Motivation: How I Learned About the Olympic Academic Experience

In the Spring of 2011, I made one of the biggest decision of my entire life thus far.  In the midst of a terrible experience with a News Writing class, I had made the decision to change my major from Broadcast Journalism to Exercise and Sport Science.  Instead of covering sports, I wanted to become part of the action even more.  I wanted to coach or even be an athletic director at the high school or college level.  Because I had officially changed my major, I started to receive e-mails via the Exercise and Sport Science listserv from one of the department advisers.  One of the very first e-mails I received came in late August.  It was a sparsely detailed e-mail concerning a trip to the Olympic Games through another school known as Tiffin University.  To me, the rest of the details did not matter at the time.  To have ANY opportunity to go see the Olympics was more than enough for me.  I called and consulted my father about the trip and the expected finances, and we came to an understanding that I could give this a shot and apply.  So, I filled out the application, although in retrospect, I should have probably spent more time on it.  My fall semester in 2011 was one of the busiest I have ever experienced, and I had to blaze through a lot of things in order to get all my tasks done.  I managed to get all the paperwork completed and faxed in time, and all that was left was to wait.  One day, I finally got an e-mail, but it said that I would be an alternate for this trip.  Naturally, I assumed that I would not be going.  However, I got a string of e-mails a few days after gave me all the details of the trip, as well as all the contact information of everyone going on the trip.  The professor did not outright say it to me, but it appeared that I had been upgraded from alternate to participant.  The good Lord had indeed wanted me to go on this trip after all.  I don't know why just yet, but I will figure it out very soon, and I am so thankful and so blessed for this opportunity.  My motivation for applying for this trip may not seem very clear, and in all honesty, it really isn't.  But just think: if you were a rabid sports fan who was given the chance to see and learn all about the Olympics up close and personal, wouldn't you jump on this opportunity?  Plus, although I have been to Europe before (2007; I visited Italy, France, and Spain), I have never visited the UK before.  The chance to go to England was simply too much for me to pass up at the time.

Despite my lack of specific reasons for applying for this trip, the fact that I got accepted shows that God has something in store for me (and maybe for all of you who read this).  I cannot wait to see what that is