Lions and Leopards and Broken Bones! Oh My!

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Hello! My name is Ashley Stone, and I am going into my second year as a BFA Dance major at the University of Texas at Austin. This year, I will be serving as the Treasurer for Dance Action. 

This summer, I had the privilege to go on a trip to Africa for three weeks with my family. We started in Tanzania where we went on safari, and we saw so many amazing animals. I was charged at by a vervet monkey, saw a leopard eating a gazelle, and saw so many baby elephants. We then flew to Zanzibar where I was bit by multiple sea turtles at a lagoon full of rescue turtles. To wrap everything up, we went to the Seychelles for a nice relaxing beach holiday. We got to lay out on the beach, go snorkeling, and hang out with giant tortoises. Nine flights later, I’m back in my home town of Katy, Texas.

Back in December, I broke a bone in my foot, strained a muscle, and damaged some ligaments and a tendon. After months and months of rest, the bone was still in three pieces and there was still a lot of damage to the ligaments. So, a couple of weeks ago I had surgery to remove my sesamoid bone (which the doctor said was falling apart as he took it out) and repair the ligaments. I will be off of crutches in a week and hope to be doing a lot of dancing this upcoming semester. The rest of the summer I will be hanging out with friends, doing physical therapy, and preparing for the new school year! I can’t wait to see you all in the fall!

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