Week 0 and 1 of Junior year: Getting Back to School
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
– Nelson Mandela
By: Hong Bing Tang September 1, 2024
08/16/2024 to 09/01/2024
Introduction:
Hello all! I have recently been struggling with pursuing this website. I am not entirely sure what I can do to keep on trying to be motivated to keep on posting every week. In reality it does not have much time each week to do this website although it just hasn’t been happening. I hope to adopt this statement “it is okay to miss one week, mistakes happen, just don’t miss two weeks because then it becomes a bad habit”. Anyways I am starting off this post and the rest based on my weeks in college. In week 0, I discuss what I did the week prior to the start of school. This includes the yearly visit to Beaver Island for cross country camp. Then I discuss what has happened the last couple of days/first week of school. Enjoy!
Week 0:
Beaver Island:
I headed back to campus on August 15th since we were heading to cross country camp on the 16th. I was super excited to get back to campus to see all my teammates and train and hang out with them. We spent most of the 16th traveling to the island. It was still really fun since I was able to catch up with many people and play a lot of games. The real fun began the next day, however. We first started off the day by doing our fast long run. It was quick but also really nice to be able to run with a big group of people. With a long run out of the way, we were able to relax the rest of the day. We were able to head into the small downtown and roam around. It was really funny since Greg, one of the freshmen bought a way too overpriced inflatable boat. Once we finished up in town, I played some spike ball and frisbee before having a delicious dinner. We then sat around the campfire with the whole team and had great discussions.
Day 2/Sunset:
The second day was filled with a whole lot of fun. An easy run today followed by circuits. After the run we ate lunch and started our packed day. We first started by playing Steve’s Guess, the link game which was a lot of fun. Once the game finished Nick and I played in our spike ball tournament which was really fun although we got eliminated in the first round. Then the group shifted, and we played volleyball which was fun, and Steve talked a lot of shit. We then ate dinner and headed to town to get Ice Cream. Although we forgot Greg and he got a ton of crap for it. I got Michigan Crossroads which was really good. We then headed to the sunset, and I threw a frisbee with Aiden and Floros before we took some real pictures of the sunset! A small crew of us stayed back to play volleyball before the sun set. After we arrived back to the lodge, most of the team chilled by the fire and each person was able to share what was the best part of beaver island. Overall, the Beaver Island trip was an very awesome and memorable trip.
Rest of the Week/Room tours:
Once we got back to campus, we had a whole week with NO SCHOOL!!! We basically got to train as professional athletes. Most of our days started off with practice in the morning before chilling for the rest of the day. I was able to set up my room. Additionally, I was able to cook for myself as well. Honestly cooking for myself was really fun and way better than the dorm food that was super low quality. Although I really enjoy cooking for myself, the one thing that I missed from the dorm was the dinners with everyone and being able to socialize with different people. Another thing that I was able to do this week as well was visit people the other people’s rooms. For example, I was able to visit and see all the newcomer’s dorms and check out their place. Additionally, I also visited the other guy’s house which was way nicer than I thought would be. This past week was awesome just to be able to relax and train before the semester starts.
Week 1:
First Day of 15th Grade:
This summer flew by and soon enough we were back to school. I have two classes on Monday/Wednesday and 3 classes on Tuesday/Thursday. This year semester my class schedule should be tougher than the past 2 years since I will be taking all engineering classes, however I think my motivation will be higher, even though I supposedly am taking one of the hardest undergraduate engineering classes, because I will be more interested in the things taught. Additionally, I am super excited for this year since my professors are really good at teaching and engaging with us students which always makes learning even better.
Football Game:
On Thursday we had our first home football game. The downside was that our home cross country meet was the next day, so I only stayed for the game until half time. We were versing Central Connecticut State and were projected to win by a good margin. We started off the game hot and scored 6 touchdowns by the time that I had left. The football game was really fun since I was able to catch up with my friends and see what they did over the summer. Additionally, our football team got a new quarterback, and he looked pretty good, granted we were playing a pretty bad team as well. At the end of the game, we won 66 to 10 so it was a pretty easy win for us. Hopefully we will continue this energy into the next couple of games.
First Meet of the Season:
We had the first race of the season on the 29th. Coming into the race I was super excited about being able to race. The summer workouts had gone well, and I felt mentally strong for the race, something that had been absent for the last 2 years of racing. I never realized that running was so mental until college and after putting myself in a hole for the past 2 years, I was able to finally climb out of it after last track season. With a whole new mindset, I wanted to define the success of my race not by the time or place but by what I did during the race. The race went well, and I got into good positioning. After the first mile I was able to be competitive and push on the second mile which is something that I feel like I have never done. Then the third mile was “go time” and I was able to catch a few people. I was able to get a new cross country 5k PR which was awesome, and I raced really smartly and felt really strong during the race! It was one of the most fun races I have ever run, and hearing people cheer made me so happy and grateful. It was really awesome because some of my honors friends also showed up and it made my day. Overall, it was a very good day!
Conclusion:
The last 2 weeks of being at Central Michigan have been great. I am so excited for my classes, running, and being able to make new memories with new and old friends. I hope to be able to keep the energy to be able to have fun in school because that ultimately is the goal. Being able to go to an awesome college and learn from some of the best experts in the country is an experience that will help development me and I am excited to see where things go! See you next week!
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