You know its a bad sign when your coach comments on your lack of blogging…so let’s catch up:

Fall Break is over (technically) and although it was short it was wonderful. 

I spent one night away from Witt in Columbus with a couple girls from the team and we just relaxed.  Sunday I was back at the Chi-O house, Monday we had a very exciting reserve game and Tuesday (in one of our last conference games) we defeated Earlham 3-0.  All of that coupled with an extremely odd lack of homework made getting back into the swing of things pretty easy this week. 

Tomorrow we host Allegheny @ 9:30 am (ouch) and then I am off to Cleveland for a wedding. Despite the fact that it is homecoming and our campus is swarming with alumni I am relieved to get home for a night.

Thats all for now…

Now that I know everyone can read this…I am a bit intimidated.  And by a bit, I mean a lot.

Anyway, last week was just another week. My friend turned 21 which, while was extremely exciting for her, meant nothing to “24 hour rule” me.  It did however boggle my mind to think that this year will be the infamous 21st birthday season and in a few months (December 7th - but who’s keeping track) I will fit into that category as well.

The soccer team won our way to a 10-2-1 record beating an extremely talented Indiana Wesleyan 3-0 (I am not being sarcastic, it was a difficult game) and another much improved Hiram 2-1. 

Despite these back-to-back wins, our team encountered a much needed wake up call yesterday at practice when many issues that had been circulating throughout the season were finally addressed, discussed and placed carefully into the past in order to continue down the road toward a successful season and an even more important final season for 9 seniors.  Personally, I was shocked at how much negativity had built up inside me from simple issues that I just refused to let go.  Negativity towards negativity that I was finally able to ditch - about 5 minutes ago. 

 “Tough times don’t last. Tough people do.”

And with this amazing group of women full of undeniable talent, there is nothing left to do but last.

DENISON ON WEDNESDAY! TIGERUP!

I am now happy to report that this past week was much more relaxed.

I made it relaxing for myself by avoiding most of my work, but hey, I enjoyed it.

This past weekend was parents weekend and was, as usual, very entertaining. I’m very certain (through careful observation) that the parents who went out enjoyed their Saturday night more than the majority of Wittenberg students.

We (the soccer team) tied Wooster on saturday 0-0…which was somewhat frustrating considering that we out shot them 17-1… but I suppose you will have some of those games where the expected outcome just doesn’t happen. Hopefully that tie does not alter our current ranking at 9th in the nation. We will find out tomorrow though.

So aside from all of this, I would like to talk about this legitimate (well in my opinion) dilemma that I am currently facing. It is the opportunity to study abroad.

I came into this year leaning towards the idea that I, no matter what, was going to study abroad spring semester. As usual, now that I have gotten here and have re-adjusted into the “bubble” as some of us call it, I am torn. Part of me is extremely ready for a change of scenery and a new and exciting challenge, however, I love it here and in the springtime when campus seems to be bursting with energy - I love it 100 times more. Not to mention, there is only spring soccer which leaves me with a LOT more time and freedom. So, the pros and cons list shall continue…and we will see where I end up.

Ok this past week was for lack of better terms: “so college.”

Let me just share a small segment of what my assignment notebook looked like:

MONDAY:

class class class….blahblahblah

meeting with prof. about 10 page paper (woof)

practice

study for developmental test/make notecards

brainstorm for papers

TUESDAY:

class…

finish notecards for developmental test

blogging meeting

GAME @ Mt. St Joe…and I would like to add that trying to study on a bus is a much more difficult task than people realize. It takes cold hard talent.

…oh and we won 1-0 so productivity on the way home simply did not happen.

WEDNESDAY:

8am observation of little children for 5 page paper (actually somewhat interesting)

class class class

practice

study developmental ALLLLL NIGGGGHHHHHT.

Ok…I think everyone gets the point. I had a test Thursday, a statistics project due Friday, a “topic prospectus” (which in my personal opinion is a fancy un-necessarily long way of saying potential topic) also due Friday…and…here’s my favorite part:

(and the reason for my 2nd blog being a little late)

A 10 page paper due today as well as, a 5 page paper due….TODAY!

Nothing is more satisfying than knowing you have two extremely large assignments (for two different classes) that overlap and are both due on the same day!!! (extreme sarcasm)

However, it is currently 4:55 pm and both of those papers are out of my sight so I can now breathe easy.  Until my statistics test this Friday. 

I need a vacation.

On a positive less stressed and much more exciting note…

Witt Women’s Soccer 7-2 just defeated the #17 team in the nation saturday!

Tiger up, and peace out for now.

So…

Here I am with this blank screen in front of me.

I am now racking my brain in search of what I can possibly write to kick off this little blogging shindig.

I guess I will begin with the boring basics:

Hi…I am Jordan Bamberger…and I am a current junior here at Wittenberg.

I play soccer for Witt - and would like to add that my teammates here are some of the most amazing people that I have met in my life. I am also a member of Chi Omega - another fantastic group of girls who just celebrated the addition of a tremendous informal class.

My major is psych (no clue what-so-ever what I really plan on doing with that…but it sounds legit) and I may minor in biology but who knows.

I am from the beautiful city of Cleveland, Ohio: BROWNS 51 BENGALS 45. ouch.

How did I end up here at Wittenberg? Hmmm. Where do I begin…

I will be honest. I probably cannot say one thing that I learned on that little the campus tour when I arrived here for my first visit. I looked just like every other potential freshman girl wandering around aimlessly scoping out the cute freshman boys. Actually, the only thought in my mind when my mom and I drove the 3-ish hours home was: everyone is so nice here. Is it fake? or genuine?

When I returned for my second visit (my recruit overnight) and I met/bonded with my future team, I knew that this aura of friendliness was indeed genuine. I am not trying to say that Wittenberg is some over the rainbow fantasy land where everyone loves everyone and gets along perfectly, but I can however say that Wittenberg houses some of the best people with the biggest hearts.

Needless to say, I found that I fit in here and Wittenberg University won me over.

Freshman year, well, I was a freshman. I was thrown into this completely different independent lifestyle…and I could go to parties whenever I wanted. And I did. What came with these parties besides terrible headaches? Lessons. For example, Lesson A: Bad idea to go to a party (while the rest of your class stays in to study) the night before your first bio 170 test. Those were the type of lessons that lead me somewhat successfully from point A (aloof freshy fresh) to point B (sophomore).

Sophomore year was very interesting. It started off by me tearing my LCL, PCL, knee capsule and part of my hamstring in our last scrimmage of pre-season. That warranted many months of excruciating physical therapy and the obvious, being stuck on the bench while the team had their most successful season. The lessons of sophomore year got deeper. I started to find out the difference between friends who were actually friends and those who were just fun to party with. I think the whole “growing up” thing began to hit when I heard myself say to my dad on the phone: I think I’m going to start studying now - as opposed to the night before the test. You know - little steps like that.

So to wrap up this small novel, (it was really hard by the way to sum up 2 years in 2 paragraphs) I will just say that here I am, year number 3, and I can hardly believe how far I have come.