Bloch: From Cheerleading to Ballroom Dance

As a dancer, you're feet are your life, and your shoes are what can make or break that lifeline. From baby sized pink ballet slippers to size 8 dance sneakers, there has only been one brand I trust my feet in while dancing. An extra $20 for a pair of shoes is worth it when they last just like my dance career has. 20 years ago today I started my first ever ballet class, now on my 23rd birthday I can look back and still have faith in my trusted Bloch and all the memories they have created for me.

Word count: 100

What Will You Regret in 30 Years?

Ever since I was a little girl I have loved to dance and to standout on my own. At the age of 18 I made two of the biggest choices in my life both financially and emotionally. I got tattoos. I have an English rose for my heritage and the tiger, I've admired since childhood. Sadly they never made a tattoo cover up good enough to cover the art. My style led to the abandonment of NFL Cheerleading. I wish I could still be on the Raven's squad, but without them, I would no longer feel like myself.

Word Count: 98

A Delayed About Me

So my first assignment was to describe home in 100 words or less which is pretty much impossible when you have lived what seems like all over the world.

So let me truly introduce myself:

Hi, My name is Hayley Charlotte Nelson and I was born in Preston in the North West of England.

I went to a mixture of public and private school while I was there until the age of 13. One day I came home to my mum in a bad mood and asked her the problem. She told me not to tell my younger brother, Ben, but that dad was being relocated to either Glasgow or London. My mum is a country girl and she was not up for moving to the city, but my dad had one final option left. That option was a total move to Switzerland. I assumed I was going to a land filled with cheese, watches and lederhosen and live in a wooden chalet half way up a snowy mountain. This wasn't far from the truth. My dad moved a year before us and set up a home there and wanted to make sure he was happy with the job there.

So the summer before I started the 9th grade, my entire house was packed up and shipped to Montagnola, Switzerland. Montagnola, is in the Italian part of Switzerland. Switzerland has three languages French, German and Italian. The Italian area is the smallest by far and it is pretty much like living back in time. No one speaks English, you must adapt tho their culture and language. You eat as a community at grottos which have things like Lard and of course red wine. Every one goes to church on a Sunday and all the shops are closed. You can do nothing at all other than go for a walk. Learning the language was simple enough as I already spoke French and Spanish and had studied Latin for 6 years. However with only truly 3 years to master it before I took the I.B exam, (similar to the AP) my parents and I decided it be best I go to the only English speaking school in the area. This school was called TASIS, The American School in Switzerland, and it was like taking America and placing it in a small gated community with Italian styled buildings for dormitories and classrooms. I was fortunate enough to be a day student which at my time of joining were about 4%of the schools population. My brother and I were the only Brits, but there were 51 other different nationalities represented at that school.

I soon lost my accent to an American one, as the Californians seemed to be having trouble understanding my Britishisms. I also embraced high school like I never thought I would. While the class part was still class, I pretty much committed my self to 80% of all the extracurriculars that were possible for me to do. I ran track all four years and was captain for two, I danced and taught, I was in Shakespeare plays and Musicals, I sang for the Jazz band and in the choir and an A Capella group and I was a prefect. For those of you who don't know what that is you clearly need to watch more Harry Potter. My 10th grade Summer I travelled to Tanzania and Kenya and built schools, I travelled throughout Europe and Northern Africa on school breaks.

My parents then broke news to us on Day 1 of 12th grade. They were moving back to England after that school year, but not to Preston but to the Channel Islands, more specifically Guernsey. So a new home I had yet again.

My senior year I decided to change everything and rather than returning 'home' to England for university I decided to go big and move to America. I had been to Florida, DC and Virginia on vacations before but nothing more than a couple of weeks. I had no family here and no one to turn to it was a pure adventure for myself and a true test of character.

So here I am, in Baltimore, thousands of miles from home or one of my home (my parent's location), I have my own apartment after living on campus and then a house with a disaster for a room mate.

Today I am on the UMBC Fever Retrievers Dance Team and helped start it last year, and am hoping to embrace this year as both Captain and Fitness Captain for our 15 girls. So, if you come to Basketball games you will see us at half times and every third time out dancing to the UMBC drumline. I'll be the one with the Blondest hair, This year we get shorts! :)

A life of experiences.

Hi, I am Hayley and I was born in England, who then moved at 15 to Switzerland and then to Guernsey in the Chanel Islands and now am studying here. In terms of actual legality, I am not a permanent resident anywhere, so I refer to myself as homeless (jokingly) or a Nomad. Home is hard to define, I have had many, though I will always have two. The one where I am, and the one where my parents are. There is no way of combining the two, so I will forever have two homes and I love it this way.

Word Count: 100