This weekend will be full of new and interesting experiences.

Will and I are about to embark on a road trip across the state of Virginia. First off we will be going to University of Virginia to visit one of Will’s high school friends. I have never been to UVA before so I am looking forward to see what the student life is like there. Tonight will be fun because it is also their opening basketball game against JMU and we were fortunate enough to have gotten last minute tickets online. One of the guys I played against in high school plays for JMU so it will be fun and a little weird to watch him play. After the game we have a very exclusive fraternity party to go to. Now this isn’t just any party, not everyone gets in, in fact you have to be on “The List” to enter, and of course we are on the list. This party is 70s themed so our 11 o’clock Walmart run came in clutch last night, when we bought tie-dye shirts, head bands, and sunglasses with peace signs.

Saturday morning after we say a due we will head on to Old Dominion University, which happens to be in Will’s home town. At ODU we will be visiting one of my best friends from high school who is on their football team. Due to an injury he is not allowed to travel with the team this weekend to their game there fore he invited us to stay at his apartment for the night. I am excited to spend a Saturday night with him and see what his school has to offer. Sunday morning we will make a stop by Will’s house and grab some breakfast before making the four and a half hour trek back to RC.

Im am looking forward to this weekend seeing what other schools are like, especially because they are so much bigger than RC. This was a very spur of the moment decision for we didn’t even think about going to UVA until late Thursday night. 

My first official day of college basketball.
It was a tryout scenario.
Who would have thought that you would have had to tryout for a college sport you got recruited to play? Not me. But i wasnt worried because even if i didnt make the varsity team i knew i was good enough to at least make the JV team. Or at least i hoped i was good enough.
I was worried however, about how i would play on my recently sprained ankle.
I've played on sprained ankles before but that was high school, and this is college, everyone is bigger, stronger, and faster at this level.

So anyway, my first day of tryouts went well, i shot very well, and even though it wasn't 100%, my ankle didnt slow me down all that much. After the tryout i knew i was one of the players that was in limbo. Wasn't quite varsity, but wasn't quite JV either. The decision would lie on my performance during the next tryout.

Even though i wanted to make the varsity squad very badly, i couldn't help but think about all the perks that would come with playing junior varsity.

First and foremost, i would actually get to PLAY. Even if i did make varsity, i would just end up being a glorified water boy and just look good in my warmups on the bench. Secondly, i would get to go home on both thanksgiving and winter break, which is a huge plus.

In the end i didnt make the varsity team, but i was actually ok with that. Im ok with playing JV. This year is all about learning for me. I'm going to learn how to cope with school work, basketball , and social life without the heavy load of playing varsity basketball.

And needless to say, Im excited to see what the upcoming basketball season brings.

Im sure many of my peers are going to write a post on everything they did over fall break and great it was to be home again. I had a great break but i would like to focus on the struggles of traveling to and from South Jersey this past week.

So the story begins as my alarm sounds off at 5 am on saturday, october 12th. I shower, dress and step into a cab at 530. At around 645 i am sitting outside of gate 5 at the Roanoke Airport wondering why we have still not boarded our plane.

Then an announcement.....

"Flight 1523 to Philadelphia has been canceled, create a single file line in front of the counter and we will try to reschedle your flight. Thank you."

i want to go to the counter and say thank you my ass and throw my ticket at the lady's face.
But i remain calm.
After all...i am still going home.

So i hop on a 915 flight to charlotte and will attempt to get on the 1130 flight to philly.
When i finally landed in Charlotte i rushed to gate D2 to try to get one of the conveted seats on the 1130 flight, but of course, many others had the same idea, and i was put on stand by with about 5 others. I waited around until they announced that there were no more seats on this plane and that all those on stand by would be redirected to the 110 flight direct to Philadelphia.

This was the travel day from hell.

I was supposed to land at 9 am and then i would go lift and run, then go to the mall with some friends maybe go see my ex girlfriend, maybe go to dinner, then get ready to go out that night around 7. I had it all planned out. But because the flight attendant didnt show up for my 7 am flight..i was in charlotte north carolina.
I finally landed in Philly at 330...6 hours and 30 mins late. But it is what it is.

I had a great fall break but my 7 hour drive back to school was another story in itself.

That will have to be a blog post for another week.

It's Saturday and i wake up at 12:30 pm to my phone ringing. I swore i had it on vibrate. I rub my eyes to try to see who is interrupting the sleep that i desperately need. The contact name read "Coach" and i didnt know what to think. Bad call? Good call? Half-asleep i answered in a groggy tone,
 "Hey Coach, Whats up?"
He replied, "Hey Jake, i just wanted to ask if it would be ok for a recruit to stay with you guys tonight?"
Even though it was technically a question, it felt more like a statement. I knew there was only one answer i could give, so without hestitation i told coach that it would be fine and he could stay with us. The conversation went on a bit longer about technicalities and where to meet and meal tickets.

