New Living Arrangements...
...all around. Next semester I'm living in the on-campus apartments, so that should be better than the dorm I was in last semester. I mean, full kitchen right in our apartment...big fridge...living room area with couches...television...my OWN bedroom with a door I can close so I can sleep when I want to....two different bathrooms, and one of them has a bathtub...two sets of drawer/sink/mirror things (because the name for it escapes me at the moment).
And right now, I'm staying with my friend Shelly. I like it. Her apartment has an extra bedroom and bathroom, so it's an easy fit. So far we haven't gotten on each others' nerves, and if we did, pretty sure we could just go our separate ways. LOL. She likes that I have my computer, and she has high-speed internet....and I'm not helping her pay the rent or anything, because it's already taken care of for the month. Instead, I'm goign to the barn with her everyday and helping her ride her six-nine horses in training. How sweet of a deal is that? She gets my help in getting her horses tacked up/warmed up/ridden (I am basically her groom for this week) and in turn she ends up teaching me a LOT more about ridign and horses. More stuff that is specific to what I need, and it makes sense.
Outside the arena, we're equals. We're the same age, we get along, have the same interests and similar backgrounds, we party together. Inside the ring, she teaches me....and it's already helping my riding. She's already undoing some of the damage that my silly riding coach for school has done to my riding. I think by the end of hte break I will be a lot better off. Of course, it's goign to drive me NUTS not being able to ride the week that I am home, or the week that I'm in Florida...but then I'll have about a week to ten days or so before school starts to make up for the time I missed over those two weeks.
School starts again on the 16th of January...and by then, I plan to be in shape for riding and our team workouts. I'm not talking about just enough to get by...I want to come back and make people say "wow, you worked on your break, didn't you?". I mean, sure, we have our workouts that our trainers made for us. But I don't know if all the girls will do them. And if they do...so what? I can top all of them if I really want to. And even though I'm not always sure I really want to, I'm talking myself into it.
See, Shelly is amazing. She set out at 15 to be a professional Equestrian...and you know what? She is. She makes her living riding, showing, and training horses....and she didn't even finish high school or get her GED. Sure, she started to, but then she moved to Canada to ride with Swiss/German people....and let me tell you, in the horse world, German and Swiss people are at the top of the list. I'm not talking about little western or Quarter Horse shows....I'm talking Olympics, World Champion type of intense riding. And she's damn good. She's worked nonstop since she was 13 riding and training and showing. She's on a bit of a break at the moment, but she wants to go to the Olympics and I really think she will...which is super exciting.
To be around a person so driven and so focused is unlike anything I've experienced really so far. I mean, sure...I've been around those girls who dance all the time and want to become ballerinas, but this is different. This is her life, and she is still doing it. It isn't just something she'll do until she was 18 or so (like ballet was for me) it is something she is going to do her entire life. The youngest Olympic rider on the US team is like 26...and she's my age, 21. Still some years to train and get better.
Long story short: she's an awesome rider and actually knows how to communicate to me what I need to be doing to be a good rider. We were both dancers, we've both had similar problems in our lives (for the most part) and we both have similar riding backgrounds...minus the fact that she's had professional lessons the whole time and I haven't. LOL. Oh well...I'll make up for it :) I suppose the best thing is I'm learning how to focus on one thing...horseback riding. The Team. It's odd, because I've always dabbled in so many things at once...I"m well-rounded from it, but I can't say that I'm terribly good at any one thing, you know?
Well, anyways, off to bed...I'm exhausted, and there are more horses to ride tomorrow! :-D
This rocks. I wish I could keep riding like this next semester. Although, I'm not sure how sane I'll be...oh yeah, my classes for next semester:
Microbiology
Microbiology lab
Cellular/Molecular/Developmental Biology (or something odd like that)
Life Sciences 2 (have to...cant get out of it...should be a BREEZE)
Human Neuropsychology
States of Conciousness
World Religions
Organized Crime
Yeah...sevenish classes...21 credit hours...how much does that rock? Kinda sucks that I have to fit the team practice and team workouts around that...plus work and riding my own horse and having a life. LOL. I love it!!! I think I'll actually make better grades though. 21 hours makes me actually WANT to study. hehe.
