Being a first-year at MU, I had no clue about anything about Jan Term. I was told I would have a lot of free time (actually, it’s the opposite of that) and that it is kind of hard (it’s the opposite of that as well). I finally got the chance to experience it first-hand.

I decided to take Astronomy because I love learning about space (especially the stars). I was definitely overwhelmed the first day because so much information is given in a short amount of time. I soon realized that there was so much info because it’s basically like taking three 50-minute classes in one day. I hadn’t even thought about that until after the class was over.

The rest of the three weeks were pretty great. I learned more than anticipated about space, stars, planets, constellations, and so much more. One thing about Astronomy is observation, and that is one part that we lacked during Jan Term, thanks to having cloudy nights for each and every day we had class. Like, how does that happen? Fifteen days and not one night where you can see stars… I don’t know, it just blew my mind. However, my Prof informed me of the days in the spring semester where my class can go to the observatory just because we couldn’t during our regular class. On an unrelated note, I also trained to be a Spartan Ambassador so I can give campus tours! It took a bit of practice but I caught the hang of it pretty quickly, thankfully.

After Jan Term ended, I was able to go home and chill with my parents for a couple days. It was nice to be home since I have baseball in the spring and have no clue when I’ll be able to come back. It was also nice to see my dogs, too. The other thing I did over the break was take my first-ever trip to Wisconsin! I have a friend who goes to college in Green Bay, so another friend of mine and I decided to make a weekend trip of it.

The worst part about going was the drive. Where I am from, it took about 6 hours to make it there. Here is the list of some things my friends and I did:

• Ate at Noodles and Pizza Hut
• Visited Lambeau Field
• Went glow-in-the-dark bowling
• Played guitar and sang
• Got custard at Culver’s and ice cream at some local restaurant
• Made a couple trips to Wal-Mart and some really fancy mall

Overall, Jan Term was great in terms of my class and my break. I didn’t get any pictures during my classes, but I did get a couple from my Wisco trip and they’ll be below!!

Nick Rush ’20 is studying Sports Management and plans on minoring in another business area. He plays baseball for MU, and he plans on working in the sports industry after graduation.