Last time

So this is it, my very last blog for this semester.I have to say I have enjoyed blogging and writting about these topics you have given us because they all related to me somehow.  I guess I can say this whole college thing has been quite wonderful.  In high school your always on a schedule class after class one after another.  In college, well at the beginning with volleyball going on I had no idea what the heck this free time everyone was talking about was.  But now that seasons over I am loving being able to do relaxing things like being able to have time to take naps and do a little bit more studying.  I went to a high school where a group of our friends have grown up together since we were little. I was used to seeing them everyday for almost twelve years.  It has been over three months since I have seen a lot of my friends and I am so extremely excited to see them over the breaks coming up.  My friends went to colleges all over so we all went our separate ways.  My best friend who actually is going to college in Chicago comes home next Tuesday and lets just say Im so excited its marked on my calendar.  Being around people you haven't grown up with all your life is very different but you learn to make new friends and so far I have met some great ones at TLU.  Registration for next semester was this week and talk about stressful.I guess I was just nervous about how things were going to end up but thank goodness I ended up getting all the classes I wanted but it was still very scary because since I am a freshman we all know we get the last pick.  I guess that is something everything goes through though.  Classes lately have been hectic it seems like I have nothing but tests and projects.  But only two more days of class and then Thanksgiving break! Thank goodness!  I know I will spend this Thanksgiving break spending time with family, enjoying some wonderful food, sleeping and of course shopping.  Oh, and studying of course. 

Fun

I do believe ninety percent of the game for any sport or in everyday life is mental. I can't believe though that there were so few articles that mentioned the word "fun" when it comes to sports. If you aren't having fun when you play a sport then why do you do it? Okay I understand if you dont like it but you receive a full scholarship to play a sport at a university, but if you dont at least enjoy the sport a little why would you waste your time doing it.  In college sports you spend a lot of time out of the classroom, practicing, and you really have no social life so I dont see why you would give all that time up if you dont truly enjoy it. I know for me I cant even begin to describre the amount of fun I have when I play volleyball. Especially when your on a club team where we won 2 national qualifiers receiving national bids to the Junior Olympics and won 2nd place in the largest volleyball national qualifier in the whole nation. Not including winning several other tournaments. So I guess I can say we were very very successful. I look back on those times now and I can honestly say those were some of the best times of my life. And now today playing collegiate volleyball it was such an honor being a starter as a freshman.  Looking back and thinking about all the work I put in to get here today puts a smile on my face. Every time I was on the court it was so fun. I truly feel for any team or an individual to be successful you need to have fun when you play. Having fun definelty affects your mental game. When your having fun in the game it usually increases your confidence which allows you to play at your fullest potential. I absolutely feel when you study you can still have fun. I think I would drive myself crazy if every time I studied I never had fun. Studying in groups and conversing with people when you study is still efficient and at the same time your hanging and having fun with your friends. If you need to get things done in your study session study for an hour or so and then take a break for a little while. Talk with your friends, laugh a little. Its okay to laugh when your study, trust me if you don't you will be so bored and just get lonely. Its always good to be around people than being alone. Having fun is an important asset to life. Yes do your homework and study as much as you can, but don't get overwhelmed if you need a break just go have some fun. Its important.

Near the end

Seems like just yesterday I was super nervous walking around the TLU campus trying to find which room I was in for class at that time.  I remember feeling so scared about meeting my professors, classwork, and all sorts of things.  I had already met the volleyball team and was getting to know them at that time but I was also extremely nervous about meeting friends in my classes and just outside of volleyball.  The thing about TLU is that pretty much everyone is nice so I am so happy I made friends outside of volleyball.  Getting the hang of the whole college thing is scary and I still have a lot to get the hang of but, I feel I did a really good job changing from high school to college.  I can't begin to describe how excited I am that Thanksgiving break is coming up.  As busy as I have been I am extremely ready for a break from school for a couple of days and some much needed family time.  Oh and the black Friday shopping of course.  But, getting close to the end of the semester is kinda scary.  I am very nervous about my finals because I have never been in a situation where I have to study for several classes at one time.  I am definitely going to need to use my time management skills and make a schedule for times to study for each class.  I cannot believe my first semester of college is almost over.  I am also very excited for Christmas break because that is my favorite time of the year! I feel this time of the year my Professors are enjoying giving me a lot of work and test so I am beyond ready for a break. Registration for next semester is coming up and I am stressing out in the fact that I hope I get the classes I want.  It has been quite a relief that volleyball season is over and I get a little bit more relaxation time and more study time.  I have mentioned before that college is very different from high school and yes it took me awhile to get the hang of.  But I have realized that I love it here at TLU and I am very excited for what is ahead in my future.  Nearing the end of the semester is so exciting, nerve racking, scary and all sorts of things.  But, I am very proud of myself for getting this far and I know after Thanksgiving things will start getting very hectic but, all I can do is try my best at all I do.  It is so weird thinking that after Thanksgiving break there is only a week left till our classes are over.  When finals come around yes it will be a scary time but I will study very hard and try to do my best.  So far college has been great and I am very excited about my future.

