Equestrian Blog

I cannot believe that this  semester is already over! I only have two more days of classes before exams. 

I think that this has been my busiest semester yet, and although I feel like it has been forever since the beginning of the semester, it does not feel like it is time for the semester to end.  This may just be because I still have so much work to do that I am wishing I had two more weeks instead of two days. The list of uncompleted work contains two papers, three websites, one test, and then exams. When this is all going to get done I am not really sure; but I think I find myself in a similar situation most every semester and it has all worked out up until this point. So I have no doubt that it will all work out. It is just going to take some serious focusing and praying that God will help me through the next week with very little sleep. 

On a more positive note, my statistics group project is almost finished. Actually my group is finishing it up as I am typing this blog. ( I am playing supervisor on this one.) Really they are just finishing typing the paper to go with it and most of the work for it was already done.  They have been amazing. 

 I have also already done my Equine final, so that is one less thing that I have to worry about for next week. We actually do all of our Equine finals the week before "finals" so that we can have more time to study for our other classes. For our riding classes, the finals are a riding routine that we choreograph to music. This semester mine was to the song "Just Like a Prayer" Glee version and I dressed up like an angel.  And to stick with the tradition of me incorporating things I have never done before into my routine, I rode barefooted. It wasn't part of the original plan, but my boots looked really tacky with my costume, You should all check out the riding final videos on the Judson Equestrians Facebook page. (http://www.facebook.com/judson.equestrians )

I can't believe it is time for Thanksgiving break already. It seems like just last month I started my third year at Judson and now I am finishing up this semester's projects and beginning to get ready for finals. 

Some of my classes are ahead of others, like my riding class for example. We are already working on putting our final routines together and are going to go ahead and ride our final at the beginning of the week after Thanksgiving. I am pretty exited about mine; I am riding to the Glee version of  'Like a Prayer.' 

Other classes, however, like my Graphic Design class feel like we are still months away from being finished. So far in that class we have learned to use Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, we still have to learn Adobe Dreamweaver. It took us all this semester to learn two programs and now we only have a week to learn the third, definitely feeling the need for another month in that class. 

The rest of my classes are somewhere in between these two extremes, we are not done yet, but the end is in sight. The biggest thing for most of my classes, including Markup Languages, Public Speaking, Statistics, and Human Resource Management, is that I still have major semester projects that have to be  finished. Once all of those projects are finished, I think  the classes are going to feel much more conclusive. Plus, I will be glad not to have any thing other then the finals to worry about. 

I guess that means I should be spending a good part of my Thanksgiving break working on homework so that I don't have to worry about it that last week of classes...  I just really wish that I could have a break from school work and not have to worry about classes and projects and stuff. Oh well, I guess that is just part of the college life... 

I think this has been the most interesting weekend of the year! 

It started off on Friday when I got to meet some really awesome Judson prospective students. Three girls that are looking at coming to Judson next year came to campus for scholarship day, and because of how far away they lived, they came up Friday afternoon. Since I am now a Judson Ambassador, they stayed with me.  It was my first time having prospectives stay with me and, let me tell you, I learned real quick that my room was not designed for four people to live in... There were mattresses on the floor from one side of the room to the other and in order to get to the door, closet, or bathroom you had to climb over one of the mattresses. It was all cool, though. The three girls came together so they all knew each other, wanted to stay together and  thought it was rather funny that I had such a small room.  Despite the tight space, they  were all very impressed with The Judson and I am hoping to see them next year. 

Friday evening, after everyone got settled in, we went to a bonfire on campus hosted by Student Life. I have been to at least one other held on campus last year, but this one defiantly came out on top.  Everyone was just having a good time socializing with each other and getting to know the prospectives that were already on campus and, eventually, we had a little bit of party time. We may not be able to sing or dance, but we had fun anyways. 

Saturday was Scholarship Day and my duties as an Ambassador had me up bright and early. I was in Jewett by 7:45 a.m. to have my picture taken and then greet arriving students, welcome them to campus and answer any questions they might have.  Once everyone was registered, they moved on to the first event on their itinerary and I went to get ready to head to the barn for our demonstration. 

