You guys, I Graduated!
I could not be more excited! Thinking about never having homework, or tests, or sitting in long lectures, ever again is heaven. I don't even know what to do with myself. It still doesn't feel real. Part of that reasoning is because I don't get to walk for graduation until the Spring. UVU really dropped the ball on that one. It's really lame that they don't do both a spring and a winter graduation ceremony. It just doesn't make sense, and it's unfair to winter graduates. Whatever, I'm over it, I'll walk in the Spring (still not really over it haha). I have been in College ever since I graduated high school in 2009 so it's pretty surreal that I'm actually done. I have had the best of years and the worst of years during my college lifetime, and it is so weird to think about how far I have come. I am going to reminisce about my college days so prepare for one of longest posts you will probably ever see from me.
My very first year of College was my biggest challenge. I decided to take a partial scholarship to Idaho State University and play soccer as a College Athlete. I was so excited to start this new and scary adventure. I was nervous that I made the wrong decision, as I had other and even better offers. For whatever reason, this felt like it was going to be the perfect fit. Shortly before I was preparing to go to college I found out that the assistant coach who had recruited me was leaving to be the head coach for another school. I was totally bummed, he was really awesome and I felt more comfortable going to Idaho State with him being there. This was a game changer. A few other incidences happened that made me not so happy to go. I was already off to a rough start. A really rough start. I got injured. We were running the mile for the very first practice to see if we prepared hard enough in the off season to run the mile in 6.5 minutes. I felt way nervous and under prepared because of all the nerves I was experiencing. As I was coming around the bend after the first lap, my knee gave out. I felt excruciating pain. I tried my hardest to finish out strong. I only finished the mile in a little over 7 minutes. That was an embarassing first impression. I had always been one of the most in shape players on all my soccer teams, so it was hard to be one of the last to finish. I was mortified! Especially as an incoming freshman, this was a bad sign for me. I took a trip to the athletic trainer and he could not seem to find anything wrong. He couldn't seem to find anything wrong, ever! I suffered throughout the whole season with a bad knee and I kept getting told that they couldn't find anything wrong. I felt awful. Both the team doctor and the team trainer were basically telling me I was being a baby. I knew that people on the team were judging me and thought I was faking. The honest truth is that I knew my body and I knew that something was seriously wrong. I struggled to prove myself throughout the season and I rarely got any playing time on the field. I was crushed. I went to every practice and conditioned as hard as I could and I still couldn't keep up. After every practice and every game I had physical therapy and extra training to try and fix the pain in my knee. I did cycling to help me condition without so much knee pain. I lifted weights to try and strengthen my muscles to maybe see if that would help. Day in and day out I was with the trainer doing extra work to make me feel normal again. Nothing worked. After the soccer season was over, I was completely unsatisfied with my college experience as an athlete. I decided I really needed to get a second opinion from another doctor about my knee problems. My mom took me to a doctor in Utah and I recieved an MRI. The doctor heard my story and after seeing the results he was a little upset. He told me that I had a torn patella tendon and a partially torn meniscus. I was also experiencing pain because two bones in my knee were basically rubbing on each other. I was angry. My mom was even more angry. He said that according to my injury he could tell that if the doctor or trainer would have treated my injury as a real injury from the very beginning, I could have avoided most of the damage that was now done. He told me that I was young enough that I had the option to let my knee offically heal on it's own or I could choose to have surgery. Nobody wants to go through surgery so of course I chose the latter. Might have been a bad idea because I still have lots of knee problems today.. being an athlete my entire life, doing absolutely nothing but walking and swimming was out of the question. I definitely didn't let my knee heal properly but that is beside the point.We really should've done something about it and complained to the school, but we were so fed up, we didn't even want to deal with it. I decided to tell the coaches that I would not be coming back the next semester. It was a relief but at the same time I cried... HARD. I knew I was going to miss soccer SO MUCH. It was my entire life, for years and years and now it was about to all go away. Nonetheless, I needed to heal and I needed to move on to the next, shiny new chapter. Inside and Outside of the Soccer world at ISU, I made some incredible friends and have so many memories. School was hard. Being an athlete and taking 18 credits was the hardest thing I have ever done. I missed so much school because of travel and it really hurt my grades in most of my hard classes. I definitely got a taste of what College life was all about, and high school did not prepare me one. little. ounce.
