The Whirlwind that is Volleyball Preseason

Hello all, it feels like I haven’t blogged in a long time so I figured I would update you on my life for the last 2 weeks, which has consisted of volleyball and class. As I previously mentioned, on August 7, our volleyball preseason began and my life has been even busier than it was during the summer! Every day we have had practice from 9am-12pm, a workout from 12pm-1pm, another practice from 3pm-6pm, and then weights from 6-7pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And on top of this, I am currently finishing up my last summer class, Principles and Methods of Psychology. For the last 2 weeks if I have not been in class or at volleyball, I have been either eating, sleeping, or doing homework. Once preseason is over, I will be blogging much more frequently.

Preseason has gone really well, despite my team being plagued by injuries. We have been working hard and are excited to compete this weekend at the Purdue University tournament. Next week I will update you on how the tournament goes! In addition to playing volleyball, my team and I have also have had some fun team events, such as a ropes course (pictures to come) a Nationals game last night, and team dinners every single night.

2012 GW Volleyball (photo courtesy of gwsports.com)

We had a little fun on picture day (photo courtesy of @GW_Volleyball)

Wearing lovely GW ponchos since it was completly downpouring on the way to dinner (photo courtesy of @GW_Volleyball)

First day of practice! (photo courtesy of @GW_Volleyball)

Picture with George at the Nationals game!

If you want to follow all of the action of GW volleyball this season, in addition to reading my blog posts you can follow @GW_Volleyball on twitter!

As for my class, I am almost completely done with it. All I have left is to complete my final 10 page paper before I leave for the Purdue tournament this weekend. Wish me luck!

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Nationals Game and a Third Eye Blind Concert?!

Hi everyone,

Last night, I went to my last Nationals game before the end of the season. They played the New York Mets and lost pretty badly, but it was still a great game to see and the fans were louder than usual. Seeing the stadium practically full (when there are around 40,000 seats) is pretty neat... especially because we were up in the nosebleed section 417. We were directly above home plate though so we did have a nice look down to the game.

Me, Annie, and Emma in the nosebleed section

The highlight of the game though was the post-game concert. Every month or so, they host a concert after the game in Nationals Park so you just go down to the closest seats and rock out to some fun music. This post-game concert was amazing mostly because Third Eye Blind was playing... and for those who don't know them... they were a prime-time band back when I was in middle school. Songs like "Never Let You Go" and "Semi-Charmed Life" play in commercials now, they were that popular.

A huge number of people stayed behind for the concert which was amazing and even surprised the band! Here is a video someone took last night and posted to youtube- not the best quality but gives you an idea of the fun :)

Happy Sunday,
Marisa

Sports in the City

Hey Y'all

As a tour guide I often get the question "What does the typical GW kid do on the weekends?"

But with a school of about 10,000 undergrads and a city like Washington DC at our finger tips it's difficult to pinpoint what it is we do with our free time because so many of us are doing many different things. 

Below are the examples of the sporting events available to us as residents of our nation's capitals. We have the Washington Redskins of the NFL, the Washington Nationals of the MLB, DC United of the MLS, the Washington Capitals of the NFL, and finally the Washington Wizards of the NBA. Most of those teams have college discount nights which are also great ways to meet kids from other area schools (GU, AU, GMU, HU).

Washington Redskins - FedEx Field

Washington Nationals - Nationals Park

GW + Phones = Hope

A few weeks ago, my volleyball team and I, along with women’s swimming and men’s tennis, volunteered for the GW + Phones = Hope campaign, which has been collecting old cell phones as well as other electronic devices. The collected devices will be recycled, raising money for health developments in Nepal, Mali, and Malawi. This campaign was part of the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) that began last semester.

