Abigail Ollave, The Rider’s social media editor, throws her Vs up in front of the Late Nite sign Jan. 19 at the University Recreation Center on the Edinburg campus. JOSE MEDINA/THE RIDER PHOTOS
At the half-life of my college endeavors, I’m starting to regret many opportunities I never took because I was too afraid to try.
I heard about Late Nite, which was promoted as an “evening filled with food, fun and entertainment” and “a great way to learn about our facility and programs,” and I thought it would be interesting.
Late Nite was part of UTRGV’s Welcome Week for all students and was hosted by University Recreation on Jan. 19.
I was anticipating being overwhelmed by fun activities and cheerful faces, but I only experienced a third of what I expected.
The Late Nite event offered a number of activities. I tried a volleyball serving game, the slackline, joined the dance party and made s’mores.
I wasn’t too eager to participate in most of the games since I’m not athletic. Nonetheless, I still wanted to try a few things.
For the serving game, we had to sign up in an attempt to win a prize. The prizes included a lanyard or a UTRGV Football T-shirt. I already had both of these items but wanted to see if I could make the ball over and into the targets.
After four tries, I walked away empty-handed. It didn’t feel like too much of a loss since I already had the prizes that the activity offered, so I looked around for another activity to get a prize.
The only other game giving prizes away was the basketball game, but it was the same as the volleyball game.
I thought, “Well, if I can’t earn myself a prize, at least I can enjoy some food.”
As I was still in line to get my ingredients for s’mores, I noticed there was a horde of students all around the one fire pit to toast their marshmallows.
After a little bit of waiting for the fire to start up again and weaving through people to get some space, I got to roast my marshmallow and enjoy my s’more.
When I finished it, I went inside to dance a bit, but it wasn’t long after that I decided to walk around the venue to see what else they had to offer. They had so much more going on inside.
I saw that there was a yoga demo, but it looked like they had already filled up the room. I wish it were in a bigger space like one of the studios on the second floor. Upstairs were the E-games, but it didn’t look like there were many people there compared to those joining the yoga demo.
When I got to the room where they were serving food, I found that it was only pizza. I had expected more since, on their Instagram post, they had a pizza, burger and hot dog emoji. I just took some water and then sat for a bit.
Overall, it wasn’t a terrible event to start off the semester. It just didn’t seem like an event for the not-so-active students, like myself, but given that it was hosted by the University Recreation, it was fitting. Maybe I should be taking this as a sign to work out more.
At least I took a half-step outside my comfort zone.
There were times when I felt a little silly or self-conscious, but then there were bursts of realization that no one was really watching. Those who were watching either didn’t know me, didn’t care, won’t remember or were even looking up to you wishing they could be like you.
I need to remember that I won’t be in college forever and take advantage of the university’s resources. I have less than two years left to savor all that UTRGV offers.
I’ve spent so much time worrying about what people think and making excuses. It’s time to try new things!