Our demonstration this time was Christmas themed and all of the riding classes performed a routine. It was great.  I don't think I have ever seen people decorate themselves and horses like Christmas in this way ever before. There was garland  and bows everywhere! 

When the demonstration was over I got to hang out with my dad and step sisters who came up to watch me ride.  It was the first time they have seen me ride since I have been at Judson. We went out and had dinner(ish) ---it was only 3 in the afternoon---. After dad headed home  I hung out with my JC friends in the dorm lobby. After everyone else had dinner we went and saw the play that the drama department was putting on, Eldela Lizard and Pekena. It was cute, but I was glad it was kind of short because I got to watch the second half of the Bama game with my other JC friends. 

When the game was over we all realized we were hungry so we made a quick trip to Hardee's and then sat in the parking lot and ate while a couple of the people in our group provided the entertainment, dancing and singing to the music playing in the car. 

Today, I got up around 11 and then went to T-town with some of the girls that I have become friends with this year. We went out to eat and then headed to the University of Alabama's quad where they were having a quidditch tournament. Yeah, thats right quidditch, like the game they play in the Harry Potter movies! All of the players ran around the field on broom sticks and they had a person dressed in all yellow to be the Snitch.  The Snitch could run all over campus and the Seeker had to chase them all over campus.  It was amazing.  

Then we went to kick a soccer ball around with friends of the girls I was with. Ok... I SAT and watched the rest of THEM play soccer.  It is not my fault that I have friends that are soccer players and that I am in no way athletic. I can ride a horse and that is about the extent of my athletic ability. 

We are now back at Judson, well, we have been here for about  2 hours, and are working on homework and getting ready for another week.  

The best part of the weekend was simply that I was able to hang out with friends, get to know some of my friends better, and make some new friends. 

I have noticed throughout my life that things that are not at all related seem to go well together or, if nothing else, are good for each other. 

The activities of my life seem to be no different. I am kind of a random person. I like and enjoy lots of different things. My academic career illustrates this to a degree, I mean I am majoring in business but have a minor in equine science and web design. The even better illustration of my randomness are my extra-curricular involvements.  It seems like I do everything, or have done it at some point in the past: I ride horses.  I make videos.  I sing.  I play field hockey. I try to make art. I play the clarinet as well as a handful of other instruments.  I like photography. I think you have at least started to get the picture. I do a lot - some related to others, some not. 

OK, now back to my realization that I started with and how my activities relate to it.  The two extra-curricular activities that are currently occupying my time are field hockey and an investment research competition. 

Field hockey is a fun and exciting game. I am not much of an athlete, but I love field hockey. I think it has something to do with the intensity of the competition and the aggression it fuels. Field hockey is a Judson tradition that students participate in during the fall semester and is currently going on. To learn more about field hockey at Judson, you should check out Audra's blog www.judson.edu/blogs/audra/?action=ind&pub_id=1087

The investment research competition is a finance competition that is put on by CFA  (I wish I could tell you what that stood for, but to be honest I don't remember but it is some finance/business organization). The competition involves a group of students working together to perform a financial analysis of a company and making predictions about the company's future. The team has to create a written report as well as a presentation, if they pass the written portion.  

 I have been able to find no connection between these two things, but I have come to find that they are very good for each other. 

You guessed it:  I am on Judson's team for the investment competition and, although business is my major and this competition will look very good on resumes and such, it has not been my favorite thing to do. The main part of the competition involves finance and accounting. I have not yet taken either of these classes, making me feel very lost at times, not to mention overwhelmed.  The work for this competition is also very extensive, and with my already jam packed schedule, the pressure and stress I am feeling is tremendous. 

All of this stress may not be good for my health, but it is great for my hockey. Like I said before, hockey is a very aggressive sport. I, however, am not a very aggressive person, but when you are under as much pressure and stress as I am, it just feels good to hit the ever loving stew out of something.  This new found love of hitting things is great for hockey because it makes me want to be aggressive. 

So, like I was saying, field hockey and investment competitions may have very little in common, but they  sure are good for each other. The stress and pressure I am under because of the investment challenge makes me a more aggressive hockey player and hockey gives me a release for all that  stress and pressure, which helps me calm down and focus on what I need to learn for the competition.