And so, on a Wednesday morning, my team and I woke up at 5:50am and began our day, since we had to report to the Foggy Bottom metro station by 6:30 to receive our volunteer assignments. Each volunteer was assigned to 1 of the 15 busiest Metro stations to supervise the collection boxes and hand out information to Metro riders. My team and I were assigned to the Chinatown metro stop and had quite a few donations. Granted, we did not get our first donation until about 8:30am, but after that, we got numerous cell phones, cameras, ipods, and laptops.  A lot of riders commented to us that they forgot that the collection was that particular morning but had wanted to donate.

Since this volunteering opportunity took place right during our practice time, we were not able to practice that morning, but it was a worthy cause and we were glad we could devote some of our time to help out.

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Happy Easter!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter with family and friends this past weekend! I did for sure. My weekend started off with our GW Spring Invitational Volleyball Tournament, playing Virginia, Morgan State, George Mason, and Christopher Newport. Overall, we finished with a 7-3 record for the day. It was a pretty good starting point for our spring season competition, but as always, there is always room for improvement, which is exactly what my team and I will be doing for the remaining month before summer. This upcoming weekend, we will be playing in a tournament at Maryland, so if you are in the area on Saturday, come watch us compete!

As for Sunday, since my parents and younger sisters were in town visiting, they all came over to my dorm and my mom cooked a fantastic Easter dinner, complete with ham, sweet potatoes, asparagus, rolls, cheesecake, and vegetables. Besides our family, my sister and I invited some of our friends to enjoy the holiday and good food with us, so it turned out to be a fairly large party, but there was plenty of food. In fact, I will be having ham as leftovers for the next week.

my former roommate and I sporting our bunny ears

In keeping with another Easter tradition, one of my roommates and I dyed Easter eggs on Friday and in my opinion, they turned out pretty well. Last year, we forgot the vinegar and they did not turn out quite so well, but this year we learned our lesson and made sure to remember that important ingredient.

the finished product

Well, it’s time for bed for me since as always, I have to wake up early for practice in the morning.

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Great Upcoming Weekend

First of all, CONGRATS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN ACCCEPTED TO THE GW CLASS OF 2016!!! We are proud to welcome you to the Colonial family.

Second of all, sorry for the short absence, but I am back! Expect a new blog from me every couple of days. These last few weeks for me have been ridiculously crazy, from being on spring break without internet access for well over a week to midterms, applying for numerous summer internships, figuring out my housing for the summer, finalizing the class schedules for both the summer and fall, plus countless papers, other exams, assignments, and of course everything that goes along with being a DI NCAA athlete. There never seemed to be enough hours in my day. But, I have plenty of blogs already planned out and in the works.

On another topic, I am excited for this weekend for 3 reasons: 1. My team and I (GW volleyball) have out first Spring tournament here at GW 2. My family is coming to visit this weekend and 3. Its Easter weekend! My team and I have been working harder than ever in the gym and weight room over the last 2 months and we are excited to finally be able to finally put all of it into some action at our home tournament this weekend. So, if you are on campus on Saturday (April 7), come stop by the Smith Center (22^nd and G) and watch us take on teams such as Virginia and George Mason!! It is free to get in and we play at 9am, 11am, 1pm, and 2pm. It should be a great day and we appreciate any fan support that we can get! As for my family visiting, they decided to come to celebrate Easter with my sister and me. It will be nice to have a family Easter together, especially since my mom will be cooking dinner.

Well, I have to go finish an assignment that I have due tomorrow morning after practice. Expect another post in a few days.

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Charles E. Smith Center Transformation

Over the last several years, my 2^nd home on campus, the Charles E. Smith Center (our varsity athletic center) has been undergoing serious updates and construction. Before I started here at GW, the building’s look and facilities were starting to show its age and slightly outdated nature. In order to continue to make GW a force in the A10 Conference, a major construction overhaul was needed. And in 2008, a rather large donation was given by the Robert H. Smith and the Charles E. Smith Family Foundations and the Robert P. and Arlene R. Kogod which jumpstarted the renovations. Everything in the Smith Center has been redone, including all the locker rooms, sports medicine center, weight room, hallways, conference rooms, academic support center, the offices, concession stands, fitness room, entrance, ticket office, laundry room, bleachers, and of course the actually gym itself.

