Although the student body is here and class is in session, the Penn State campus is not nearly at its full potential. As we all know, many buildings are either closed or contain guidelines for max capacity and social distancing. For a freshman, I believe the most detrimental closure of these buildings is the I.M. building. With the intramural leagues cancelled and the gym only available though a competitive sign-up system, finding ways to get exercise this year can be tough. However, as I’ve lived here this semester, I have found various ways to stay active despite the closure of the I.M. facility.
During the first few weeks, my roommate and I (and nearly the entire freshman class) were eagerly waiting for the I.M. building, 
along with its extensive weight room, to reopen. Eventually, it reopened in late September; however, due to Covid, it was only open for online sign-up’s. Although it may seem like no big deal to sign-up for time slots, it was nearly impossible to consistently find times to go when competing with thousands of other freshman looking to work out. After attempting to sign-up multiple weeks in a row with no success, I gave up on the I.M. building altogether, so I had to find another way to get exercise. One way that my roommate and I have achieved that is by using our dorm as the gym, doing pushups and sit-ups in the middle of the room when we feel like working out. Also, we have found out that our heavy wooden chairs work well as a “bicep curl machine”, as we pile textbooks and other heavy objects on the underside for added weight. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than nothing while Covid makes finding a gym much more difficult.
Despite the gym partially reopening, the intramural leagues have remained closed this semester, making it hard to find organized sports. However, living at East Halls with loads of other athletes looking to play, you can quickly find a group of people willing to play pickup. In my first week here, I made a group chat with a few of my soccer teammates from high school that are at Penn State. As we each met more soccer players around East Halls, we started adding to the group chat, and eventually we had a group of 20 soccer players who all were willing to play. This group chat has stayed active throughout the semester, as we organize small sided 5v5 or 4v4 games nearly every week with those who can make it. This has been a great way for me to stay in shape, getting around 2 hours of soccer each week regardless of the intramural league’s cancelation this year. 
In addition to playing soccer, a great way to get exercise is playing Spikeball. When it’s nice outside, there are always multiple Spikeball nets set up throughout the lawns of East Halls with duos battling it out. Before coming to Penn State, I rarely ever played Spikeball, but it has started to become one of my favorite outdoor games. Even though my roommate and I don’t own a net, most duos are looking for a new matchup, and asking to join them is not only a great way to meet them but also a fun way to get active.
During this first semester, staying active has been difficult with the gym limited and the intramural league closed. Regardless, it has caused me to be creative in finding ways to get exercise. Even when working out becomes easier after Covid, I’m excited to continue playing pickup soccer and Spikeball whenever I can.