Being back in the classroom is weird.

It feels like I’m back in Austria, crammed into a tiny space, with the faint buzz of foreign languages being spoken around you. Only this time there aren’t scenic mountains, snow, and fine architecture, I’m not squished between skis and the gondola window, and the person talking is definitely not speaking German.

This time I’m stuck up in a dusty old lecture theatre, filled to capacity with cocky teenage wannabe-engineers, trying to decode the cryptic symbols being written on the board by a prof who is speaking some kind of English-Mandarin hybrid language. University is weird.

Weird in the sense that it’s different. I’m about two weeks into my classes now and am starting to get readjusted to academic life.  It’s taken me a while to warm up to the idea of going to school again, but I think it’s good for me – it keeps me busy.

My schedule this semester has been working out quite well so far. I only have one hour of class on both Monday and Friday which makes the week go by quickly. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday are kind of ugly though. I often find myself rushing home from workouts, taking a shower, grabbing my books, making a lunch, and heading back out the door all in a span of <20 minutes (talk about a licketly split turnaround) so I can make it to class mostly on time.

Other than getting back to school not a lot has happened lately… We had a couple people from the CSIO, Rob (the pirate physiologist) and Sheila, come out to a few team workouts to see how things are going a few weeks ago. The Lakehead varsity nordic team has also started doing practices a few times a week. It’s nice having another group of skiers in town to get together and train with here and there.

Things are going to start getting pretty busy over the next month or so. Our team is going to be doing a testing week, similar to what we did back in the spring, to make sure we’re not getting slower. In addition to the repeat tests, there are also going to be a couple significant running events; namely the Sawdust run and the Pancake run – both have some history in the Lappe book of legends (or so I hear).

I’m just excited for the Pancake run because if you break the course record you win unlimited pancakes at Lappe for the season (that better be true because this is my #1 focus race for the season. if you’re all pulling my leg here I’m going to be very upset.).

After our testing week we will be heading out to Canmore for Frozen Thunder. Frozen Thunder is pretty cool. For those who have never been: it’s a 3km groomed track made with snow that was stockpiled, buried and insulated back in the spring, and is uncovered and laid out for skiing in late October. This will be my second year going out to Canmore for Frozen Thunder. I’m really looking forward to a two week break from school. I think I need the recovery time away from the classroom – wouldn’t want to overtrain my brain.

For any Ontario skiers who are interested, there is an opportunity to go out and train in Canmore for a week at the end of October into November – just check out xco.org and it should be on the main page, a few items down. If you think it’s the trip for you, send an email to Pav and Liz so they can set you up for the camp. If you have any questions (and are too scared to ask Pav or Liz – don’t worry, I would be too) send me a message and I can fill you in.

Well, that’s it that’s all. Here are a few pictures that I did not take (thanks to Ben, Pav and the random lady on the street, and Bob for the pics)

JennOUT

Me and Ryan’s turtle, Doug, back in the SOD. You know what they say about Doug – ‘He didn’t choose the DougLife. The DougLife chose him.’

Day hike down in America. The stoke level was clearly high.

All-star skier breakfast sendoff for Pav

The Bengineer, Jengineer, and Victor (the other eng student) getting ready for school