At times, this change for the better has created other challenges and obstacles. Such as for my first 2 years on the volleyball team, for our preseason (August), instead of practicing in the Smith Center, which was not ready for use yet, we were forced to practice and prepare for our season in the Lerner Health and Wellness center. While “Hell Well,” as it is called by the student population for short, is an extremely nice student rec and gym, it made life a little more difficult for our team. For example, doing our team laundry was much more difficult, the gym facilities were much smaller, and we were without a locker room. And each of the two seasons, our entire first half of our season was played on the road until the gym was suitable enough to hold matches. In fact, my volleyball team and I were the 1^stsporting event to be held in the new gym.

Here are two excellent videos that explain and take tours of the Smith Center, showing off its renovations:

And here are two websites from gwsports that have pictures of the construction progress that occurred over the last 4 years:

http://www.gwsports.com/view.gal?id=70520

http://www.gwsports.com/view.gal?id=52748

Since I spend several hours there every day, this transformation has affected my life over the last few years in many ways and I have seen each stage along the way. The building is quite beautiful now and I am glad that I get to experience playing and training in the newly renovated facilities. And the Smith Center isn’t just used for varsity athletics. Its hosts a variety of events, such as graduation ceremonies, concerts, comedy shows, and guest speakers. It is a vital part of the GW campus and its new facelift has it looking new and improved.

On another note, I can’t tell you how beautiful the weather here in DC is today. Absolutely gorgeous. 67 degrees. I can’t get over it. I mean, its February! It’s the middle of winter and I am wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals outside. Every opportunity to go outside today, I take it. Well I’m off to the men’s basketball game where at halftime they are honoring those who made the Athletic Dean’s List for the last 2 semesters. And guess what? Yours truly is being honored separately with all of the athletes who earned a 4.0 GPA either of the last 2 semesters! Woohoo!

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Brief Highlights from Colonials Invasion

I don’t think any of us ever did a post about Colonials Invasion (GW’s own ‘midnight madness’ which signals the beginning of basketball season) that took place during Colonials (Parent’s) Weekend in October, so I figured I would give you a brief rundown since there are 2 videos I wanted to share with you. It took place after our volleyball match versus Fordham which we won easily in 3 games in front of the biggest crowd ever for a volleyball match held in the Smith Center (1,317 people).

My family was in town so we stuck around after my match to watch Colonial Invasion and to show our support of another GW athletic team! At Colonial Invasion, they introduce the men’s and women’s basketball teams and there’s a bunch of entertainment—the First Ladies dance group, Capital Funk (hip hop dance group), Colonial Army, and a slam dunk and three point contest involving the teams and audience members. For me, this was one of my favorite parts: the inflatable DC mascots (Hippo, Big George, Air Screech, G-Wiz, and Air Slapshot) performed a dance routine which was quite entertaining.

Also, here is a video summary of the night that I found:

Feel free to email me with any quaestions: cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

I’m Back!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got to enjoy lots of delicious food while spending quality time with family. I had a great break, but now that classes have resumed, it felt much too short. Thankfully, Christmas break is not too far away, my brain needs a long break. I am sorry for the abnormally long blogging absence, life has been past beyond busy and time completely got away from me. Absolutely crazy. So much has happened since the last time I blogged and of course I will tell you all about it.

First of all, midterms finally officially just ended for me the day before I left for Thanksgiving break. I missed my last one, which was for Theories of Personality, one of my psych classes, in early November (which was scheduled very late for a midterm) because I was out of town for volleyball A10 conference matches. For me, the entire semester kind of felt like one big midterm period since 2 of my classes did not have actual “midterms” but instead had an exam every 3-5 weeks. So it felt like the tests were never ending. But, on a positive note, then each exam had less information on it than an actual midterm would and were not cumulative. Midterms are finally done for me and believe it or not, I actually begin my final exams starting in 8 days (next Tuesday) since 4 out of my 5 classes are having the final exam on the last day of class. I will post more about my finals and the scoop on how my academic semester played out.

