on campus have a gaming system of some sort so there is definitely places to go hangout and play games.  That is of course after you do your homework. Haha

I am also loving this weather right now.  I thought it might be much warmer than it has been, but I am not complaining.  I enjoy fall weather so much more than summer weather.  I mean I do love my summer, but being here on campus during the fall is amazing, especially when all the trees start changing colors.  I am really looking forward to that.  This weather is also nice to run in, and it's supposed to be cooler this weekend, so the cross country meet should go well! =) 

Time of my Life

I seriously have been having the time of my life these past couple of days here.  I am having so much fun with my friends and with cross country.  I am telling you, this year is going to be a freaking awesome year!  


Last night was the faculty follies, which is when some of the faculty will put on performances or skits for the students at the beginning of the new school year.  The performances were great last night!  I enjoyed it so much. My favorite probably had to be Mark Bourassa's reading of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" song.  It was hilarious!  All the performances were great.  


I also had a cross country meet this morning at Goshen College over in Goshen, Indiana.  The race was not a normal 5k race that we usually run, but instead was a   Hokum Karem, which pretty much a relay race.  You have a partner and one of you run's a mile.  Then you slap hands to exchange and then the other person runs a mile.  We did three of those and the guys did five.  I love the team this year and it looks like it will be a good year.  I think times are going to improve each meet, which is exciting. Here are some pictures from the day:

Me on the way back to Bluffton after the race

Me, Alison, and Lyndsey
Love them! 

Goshen's Campus, well at least some of it

Ok well these were the hosts of tonight's Bluffton's Got Talent Show.  The one on the left is Zeke Tracy, and he is also writing a blog for Bluffton, so check him out sometime!

The Balloon that the Magician went into!!

Tonight, there was a Bluffton's got talent show as part of the welcome back festival on the lawn in front of Neufield.  That was pretty good.  Bluffton students are very talented.  After the talent show, there was a magician who was freaking amazing!!  The picture above shows just how big the balloon was, and hopefully I will post a video of him crawling into the balloon sometime soon!

Bluffton Volleyball!

Bluffton Volleyball vs. Adrian College

So I got most of the homework I needed to get done for Friday's classes, which meant I didn't have to worry about doing much homework tonight.  So instead of having to hang around the dorm room and read page after page of a book, my friends and I went to the volleyball season opener! I love watching Bluffton volleyball and so do my friends.  Last year, our team won the HCAC and went on to play in the NCAA tournament.  This year, they have high expectations, and from what I saw tonight, it should be another great season for the ladies! They beat Adrian 3-2.  It was an intense game as Bluffton lost the first set, but they were able to battle back and win the game.  I can't wait to go to more volleyball games this season.  You all should check their schedule on the Bluffton Beavers Athletic Page. Their next home match is against Mt. St. Joseph on September 22 at 7 in Founders Gym.  Mt. St. Joseph finished second to the Beavers last year, so it should be a great game.  I recommend checking a game out whenever you can!

Well, if you take a walk around campus during the day any week day now, you can definitely tell that students are in full swing of having classes and having homework to do.  Study groups are already starting to pop up in dorms, Bob's Place, and other places on campus.  I know I have already been busy with homework this week and the third day of classes just finished up today!  It is going to be a busy semester, but I know it will be a fun one also.  I am looking forward to the upcoming weeks.

Well that is it for now my fellow readers!