Izzy Sullivan is going into her senior year at Skidmore College. Here, Izzy is on the women's soccer team and also did a Self-Determined Major in Broadcast Journalism. Three months before Izzy was leaving to study abroad in Milan, Italy, she tore her ACL in a game. This meant that during her time in Milan, she had to go to physical therapy so that she could be ready to play the next fall. Izzy's schedule was packed full while she was in Milan! Here is what one of her days looked like:

7:00 am: Wake Up

I get up for class at 7 am every day. When you study abroad in Milan you actually put effort into getting ready and looking nice. I usually make eggs for breakfast and then head to the metro station, which is about a 10-minute walk. It is a 25-minute metro ride to class, I usually read a book or talk with my friends on the ride.

9:00 am: Visual Storytelling Class

My first class of the day is for my major. It is about making films and documentaries. This is one of my favorite classes I have taken yet.

10:55 am: Italian Class

Italian 101 was actually pretty hard, but I learned a lot! I also only had two classes a day, so it was nice to be done in the afternoon.

12:40 pm: Internship

I had an internship during my study abroad. I made videos for a Milan tourism company. I usually made one or two videos a day. 

3 pm: Take metro to physical therapy

Physical therapy was a short metro ride away. On the walk, I always passed by a garden with pink flamingos.

3:30 pm: PT

It depends on the day, but I either have pool PT or gym PT. In gym PT, we start with a 20-minute run on the treadmill, then a lot of stretching. After that, it is about an hour and a half of strength building (leg extensions, squats, heel raises, leg press, etc). By the end, my legs are tired and my knee is feeling it.

5 pm: Green room 

The green room is a little turf area in the gym with a large camera and screen. Very high-tech. It measures the angle of your knee and hips when you jump and land. This was for more dynamic and plyometric stuff. I started doing green room when I got more advanced in recovery.

6 pm: Field training 

I head to the field where I meet my soccer PT. We do a quick warmup and then get some touches on the ball. Even though I am on the field, we worked more on doing things without the ball, such as curvilinear running, jumping, acceleration and deceleration, and change of direction. This helped me feel more comfortable getting back on the field.

7 pm: Compression Ice

I head back into the PT office where they hook me up to the compression ice machine. I can finally relax and lay down for a few minutes.

7:45 pm: Dinner

I am so exhausted from the day when I get home! I meal prep at the beginning of the week so I eat quickly and take a shower. 

8:30 pm: Get into bed

Luckily my professors during my study abroad this semester did not believe in homework, so I get into bed early. I ice my knee again while I lay in bed. I watch reality TV shows until I fall asleep.

Image Credit: Skidmore Athletics

* Originally published on August 9, 2023, by Bella Nevin