After hours of sitting through lectures, trying not to fall asleep, I head back to my room to study for a test… only to find my roommate “having fun” with his girlfriend. He asks me to give him some time. Being a considerate roommate, I decide to grab a cup of coffeeand study in the living room, but the coffee I made this morning is gone. Eventually beaten by the Sandman, I fall asleep on the couch, which ultimately leads to a bad test score the next day.

   
1. Cleanliness is a concept lost on your roommate. Your roommate’s personal area looks like a jungle, with clothes and junk everywhere. The botany department stopped by last week to take samples.

2.  “Can I borrow everything?” You come home to find your mountain bike covered in mud, your best shirt missing, and your razor covered in hair. 

Life is great when you have good roommates.

A great workout accompanied by good friends and loud music.

I’d heard of taking skiing, snowboarding, billiards, and bowling for credit and wondered if this list of “activity” classes offered any high endurance courses. After a quick search on the montana.edu webpage, I found a list of 16 activities courses, ranging from Beginning Yoga to 5/10K Race Training. Scanning the list, Power Cycling – Indoors caught my eye. My hobbies include sports like skiing, trail running, hiking, and yoga, so having strong stable legs is essential. I thought, “What better way to prepare for a powder day at Bridger Bowl, while receiving MSU credit, than with a mandatory cycling class?”

During the first class we learned the proper bike set-up and did a light workout. The girl-to-guy ratio in the class was about 15:1, which was perfect; the fewer attractive guys staring at me while I drip sweat, the better. It seemed like the class was going to be a relatively easy credit. However, on the second day, the instructor wasted no time breaking us in. After a five-minute warm-up we were climbing hills, sprinting, and jumping till we couldn’t feel our legs. The next day, walking to class was a challenge and sitting-down was even harder. I’ve always been an avid athlete, so being this sore came as a surprise. As the weeks kept on, the class grew smaller as people dropped out, and my legs became accustomed to the constant torture. It was an awarding feeling transforming my body with a workout routine I’d never have chosen on my own.

After a year of cycling class I was ready to take on Granite Peak.

Tour the campus you will call home for the next 4 years

Of course, if your parents aren’t citified chickens afraid of a little adventure, you can also get a little more remote.

Soak it up at Norris Hot Springs

Your Yoga studio

High-octane activities such as skiing, hiking, running, biking, and surfing have always been my idea of exercise. Growing up playing hockey and ski racing made me avoid any kind of meditation or mindfulness at all cost. Past yoga experiences always found the clock capturing my attention more than the exercise, thinking about anything but the stretch, the pose, or the breathing. No talking? For an entire hour? No thanks. Yoga has always seemed a new-age fad—a cop-out for actually exercising. Then one of my girlfriends proposed a challenge: a different activity every month for a year, with October’s activity being yoga.



Yoga can strengthen your ski legs

Yoga improves joint and muscular flexibility, which is imperative for the body’s overall health. Enhanced joint and muscle pliancy translates to greater range of motion, which in turn, decreases the chance of an overuse injury.

Consistent practice of the various yoga poses helps build strength and balance. Core stability is enhanced and subsequently reduces overuse injury by strengthening the muscles surrounding the more utilized muscles, creating a more balanced overall strength. By practicing yoga, balance is improved. Better balance and coordination means enhanced control over the body, which for any athlete, leads to better technique and form.


Improve your body and mind

The physical benefits of yoga for the athlete are huge, but they’re nothing in comparison to the more abiding benefits. Most people, particularly athletes, tend to think of yoga as boring. Everyone at MSUis busy and if another activity is added to the schedule, it better be worth it. In order to benefit from yoga, one must commit to the hour they are practicing. Others, mostly non-athletes, think of yoga as a way to tighten the core, flatten the stomach, and tone that butt. Sure, it does that, but so can many other exercises,right?



Yoga was a routine designed not to give you a nice butt, but to improve your ability to quiet and control the impulse of the mind, and to center focus and promote serenity by silencing the endless mental chatter.

When you look at the highest levels of sport, all athletes are talented. They train hard, they practice technique, and they do everything they can to take them to the top level. Many athletes are forgetting a crucial part of the puzzle: a sound mind. Yoga can not only improve sleep, reduce stress, quell negative mental chatter, and manage fear, it can change the entire approach to training and racing.

Check out these submissions to the contest. At the head of the herd is our first week’s winner, Meghan O’Neal, who got creative with a metal bull. 

The best way to stay on an exercise program is to realize that it’s attainable. When you can fit in 15 minutes of walking for a study break, do it! You’ll re-energize and burn more calories than you would have sitting. MSU also built a great gym for you and guess what, your membership is included in your tuition. So use it and enjoy it! If you’re not currently an exerciser, try to find a friend to exercise with and set a schedule; it’ll help you to honor your exercise time.

Needless to say, Bozeman is great town in which to be active. We have beautiful surroundings and a great in-town trail system. The Linear Trail is only five blocks from campus and it links up with enough other trails to train for a marathon. So if you have an hour break, head out for a walk or run.

There’s no lack of hiking and biking trails around Bozeman

As for diet, only take one portion at the food service. Trying to include fruits and vegetables as part of that portion. Remember that drinks have calories; those double-white-chocolate machiatos and energy drinksare not the same as drinking water. And while snacking happens in college, try to choose healthy snacks. It’s pretty easy to get into the habit of eating some very bad foods on a daily basis. It’s equally easy to get into the habit of eating fruits, nuts, or trail mix instead.

One of the best things about Bozeman is its location close to Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park and still one of the most amazing places on the planet. People come from all over the world to experience Yellowstone, but you can jump in your car and be at the north or west entrance in an hour and a half.

