Thursday, September 16, 2010

Week 15: College

I can't believe this is the last week of my Mommy's Piggy Tales. 15 weeks of my life story. wow! Today is our college experience. I'm not sure how I can sum up 5 years of college into 1 post, so expect lots of pictures. :) I started at Florida International University in Miami, FL in August of 1997. I earned a full ride soccer scholarship and had to arrive early for preseason. My first year our preseason was in the amazing Cayman Islands! It was beautiful and a trip that I will never forget. I met some of my best friends in college who live all over the world...New York, Portland, Miami, Sweden, Scotland, and numerous other US states. I was so blessed to meet some wonderful friends, play soccer, and travel over the United States to compete in games. We went to the beach on weekends, learned how to cook, do laundry, prepare for hurricane season, and navigate our way through Miami. I also did pretty well in school too! I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Elementary Education with ESL endorsement. These were the best 5 years a girl could've asked for!!!!

Ahhh...the good ol' apartments! All of us soccer players lived with each other in apartment complexes (4 to an apartment) where the other athletes were too. There was always something going on and definitely never a dull moment!

Cayman Islands...

Freshman initiation...When I started there were 14 other freshman on the team...when I graduated, there were 3 of those original 14 left! Some flunked out, some quit soccer, some transferred schools, and some just went to live on the beach....I'm so thankful I was able to stay focused on my academics and soccer to graduate and get my degree!

We had to go through freshman initiation and it was so fun...definitely embarrassing, but fun! The upperclassmen went to town dressing us up, then parading us at halftime of the men's soccer game and having to walk through campus like this!

We went to North Carolina over spring break to cheer on the men's basketball team...it was a fun road trip and the guys did well too!


 We also went to Key West one year for Spring Break! A three hour drive wasn't too bad! :)



We went to Portland, OR to play the Univ. of Portland and it was one of the best fields we've ever played on...it's too bad we lost. I believe at the time, they were ranked in the top 20 in the nation. This is after the game :(


My soccer coach...Everton


(Yes, I worked at TGI Fridays during my last few years in college....LOVE the flair! ha!)



One of the best parts about going down to Miami Beach was getting Pucci's pizza after...it was amazing!




During one of our trips to Colorado, there was a hurricane warning in Miami. (This was also the first time many of our teammates from Miami saw snow for the 1st time!)

When we got back, the water was everywhere....it flooded our apartment and the campus was flooded as well!



I had many, many injuries over these 5 years....knee surgery my sophomore year, many sprained ankles, but the worst was my senior year. I had compartment syndrome in my lower legs. I had to have surgery and couldn't play. I would go on to have this surgery 5 more times...it kept coming back. Today, I still have some problems with swelling and can't run as I once did because the pain and swelling could come back and I just can't bear to have surgery again....


Graduation was huge! FIU had over 30,000 students and the education department and the number of graduates was pretty big. I was so glad my parents were able to fly down to attend!


A great 5 years....lots of friends made, tons of memories, and a whole lot of fun!

To see more college stories, head over to Mommy's Piggy Tales





I hope you've enjoyed reading my history as much as I've loved looking back and writing it. I'm glad I was able to take this walk through memory lane.


4 comments:

Olivia said...

As always, I love all your pictures. I also love that though there were many injuries, you still have so many wonderful memories of soccer. Thanks for sharing!

MommaHarms said...

wow! THe same surgery FIVE times! I wouldn't be able to stand it either! College was such fun, wasn't it?

Crystal said...

Looks like you had a great time at college! How fun to get to travel and see so many different states and event he Cayman Islands!
And great pictures of it all too!!

Ginny Marie said...

What a great time you had in college! If you would like to write more detailed posts about college and beyond, I'm guest hosting "Young Adult Years" on Mommy's Piggy Tales starting Monday, October 11. We'll write six posts on topics like college, travel, our first job, our first home away from home...I hope you'll join us! Just email me at lemondroppie(at)gmail(dot) to sign up!