Something Besides Sports

Campus

In the first post I mentioned a few things about the campus area and promised to describe it in more detail later. The main thing that catches your attention is how well everything is maintained. Circled by the clean smooth paths are flawless lawns and plantings. Although there are no bans about going on the lawns, people mostly stay on the paths, unless they are throwing a football or Frisbee etc. The smooth paths also make it possible for students to move around with their long-boards (which there are a lot), skateboards and bikes. The second thing worth mentioning about the campus area is that there is pretty much everything you might need (seriously, you wouldn't necessarily have to go outside the campus). Besides apartments and dining hall there are a large gym, an Olympic size swimming pool, 9 tennis courts, a climbing wall, several beach volley fields, a soccer/lacrosse field, a full size athletics track, football and baseball stadiums, a library, a book store, a pharmacy, a multi storey parking hall, a pizzeria, a hair salon, a bike store, an ice cream/frozen yogurt place, Starbucks, a small kiosk and even a bar. Really nice surroundings indeed!

The lawn never grows over the paths

Studying

As many of you have heard before studying in university here is more like high school in Europe. You are expected to attend all classes, there are homework and due dates for everything. In addition everyone seems to aim for all As (highest grades). At the beginning it felt like I would have to spend most of my time studying, until I realized that the assignments and exams have considerably easier requirements. Mainly assignments can be much shorter and we don't need to use that many references, and exams are usually multiple-choice (some are even online and/or open book). Sure there are differences between classes. The thing that seems to be most different in the field of kinesiology/exercise science here is that same program is expected to suit everyone's needs and that it's all about science. In Europe we tend to take more individual approach and consider training to be part science and part art.

Substance policy

The substance policies in Colorado and on campus seem to be somewhat controversial. First of all you are not allowed to bring alcoholic beverages in the dorms but as I already mentioned there is a bar in the middle of campus. Secondly grocery stores are not allowed to sell beverages with over 3.2 % alcohol content (proper beer you have to buy from a liquor store), but as some of you might know the recreational use of marijuana (or weed) is legal in the state of Colorado (there are no dispensaries in Grand Junction, though). Thirdly the DUI (driving under the influence) limit for blood alcohol content (BAC) in Colorado is .08. Finally you have to be 21 or over to legally drink alcohol but you are allowed to serve it if you are over 18. And don't get me wrong; I'm not criticizing, merely stating the differences that might seems strange for us living on the other side of Atlantic.

People

People in America are in general more open than back home, which isn't probably that big of a surprise. At least here in Colorado people are more friendly and polite too. Everyone asks how are you/how's it going/what's up? (sometimes it is just an alternative to hi/hello! and the person might not expect you to actually tell him/her how you are, though), usually people hold the door for you (especially if they see your hands are full) and they often volunteer to help you if needed (when I got a flat mountain biking and was walking the bike through a gas station, this nice older lady offered to ride me and my bike back to campus). It's also not uncommon for a stranger to complement your clothes, bike or other stuff (my Fischer shirt has gotten a lot of attention) and it's much more natural to go and talk to random people. The one situation in which people are more reserved is classroom setting. Seriously there is way less discussion and questions during classes than back home. I think this goes along with university here being more high school in Europe.

Sightseeing

For fall break (one Friday off) some of us international students decided to do a road trip to visit some close by national parks and just hang out. We left on Thursday afternoon and drove straight to a campsite near Moab, Utah. Most of the next day we spend hiking in the Arches National Park in Moab and saw some amazing natural formations. Again we drove to a camping site and managed to put up our tents just before it got dark. On Saturday it was time to visit some ancient cave dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park. After one more night at a campsite (here there was showers at our disposal, though, which was nice) we had quite a long drive back to Grand Junction but the day wasn't just sitting in the car. We had brunch and some strolling in a nice small town called Durango, the road back included a couple of mountain passes with awesome views and we also had a quick stop in Black Canyon National Park. Besides the spectacular national parks the nights at campsites were great too, involving good outdoor meals with some beverages, warming fire, nice music and starry sky.

