It's snowing, or should I say 'icing' since ice is falling from the sky and it's not the pretty white fluffy stuff. But that's ok, because class got canceled woo!!
Ok, let's finish this long drawn out Michigan story out of the way and soon, since I'm headed BACK to Michigan in less than 2 weeks for a Basketball Tourney. Fun fun!
Last day…after spending the night having fun with old friends and new at the social we go back to the really uncomfortable gym floor of the IM sports building at Univ. of Michigan. Ugh. I could feel myself get sick, I was so sleep deprived and my immune system was probably shot.
But ya gotta get up and go at these deals! Sleep when you're dead right?
We only had a 1/2 day left at the conference and yours truly was asked to be on a panel that would be talking about Graduate Assistantships. OOH! I get to talk about me and myself and my job? My favorite topic!
But I was kinda nervous, the audience was going to be mostly undergrads asking questions about GA's, what to expect, is it hard, etc.
Part of me wanted to just stand up and say "What to expect as a 1st year GA? Nothing. Don't expect anything because if you do, you'll be wrong." That's really the truth. There has not been a SINGLE moment out here that I have thought would happen other than I vaguely knew it would be hard and that I'd be ok.
Boy. I sure wish I had a me last year to pull me aside and say "You're an absolute idiot for doing this. But you have to. It's going to suck. And it's going to be rewarding. It's going to be worth it. It's going to make you feel defeated. It's going to make you feel like you're on top of the world. You have to be crazy to pack up and move away from familiarity and thrust yourself into a strange and foreign place with new faces, new cultures, new surroundings, everything. But you're going to love it. Because you are crazy. But that's ok. And you will make it."
I didn't say all of that in the panel. It was a question and answer type of discussion, and I gave my spiel on how ya, I moved really far away and it's different. But if I could get into the field without the right major, the right experiences, the right region even, anyone can. The panel went really well, and I got to talk about how I do love my job, that I'm not only an outsider because I'm not a midwesterner but I'm not studying rec and I don't have a background in rec either. The general theme that all of us GA's had up there talking was about how it's going to be an adjustment but it's worth it and that we all were happy with where we are at. And afterwards, I talked to some students personally and handed out my card (I feel so official and professional with those! such a rush saying "Here, have my card.")
Around the end, we said all of our good byes and than hit the open road. We were all super tired but couldn't help but talk about the conference, what we liked, who we met, who we thought did well with their presentations, etc. It's like walking out of a movie you just watched with friends, you're all just talking about your favorite scenes and moments and you're giddy and the real world just doesn't seem like it's really real just yet because you're still somewhat tied to that big screen and everything that happened and you're still processing it all.
And then we saw how crappy the weather was and we got forced into the real world real fast. The drive was scary, as it was icy, and we saw a lot of cars that had lost control and ended up on the side of the road. A few crashes along the way too. One of the guys I met at the conference was texting me throughout letting us know about any major traffic jams due to crashes as he and his school had left before we did. The whole time I felt like we were apart of a National Geographic documentary on the Great White North of Canada, or some snowy tundra as we trekked it across the ever so flat state of Indiana. So cold, icy and dangerous but so snowy and pretty with how the sun hit the snow covered plains.
Finally we got back to Carbondale around 10ish. It took us about 10 hours to get back home. Gag. But when you're with good company, the trip doesn't seem so bad. And I'm so glad that I got to go, if only to say that I'm closer to my coworkers and staff. Sure the conference was fun, but I will remember the car ride probably more so than any of the actual presentations I saw.
The next day I woke up with the worst cold. It was so bad, I thought I had the flu. I was nauseous, achy, coughing, stuffy nose, everything. Told ya, I'd get sick. So I slept a lot. And then went to the doctor. I was convinced that I had H1N1 as I didn't get the flu shot (regrets) but after listing my symptoms she goes "Well, as I am a doctor and it sounds like someone has been reading WebMD a little too much, let me check you out." Oops. Turns out, it was just a severe case of the common cold. How anticlimactic. I thought I was legitimately dying and should be under quarantine and here it's just a really bad case of the sniffles. She did advise me to not sleep on any gym floors in the near future. Duly noted, Doc.
My staff tried really hard not to disturb me while I was sick *coughyeahright* but I did get a few, what the heck do i do texts. Makes me feel like I am needed though, so I'll take it.
I was able to function more normally the following day, and went to class. Finance. Oh wait, I forgot, there was a quiz that day. Cool. I literally didn't study at all and was pretty sure that the nyquil hadn't worn off yet I was still fairly groggy, and well, frankly, high on meds. (I promise, Mom, it was cough medicine for real!)
I got a B on that quiz. *fist pump*
It was a struggle that day though and the rest of the week as I was constantly tired and coughing. But I am officially out of it now and rested up and ready to tackle anything. Like a snow storm. And an impromptu Flag Football Tourney to played in the Snow, the Snow Bowl that will hopefully be wayyyyy better than the very lack luster Super if-you-can-even-call-it-that Bowl. The commercials were so so too. But yeah. We'll be out playing flag football in the snow. I don't think I'll tell my doc about this one.
To Be Continued!
My favorite t-shirt I saw at a Michigan gas station. I'm a sucker for corny jokes.
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