The volleyball season has also come to a conclusion. My team finished the season with a 20-10 overall record and placed 4th in the A10 conference standings. Overall, an honorable record. Of course there were matches were we were the better team and that we should have won but didn’t, but sometimes that’s just sports. This year we traveled to a great deal of different cities for conference play (in addition to all the places we traveled to during preseason). We traveled to St. Louis (SLU), Pittsburgh (Duquesne), Dayton, Cincinnatti (Xavier), the Bronx (Fordham), Providence (Rhode Island), Philadelphia (La Salle and Temple). We earned a place in the A10 Conference Championship Tournament, which only the top 6 teams are invited to, but unfortunately lost, which ended our 2011 season a little over a week ago. And of course, I have pictures and plenty of them to share with you! Sorry, in advance for the plethora of pictures!

2011 team picture (courtesy of gwsport.com)

My teammates and I wanted to see if I could fit into our large travel bags....

In a locker room before a match

Pre-match team bonding in locker room

Eating fabulous ribs on an away trip



Look at that block!

My roommate/ teammate's awesome hops

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Mac's senior night

We made a scrapbook for Mac (in honor of senior night)-this was my page.

Well, I must go finish a paper I have due tomorrow. Here is just a short list of other posts that you have to look forward to from me in the next few weeks:

-What I did over my Thanksgiving break

-My final exam period post and review of this semester’s classes

-Funny video from Colonial Invasion

-Drive-in movie adventure

-Special post about my beloved, 11-0 undefeated Green Bay Packers (if you read any of my posts from last year, you HAD to know this one was coming eventually)

-Plus more (I don’t want to give away all of my secrets yet).

As always, feel free to email me with any questions, cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

GW Men's Basketball Off To Impressive Start

Raise High has been chosen as the theme for this basketball season and The GW Men’s basketball team is off to an impressive hoping to raise not only our school colors high, but also our hopes of achieving national dominance. The GW Men’s team has out of the gate begun an impressive season.

In the first game of the regular season they dominated the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore at the Charles E. Smith Center with a 64-48 win.

The men then hit the trail to Berkley, California where they took on the then 24^th-ranked Cal Berkley Golden Bears in the first game of the CBE Classic and despite playing a close first 10 minutes, dropped their first game of the season 81-54. This game against Cal was part of the larger CBE Classic tournament sponsored by Progressive and took the Colonial men to a Subregional Tournament at Bowling Green State University where they faced the host school, Austin Peay State University and the University of Detroit Mercy. In this tournament, the Colonials blasted out Detroit Mercy as well as Bowling Green, but played a very close game with the strong Ohio Valley Conference foe Austin Peay before emerging victorious with a 54-52 victory. The Colonials finished this part of the tournament as the Bowling Green Subregional Champions!

 

In the upcoming days, the Colonials will travel to play the Big 12 powerhouse Kansas State Wildcats in Manhattan, Kansas to start the month of December. They will then come back home to the DC area to take on the 2010 Final Four local foe, the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams, in the 17th Annual BB&T Classic in the Verizon Center a few blocks away from campus in DC’s Chinatown.

Tony Taylor and Aaron Ware
named BGSU regional MVP's

Be sure to look for the Colonials on the big screen and in the rankings. I think we are off to a great start and have a great season ahead of us. Raise High the Buff and Blue!

On an admissions note, we were so pleased with all of our early decision applicants and our officers are busy reviewing your applications. We hope you had a fantastic (and relaxing) Thanksgiving break and look forward to making your day soon! As always, shoot me any question or reach out to me if I can assist you in any way. I am more then happy to help or find an answer for you if I don’t know it for some reason. Until then, I’ll keep you posted on out NCAA tournament bound Colonials!