After i hung up the phone, i quickly searched for a bottle of water to sooth my parched throat. One thought kept running through my head, what the hell was i going to do with this kid all day. My roommate plays lacrosse and he has already had a recruit stay in our dorm. Lets just say it didnt go too well. I was nervous to discover how this day/night was going to play out. And to make matters worse, there was no brunch today. Very bad start to my saturday.

My roommate and i went to meet up with our coach in his office so he could hook us up with our recruit. His name was pat, he was from D.C. and seemed like a relatively normal kid. Throughout the day we tried to keep pat involved and active so he wouldn't get bored. We played xbox and basketball before eating and getting ready for the night's festivities.

The night started off well, but it would soon take a turn for the worst.

It was me, my two roommates, my roommate's two brothers, our recruit, and two more of our friends. We were walking down market street at about 11:30. Pat and my roommates older brother were slightly behind the pack, but i wasn't too worried about it. The recruit decided that he could hold his stream of urine any longer, and asked my roommates brother to watch the street for campus security while he went to the bathroom behind a parked car. Meanwhile, the rest of the group had no idea this was happening. Until we saw the flashing lights go on about about 50 feet behind us. Apparently my roommates brother wasnt very capable of watching the street. So one public urination charge later, we were sitting back in the room all asking ourselves why pat couldn't just hold it for 2 more minutes.

I had a bad feeling about the night from the moment i woke up to my coach's call.

Being home is very weird.

After a quiet cab ride through the rainy streets of salem, a 5 minute breeze through security and a 1 hour 15 flight (which i slept all the way through) i was finally back in Philly.

Seeing my dad waiting for me in the airport put an immediate smile on my face, we hugged as he talked on the phone, and i realized nothing has changed. He was the same man in a blue golf shirt, talking on the phone, in the same airport. I didn't even mind that we sat in 40 minutes of traffic, all that mattered was that i was home.

The first thing i did after walking in the door was go up to my room to see if anything had changed or been moved around. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that everything was in the same place i had left it almost a month ago. After hugging my mom and sister, and petting my dog, i sat down and did something that i had been waiting to do ever since i left for RU. EAT CHIPOTLE. I had been craving my steak burrito for so long and it tasted even better than i remembered. As my mom bombarded me with questions i just nodded as i chowed down on my food. After answering all the questions from every member of my family, i decided to take a drive around. It sounds a little weird but i just wanted to drive around town and see what had changed and what didn't. As i drove past my old high school i watched the cars pour out of the parking lot just as sports practices were ending and i reminisced on when that used to be my parents driving me home from football. Now, as i sit here typing this in my backyard with my cat on my lap, I am relieved to say that even as i progressed and run around with all of my college activities, everything in my hometown is just as i remembered.

One of my only worries about coming to RU was being in the mountains. I've lived in New Jersey for my whole life where its only flat land from the Delaware river to the atlantic ocean. Everyone always used the word "landlocked" and told me how people who are from the coast have a hard time getting used to not only the scenery of the mountains but the lifestyle that comes with it.

Yesterday I went to an early dinner at Macadoo's with a few of my friends. Stressed out about all of the accounting homework i had ahead of me that night, all i wanted was a buffalo chicken wrap with a side of chili cheese fries. While we waited on our food for what seemed like several hours, I couldn't help but overhear the conversation being held at next table over. An older woman was hollering to her table of eight family members about how "off the hook" their halloween party was going to be. This took me by surprise for a few reasons, 1. I had never heard an old lady say off the hook, 2. Halloween was a very long time away, and 3. I had never seen so much camouflage clothing, or less teeth, on a group of people. They were obviously locals and the type of people that you would expect to see in the mountains but i never thought i would see them here at Roanoke College, i felt like i didn't belong in this place. Feeling full and a little bit shocked, we walked out of Macadoos, and then i saw it. A sunset unlike anything i had ever seen before. Just above the mountains, the fluorescent ball of light sat. Creating an amazing mix of reds, oranges, and even purples. My friends and i started taking pictures and posting them on our various social networks as we walked back to our dorms. It wasnt until that experience, that i realized what a beautiful place the mountains of virginia could be.

Life is all about adaptation, and when you go to college, there are a multitude of adaptations you have to make. Eating cafeteria food every day, living without your parents, living in close quarters with two other people and living 7 hours away in a different part of the country. All of these were obvious changes in my life but one major difference went completely overlooked. Not having a car. I never knew how much i relied on it until now. Trying to make friends with people that have cars and having to pay people $5 for a ride takes me right back to sophomore year at Moorestown High School. Walmart is just out of walking distance and the worst thing in the world is running out of water or chips and not being able to get in the car and get some. When i was deciding wether or not to bring my car the only thing that i could think about were the 7 hour drives back to New Jersey but i now regret the decision. Both of my roommates feel the same way. So if its not me that brings the car back from fall break then one of my roommates will. After we have that, all of our problems will be solved. No more worries.