Now that the fall semester has come to a close, we have a few weeks off to prepare ourselves for the spring semester. While second semester can be daunting, there is much to be excited about. Personally, my favorite part about the spring semester is taking trips up to Boyne Mountain with my roommates! Before I started my time at Michigan State, I had never even seen snow, let alone gone snowboarding or skiing. Growing up in Florida accounts for most of my inexperience with snow, but after three years up north, I absolutely love it! I have always wanted to learn how to snowboard, but obviously never had the chance to go. In the spring of my freshman year, I finally tried it out for the first time! We rented boards, got our lift tickets, and hit the slopes – well, the bunny slopes. I quickly realized it was more challenging than they made it look on TV. After my first day, I left the mountain with bruised spirits, arms, legs and everything in between.
Nonetheless, I was not ready to give up just yet. The next day, I pulled myself together and hit the bunny slopes again. I started to make some real progress too. I got too confident going down the easiest run on the mountain and I think I gave myself a minor concussion. With the cartoon birds flying around my head, I thought it was time to just take it easy for the rest of the weekend. It was not until the next season that I could return to the mountain to try again. I bought my season pass this time in hopes that I would actually learn how to snowboard this season. After going up to Boyne weekend after weekend, I finally had the breakthrough I was looking for. After much trial and error, I gained confidence and can now push myself to go on new runs and not fall on my butt every other minute! I am super excited to go back up in January and I will continue to rock my butt pads under my snow pants!