Meet Kristine Spike, sophomore Communications major and Philosophy minor. Kristine is the president of TCNJ’s Club Swim, and recently visited Spain on a Summer Session Study Abroad.
While there, Kristine studied the Art History and Cultural Landmarks of Spain, and traveled throughout the whole country during the 3 weeks she spent there. In Spain, she visited Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Granada, Toledo and Segovia and visited museums and famous landmarks.
Some of the highlights of her trip included visiting the Prado in Madrid and seeing the castles in Segovia. She described Segovia as her favorite city on this trip, because of its ancient ambience, with aqueducts and Roman details that made it feel like the quintessential European city.
When I asked Kristine what she enjoyed the most about the trip, she told me about how she grew up learning Spanish in school and simultaneously learning about the culture of Spain with the language. She said that she loved being able to experience firsthand the things she had only read about previously. Visiting Spain made it possible for her to immerse herself in the culture.
If she were to go back, Kristine said she would rather visit more local areas. In this trip, she felt that she only really spent time in the more touristy spots and was therefore not able to mingle very much with the people of Spain. She would rather be in the places tourists typically don’t go, so she could interact with the locals because that is how she feels she would experience Spain best.
Back on the TCNJ campus, Kristine keeps busy as the president of TCNJ’s club swim team. A lifelong and extremely avid swimmer, there was a point at which her daily routine consisted of “eat, sleep, swim.”
In college, she chose to only swim at the club level because she wanted to branch out and also be a part of other clubs and organizations. Growing up, she dreamt of joining her town’s swim team, The Wave. Although she didn’t make it at first, Kristine used that as an opportunity to work harder and become a better swimmer so the next time she tried, she made it.
A few years ago, Kristine was asked to be a coach for the Wave and also made captain for her high school swim team. After spending so much time in the pool and developing into who she is today partially because of swimming, she had to continue it in college.
When I spoke to her now, almost a year after starting college and TCNJ club swim, she admitted that she was nervous at first that she wouldn’t enjoy Club swim at first. However, seeing as she is president of it now, it is clear to see that she has enjoyed it very much and made some lifelong friendships there.
Her vision for the club includes spreading the name on campus so that more students know its out there and also encouraging people who have never been on a swim team before in addition to the lifelong swimmers like her. She wants those who join her club to understand one of her favorite quotes, which is “You put those hours in and look at what you get: nothing that you can hold but everything that it is.”
With all of this going on, you might wonder how Kristine has time for anything, like spending time with her friends. Well, she definitely works hard to do what she calls “relationship maintenance” and schedules times to meet up with people, so that she can keep in touch with the people she cares about.
One day last year, I walked into her room and asked her what she was doing and she told me that she had set aside 15 minutes for “relationship maintenance” which basically consisted of contacting her friends and making plans a couple weeks in advance to meet up and hang out.
She said when she was younger and involved in sports, swimming, dancing and clubs at school, it was easy to ask friends what they were doing 2 or 3 Saturdays from now, but as everyone got older, scheduling that far in advance actually required effort and planning.
Kristine said that it was important to do things like this because then she could keep in touch with friends who didn’t necessarily do the same sports, dance and club activities that she did. Besides, she says that all “relationships need maintenance” in order to flourish.
Now that everyone is in college, her “relationship maintenance” makes it possible to do bigger and grander things instead of just chilling in someone’s house, or visiting the usual ice cream parlor. Relationship maintenance is just something that epitomizes Kristine and that makes her the person I met on my freshman floor.
One of the other things that makes her so unique is her love of working out and going to the gym. The first time I had a substantial conversation with her was when we were walking with a few of our floormates to the group fitness classes on campus.
I discovered then that she also was a dancer just like me and we started going to the dance studio together to practice just for fun. She encouraged a lot of our floor mates to start working out and going to the gym and when she couldn’t make it with us, she sent us her signature #Kspikefitness workouts.
I wrote about Kristine because she’s one of my favorite people and was one of my biggest supports through freshman year. When I thought about who I wanted to write about, I thought about Kristine because not only is she one of my closest friends, but she also inspires me every day with her constant positivity. Thanks to her, freshman year was a little bit easier, and I know that I have made a lifelong friend in her.