Peace, Love and Hippos

Brandon Moore 

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Weekend of Fantastic GW Sports

When you think of DC, the first thing that comes to mind is not usually sports. However, GW has changed that concept for many opposing college athletes this weekend.

For starters, the Men's basketball team started off the weekend with their first decisive regular season win against the University of Maryland- Eastern Shore. At a packed Smith Center following a 3 hour tailgate that closed the street in front of the arena, the era of Mike Lonergan here at GW began with a 64-48 victory. The GW men are now in Berkeley, California, warming up before tonight's big game against the PAC-12's #24 ranked California Golden Bears. The men will be playing at Haas Pavilion and this will be a huge first test for them. Try and catch the game if you get ESPNU or listen for what is bound to be an upset win in the newspapers tomorrow. Raise High the Buff and Blue!

Secondly, the Men's soccer team won a huge semi-final match in the Atlantic-10 Conference tournament Friday night by defeating the La Salle Explorers 2-1 in double OT. The tournament, being held in St. Louis, concludes after today's (Sunday's) 2:00 championship match between GW and Xavier. This is bound to be a good match that hopefully ends in GW's favor and propels our squad into the NCAA tournament. 

Finally, the GW Women's Volleyball team concluded their regular season by upsetting the Fordham Ram's at Rose Hill on Senior Night in a huge 3-2 win. This final win of the regular season is expected to propel the women to the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament to be held at the University of Dayton in 4 days with GW entering as a 4th seed. This will surely be a tough couple of matches in "enemy territory," but it is a feat our ladies can handle. Congratulations on achieving a 20 win season ladies and we look forward to more post season victories. 

So as you watch ESPN before bed or open your morning news paper, be sure to look in the headlines for GW. We are bound to be there...where we belong. 

As always, if you have any questions about any part of the admissions process feel more than happy to e-mail me. Thank you to all of you who have submitted ED 1 applications! Best of luck to you and we look forward to receiving the rest of your applications.

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon Moore

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Have you heard about GW Basketball???

GW and the DC Metropolitan area are often known for their incredible college basketball environment. In this area, we have the Big East powerhouse Georgetown Hoyas, the NCAA qualifying George Mason Patriots down the road in Fairfax, along with the American University Eagles and a little ways away, the Final Four Men's Virginia Commonwealth Rams. But enough talk about our foes! The George Washington Men's Basketball team finished the 2010-2011 season on the cusp of an Atlantic 10 Conference tournament appearance (with a 5th place finish), but lost in an upset qualifying tournament game to St. Josephs, finishing with an overall 17-14 record. In addition, the GW Women's Basketball team had a rebuilding season, advancing to the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament in Lowell, MA where there season ended with a loss to Dayton.

But this year is a whole new season!!!!!

The GW Men's Basketball team has a new face. The new head coach of GW's mens team, Mike Lonergan,  is the former head coach at the neighboring college of the Catholic University of America before serving in his most recent post as the head coach and catalyst of an emerging strong basketball program in Bennington, VT with the American East Conference's University of Vermont Catamounts. The GW men's team will face a tough schedule this year, traveling to Syracuse (#5), UC Berkeley (#18), Harvard, and Kansas State, along with taking on strong conference opponents like Richmond, Xavier (#15), Temple and Duquesne. On top of it all, the men will be taking on the VCU Rams in the 17th Annual BB&T Classic hosted at the Verizon Center here in DC's Chinatown. GW's Tony Taylor was selected to the A-10 Pre-Season first team and will be a great leader for a tough season ahead. It should definitely be an exciting season so look for GW on the headlines and on ESPN and such.