Snow College. Best. Decision. I. Ever. Made. After the experience I had at ISU, I decided I would go to a small town (smaller town haha) school and just enjoy the college life. I was a little nervous because I was going alone, on a whim, without any plans. I knew a couple people that were there already and both my sisters went to Snow College and they loved it, so I decided to give it a try. I reached out to a long lost friend and she just so happened to have a roommate that was leaving the next semester. I was able to jump in and be the next roommate. It was kind of hard being there the second semester because all of the girls already became best friends. I shared a room with the misfit roommate. She was a treat.... I won't go into detail about her, I don't think it's possible for me to forget her and all of the days being her roommate. Despite feeling a little left out of the group, I had a blast! I was enjoying all my days and Snow College and I never once regretted making the change. I still really missed soccer but I was able to play on some intermural teams. I met a lot of new friends and of course, many boys. I had so much fun dating and playing with all kinds of new friends. Snow College is one of a kind. The classrooms are small, most everybody knows everybody, and school dances and activities were the place to be! Being in a small town like Ephraim was so fun. Because it was so small, you had to find your fun. There was a lot of exploring, cave running, bonfiring, hot tubbing, swimming, and graveyard spooking. I can honestly say some of my favorite years of life, happened at Snow College. There was so much love, friendship and heartbreak throughout those years, but I wouldn't have it any other way! I really grew up a lot during that year and a half of school. It molded me a lot and it made me the person I am today. Gosh, I miss it. Can I rewind time and go back? I have made the best forever friends because of my time at Snow College. I would encourage every person to go there for their associates degree. It's cheap and it's the funnest place you'll ever go! I PROMISE!
After graduating Snow College I had to move back home... Boooo! *thumbs down*
Now this was the year that definitely took me through a loop. I had to learn so much in those years. I wrote a little bit about that in my Confessions of a Married Woman post, so I won't go into that part. Basically I really learned how to love myself instead of having someone else love me. I had to really figure out what I was going to do with my life. I was going to Weber State and I really missed the 'college life' atmosphere. My classes were really hard and I didn't really have anyone to help me study or anybody to hang out with. Life was a little bit boring. I struggled in some of my classes because I was not used to being in classes with over 200 people. (Snow college really had me loving the student to teacher ratio.) Thankfully during this time in my college life, I happened to meet my husband. Marriage eventually was my destiny and my college life changed instantly.
Utah Valley University: Brandon was going to UVU when we first met and I never actually thought that I would have to be a student there one day. Well, we got married and that meant that I had to sacrifice for him. Don't get me wrong, I am glad I did, but oh so sad at the same time. During my whole college life I wanted to be a Radiology Tech. I loved everything about it. It was the perfect fit for me...until I couldn't do it anymore. It just wasn't going to work. The only program that I could apply for was at Weber State, but I had to live in American Fork. Needless to say, I found myself in the counselors office at UVU. I sat down and my counselor asked me what I was going to major in and I was answerless. I had no idea. I gave her my transcripts and said, "Something health related." That was all I had. She rattled of the very few options (few is the exact word, there were only three options). I was stumped. I didn't know which one I wanted. I picked the one that made me the closest to graduating. I decided to become a Community Heatlh Major. I really didn't know what I could do with this career choice but I did hear her say that this is the path that gave me the most options, so I went with it. I am now officially a Community Health Education graduate. Guess what... I still don't know what I am going to do with it! But I am trying to figure that out. I really hope to find something that I love and am passionate about and I am confident that I will. I just know it will take some time and I am okay with that. Everyday I still wish I was a Radiology graduate instead, but I am beyond happy for the accomplishments that I made. I always tell myself that maybe I can go back someday and do exactly what I wished I could do. It was a rough road during my college life with many UPs and many DOWNs but I wouldn't have it any other way. My favorite memories are forever engrained in my heart and mind, and I will never forget them. I am grateful for the important life events that lead me to where I am today. I am grateful for every struggle, for every fight, for every love, for every crush, for every laugh, for every smile, and for every friendship that I had on this incredible journy, and I will never forget how those things made me feel.
It's official...I made it!!