Mistakes

I believe mistakes help make you into the person you will become in the future.  Mistakes are very common in everyday life for every individual.  Not one person on this earth is perfect so I guarantee if someone claims they have never made a mistake before they are surely lying.  Making mistakes and failing is okay... yes I mean it, it is okay!  I believe you learn from your mistakes. It may take only once to learn from your mistakes or it may take several repeats to finally learn from it.  I know making mistakes has helped me in school and in life in general.  In school it may take me several times to get an assignment right but at the end of the day after I learned from my failure, I finally get it correct.  Making mistakes in an academic environment has helped me today in school.  I know I have many mistakes ahead of me but all I can do is learn from them and try to make myself better.  To make peace with my imperfections I have to focus on my success in my life.  I graduated high school with a 4.0 GPA and am now a collegiate athlete full filling my dream.  I know I am not perfect but I try to be the best person I can be.  Volleyball is a game of mistakes.  I mean come on, in order to score a point somebody has to make a mistake right?  Right! It is the same for volleyball as it is for school.  When you make a mistake you have to shake it off and move on to the next play right away.  You have to learn not to dwell on the mistake you just made because well, you get a total of like 20 seconds before the next play.  If I make a mistake in practice I think about what I can fix and try to do better in the next play.  For your future,you can learn from failure and mistakes by learning how to think things through differently for a better outcome, If the outcome was negative then you can learn from the negative consequences that you experienced thus, knowing next time not to make that poor decision or mistake.  With short-term learning, mistakes could possibly help you to realize everyday assignments are important for overall success in a class whether the assignments are graded or not.  I strongly believe that thinking about consequences before making a decision or mistake is a vital importance for success both in everyday life and in the classroom. 

Relationships #2

I belong to a wonderful Catholic church in San Antonio called St. Jeromes.  It is where I have grown up going to church every Sunday.  The community that we have at our church is absolutely incredible.  When I was in the sixth grade I was in a terrible accident where I almost lost my life and the use of my right leg.  I was told I was never going to walk again.  It was that day on January 21, 2006 that I realized how amazing the congregation of St.Jeromes is.  I will never be able to thank everyone enough for the large amount of prayers and the help they gave my parents.  The love and support my community gave my parents during this tough time was so touching.  People I have never even met were sending me get well soon cards and telling me that they were praying for me.  I know the large amount of prayers from my community may have saved my life.  It truly is awesome that my family and I had such great support during this hard time.  Just recently a good friend of mine that I have grown up with was diagnosed with bone cancer.  It was such a shock since we had just graduated high school together.  When I heard the news I didn't know what to do.  A few weeks later I was told that we were going to say the rosary for my friend at the church one night.  I expected a small group but when I arrived that definitely was not the case.  The amount of people that arrived to pray for this boy was amazing to see.  We sat there that evening praying with my friend for quite awhile.  At the end of the night as I lay in bed I thought back to the scene of that evening.  It brought tears to my eyes thinking about how wonderful of a community I live in with such incredible people.  I guarantee that everybody in our community would go out of their way to help me or anybody at any time.  It is so nice knowing that I always have someone to call if needed.  I look back today thinking how wonderful of a relationship I have with all these people.  Some yes, I do need to get to know better.  But, today I realize that what I went through in 2006 and what my friend is going through right now may be very tough, but it is so much better to go through when you have so many people who care about you, and love you.  Relationships with people is such an important thing in life.  You never know when a time may come along when a friend, or just a classmate may need your help with a struggle they are having.  So my advice to you is, if you know of someone who is going through a hard time be there for them and help them because one day that could be you.

