Today was one of the strangest days I can remember. As a college student involved in several different aspects of work, as a full-time student with 18 credits, working as one of the editors on the school paper, a student manager at the Phonathon, and a blogger for Michelin during the American Le Mans Series season, usually I am consumed by one of those, if not several over the course of the day.Although today was April Fool's Day, it was no joke that today I had none of that to worry about! I rarely get the time to update this blog - largely by my own choice and becoming more concerned about what can be said in a public forum - but sometimes I just need to take a minute and breathe and reflect on all that currently encompasses my life.
In the next couple days I will be registering for classes for my senior year of college at Marquette. It takes a minute to let that sink in. So much of this year has been a blur with my various activities, that I don't know how much of it I've actually taken the time to enjoy. Between late nights, early mornings, and everything in-between that makes up the day, there's no time to reflect. It's just going through the motions, and keep going. Don't stop.
Marquette means so much to me and I know I realize it, but it takes something like this break to embrace it more so. First off, my last break, I didn't really get the chance to have a "break" per se as I made my first appearance to Sebring for the ALMS season opener. I can't express thanks enough to everyone I worked with for their welcoming me into the "team," and I know I worked as hard as I did that week on our blog, MichelinAlley.com, to reward their trust in me. Anyway, the week involved a lot of 14-18 hour days and actually going to bed and waking up at civilized hours (trust me, 10:30 lights out and 6:30 a.m. wakeup call took some getting used to, again!). If you don't love racing, it's very hard to do well at given the hours. But needless to say, I didn't have much time to relax!
So, back on campus for the last week and a half and its back to living the student life. The classes. The tests. The papers. The newspaper. The Phonathon. My boss at the Phonathon jokes, as I have lost both my Sunday night shifts the last two weeks because of the break and thus have only a handful of hours on my paycheck, "Hey, maybe you should work more!" Maybe I would if I could... hence why I am evaluating my options for senior year.
When you take on the life of both a student and a student worker, you take on the persona of both. You embrace everything you get involved in, make it operate the best for both you and your co-workers, and keep on going.
I got home to Greendale (my Wisconsin hometown, although Arizona is still my roots) and had to make a pit stop with my mom for a work appointment of her's at MATC's Oak Creek campus. It's nice, but tucked away, has a lot of commuters and is just one large building. It felt like an office complex with classrooms instead of cubicles. No sense of it being a university like MU.
All told, it will be nice to calm down for this Easter break and reflect on everything I have been fortunate to be involved in, and where I'm looking to go next. Out for now, and cheers.
P.S. Physically, that next place is Long Beach in two weeks for the next ALMS race!
