Last Wednesday, I went to the men’s basketball game against Colgate. I wasn’t expecting to find inspiration in such a loud, hectic environment, but when I reflected back on my week, I realized that I did feel inspired during those two hours. My roommate and I always try and go to as many basketball games as we can, and Colgate and Bucknell have a pretty tense rivalry –especially because of last year’s Patriot League Championships– so we thought it’d be a great game. When we got there, the student section that usually is pretty sparse was completely filled. This was unusual to us, as we’re usually two in a handful of students watching. There were a lot of cash prizes to be handed out though, so that’s probably why so many people came. 

The game started out with Bucknell in the lead, then in the beginning of the second quarter Colgate started to catch up. After a lot of nerves and loud cheering, Bucknell won by a one-point lead. The crowd went absolutely insane!! It felt so amazing to be a part of something that made me feel more connected to other Bucknell students than ever. Bucknell isn’t your typical tailgate school, therefore seeing so many faces and so much support at the basketball game from locals, fans, and students made me extremely proud to be a student. I feel like although we’re a small school, there is a pretty decent disconnect between Bucknellians and Bucknell, believe it or not, and our school spirit could use some amping up. Yes, classes and the social scene connects students a lot, but experiencing something like a sports team win is totally different and very refreshing. It’s something that a majority of people can relate to, and it demonstrates how capable and talented the Bucknell student body is. During my remaining time at Bucknell, I’m making it my mission to try and go to a game for every single sport (if possible)!

I work at the 7th Street Studio & MakerSpace, and last Thursday I decided to make myself a custom sweatshirt with our vinyl cutter. I browsed through Pinterest to find a cool design that I liked, then began using a software on our computer to trace the design and make it printable. I wanted to have each letter of my design be a different color, as I thought that would really stand out on the white hoodie that I was going to print it on..

I had to make sure each letter of my design was in the center of my sweatshirt, as well as aligned, and that took way longer than I predicted. Many times, I would successfully place each letter in the correct position, then when I would transfer it to the heat press, it would move the slightest bit out of position. Since I’m kind of a perfectionist, it took me around one hour to press each letter into the right position. By the end of it, my shift was halfway over, and I was fully sweating from how hard I was concentrating and from the 360 degree heat press. 

My job in the MakerSpace is pretty easy, and my boss lets us create projects during our shift. However, when I was making my sweatshirt, I essentially blocked out everything else that was happening in the space around me. Students were walking in and out, printing projects on the 3D printers, making lots of noise, yet nothing distracted me from what I was creating. No students asked me for help–maybe that was because they saw how concentrated I was, or hopefully it was just because they didn’t need any help (I’m usually a good employee, don’t worry!!). Because of this one hour of pure concentration, I felt like I was in my own bubble. I believe that whatever environment one is in, if they’re enjoying what they’re doing and dedicated to it, nothing can possibly distract them. Maybe that’s just me, as I like a little background noise when I’m doing work, but I want to find things in my life that I enjoy doing so much that I’m able to do it without distraction in even the loudest of places. I felt extremely inspired that my passion overcame the distractions around me, and I will continuously look for projects that make me feel that way.

This Sunday, I went to the gym at 10:30 PM. I normally don’t go to the gym so late at night, but I was getting tired from doing my homework, still had a lot more to do, and needed a pick-me-up. As I expected, the gym had little to no people when I arrived. I went up to the second floor, and to no surprise, I was the only one there. I went on one of the treadmills, started walking to warm up, and then put my headphones on. But the second I turned on my music, my headphones started to shock me. I then went to grab onto the treadmill– right where the metal heart rate monitor is– and it shocked me, too. Turns out, it could have been from the wires rubbing against the nylon of my clothing or the dryness of the environment. 

Because my headphones were shocking me, I spent my entire thirty minute cardio workout listening to the sound of my heavy breathing. I’m the type of person who needs to listen to extremely hype music when working out, as I don’t feel motivated otherwise. However, being alone on the second floor of the gym and only having my own footsteps and breathing surround me was kind of… peaceful. I didn’t have lyrics distracting me, and I realized that I’m actually able to think about things and let my mind wander when there isn’t a voice screaming in both my ears. Instead of trying to run to the beat of some song, I was running to the rhythm of my feet hitting the belt. The thirty minutes passed by way quicker than I thought, and I consider it to be one of the best runs I’ve had. In the future, I think I’ll try and run without listening to music more often.