Week 1:
I’ve been looking forward to college sporadically throughout my three years of junior hockey, but when I committed to UNE for hockey in January of this year, I couldn’t stop thinking about stepping on campus in the Fall. My first week here was everything I expected it to be and more. Full of meeting new people, having fun and getting adapted to the classroom again.
I was worried about how the residence halls would be because I know many people who did not have an enjoyable experience with it. I’m lucky enough to be on a team here, so I knew I was going to be roommates with someone I’d be playing alongside for the next four years. Because our recruiting class is so big this year, we got put in Champlain Hall, with all the hockey rooms being right next to each other. I definitely lucked out with my living situation this year, and have loved every second of it.
There’s one big, glaring concern looming over my head for this semester, and that’s getting back into the classroom environment. It’s been three years since I’ve been in a class, so I wasn’t sure how I’d handle being back there. A big reason I decided to come to UNE was the small class sizes. About the same size as my highschool classes, I felt that I’d be most comfortable in that setting. That, along with the tight-knit community feel here, has made this transition as smooth as possible.
On the other end of the spectrum, the biggest thing I’m looking forward to this semester is the hockey season getting underway. I’ve been wanting to play college hockey ever since I comprehended how much of a privilege that is, regardless of the level. Even better, I get to do it with my newfound brothers and teammates, and I couldn’t be more excited.
Week 2:
Week two came and went even faster then week one. I think the biggest contributing factor to that is we started up captain’s practices and workouts for hockey. This has been a great way for us to stay in shape before the actual season starts, and an even better way for the freshmen on the team to get to know the upperclassmen better. The more classes I’ve been to, the better I feel about managing my workload for this semester. However, I know there will be a week or two where I’m going to struggle, as long as I stay on top of my work now I think I’ll be just fine.
Not necessarily a concern, but what I’m least looking forward to this semester are Tuesdays and Fridays. I have three classes in a row, followed up by a team lift and skate, and eventually games on Fridays. I’ve found myself with very little time to eat on those days, and frantically moving from class to class. These days are tough, but doable. After getting a little taste of being with the team more at the rink, I’m even more excited for the hockey season to start. I’m already having so much fun with everyone, and the best part of the season, playing games, hasn’t even started yet. I know I need to cherish my freshman season, because before I know it we’ll have played our last game and be on with the rest of the school year.
Week 4:
To me, week 4 as a college student felt like it flew by faster than any other thus far. I think that may be due to the fact that I’m only getting more comfortable in all aspects of college: my classes, schedule, the campus, the student body, etc. This week also offered me my first quiz as a college student. After spending what I thought was a good amount of time studying, I was rewarded with an A+. On the flip side, we are starting to dive into some meaty topics in chemistry, which calls for some confusion after what was a review-like first 3 weeks. In english class, I’m continuing to work hard on my first research paper. My professor described this class as one that is very “top heavy”, so I’m happy to see myself steadily working through it. In the residence halls, my floor consists of about 7 rooms, and 3 of them are filled with 4 hockey players. A lot of the time, it feels like we (the hockey players) are the only ones on the floor. However, my resident advisor just created a GroupMe and we are actively discussing some fun activities for us to do to get to know each other better.
As hockey season begins to creep closer, my excitement continues to rise. The biggest part of a hockey team are the bonds created, and I feel the growing stronger without even playing a game yet. I’m not only looking forward to going to battle with my brothers, but being able to represent UNE on the ice.
Week 5:
For me, week 5 here at UNE felt like my busiest week thus far, especially in the classroom. Whether it was finishing up my research paper for English, presenting my project in business management, or grinding it out in my chemistry lab, I was busy with schoolwork all week. On top of that, I still skated every day of the week and worked out on three of them, so I really had to put my time management skill to the test for what felt like the first time this year. To top off the busy week I had, my weekend was just as busy but a bit more fun. For Friday and Saturday, my mom and step dad came up and visited for homecoming, it also happened to be my step dad’s birthday. Friday night we went out to dinner in Portland, it was my first time going there and the city was so beautiful. The city vibe is much different from the small community feel here at UNE. Saturday we spent time at the tailgate before the football game, and after the game went back to Portland for my step dad’s birthday dinner, to a much more formal restaurant than the first night. On Sunday, the hockey team volunteered at the Maine Marathon, a fun team building experience while also getting involved with the community, even though it was very cold outside. This was a week that kept me moving most of the time, but one that overall has been one of my favorites.
Week 6:
Week 6 here at UNE was probably the easiest and most laid back week for me. Tuesdays and Fridays are my hardest days, so no classes on Friday was a big part of that. In addition, my chemistry teacher got Covid so those classes were canceled this week too. If that wasn’t enough, my 8 am chemistry lab was also canceled. This was a week with not a lot of classes and not a lot of homework. In the residence halls and around campus this weekend it was very empty, with a lot of people going home for the long weekend. It felt like the hockey guys were the only ones on our floor the whole weekend. My weekend was filled with watching sports and playing a whole lot of ping pong with my friends, trying our best to not tire ourselves out in preparation for the start of our fitness testing on Sunday. To build off of that, the hockey season officially starts on Monday, something I’ve been looking forward to since before I even got to school in August. At the same time, it’s also been something I’m nervous about, considering I’m a freshman playing in a new atmosphere, just hoping I’ll like it. So far I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the hockey experience here so far, and I’m hoping that carries over into the actual season.