The GW Women's Basketball team will have a schedule that keeps them closer to home, so that just means that much more action for us to see here at the Charles E. Smith Center. The Women will play local foes like Georgetown, UDC, American, George Mason, William & Mary, but also take on foes from larger conferences like the Auburn Tigers, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Virginia Tech Hokies. Mike Bozeman will lead these ladies to what is sure to be a fantastic season here in his 4th with GW and I am so pleases that I will get to see more of the games now that ALL of the band will be at ALL of the Women's games :)

If you are coming up for a tour, make sure you buy some tickets so you can go catch some of the action and feel what the sports environment is like here at GW. Come root alongside the Colonial Army (the student fan section that fills up a side close to the floor level) or watch from home and cheer, root on, and raise high your Buff and Blue!!!

I will continue to update you on the basketball season as I a.) love college basketball and b.) am a part of the band (Colonial Brass) and at every game. Feel free to ask me any questions and best of luck to those of you applying Early Decision about now and for those of you working on your applications. Keep up the good work and reach out if I can help you in any way!

Peace, Love and Hippos

Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Student-Athlete Leadership Retreat

As promised, I am going to talk about the student- athlete leadership retreat that was held on Sunday, September 18. While we knew that something was planned, we had no idea what exactly. They wouldn’t tell us or our coaches, as it was meant to be a surprise. We were told to arrive at the Smith Center at 11:30am (only an hour after my team and I arrived back on campus after our red eye flight from San Diego) and grab a colored tshirt (the only thing we were told beforehand was the color of the team we were on- I was orange) from one of the tables set up in the gym. On the back of the shirts was the GW logo and the phrase "Our Nation's First President. Our University. Our Team." After all the athletes were changed into their new shirts and settled back in the bleachers, our new AD, Patrick Nero, spoke to us about the purpose of the day as well as leading us in our fight song with help from part of the colonial army. Immediately after we loaded into 9 coach buses and ventured to our mystery location for the day, which ended up being……...drum roll please…………Mount Vernon. And I don’t mean Mount Vernon as in the Vern (our other campus), but as in the Mount Vernon Estate that was owned by George Washington, located in Virginia.

It was finally revealed that the day would be filled with learning all about the man behind our university, which consisted of the museum, a tour of his mansion, and team-building/ leadership games. The reason behind Mount Vernon as the location? According to Nero, "In order to lay the foundation for our student-athletes to represent the George Washington University and wear his name across our uniforms, I thought it'd be beneficial for all of us to learn about the man." And it was beneficial. Even though my team and I were beyond tired from the weekend, we did learn a lot and even got to meet some athletes that we have never met before. Following all the fore mentioned activities, we were all graciously treated to a BBQ. By this time, it was already past 5pm and it was time to head back to campus and in my case, quickly do some homework and get some long-awaited sleep. If you want to read more about the day, here is the GWSports press release: GW Student-Athletes Learn Leadership Lessons from University Namesake

my orange team

*all photos/ video courtesy of gwsports.com*

AND HERE IS A VIDEO THAT GWSPORTS MADE ABOUT THE DAY (CHECK OUT THE SPEAKING APPEARANCE BY ONE OF MY ROOMMATES/TEAM CAPTAIN- SHE'S AWESOME):

On another volleyball note, my team and I have won our last 2 matches versus Loyola Maryland (on Wednesday) and versus Charlotte (Saturday night here at home). As of right now, our overall record is 12-5 and we are undefeated at home (7-0)!!! And this coming Friday, October 7, we will be trying to keep our streak alive with a home match against Dayton at 7pm (an A10 conference match). If you can please come support us as we take on the defending A10 conference champs!
Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Busy, Busy Weekends

At this very moment, I feel like a zombie. And I probably look like one too. Why you ask? Let me explain the last two weekends. First, last weekend, my team and I were in San Diego for the San Diego Volleyball Tournament, which meant we left on Thursday morning after practice and returned on the red eye flight Sunday morning at 9am. It was probably the fastest weekend of my life. We were either traveling (by plane or vans), playing volleyball, eating, or trying to catch up on sleep. Unfortunately, in California, our undefeated streak ended at 10. But we are learning from those losses, so while it sucks, we are trying to make something good come out of it. You might wonder why we took a red eye flight to return back in D.C. early Sunday morning instead of waiting until later. Well, we had an event waiting for us back on campus. Our new athletic director planned for the entire student-athlete community, a student athlete leadership retreat. I will do a separate post on that in a few days.

