Howdy y’all from the Hooiser state! I’m currently in the midsts of settling in and getting my bearings of Indianapolis, but other than that everything is great. Last time I left off, I was not too happy with my airplane situation, but things quickly shaped up! Fortunately for me, I sat next to a cute little Sheltie headed to Washington D.C. Much to my surprise, she was extremely calm the whole flight and didn’t get out of her bag! After I got off the plane in Denver, I found out that my club teammate, Sara, was on my flight and headed to the same conference. We ended up hanging out with each other and meeting two other student-athletes. Once we landed in Indy, the four of us jumped on a bus headed to our hotel downtown. We were pleasantly greeted by so many NCAA officials awaiting our arrival, and then were checked into the hotel. Funnily enough, Sara and I were roomed together which made things a lot less awkward. After we unpacked and found the gym – only a door down from our room, we set out to explore the city.
Flying over some Colorado Mountains
Waiting in Denver
The Cute Lassie Dog Next to Me
On our little walk around the city, we found the Capitol building, the Civil War Museum, the Mall (oh yeah!) and some other fun places. Downtown Indy is very quaint, especially compared to Manhattan – I don’t know if I could live in such a small town. Following our stroll, we had dinner at Champions, a little restaurant in the hotel with the Devils/Kings game on. Before we knew it, it was 10PM and we hopped into bed, falling asleep to Friends.
Exploring Downtown
The next morning we woke up and first thing we did was head to the gym. Even though it was 8AM and many hours before everything was supposed to start, the gym was already filled with student-atheletes trying to get a workout in. I wonder how it’s going to be later tonight with all 300 of us trying to get a sweat on. Following a great interval set and stretching routine, we took showers, got dressed and headed down to breakfast. It was nice to see some more athletes hanging around the hotel and meet people outside of my own athletic department. Once we finished the incredible fruit spread, we set out for Lucas Oil Stadium, home to the Indianapolis Colts and the 2012 Super Bowl, where the Giants won. (Go Giants!) We soon realized that we had five hours before we had to be anywhere, so we walked around the Indianapolis Convention Center, where there was a Methodist Conference going on – who knew they had such a thing? Following our little stint in that huge building we found the mall and stumbled upon a cute little boutique where Sara and I got some cute shirts – don’t worry Mom and Dad, they were on sale! We finally turned to head back and check into the conference and got our polos and other cool stuff necessary for the forum. I got assigned to the Red Team and Sara got assigned to Orange, so I guess we’ll finally be split up.
Hanging with the Colts
NCAA Swag
Now I’m sitting in the lobby, watching the influx of student-athletes come in, bags in tow. It’s really cool to think that I’m part of a group looking to continue their career in athletics post-college and it’s really cool to actually meet real live college football players, but hey that’s what you get when you go to NYU! That’s it for now but I’ll be sure to update tonight after my first few sessions.
Jam of the Day: “We Are Young” by Fun feat. Janelle Monáe