Intervju med Mija!
Mija är från Finland och går just nu i laget Funky Team Gorillaz. Ni vet, coedlaget som vann EM i år! Förra hösten flyttade hon till Lexington, Kentucky i USA för att gå på University of Kentucky i ett år, och allra roligast - gå på cheerleading där! Här under kan ni läsa en del om hennes år där borta. Visst låter allting underbart? Mija har en blogg tillsammans med sin partner stunt-partner också, kolla in den HÄR.
How many schools did you apply/tryout for?
Initially, I applied to 3 schools: Hawaii Pacific University, University of Kentucky, and Morehead State University. I actually ended up getting accepted to all 3, but the acceptance letter to HPU came a lot later than the letter from UK and MSU and by that time I had already tried out to UK and it was too late to send a video tryout to HPU.
What made you choose University of Kentucky?
Most of the university cheer tryouts are held on the same weekend to force the people trying out to pick which team they actually want to join the most (so that they will know that if you are there, u will most likely accept your spot in the team if you get in). Some teams do also accept video tryout material, but UK has so many kids to pick from that for their tryouts you have to be present in person. So, I picked UK over Morehead because UK was my first choice as the cheerleading team is better and the school is bigger. If I would've been accepted to HPU earlier, I would've sent a video tryout to them also, but as I got accepted to the UK cheer team, there was no real question about which team I would've joined as the University of Kentucky team is a living legend. :)
What's your favorite thing about the school? (no cheer stuff)
The school was amazing and there are many great things to mention. It is a big school, more than 20 000 students, so the campus area was very big and nice and the whole UK atmosphere was crazy with the whole student body dressing in blue shirts on game days and everybody wearing UK clothes, supporting the university teams. We had 3 Starbucks' on campus and many restaurants, also 3 stores that sold UK apparel like pants, shirts, sweaters, glasses...anything u could think of with the school's colors and UK logo's. Pretty much the whole city of Lexington was all crazy about the school and it's teams and knew what was going on. To be honest, it felt like living in a movie for a year, as it is totally different here in Finland at least.
Toughest thing you had to go thru during your year in the US?
The biggest set back that I had during my year was that after our season started, we had medical checkups and my shin (front of the leg, below the knee) had been sore and they told me that I had a stress fracture there. It was something that I had had before, but I thought that it would've healed and got the info that it hadn't. So, right after I moved there, I had to be out of practice for 2 months and wear a 'boot' (kind of like a light cast) 24/7 for that time. So I didnt get to practice or do anything for the beginning of the year and I was only allowed to start tumbling half way through that year when we were actually starting to put our routine together and didn't practice individual skills anymore that much so it also affected my role in our routine.
Any big difference that you weren't prepared for?
The thing that made my moving to Kentucky easier was the fact that I actually went there 3 times before I went there for the whole year: I went there for the tryouts for the first time, then twice in the summer for summer practice and camp. It made the transition easier so that I had already formed an idea about what it was like and who the people in the team were.. I guess the biggest surprise that i faced was the way people thought of cheerleding there. In Finland, its a competitive sport and we dont go to games and we always have to explain to all other people what cheerleading is like and what it is not like and how it is not important what one looks like, but how skillful they are at tumbling, stunting etc. And then at UK,we had to go to games and our main responsibility was to support the university teams. And it was important what you looked like and physical attractiveness was even a part of the tryout scoring sheet!
How often did your team practice?
We had practices 3-4 times a week, then we had workouts 2 times a week and then 1-2 games a week. This depended on the game season and the practices also depended on performances and other schedules. Like when we started building our routine, we had practices twice a day and then sometimes when we had finals or midterms, the practices would've been canceled!
Games or competitions, what's the most fun?
Competitions!! :D heh, like I said earlier, some people thought differently, but I mean my answer 100%. It was very cool to go to games in Kentucky though and to be a part of the whole school's spirit program, but thats not the reason I'm involved in cheerleading. I love to practice new skills to perfection and then perform them at competitions. I also love the rush of being in front of the crowd that's there to watch you and to cheer you on and to see your perform. And nothing beats the feeling of nailing your routine perfectly and feeling that your hard work has paid off!
Do you have any tips for people who's going to be an international student in the US?
For tips to other people, I gotta say that if you don't live on campus, you most likely are going to need to buy a car! I lived off campus with a couple of girls from my team and without a car, my life would've been very difficult because everything is just so far (shopping, groceries, school) that you cant really walk there and the public transportation that I was used to relying on at home really was NOT reliable! heh, our bus didn't follow any schedule really, and it stopped running at 5 pm :) And if you live on campus and eat at the campus restaurants, you won't need to really get anywhere but then you dont get to bring visitors from home or make your own food etc.
Best moment of the entire year?
And, heh, even though I'm all about competing, I gotta say that one of the most memorable experiences of the whole year was my first Football game. When the game was starting, we were walking onto the field with the stands filled with thousands of screaming UK fans, the marching band playing, fireworks in the sky, the team getting ready to start the game... It was the craziest feeling of being on the field: Like I would've suddenly stepped into an American sport movie and I never knew it actually was as crazy as they make it seem :D heh, well, it was even crazier and you got to be a part of that and it was super cool!! ...But that moment doesnt carry you on for the next 4 hours and more that the game goes on :)
Another really cool thing was that we competed in California with the team and getting to go there for free (school paid) and the experience of competing in a UK uniform was pretty cool!! :D:D
How many schools did you apply/tryout for?