Off to bed...
xoxo
And right now, I'm staying with my friend Shelly. I like it. Her apartment has an extra bedroom and bathroom, so it's an easy fit. So far we haven't gotten on each others' nerves, and if we did, pretty sure we could just go our separate ways. LOL. She likes that I have my computer, and she has high-speed internet....and I'm not helping her pay the rent or anything, because it's already taken care of for the month. Instead, I'm goign to the barn with her everyday and helping her ride her six-nine horses in training. How sweet of a deal is that? She gets my help in getting her horses tacked up/warmed up/ridden (I am basically her groom for this week) and in turn she ends up teaching me a LOT more about ridign and horses. More stuff that is specific to what I need, and it makes sense.
Outside the arena, we're equals. We're the same age, we get along, have the same interests and similar backgrounds, we party together. Inside the ring, she teaches me....and it's already helping my riding. She's already undoing some of the damage that my silly riding coach for school has done to my riding. I think by the end of hte break I will be a lot better off. Of course, it's goign to drive me NUTS not being able to ride the week that I am home, or the week that I'm in Florida...but then I'll have about a week to ten days or so before school starts to make up for the time I missed over those two weeks.
School starts again on the 16th of January...and by then, I plan to be in shape for riding and our team workouts. I'm not talking about just enough to get by...I want to come back and make people say "wow, you worked on your break, didn't you?". I mean, sure, we have our workouts that our trainers made for us. But I don't know if all the girls will do them. And if they do...so what? I can top all of them if I really want to. And even though I'm not always sure I really want to, I'm talking myself into it.
See, Shelly is amazing. She set out at 15 to be a professional Equestrian...and you know what? She is. She makes her living riding, showing, and training horses....and she didn't even finish high school or get her GED. Sure, she started to, but then she moved to Canada to ride with Swiss/German people....and let me tell you, in the horse world, German and Swiss people are at the top of the list. I'm not talking about little western or Quarter Horse shows....I'm talking Olympics, World Champion type of intense riding. And she's damn good. She's worked nonstop since she was 13 riding and training and showing. She's on a bit of a break at the moment, but she wants to go to the Olympics and I really think she will...which is super exciting.
To be around a person so driven and so focused is unlike anything I've experienced really so far. I mean, sure...I've been around those girls who dance all the time and want to become ballerinas, but this is different. This is her life, and she is still doing it. It isn't just something she'll do until she was 18 or so (like ballet was for me) it is something she is going to do her entire life. The youngest Olympic rider on the US team is like 26...and she's my age, 21. Still some years to train and get better.
Long story short: she's an awesome rider and actually knows how to communicate to me what I need to be doing to be a good rider. We were both dancers, we've both had similar problems in our lives (for the most part) and we both have similar riding backgrounds...minus the fact that she's had professional lessons the whole time and I haven't. LOL. Oh well...I'll make up for it :) I suppose the best thing is I'm learning how to focus on one thing...horseback riding. The Team. It's odd, because I've always dabbled in so many things at once...I"m well-rounded from it, but I can't say that I'm terribly good at any one thing, you know?
Well, anyways, off to bed...I'm exhausted, and there are more horses to ride tomorrow! :-D
This rocks. I wish I could keep riding like this next semester. Although, I'm not sure how sane I'll be...oh yeah, my classes for next semester:
Microbiology
Microbiology lab
Cellular/Molecular/Developmental Biology (or something odd like that)
Life Sciences 2 (have to...cant get out of it...should be a BREEZE)
Human Neuropsychology
States of Conciousness
World Religions
Organized Crime
Yeah...sevenish classes...21 credit hours...how much does that rock? Kinda sucks that I have to fit the team practice and team workouts around that...plus work and riding my own horse and having a life. LOL. I love it!!! I think I'll actually make better grades though. 21 hours makes me actually WANT to study. hehe.
Off to bed...
xoxo