Husker Posts - Jessica Periago

Hello Huskers, hope all of you are having great summers.

Since the end of last season, all of our players have been working hard to improve for the upcoming season. We have been working hard in our classes, in the weight room and in pickup. Luckily, we've also had some time to do some fun things to enjoy the offseason, while getting to know our new teammates.

After Finals Week of the spring semester, I was able to start my summer at home in France. I left Lincoln for Toulon on May 10, and arrived at home on May 11. It was so great to see my mom (Helene), dad (David) and brother (Raphael). Being nearly 5,000 miles away from my home, I have been able to get home to France each summer. My family has also come to visit me in Lincoln during our holiday break at Christmas each of the last two years.

After catching up with my family and getting some rest, my boyfriend and I spent the first week in Toulon meeting friends and family and basically relaxing. The second week we took the Bullet Train to Paris for four days. We took in all of the sites together (Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysee, The Louvre, Notre Dame) as tourists. We also enjoyed some great French food (no French toast or French fries!). It was funny to be mistaken for an American in my home country. Then, when I spoke to them, they complimented me on how well I spoke French. Too funny!

During the third week, we took the ferry to Corsica with my parents. After the five-hour cruise, we stayed in mom's village and visited with all of my family from both sides, since both my parents are originally from Corsica.

We stayed back home in Toulon for our final week away, just visiting with friends, relaxing, and of course, I worked out. Throughout my stay in France, I trained, lifted weights, ran and played pickup games with my friends in France.

I came back to Lincoln the day before summer classes started for me with the first five-week session. I am a biochemistry major and my first five-week class was organic chemistry I. What a great way to start summer class! It was a little hard to get back in the flow of class after a great trip home and some really bad jetlag. But overall, the class went well, and now I'm in organic chem II for the rest of the summer.

Along with being welcomed back to Lincoln by organic chem, I also was welcomed at the Devaney Center by five new teammates - freshmen Jordan Hooper, Rebecca Woodberry, Kellie McCann-Smith, Adrianna Maurer and Katie Simon.

I have been impressed with all of our freshmen. They are all willing to work and they are eager to improve. They are pretty outgoing, and they have shown a lot of togetherness. Usually when I see one freshman, I see at least two or three more. When we have been playing pickup, the freshmen are the first ones there to play. It is really encouraging to see.

I was Katie Simon's host on her recruiting visit to Lincoln last fall, so I felt like I knew a little bit more about her to start. Katie is a really smart person and it shows on the court. She gets the game and she is also always trying to get her teammates going with high fives. She is pretty vocal and a good communicator. Adrianna is also getting better every day, so I think they have a good future as post players in our program.

Workouts have gone well. We have done early morning workouts throughout the summer, as we've scheduled around classes and summer jobs for the players. Our focus has really been to get physically stronger as individuals, while also becoming more skilled, especially with our shooting and ball-handling.

When I wasn't playing basketball or going to class this summer, I was working in the Nebraska Athletic Media Relations Office. Last summer, I spent three weeks working in the office doing some design work, and this summer I got to spend a lot more time. I have been working with Jeff Griesch in designs for the women's basketball schedule cards, schedule magnets and some designs in the media guide. I also have designed some wallpapers for Huskers.com, not only for women's basketball but also football and probably some other sports as the summer continues. I also designed schedule magnets for volleyball and soccer.  The design work has absolutely nothing to do with my major, but it is a fun creative outlet for me.

Well, its time for me to get back to work. Hope you all have a great summer.

Au revoir,

Jess