Initially, I applied to 3 schools: Hawaii Pacific University, University of Kentucky, and Morehead State University. I actually ended up getting accepted to all 3, but the acceptance letter to HPU came a lot later than the letter from UK and MSU and by that time I had already tried out to UK and it was too late to send a video tryout to HPU.
What made you choose University of Kentucky?
Most of the university cheer tryouts are held on the same weekend to force the people trying out to pick which team they actually want to join the most (so that they will know that if you are there, u will most likely accept your spot in the team if you get in). Some teams do also accept video tryout material, but UK has so many kids to pick from that for their tryouts you have to be present in person. So, I picked UK over Morehead because UK was my first choice as the cheerleading team is better and the school is bigger. If I would've been accepted to HPU earlier, I would've sent a video tryout to them also, but as I got accepted to the UK cheer team, there was no real question about which team I would've joined as the University of Kentucky team is a living legend. :)
What's your favorite thing about the school? (no cheer stuff)
The school was amazing and there are many great things to mention. It is a big school, more than 20 000 students, so the campus area was very big and nice and the whole UK atmosphere was crazy with the whole student body dressing in blue shirts on game days and everybody wearing UK clothes, supporting the university teams. We had 3 Starbucks' on campus and many restaurants, also 3 stores that sold UK apparel like pants, shirts, sweaters, glasses...anything u could think of with the school's colors and UK logo's. Pretty much the whole city of Lexington was all crazy about the school and it's teams and knew what was going on. To be honest, it felt like living in a movie for a year, as it is totally different here in Finland at least.
Toughest thing you had to go thru during your year in the US?
The biggest set back that I had during my year was that after our season started, we had medical checkups and my shin (front of the leg, below the knee) had been sore and they told me that I had a stress fracture there. It was something that I had had before, but I thought that it would've healed and got the info that it hadn't. So, right after I moved there, I had to be out of practice for 2 months and wear a 'boot' (kind of like a light cast) 24/7 for that time. So I didnt get to practice or do anything for the beginning of the year and I was only allowed to start tumbling half way through that year when we were actually starting to put our routine together and didn't practice individual skills anymore that much so it also affected my role in our routine.
Any big difference that you weren't prepared for?
The thing that made my moving to Kentucky easier was the fact that I actually went there 3 times before I went there for the whole year: I went there for the tryouts for the first time, then twice in the summer for summer practice and camp. It made the transition easier so that I had already formed an idea about what it was like and who the people in the team were.. I guess the biggest surprise that i faced was the way people thought of cheerleding there. In Finland, its a competitive sport and we dont go to games and we always have to explain to all other people what cheerleading is like and what it is not like and how it is not important what one looks like, but how skillful they are at tumbling, stunting etc. And then at UK,we had to go to games and our main responsibility was to support the university teams. And it was important what you looked like and physical attractiveness was even a part of the tryout scoring sheet!
How often did your team practice?
We had practices 3-4 times a week, then we had workouts 2 times a week and then 1-2 games a week. This depended on the game season and the practices also depended on performances and other schedules. Like when we started building our routine, we had practices twice a day and then sometimes when we had finals or midterms, the practices would've been canceled!
Games or competitions, what's the most fun?
Competitions!! :D heh, like I said earlier, some people thought differently, but I mean my answer 100%. It was very cool to go to games in Kentucky though and to be a part of the whole school's spirit program, but thats not the reason I'm involved in cheerleading. I love to practice new skills to perfection and then perform them at competitions. I also love the rush of being in front of the crowd that's there to watch you and to cheer you on and to see your perform. And nothing beats the feeling of nailing your routine perfectly and feeling that your hard work has paid off!
Do you have any tips for people who's going to be an international student in the US?
For tips to other people, I gotta say that if you don't live on campus, you most likely are going to need to buy a car! I lived off campus with a couple of girls from my team and without a car, my life would've been very difficult because everything is just so far (shopping, groceries, school) that you cant really walk there and the public transportation that I was used to relying on at home really was NOT reliable! heh, our bus didn't follow any schedule really, and it stopped running at 5 pm :) And if you live on campus and eat at the campus restaurants, you won't need to really get anywhere but then you dont get to bring visitors from home or make your own food etc.
Best moment of the entire year?
And, heh, even though I'm all about competing, I gotta say that one of the most memorable experiences of the whole year was my first Football game. When the game was starting, we were walking onto the field with the stands filled with thousands of screaming UK fans, the marching band playing, fireworks in the sky, the team getting ready to start the game... It was the craziest feeling of being on the field: Like I would've suddenly stepped into an American sport movie and I never knew it actually was as crazy as they make it seem :D heh, well, it was even crazier and you got to be a part of that and it was super cool!! ...But that moment doesnt carry you on for the next 4 hours and more that the game goes on :)
Another really cool thing was that we competed in California with the team and getting to go there for free (school paid) and the experience of competing in a UK uniform was pretty cool!! :D:D
Kommentarer
Postat av: elin
okejdå, synd :o vad hände ? Jag går i cheer futures jr lag :)
Postat av: elin st
vad kul med intervjuer! skulle du inte kunna intervjua människor från svenska föreningar också, kända som okända? skulle vara kul att läsa :D
Postat av: Thilda
kan inte du lägga upp länk till avsnitt 4 av hellcats? :D
Postat av: J E S I
men åh, det låter ju helt underbart.
Trackback
