Spring Break
Looking back at year one
Olivia Vivian
Issue date: 6/5/09 Section: Sports
Spring term is almost over. I get to fly home in two weeks, and these last moments of school seem to be taking forever just to test my patience. I haven't been home in ten months.
Two of my Oregon State coaches are currently in Australia. I'm so jealous that they got to go to my home country before me. They were asking me about things that are different that they will encounter.
The first thing I told them was that we don't tip in Australia. Everything is included in the price. No tipping the waitress. They get a high enough hourly rate that you don't need to. Australian waitresses love American tourists because they normally don't know about this.
My coaches are there to recruit a teammate of mine that is coming here next year. If I've heard right, next year OSU will have two gymnasts, two male basketball players, two male soccer players and one volleyball player that are from "down under." It's an Australian invasion!
But don't be scared. We come in peace. All we want to do is experience the crazy life of an American college student like we see in the movies. If we don't come to America, we will never experience the game of beer pong. I had never heard of it until I came here. How popular the game is amongst college students still fascinates me.
It's just one of the many American customs that I've ran into here. The biggest was getting to experience college athletics.
My season didn't exactly go as planned due to eligibility problems and injuries, but I did get to do a little bit and to observe a lot. It's been a good year for OSU athletics, and now that seasons are concluding athletes are recovering and getting ready for next year.
For more athletes than I could ever imagine, recovering from season means surgery. I've never seen so many people on crutches at one time. I was on crutches during season and they suck.
When I was younger, I always thought crutches would be fun. I was such a clueless child. Now I'm older and have been the victim of having to use crutches many times, and I now understand what a pain in the butt they really are.
The other day in the weight training room I tried helping out a friend who is on crutches. I was done with my workout, and he looked like he was struggling with moving benches and weights with one foot. Notice how I said tried. I accidentally made one side six pounds lighter, so he ended up bench-pressing with one arm doing more work than the other. My bad.
I don't think he'll ever ask for my help again. Although, straight after that mess up, he asked me to drive him in his car to class. That's a good idea. Ask the Australian who's used to driving on the other side of the car, and road for that matter, to drive you to class. Being on crutches must be really hard for him, because I think he has a death wish!
But I'll be back to driving on the left side in a few short weeks. I just have to get through these finals and a 24-hour flight first!
Olivia Vivian, OSU gymnastics
sports@dailybarometer.com
Two of my Oregon State coaches are currently in Australia. I'm so jealous that they got to go to my home country before me. They were asking me about things that are different that they will encounter.
The first thing I told them was that we don't tip in Australia. Everything is included in the price. No tipping the waitress. They get a high enough hourly rate that you don't need to. Australian waitresses love American tourists because they normally don't know about this.
My coaches are there to recruit a teammate of mine that is coming here next year. If I've heard right, next year OSU will have two gymnasts, two male basketball players, two male soccer players and one volleyball player that are from "down under." It's an Australian invasion!
But don't be scared. We come in peace. All we want to do is experience the crazy life of an American college student like we see in the movies. If we don't come to America, we will never experience the game of beer pong. I had never heard of it until I came here. How popular the game is amongst college students still fascinates me.
It's just one of the many American customs that I've ran into here. The biggest was getting to experience college athletics.
My season didn't exactly go as planned due to eligibility problems and injuries, but I did get to do a little bit and to observe a lot. It's been a good year for OSU athletics, and now that seasons are concluding athletes are recovering and getting ready for next year.
For more athletes than I could ever imagine, recovering from season means surgery. I've never seen so many people on crutches at one time. I was on crutches during season and they suck.
When I was younger, I always thought crutches would be fun. I was such a clueless child. Now I'm older and have been the victim of having to use crutches many times, and I now understand what a pain in the butt they really are.
The other day in the weight training room I tried helping out a friend who is on crutches. I was done with my workout, and he looked like he was struggling with moving benches and weights with one foot. Notice how I said tried. I accidentally made one side six pounds lighter, so he ended up bench-pressing with one arm doing more work than the other. My bad.
I don't think he'll ever ask for my help again. Although, straight after that mess up, he asked me to drive him in his car to class. That's a good idea. Ask the Australian who's used to driving on the other side of the car, and road for that matter, to drive you to class. Being on crutches must be really hard for him, because I think he has a death wish!
But I'll be back to driving on the left side in a few short weeks. I just have to get through these finals and a 24-hour flight first!
Olivia Vivian, OSU gymnastics
sports@dailybarometer.com
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