Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Swimming Journal - Michael Volpe
12/2/2008 7:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Dec. 2, 2008
Coming back as a sophomore this year was a totally different experience than coming to campus as a freshman last year. When I walked into my dorm last year, I didn't know anybody except my roommate who I had talked to a few times over the summer and two other guys from high school who ended up living on the opposite side of campus. On the first day of practice it was a struggle to remember names except for the few names I remembered from my recruiting trip the year before. But coming to the team was like joining a family. While spending everyday swimming together, eating at the cafeteria and hanging out, it was easy to adjust to the new college life because I had my teammates to support me and give me advice.
As a sophomore this year, I came back to school excited to see all my friends and come back to the family that I had left for a full summer. I felt that this time around it was much easier to come back to school because I already knew what to expect and how to go about doing everything. I knew the routine for swimming and for the start of classes. It definitely helped knowing what the time commitment was with swimming after I had learned how to adjust during my first semester. Even though I knew how exhausted I would be after practices, I still found it hard to get used to at the start of the year. But on the academic side of things I felt more comfortable in my classes because I knew how challenging they would be.
As a whole, this semester has been a lot of fun. Being a sophomore means helping bring new freshmen onto the team like the sophomores and other upperclassmen had done for us last year. I can definitely say that this semester so far has been a lot easier since I have a full year of college under my belt. Knowing what to expect and how to react makes everything much easier to deal with. Freshman year is a growing experience where we all learn to adjust and adapt to a new college life. With everything I learned last year, coming back to school as a sophomore was a very easy transition. So far I'm enjoying the year and am excited to see how everything will pan out.
