Hey, everybody! I am so excited to be back, I missed you over winter break. I want to give a shout-out to all of the #FutureRams in the incoming Class of 2017: congratulations on your acceptance to CSU! High-five! I am so looking forwards to seeing all of your bright, shining faces next fall. Make sure to join the CSU Class of 2017 Facebook page!

Anyway, it’s been a week since we’ve been back in school and there has been so much going on. Last week, the Student Rec Center offered free mind & body and cycling classes (they offer this promotion the first and last week of each semester), which is always great because it’s a free chance to try a new class before paying for it. One of my friends asked if I would go to a cycling class with her. I was a little pretty nervous, because although I love biking, I have never tried a spin class. But I agreed to go with her to a class called “Cinema Cycle.”

As it turns out

I am officially in love with cycling!

Cinema Cycle was an absolute blast, and a really great workout. The instructor picks a theme for the class; the night I went the theme was “Outer-Space Adventure.” You cycle in the dark with 15 other people, and watch a mash-up of video clips from various, theme-related movies while the instructor tells a story and plays music to go along with the video. And you cycle, hard. Everybody in the room was at different fitness levels, and many people were new to cycling; the great thing about Cinema Cycle was that you could modify the difficulty to make the workout your own. And it’s fun—can you imagine, a hard workout can actually be fun? Fancy that!

Cycling at the Rec

There are several different types of cycling classes at the Rec, including Zen Ride, Cross Cycle, and even a Beginner Cycle (which is free all semester long!). I probably won’t buy a cycling pass this semester, just because I’m going to be insanely busy and I don’t want to overload myself too much (I’m taking 17 credits, working on my thesis, and volunteering, yikes!), but you can bet I’ll be going to as many free cycling classes as possible. And I might pay for the occasional drop-in class—I’ll just have to see how it goes.

Step outside your comfort zone

The point is, try something new. I know, I say this all the time, but it’s so vitally important to your success both in college and in life. If you never try anything new, you could be missing out on something really great that could have been a big part of your life. Sometimes trying new things can be scary—ok, all the time. But in the end it is so worth the risk.

Question of the Day:

Ice cream, or frozen yogurt?

I know it’s winter, but there is truly never a time when something frozen isn’t delicious. I’m definitely an ice cream girl, but some days you just can’t beat TCBY! Tell me your answer on Twitter @MyCSU_Kelly.

What I did over Winter Break

Because I know you’re all dying to know (obviously!) here are some snapshots that sum up my break.

I made this purse, I was particularly proud of the zipper feature! #Sewing

I decided my dog needed a fancy new bow tie, so I sewed him one. Look how happy:

My cat acted like a princess (typical):

I volunteered at a hand Occupational Therapy clinic and made myself a (really bad) splint:

I saw this polar bear at the Denver Zoo, what a cutie:

My pets gave me endless photo ops by looking cute all the time (the cat is in the box):