I Kissed Snow Days Goodbye

When I graduated from high school I pretty much kissed snow days goodbye. I knew that it's really not too common for colleges to have snow days seeing as most students just have a few minute walk to their classes and don't actually drive. I really thought that never again would I have a snow day in my life, but I'm very happy to say that I was dead wrong. Today, February 14, at Messiah College, I had a snow day. We got hit by a pretty big snow/ice storm all day Tuesday and into today and as a result all classes were cancelled. I've been asked by several people back in Michigan if the snow day was justified or not because obviously states like Pennsylvania don't get much snow so therefore they can't handle mass amounts of snow very well. To be honest, I really am not too sure whether it's justified or not. I haven't been off campus to know what the roads are like, but from what I've heard they're pretty bad. My thinking though is that if they were just better at dealing with the snow that the roads wouldn't be as bad as they are. Anyways, justified or not I'm just happy that I didn't have class today. I slept in till almost 11, and stayed in my pjs until 3:30 when I had to get ready for softball practice. All day I stayed inside, and the nerd inside of me actually worked on homework. I worked ahead in my communications journals. One option for a journal entry was to write a list of 200 things you're thankful for. Now I'm thankful for a lot of things, but 200 is a lot! It basically took me all afternoon, but that's mostly because some friends invited themselves into my room and distracted me a lot. Overall it was an excellent snow day, and I really feel as though we should have them more often!

I never thought the day would come!

This is extemely difficult for me to say...I...am...a...nerd! I'm so ashamed!! It's currently a Friday night and I just spent the last few hours working on a math project. That's right, I, Abby Bergakker, was doing homework on a Friday night. What's even worse is that there was a big formal dance tonight, and not only did I not go, but I did homework. (sigh) I guess college is just changing me, and obviously not for the better! I really didn't want to spend my Friday night doing work, but I figured with 4 finals, a math project, and 5-7 page philosphy paper due in the next 6 days I better get a move on. I'm really not too concerned about the finals and the math, but the philosophy is going to be the death of me. If I really manage to describe, attack, defend, and give my own opinion on David Hume's view of the Free Will debate in a paper before Tuesday then God will have performed a miracle!

Philly

About a month ago now I went on a day trip to Philadelphia with one of my classes. This class is a seminar called "Making Room at the Table". It has a lot to do with culture, racism, ethnicity, identity, and basically life in general. Our prof had set up this little trip so that we could visit a very historical church in downtown Philly called "The Church of the Advocate". It's an old gothic church that was built in the late 1800s, and is still being used today by a very small predominately Black congregation and a secular organization that runs programs with the arts to keep kids off the steets. The church was cool and it reminded me of plenty of churches I saw while in France 3 years ago. The real reason that we were at the church was because inside there are paintings that were done during the mid-1900s by Black artists hanging on the walls on the inside of the church. Each of the paintings depicts a specific Bible passage, but they're all depicted in a way that represents Black slavery and oppression. I found them all very interesting, but there were also very grusome. Here's one of the paintings, but this is really one of the more mild ones. One of the paintings showed a Black man with a knife through the neck of a White man, and many of the paintings had similar images. After we had time to look over the paintings, a man who helped with the secular organization that uses the church building came and spoke to us about the paintings. One thing we discussed during that time was whether or not it was appropriate for grusome paintings like this to be in a church. He felt as though they should be there as a reminder of what has gone on and to make sure that it doesn't happen again. For me I wasn't really sure how I felt about them being there. I was trying to imagine sitting in church on Sunday morning with paintings of burning Black men killing White men. It seems terribly irrevent and a disgrace to God's house, but at the same time it is reality, it really did happen, and we can't allow ourselves to forget it. I don't know, it's something that I've thought about ever since, but I just don't know how I feel. I'm interested to hear other people's opinions so feel free to share. After our time at the church we went to the Reading Street Market which was also an interesting experience. I've never seen a place quite like it in the United States before. It was full of vendors selling food, sweets, fresh meats and cheeses, jewelry, and plenty more things that I'm not rembering. What was really interesting was that they had things from absolutely every culture as well. There were even traditionally dressed Dutch people selling Dutch goodies...that definitely made me smile. It's was a pretty cool place, and a memorable one for me because it's where I had my very first Philly Cheese Steak. Ok so it really wasn't that good, but I've at least had one now, and in downtown Philly! Ok I had a picture to go along with the Philly Cheese Steak part of my story, but it's not loading so I guess you'll just have to envision me with a big hoagie in my mouth :)

Another Piece of Writing

Well it's been awhile since I posted and so I thought I better put another something out there for my readers. I'm too lazy to actually write something new, but I'm wanting to procrastinate from writing the paper that I should be writing right now so I've decided to compromise and post something that I wrote for a class a little earlier this week. The class is called Foundations of Physical Education (I hate it and it's pointless) and half my grade in the class is my portfolio that I've been putting together all semester. It's filled with all sorts of goodies like my resume (as if there's anything on it), references, a cover letter (as if I was trying to get a job somewhere), a writing sample, some other random crap, and last but not least...my sports management philosophy. For those of you who don't know, I'm a sport and excercise science major with a concentration in sports management, and after college I'm hoping to get a job at a fitness club like Orchard Hills Athletic Club (for those of you form GR). Anyways, I finally took the time to sit down and write my philosophy of sports management. I was a little unsure about "my philosophy" prior to writing it, but now that it's down on paper and I've read through it a couple times...I'm kinda proud of it :) ...so here it is...