Some red rocks

Not a bad place to do some hiking

At the Delicate Arch

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde

Maybe I can include a photo of myself every once in a while

Mountain pass on the way back

Sports

Even though the title of my post says "something besides sports" I can't totally disregard the topic. First of all I finally got to hike Mt. Garfield. It was a great day. I and a friend of mine rode our bikes to the beginning of the trail, hiked up, had some snack, took a few pictures, hiked back and stopped for a wine tasting at one of the local wineries before heading back.

What a nice place (on the background Grand Junction)

Secondly, as most of you probably know, I had quite a big crash on a mountain bike some ten days ago and ended fracturing the tip of my clavicle (collar bone). According to the orthopedic it's going to take 6-8 weeks to heal and I'm having new x-rays taken at the beginning of December to check if it's okay then. So for the next weeks I have to be somewhat creative figuring out activities that I can actually do. Some things, like rock climbing and mountain biking, are out of the question and obviously I can't race (skiing) for a while. Let's see if I'm still mentally sane by the time this injury has healed...

Here is the rock I hope I could have avoided

But I didn't

As a result this happened

Something to do while healing

At least winter is coming and hopefully we can go skiing on top of Grand Mesa this week

Acquiring new experiences

Often when I meet new people here they are asking why I decided to do a student exchange or what I'm trying get out of the exchange. Especially since I don't necessarily need any of the classes that I'm taking here for my degree. My answer is simply that I'm doing this for the experience. (The even more common question is how did I choose CMU from all the possible universities in US. The answer to this question I believe I've covered in previous posts: the outdoors and the ski team.)

So during the past weeks I've been trying to participate in all the new stuff that I've come across and this way acquire new experiences (most likely I'll continue to do this for my entire stay here).

Even before I traveled here I knew that I'm going to buy a bike. Pretty soon I got fixated on the idea of buying an old road bike so I can use it for training in addition to commuting. I was looking for bikes from Craigslist and even though there were quite a few options it ended up being much more difficult process than I could have imagined. Either the bikes were in other towns, I couldn't reach the sellers, we couldn't agree on the price or I was too late and the bike was already sold. Couple of weeks ago I finally managed to buy the sort of bike I was looking for. (I know this is not actually a new experience but the bike has helped (and will help) me to do new things).

A week ago took my bike up the nearby mountain (Colorado National Monument). The bike is Giant Cadex CFR-1 from somewhere between 1992 and 1994, and it has carbon frame (alu joints and fork) and Shimano 600 Ultegra components (in case some of cyclists are interested) and everything works like a charm.

In my last post I was telling that I had been practicing (and learned how to do) the Eskimo roll with a kayak in the pool. So one Tuesday I decided to put this new skill to a test and went with the OP to Montrose Water Sports Park. Basically it was some 500-meter long section of a river that included some nice rapids. Excluding the first time I went upside down in the river I was able to do the Eskimo roll and keep going.

Fighting the rapids

Upside down in the river

The following day after the kayaking (if my memory serves) there was this bag jump event on campus and as soon as I heard about it I had participate. After almost one hour wait the scissor crane took us in ten meters and then there was only one way down on the huge air bag.

Mid air!

CMU has this clever "taxi" system called MavRides operating every Thursday, Friday and Saturday between 9pm and 3am. The idea is that students can call a ride to and from bars or parties so they wouldn't drink and drive. By volunteering to do MavRides students can raise money for their team or club. I decided to help the ski team and have done the MavRides two times now (they didn't let me drive, though, because I don't have an American driving license so I was the navigator). Those were laborious yet interesting experiences.

Last Saturday we decided to ride to Palisade (small town about 25km East from Grand Junction) to do some wine tasting in local wineries. There were quite a few of those, they were really cozy, had excellent wines and the best part was that in each place you could have 3 to 5 samples for free. After couple of places we figured it's best to call a friend to pick us up. But we forgot to remind her to take the bike rack with her so only one of us was able to fit into the car with the bike. So it ended up being quite a long trip for my friend and me. But it was a great day!

These have been some of the examples from the past weeks. We also went outside city lights to watch the lunar eclipse, helped to prepare the ski trails ready for the winter on National Public Lands Day, watched our football team's game, got to try crack climbing (super fun btw!) and hiked another 14er.

Half-time show of the football game

Crack climbing location (arrow points the cracks that we were climbing)

Air is thin but the view gives you energy

Another great day!