our hotel in San Diego

creepy doll picture that was in every room

Now this weekend, we are traveling on the road again, but this time for the beginning of the A10 conference season! We are playing Duquesne and St. Louis, which means that we bus from D.C. to Pittsburgh, then from Pittsburgh to St. Louis with a stop overnight in Springfield, Ohio. Then, on Sunday, we will be flying back to D.C. and arriving back on campus after midnight. I am actually currently on the bus as I type traveling to St. Louis. I love traveling on buses so much more than our vans that we take to local games/tournaments. Mainly because there is so much more space, meaning you can sleep, and also since we can watch movies (we watched the Proposal on Thursday’s drive).

driving through Ohio- looks exciting....

bus ride!

Now, you can probably understand why I look and feel like a zombie. Lots of travel, volleyball, and homework (I had 3 papers due and my first exam this past week). Well, I’m going to attempt to take a nap for the remainder of the drive then catch up on some homework.

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Classes + Volleyball = My Entire Life during Fall Semester

Hello again! The further into the semester it gets, the less free time it feels like I have. It is only the third week and I have quite a lot to do (and almost all of my ‘to- do’ list involved either classes or volleyball, in case you couldn’t already tell). Speaking of my classes, as of last week, I have finalized my schedule for the semester. Here’s the rundown:

Executive Branch Politics (Public Administration): This class counts towards my Criminal Justice major and discusses public management opposed to private sector management and key public policy topics. It also addresses the functions of local, state, federal governments.

Social Research Methods: This class also counts towards my Criminal Justice major and focuses on research in the social sciences. According to the syllabus, the class concentrates on research design, data collection, and data analysis. Out of all of my classes this semester, this is the largest in size and honestly, will probably be the most boring for the same reason (lots of people need this for their major in either Sociology or Criminal Justice and it is strictly lecture).

Theories of Personality: This is a psychology class required for my minor (or major, if I decide to double major in criminal justice and psychology). It is exactly what it sounds like, a class about personalities and those theories surrounding them. To me, this class sounds super interesting and I am pretty excited to learn about all the different types of personalities and see if I can recognize them in everyday life.

East Asian Calligraphy: This is the only class that I am taking this semester that does not go towards my major/ minor. It actually counts for my fine art (or performance art) requirement. So far, even though I’m not good at drawing the characters, the class is fairly fun. It is really nice to have a class that is a little less stressful and academic and instead for a few hours I can focus on something that I can equate to drawing. Plus, I can’t wait to see how much I improve from the first day to my final exam in December.

not perfect, but pretty good for my first day of class, if I do say so myself

Social Psychology: This class also counts for my Psychology minor (/major) and seems really fascinating. Basically, this is a class covering how society and the people around you can influence your behaviors and thoughts. Some of the topics included are group decision making, obedience and conformity, aggression, health, helping, and love/ attraction. As of right now, I predict that this will be my favorite class this semester. I will let you know in December if my prediction was correct and how all of my classes turn out.

Switching topics to the other half of my life, volleyball, a lot is happening. Since my last post, we took 1st place in the VCU/ Third Degree Sportswear Invitational tournament, beating VCU, Cornell, and North Carolina A&T, and we also took down Georgetown last night in a exhilarating 5 game match (our first of the year) in front of a very excited crowd. As a result, GW Volleyball is still undefeated and is now 10-0!!!

this picture doesn't quite give the crowd justice (can't see all bleachers) 

huddle during a timeout (p.s. I'm #7)

post victory lap around gym

**all volleyball photos courtesy of gwsports.com**

Now this weekend, we will be playing in San Diego, which is exciting since we have so many players from California. We are actually leaving tomorrow morning and returning on Sunday for a GW athlete-leadership day (not quite sure what that entails yet), so once all the craziness of this weekend is over, I will recap it all for you. And of course, provide some pictures from the trip.