Transition

It has been awhile since I have written about my transition from high school to college so I thought I would go ahead and write about it since we are already halfway through the semester!  Like I have said before transitioning from high school to college was not easy for me.  I feel I am constantly doing homework or playing volleyball whenever I am not in class unlike in high school when I had tons of free time.  I do have to say though I think I am getting used to the way college works and the way my Professors do things in the classroom.  With volleyball season almost being over I am sad but I am very much looking forward to being able to have some relaxation time during the day and not always feeling on the go every second of the day. I always hear people saying how much free time they have and how they get to go do all sorts of things. I have absolutely no clue what they are talking about when it comes to free time in college because I haven't had that since August! In some of my classes I have started to learn different techniques for taking notes and for different things we do in class. In high school I only took notes on a simple piece of paper but I have learned that bringing my laptop to class and taking notes is a lot easier for me.  In high school I had a set of friends that I used to hang out with everyday that I was very close to.  Before college I worried about making friends and I was sad knowing I wasn't going to have my best friends with me everyday.  But when college started I became very close with my teammates and today I have even met lots of friends outside the volleyball life.  One thing I have to say is new to me in college is the large amount of communication I have with my Professors.  In high school I never had to tell my teachers when I had a game because usually they would always know because of an announcement that was made or because my coach told them, but in college I am constantly emailing my teachers letting them know that I will be gone and getting the work that I will have missed.  The Professors here at TLU really do a great job at being understanding on when we have to miss and I am so thankful that my professors have helped me so much this semester so far.   Although it is tough switching from high school to college I do have to say college is absolutely amazing and as much as I loved high school, that is in the past and it's time to focus on my future here at TLU!

Relationships

     First, I would like to thank you, Professor Barry, for your kind words about someone I didn't even know yet have a sense that they were an amazing person.  I am sorry for your loss.  I also feel I am blessed to have you for my teacher in that you care about me as an  individual not just a student.
     Like many of us, I too, have experienced loss of family and friends.  My great-grandparents passed away years ago when I was very young so I really didn't know them very well.  I hear stories from my parents and grandparents that make me feel proud of my ancestors.  Three years ago, seems like yesterday, on a cold night in November, the phone rang in the middle of night that my Aunt Cheryl passed away. I will never forget that night or the feeling I had hearing my mother cry and my parents deciding how it would be best to let my grandparents, my mothers mom and dad, gain knowledge of this sad news.  I can't even imagine the feeling of losing a child.  This is my mom's sister who was only in her thirties at the time of her death.  My aunt had Chrohn's Disease which is an autoimmune disorder that affects the way one metabolizes and absorbs their food intake.  My aunt was first diagnosed with this disease after the birth of her first baby which all started from an antibiotic that was given to her after she developed an infection after the birthing process.  My aunt experienced daily symptoms of her disease but never complained or felt sorry for herself.  She had to quit the one thing she loved, teaching, at a early age.  She was an amazing math and computer teacher and had this amazing ability to teach with success even the weakest students in this field.  I could call her day or night with a math problem and she could walk me through it without the slightest bit of difficulty even making sense to me, the "I HATE MATH" kind of student.  My Aunt Cheryl loved helping and teaching others.  She loved science projects and every year we would all go to her house and we would have science weekends and perform science experiments.  She loved the outdoors especially fishing which I often can see her doing as a comfort feeling when I think of her.  She was an amazing mom even through her weakest states and I truly miss her every day.  I am comforted to know she is in a better place and no longer in pain of suffers from her disease.
     Many of you know from my previous postings that I experienced a very life altering experience being involved in an accident in which I was seriously injured.  For me, not only does death but my love to live enlighten me every day to enjoy what matters to me the most of any given day.  My family is the most amazing group of people you would ever meet.  We cherish, support and love each other very much.  I am truly blessed.  My friends, teammates, coaches and supportive teachers are important in my life as well.  And for me, God, who gave me this extraordinary life is the highest on my list.