Since last time I wrote a blog, quite a lot has changed. I have moved half way across the world to ski and study at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. I have already skied a lot on the site and had my first week of school.
Being here is the perfect opportunity to get a bachelor degree whilst being able to ski any time I want. I have skied before, in between and after classes and since the first week is not that challenging at school, I have been spending a lot of time at the ski site. I thought I lived close to my ski lake back home, but now it is even closer. If I go from campus it is just a minute on the bike to get to the river. My apartment is also only 4 minutes away, so I really can go down there whenever I want.
This has been something I have been planning and working towards for around 2 years now. I met Kate, who had skied here as well and she told me about the opportunities. Then I started doing research on how to get in and how everything works. I even took my gap year to improve my scores so that I could have a chance of skiing for the team. They offer really good scholarships as well, which get bigger per event that you can ski at tournaments. I get a partial scholarship, because only the top 5 scores count at tournaments and I can't put up a top 5 score in all events. I knew that I could also get a scholarship based on academic results. My high school scores were pretty good, but those wouldn't get me a scholarship. The school wanted to see an SAT score, which is a standardized test in reading, writing and basic mathematics. I had to do well on this test in order to get a scholarship, and even if I did well, the scholarship was not a given, because the deadline had well passed by the time I did my test. I took the test in May and results came in June, which was quite late, so getting a visa and organizing myself was pretty last minute. Especially since I couldn't spend a lot of time on thinking about it in between Worlds and Europeans. The news if I got my scholarship came even later, because some favors had to be asked so far after the deadline. I had a plan B, so I was going to go no matter what, but a scholarship would really help. Luckily everything came together shortly before I left: my scholarship, my visa and all the other documents I needed.
When I was finally here, furnishing my apartment, it all started to feel a bit more real. But no matter how many things I bought and how many sets I skied on the Bayou, it still didn't sink in yet. It wasn't until classes started and I was all alone in my apartment that I realized that I actually did what I was dreaming of 2 years ago, but seemed unattainable. And that I will be living this life for the coming 4 years. Even though the thought kind of scares me as well, because I didn't mentally prepare for actually living on the other side of the world by myself as it all kept feeling like a dream I may not reach, I am also really excited and I can't wait for all the adventures I will have!
Finally I begin to reflect on the European and African championship that took place August 3-6. I didn’t write about it last week, because there was so much happening! I moved to Monroe in Louisiana to start studying at the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM). They have a really good ski team and I will be able to ski a lot more than before. This was a huge step in my life and I had to say goodbye to a lot of people and not to forget my dog. This was quite the rollercoaster, so I wanted some time to myself to be present for all of it and let it sink in, because even now that I have an apartment, which I already filled with a bunch of stuff, it still doesn’t feel real. I set my mind on achieving this maybe 2-3 years ago, and it seemed a little unreachable at the time. A lot of people around me didn’t think I could pull it off, and honestly at some points I didn’t either. Maybe that is why, now that it’s actually happening, I still have a hard time believing it. I am sure that will change once I start skiing here and when the introductions and classes start.
But more about that next week, first it’s time to share my experiences at the u21 Europeans. Having had the training results I did before, I was sure that I could set a PB in each event. I did a jump PB in training and was running constantly through the 14 meter line, no matter the weather and setting 4 or more bouys at 13. Also my trick run was easy and stable to be sure I could break the 3000 point barrier. We were with a big and especially young team at this Europeans, so that was really fun. I also think it’s very good that the youngest kids are getting to experience these competitions now, because that’s the hardest part for me: I lack experience at competitions and thus don’t perform what I should do too often. That’s also what happened this time... In tricks, I did both my runs as planned, I was really happy for a bit, but soon realized I shouldn’t celebrate too early, because maybe not everything was credit. Turns out a lot was not credit and I scored really low... Then in jump my timing was different from in training and I jumped 25 meters. I knew I had to go later to go further, and my next jump that’s what I did. However at the landing I just couldn’t hold on, so the score didn’t count. This was 27 meters, so I would’ve been really happy with that. However, after a jump like that, I go earlier again to be safe and did another 25 meter jump. I was really disappointed, because I jumped 25 meters when I still did a single cut, and now I’m doing it with a ¾. However, now I know that my jump PB is just a matter of time and practise. Once I’m really comfortable with the ¾ cut and dare to go later and understand the timing better, I think my scores will improve. Soon after jump was slalom, which made jump a little scarier, because slalom was the most important event for me, so I really didn’t want to hurt myself in jump and jeopardize my slaloming. My slalom passes were feeling pretty good, but at 14 I made my old mistake of screwing up the gate. I was too early pulling out and thus got pulled back in a bit and couldn’t take the angle I needed. Being left foot forward, this didn’t affect my 1 ball too much, but it has consequences for 2 ball, where in this case I was so narrow that I hit the bouy. After that, it’s really hard to get back, so eventually I fell at 4.
Overall, my results were really disappointing, but luckily some teammates skied really well and I can take away a lot of motivation from that. And most importantly I really enjoyed spending time with everyone, and made great memories that can last me for the time I will be studying on the other side of the world. For example, I went to the casino for the first time! I’m really thankful for everyone that supported me both on and off the site, because you all really make me feel loved!
I post more pictures of this and other events on Facebook!