Sports Management Philosophy
I have established my philosophy of sports management through my experiences in education, sport, work, faith, and everyday life. Sports greatly effect our lives as part of a healthy lifestyle, as fun activities, and as a form of entertainment. Sports management deals with the business aspect of sport that can sometimes be “behind-the-scenes”, but is still essential to the continuation of quality fitness and athletics whether they be on a recreational or professional level. I take my own personal health and fitness seriously, and I want to help those who struggle in this area. Obesity is a huge problem in America, and I am passionate about helping those who want to improve themselves by helping them discipline themselves in their own health and fitness. I believe that strong management is key in creating a successful health and fitness business, and as a manager it is something I would strive to achieve on a daily basis. I am passionate about fitness and creating a fun, safe, and educational atmosphere for all those who are involved. I work to achieve this kind of atmosphere while also running my business efficiently so that it continues to grow. I believe that part of my job as manager is to be a leader as well as a servant to those who work for me. I consider it my job to be an example to my employees on how to best serve each other as coworkers along with our clients. I am convinced that I possess the necessary skills and qualities to be a respected and successful health and fitness manager. I have strong leadership skills, discipline, determination, and decorum. I believe that my use of these talents is the key to success in sports management.

Habitat for Humanity

This past weekend I decided to pay my big sister Sara a visit at her new home in Rochester, NY. We had a fabulous weekend together, and it was very special since it'd been years since she and I were able to spend time together just the two of us. On Friday I had the pleasure of working with Sara and several of her co-workers for Habitat for Humanity. Sara and I spent our day working with one of Habitat's regulars who turned out to be a distant relative of ours. He grew up in South Dakota and there was some connection between his wife and my great aunt or something along those lines. Anyways, we were part of the drywall crew, and a pretty efficient one at that...for volunteers anyway. Sara and this other guy (I can't remember his name) cut the drywall to fit while either I or Sara put up the glue, and then they held it in place while I screwed it to the wall. I felt a lot of weight on my shoulders being the screw driver-er, but they gave me a tool belt and a couple screws to learn with, and soon I was unstoppable...or something like that. Overall it was an excellent day filled with sisterly bonding, random family connections, and lots of insulation and drywall resulting in black boogers for the rest of the weekend! :)

Me showing off my sweet screw driver skills!

All-Nighter

Last week Tuesday I pulled my first ever college all-nighter. Well, it wasn't quite all night, but pretty close to it. I had a research paper due on Wednesday for one of my classes. Tuesday morning the only work I had done on the paper was a few hours of research with plenty to go. I spent most of Tuesday afternoon and evening completely the necessary research. By early evening I realized that this was most probably going to be an all night event so I began my coffee drinking early. Shortly before midnight I finally completed my research and was able to begin writing. 2 am came around and I could definitely feel myself beginning to tire. By this time all my friends were in bed and I had no one to make me coffee anymore so I did what I had to do. Shortly after 2 am I went out to my car and drove off campus to a diner a few miles away that I knew was open 24 hours. As a side note I must mention that there are definitely some weird men who hang out in Baker's Diner at 2 am! Anyways, I got a hazelnut cappuchino in a to go cup and I was on my way again. When I arrived back to campus I went back to work with a renewed vigor. I worked from then until 5:30 am when I finally completed the paper and even proofread it too! I then went bed for a couple hours, and got up in time for my 9 am class. It was definitely a long night, but it was all worthwhile in end. On Thursday I was able to sleep in until noon and then do nothing all day long. It was fabulous!

FABULOUS

That is the word I would use to describe my fall break (October 12-15). The only part that wasn’t so fabulous about it was the fact that there was snow on the ground when my plane landed in Grand Rapids. Beyond that I had a great time and did NOT want to go back to PA. It was awesome to be able to see almost all of my friends and catch up. Being away from all my friends makes me realize how much I love them and how much I miss them. I loved being able to hang out with the people that I love and trust in a way that I don’t with people from school. As a friend of mine described it… “it’s a breath of fresh air”. I was really sad to leave Grand Rapids and head back, but it’s just a part of life that I’ve gotta do. What made it especially hard was knowing that I wouldn’t see my friends again until Christmas…that’s 2 months away!!! Oh how will I ever survive?! Nonetheless, it was an amazing weekend that I wish I could enjoy over and over again instead of going back to school.