Week 7:
My week 7 was particularly interesting, one that is almost a direct result of my week 6 experience. As I mentioned in my week 6 reflection, it was definitely my easiest week and allowed me to relax quite a bit. On the flip side of things, I think this allowed me to get out of what I thought was a good rhythm of school that I was in. With the lack of work from the week prior, this week kind of saw an avalanche of work and probably the most stress I’ve experienced here thus far. My first chemistry exam was probably the biggest contributing factor to my higher than usual stress level, mainly because that was the class I was worried most about coming into my first semester. This week was also the official start of the hockey season, which probably added a bit more stress to my time management, but without a doubt added some excitement too. As expected, we had a tough first week of practice to whip us into shape a bit, and ended the week with 2 intrasquad scrimmages to feel the game pace at the college level and to see where we’re at as a team. Personally, I thought the scrimmages went really well, and I’m looking forward to see how we stack up against some other good schools on the ice.
Week 10:
This week in the classroom was pretty laid back for the most part. It was not a very stressful week in the classroom, and I didn’t have very much homework as a result of that. The same must’ve applied for all my freshmen teammates as well, because in the dorms all of us were always together. Our freshmen recruiting class is pretty big, 13 kids, and I was worried about the size of that before coming to school. Maybe some people would be left out or maybe there would be cliques among us. To my pleasant surprise, we bonded much faster than I could’ve imagined. Our time together usually consists of watching football, playing ping pong, or just hanging out, and it seemed like we all had plenty of time for that this week.
Over the weekend, we had another two game series, and we split the weekend. We suffered a disappointing loss to a team we probably should’ve beaten, which in a way I think was good for our team. I wouldn’t say we’ve played our best to start the season, especially given the pedigree the team had last year. I think this is a loss that was a big reality check for us and will help us in the long run of the season, and much better to get a loss like this out of the way now rather than playoff time.
Week 11:
Week 11 as a college student was headlined by the “presentation sensations” in our class, both presenting and listening. This was my first major presentation at college, and first in over 3 years given my gap years. I was never bad at presentations in high school, and I don’t usually have a problem speaking in front of classmates either, but just the thought of a 10 minute presentation made me a bit anxious. I presented on the first day, which I was not very happy about at first, but as soon as I finished and looking back on it, I’m glad I went early. Presenting on the first day really allowed me to forget everything else in class and be a good active listener to my others’ projects. At the end of the day, we were only required to research one major, so listening to what my peers learned about other majors was another way of “researching” those majors. The presentations allowed us to not only demonstrate what we learned about the major we researched, but also to relay this information to our classmates and hopefully teach them about it too.
Week 12:
Week 12 as a college student was a fairly tough one, probably the most challenging thus far. This week was headlined by exams in both my business and chemistry classes. I’ve done really well on my prior business exams, and feel good about how this one went too. However, these positive results come from a lot of time studying. Chemistry is definitely my hardest class, and the tests are never easy. There’s just so much content to be taken in for each topic and the content isn’t easy either. After some of the most studying I’ve done at school so far, I ended up getting a 95% on that exam.
Following another tough loss last weekend, we learned our lesson this week in practice. A practice week that included more skating than usual, a lot of battling, and even more preparation than usual. It was easily our hardest practice week of the season, and hopefully it stays that way. However, I think our team responded well to this test. Although we split our games this weekend, we played like a championship caliber team. One of my coaches when I was younger always preached “process over outcome”, and I really felt that this weekend, and hopefully gives us some momentum moving forward.
Week 13:
This week as a college student was very different from most, with Thanksgiving break coming into play. To start, I was honestly a bit surprised we had classes on Monday and Tuesday, a lot of my friends were home for the full week. However I was lucky because all my classes on Tuesday ended up being canceled anyway. On top of that, as a Winter sport athlete, my break didn’t start until Wednesday after practice, and it abruptly ended for practice on Friday. We had a game Saturday as well, which also surprised me because again, a lot of my friends who also play hockey had the weekend off. After an unfortunate loss, we had a “skate with the Nor’easters” post game, where we were able skate with, talk to, and take pictures with fans of all ages.
Since our break was so short, I didn’t really have enough time to go home, being from New Jersey, and I spent Thanksgiving at a teammate’s house who lives much closer. It was different from most Thanksgiving’s, but I still had a great time with a few of my teammates watching football, enjoying some good food, and giving thanks. In the end, I was still able to see my family over the holiday because they surprised me at my game on Saturday. Overall, I really enjoyed week 13 as a college student.
