Hello everyone! SUPER sorry it’s been so long since my last post. Last week was a bit rough for me, dealing with a new illness and tons of work. But the good news is I’ve got tons to talk about.
So let’s start with swimming. On October 26th we had a meet down at Bentley, in Massachusetts. We left the night before since the meet was early and it’s a bit of a drive. I don’t know about the rest of the team, but I LOVE meets where we get to leave early and stay in a big comfy hotel bed. Before hitting the hotel, we went to Rachel’s house (she’s a first year on the team) for dinner. After loading up on pasta, salad, dirt (the edible kind) and good times, we crashed at the hotel in what I like to call a food-coma. We woke up bright and early the next morning, ate breakfast (all 40 something of us clad in purple and gold, what a sight), and headed off to the school. The team did really well considering it was the first meet of the season (and of college for our first years) and I really think it helped ease everyone back into racing.
After that meet we had a pretty grueling week of practice. It wasn’t any more swimming than usual, but we think coach was inspired by Miracle, since we watched it on the bus. He made us repeat swims over and over until we did them the way he wanted. One day he even brought out a whistle. Still, the general consensus was that there was a method to his madness, and it seemed to work considering our meet this past weekend. We had our first home meet (and the only one this semester) against SUNY Potsdam. It was nice to have a meet here at our own pool, and even better to have all of our friends come out and cheer for us. There were even some professors there. The meet was great and a lot of the races were really close, but both the men’s and women’s teams came out with wins. That’s especially exciting since we lost to this team last season. Everyone had a really great time and we’re looking forward to more swimming (and hopefully more wins). We’ve got an away meet this Saturday against Colby-Sawyer so we’ll see how that goes.
So between those lovely swimming activities, there were some fun Halloween related things happening on campus. This year, like last year, I volunteered at the annual Harvest Carnival. It’s run by the Martin Luther King society, and is an alternative Halloween for 2-12 year olds. Instead of taking young kids out on Halloween (some neighborhoods around here aren’t ideal for that), parents can bring their kids to the sports center and participate for a small fee (something like $5 to cover program costs). There’s blow up activities like a moon bounce and obstacle course, arts and crafts (I worked there), pumpkin carving and painting, games, dancing, mini golf, and tons more. And, of course, candy everywhere. All the kids had a great time and so did I.
This Friday, Halloween (which by the way is my favorite holiday pretty much), was the annual Halloween dance. The school holds a costume dance for us every year (it’s $5 too) and it was a lot of fun. Swim team had to turn in early to rest up, but we still got to go and hang out for a while. I loved seeing everyone in their costumes (I was a firefighter).
In other news, tomorrow is Election Day. I already voted via absentee, but for anyone who hasn’t, get out there! Especially young people! It was really cool to be able to mail my vote for President of the United States. It’s kind of a big deal. So that’s my reminder for that (that’s all I’ll say since I’m not exactly politically savvy). A friend of mine also showed me this website that’s kind of interesting. It’s called the political compass. It is about a 10 minute survey that then maps you politically? It’s hard to explain but it’s all on the website. Check it out if you’re interested: http://www.politicalcompass.org/test
It’s getting a bit chilly here and we’ve had little snow flurries here and there so far. I ordered my Smugg’s pass a few weeks ago. The college gives us this AMAZING deal with Smuggler’s Notch, a local ski area about 45 minutes away. I’ve been going there since I was 7 so I was very excited about the arrangement. For $30 we get a full season pass to all three mountains at Smuggs. I have no idea how much a season pass normally is, but I know it’s about $80 for a one day lift ticket, so it pays for itself before you even get to the mountain. I believe we also get discounts on gear rentals, but I don’t know because I have my own stuff. Anyway, if you’re into skiing or riding that’s definitely a huge perk about SMC.
I think that’s all for now (Gossip Girl is on in 5 minutes and I have a pile of unfolded laundry sitting on my bed). I’ll try to make sure my next update isn’t two weeks from now, and I’m sure it won’t be. Keep reading!
-Christine
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