Class=Fun! Really?!

This week has started off great. First of all, we somehow slipped by the predicted snow storm yesterday, leaving the roads all clear for running and leaving my pants without the snow/salt line on the bottom.

Secondly, my classes have been pretty entertaining, possibly even fun. Now I know that may be hard to believe, but perhaps the profs have gotten a bit of spring fever and decided it was time to add a little pleasure to class. In my biology class we are beginning a new unit on microbiology. For part of our lab these next few weeks we, the students, get to come up with our own experiments dealing with microbes in the soil.

At first I wasn't too excited about this because it requires more work than other labs. But now that my group has decided what we're going to test, I realize that WE are actually in charge and I think it will be a good time. Although I will admit, the most fun part may be getting the soil samples from under 4 feet of snow!

So that is definitely hands-on and more interesting than just doing a lab out of the lab manual. The other class that I will venture to say is actually FUN is personal fitness and wellness. All freshman have to take this class that lasts for 7 weeks and is a 1 credit class. My class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8-9:30 AM. On Tuesdays we do some sort of physical activity and Thursdays are a lecture.

This semester our activities have included lifting weights in Legends, walking on the indoor track, jumping rope, a stretch-band workout, and competitive 2 on 2 baseball! I'm a pretty active person so I enjoy doing all this, but today was absolutely fantastic. It was an open gym day where we could play basketball, raquetball, ultimate frisbee, go to Legends, or do an aerobic workout with Greg Lonning the Wellness Director. I chose the aerboic workout and I'm super glad I did, although I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow.

We were in a dance studio with some pretty groovy music playing. Greg led us through some hard-core sets of push-ups and sit-ups, then a kickboxing routine, followed by a stretch-band workout. We did that for 45 minutes, and then repeated all of it again at a lot faster pace for the last 15 minutes. The kickboxing was the most fun, with all of us jab-stepping and doing combinations that made us feel like pros. One combination of kicks ended with the WWF "skull crush" as Greg called it and made me smile every time we did it. The move is quite simple: bring your left knee up to your chest as you bring both arms down from over your head, but just thinking of all of us girls doing "skull crushes" makes me laugh.

It was a great way to get my heart rate up and start my day off right. Now I'm in a great mood and energized, ready to take on the day. Bring on more fun!