Well that’s all for now. I have to start packing and get ready for San Diego. Sorry for the long post, but I promised to discuss my classes and since I am in season, realistically even if I wanted to, I don’t think I could not talk about volleyball in a post (it is everyday).

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

The Hardest Time of the Year to be a Texan in DC: Football Season

It is not the inches of snow, buckets of rain, or extreme humidity that the Mid-Atlantic endures that is harder on this man in his cowboy boots and burnt orange regalia. Instead, it is the lack of football lights, Friday night fever and football tailgate parties that makes my life a tad more difficult. BUT luckily, there is an alternative.

Although GW does not have a football team, there are three places a GW student can fulfill his/her football needs.

Maryland's new uniform that has caused so
much controversy. It is modeled after their
state flag

1. You can watch your team on TV. For me, I can catch a Longhorn game almost every week or at least a radio broadcast or watch the many local games with new squads like UNC, UVA, VT and Navy. GW dies provide you with free cable in your dorm rooms, so you can always be close to the game.

2. If your craving the lights, the halftime shows and band music filling the fall air, you can always catch a game with the Atlantic Coast Conference's (ACC) Terps up at the University of Maryland-College Park just a few minutes off the Green line here in DC's metro system. As well, Catholic University, Georgetown University and Galladuet University all have football games too with usually cheaper tickets.

3. Go watch the Washington Redskins!!! Although I should be a Dallas fan since I am from Texas and all, it is hard not to support this local squad. Although these tickets do range from $70 to $100 usually, it would be a nice gift from home for maybe a birthday :)

I hope this has made you feel a bit better about fueling that football fever here is DC. It is worth your while to leave the football stadium for a premier education and I can attest to that, but it still doesn't make it easy. But given the DC community that surrounds you, I know you will find a way to survive.

Hook 'em Horns!!! P.S. Women's Volleyball is on their way to improving to 9-0 this evening and will take on Georgetown this week!  Keep up the fantastic work Christie and GO COLONIALS!!!

Please let me know if you have any questions about anything GW and I will reply quickly. Good luck this year and you are ahead of the game looking at colleges this early :)

Peace, Love and Hippos!


Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

GW Volleyball is 6-0!!

As the title suggests, I again have good news for you all! This past weekend, our team swept UNC Wilmington, North Carolina Central, and Central Connecticut at our own GW Invitational. This makes our current record, 6-0. What is even more exciting is that this is the first time that has happened since the 2003 season (so quite a few years). Our team is super excited that we are undefeated, but we are striving not to be complacent for our recent success. We want to keep our streak alive! In order to do this, we have been working very hard in the gym and weight room (including today-Labor Day!). On this past Friday night, we had an excellent turnout in terms of fans, 596 to be exact, which (I think) is the biggest crowd that we have had for a home match since I began playing for GW 2 years ago! So, if you were at the game, or any of the games over the weekend, THANK YOU! Our team loves a big crowd so keep coming back, it is shaping up to be a tremendous season! Our next home game is Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 7pm vs. Georgetown (the rescheduled finale for the DC Challenge).

As you can tell by all my recent posts, my life as of the last month has been dominated by volleyball, but now that school has begun, you can expect some about classes/ other life soon! Now, for a little taste of the action, I bring to you some pictures! My dad was nice enough to take some good action shots over the weekend while my family was here visiting (we are in the buff and blue jerseys, obviously). Enjoy:

the team, pre-game

my sister, Vickie (GW alum and past blogger), and me

roommates!

Sorry if this was picture overkill, but I had a hard time picking my favorites haha. oops.
p.s. next post: my finalized class schedule. (I promise!)

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie