Christmas is especially special for athlete students: they fly or drive home to their families. Our daughter Mia is no exception, having returned home to Swabia for the holidays from her university, Francis Marion University (FMU) in Florence, South Carolina. In August of this year, our "big girl" headed off to the USA on a tennis scholarship right after graduating from high school. Her first big adventure! Today, we want to let Mia speak for herself. After overcoming the jet lag, she wrote a report for you about her first four months at college. We hope you enjoy reading it. And of course, we're making the most of our time together before it's time to head west again in early January 2024!
"The first few weeks at my new university, Francis Marion University in South Carolina, were incredibly exciting, but also a bit overwhelming. I quickly realized that I was now on my own, in a country where both the culture and the people were initially unfamiliar to me.
The first week was dedicated to university studies, while tennis training didn't begin until the third week. I was lucky that my roommate had chosen a similar course of study, so we had several classes together in the first semester. This was a relief, as we could look for the right classrooms together and find out about the materials needed for each course. However, this often led to us getting lost in the large school building, walking into the wrong classroom, or arriving late for class.
After a few weeks, the school routine settled into a good rhythm, and we were ready for tennis and athletic training. To stay fit, we went to the gym three times a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. There, we completed various workouts together as a team under the supervision of our athletic trainer, Deon, and our tennis coach, Jay.
Since athletic training started as early as 7 a.m., getting out of bed was always a struggle, but we quickly got used to it. After the gym, my roommate Polina and I usually went straight back to our room to freshen up and then headed to breakfast. After fueling up with muesli, yogurt, and scrambled eggs, we went to class.
I usually had three to four classes a day. After the lessons ended, mostly between 1 and 2 p.m., it was a quick lunch before tennis practice. We trained as a women's team five times a week, for two hours each session. The initial focus of the training was on rhythm and consistency. We played many different partner drills to work on our consistency. Serve practice and doubles practice were also a big part of every session.
After we had finished training, I usually needed a short break, as such a day can be quite strenuous and full.
Around 6 p.m. we usually went to dinner, where there was a wide selection of salads and hot dishes. One thing has to be said, though: the food unfortunately couldn't compare to the delicious meals at home, at least that was my experience. After dinner, there was usually some homework to do or studying for an upcoming exam. If things were a bit more relaxed at school, the evenings were used to play a round of billiards or Uno.
I usually used the weekends to catch up on sleep or study for university. Of course, the typical college parties were also a must. Towards the end of my first semester, I got along better and better with my teammates, as well as athletes from other sports teams. Overall, I have to say I'm grateful to have tennis as a sport there. Thanks to tennis, I made friends right from the start, and I could always ask my teammates if I had any questions.
Even though the semester got off to a somewhat bumpy start, I'm glad I took the plunge and went to the USA on my own to study at a college and play tennis. I'm really looking forward to the next semester because then we'll finally be in season, which means we'll have our first matches against other universities."
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