Yellowstone sprawls across a high plateau in the heart of the Rockies. Within the two-million-acre park is a vast and diverse landscape which will take some time to absorb. Plan to make repeated trips there and see it in its many moods and seasons. Spectacular rivers and falls, wide open valleys, geyser and hot springs, endless forests, plateaus, cliffs, canyons, and peaks combine in sublime and timeless scenery.

Seething, bubbling, steaming, stewing… Yellowstone is unique on Earth for its diversity, and sheer number, of geothermal features. Also known as geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles, they are fueled by the immense Yellowstone Volcanic Caldera. Over 10,000 distinct thermal features turn Yellowstone into a wonderland like no other.

With over 300 waterfalls 15 feet or higher, Yellowstone is truly the land of falling water. The most well-known falls are of course the Upper (109 feet) and Lower (308 feet) Falls of the Yellowstone River, in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. You can stop at the popular viewpoints, or head out on the rim trails for quieter, more intimate views of this incredible canyon. Nearly every creek and river in the Park has falls and rapids on it. All this running water also means great swimming opportunities. For warm and hot water swimming, check out the Boiling River or the Firehole Canyon.

All native mammal species still roam here, including gray wolves, reintroduced in 1995. Before mid-November you still have a chance of seeing grizzly and black bears. Bison number about 3,000 and are concentrated around Hayden and Lamar valleys. Elk gather in and around Mammoth Hot Springs during the fall breeding season, with males bugling, battling with other males, herding their harems, and chasing the occasional touron. You may also spot moose, bighorn sheep, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, coyotes, eagles, badgers, hawks, osprey, and any number of other wild animals. Best of all is when you get to watch different species interacting. Just be sure to give all the wildlife plenty of room, and don’t offer them any food.

With a dozen campgrounds, Yellowstone has lots of campsites, but they fill up fast in peak season. Some sites can be reserved through Xanterra, the concessionaire who runs the campgrounds. During the off-season—starting in late September—some campgrounds are still open and there are far fewer people. Catch some good fall or spring weather and you can have the place nearly to yourself.

Nearly a thousand miles of trails lace Yellowstone’s backcountry. From two-mile strolls to 100-mile expeditions, Yellowstone offers unparalleled wilderness hiking. Be sure to keep the bear spray handy, and make some noise on the trail—ALL of Yellowstone is bear country. If you’re going overnight, you’ll need a backcountry permit, available free at any ranger station.

If you like catch-and-release fly fishing, the Yellowstone, Firehole, Madison, Lewis, Gardner, Gibbon, and Lamar are the place to go in the Park, which is open to fishing but closed to hunting. Other more obscure creeks may provide more solitude and challenge. A Park-specific fishing permit and barbless hooks are required.

If you want to see the Park at its most wild and desolate, take the winter drive through the north entrance and out to Lamar Valley. This is the only road in the Park kept open to wheeled vehicles in winter. Wolves are easier to spot in the snow and more active in the winter. Bring the skis or snowshoes for a good taste of the frozen season. You can visit the Park interior by snowcoach (multi-passenger tracked rigs), snowmobile, or cross-country ski. Mammoth Hotel is open in winter, as is Old Faithful Snow Lodge (both run by Xanterra). Or stay outside the northeast entrance for an easy trip into the Lamar—try Pine Edge Cabins in Silvergate or one of the motels in Cooke City.

For an in-depth Yellowstone experience with a seasoned instructor, check out Yellowstone Safari Company  or sign on to one of the many classes offered by Yellowstone Forever.

by Meghan O’Neal

Leaving home is hard, and whether you ventured to MSU alone or you came with a group of buddies,
sooner or later you’re going to ache for some sweet home cooking and a hug from mommy. It’s something everyone goes through after leaving home. When you start to feel down, here are some tips to keep the homesickness at bay.

You’re in college, man. Left with no parents, no curfew, and a new sense of freedom, the only thing holding you back is your disturbingly light wallet. Never fear; the school provides more on-campus activities than you can possibly attend specifically designed to get you out of your dorm and meeting new folks. I know many of you may think that you’re too cool to attend an ice cream social in the basement of South Hedges. You’re not. Remember, the majority of the people in your dorms are looking for friends just like you. And what better way to meet someone than over a school-provided ice-cream sundae?

There are also many inexpensive activities off campus where you and your new ice-cream-social friends can go and get to know the town. Come to the Bozeman Bowl on Monday nights for cheap bowling and, for those of you over 21, cheap drinks. The place gets hopping, so be sure to get your lane early.

You do yourself no favors pining for home while drowning yourself in a bucket of half-melted Moose Tracks alone in your dorm. Get out, stay active, and you’ll soon forget all about your homesick woes.

Skype with family and friends to keep in touch

Now that you’ve established yourself in your new home, it’s important to keep in touch with those you’ve left behind. I’m not saying you should keep your nose attached to your phone while you text every kid you had a class with your senior year, but it’s important to maintain a connection with your besties back home. Plan group Skype dates once a week to swap college stories. Call your parents on the weekends to let them know what’ s going on. These connections are important and give you the boost you need in order to get through the week.

Keep Your Door Open

Homesickness is difficult, and it’s okay to feel a little overwhelmed. You have to work hard in order to establish yourself and make Bozeman your home. Soon enough, you’ll find yourself pining for the Bridgersevery time you visit Mom and Dad, but until then, it’s okay to feel sad and scared and generally miserable. If you find your homesickness to be unbearable, there are resources to help. Visit the Counseling Center above Student Health Services. They provide free counseling for any student going through anything from slight homesickness to serious depression, so be sure to drop by whatever the need.