Florida Wrap Up

Spring Break is now over, and the school week has returned in full swing. Thankfully there is only a little over a month before this semester is over for good. Then I roll right into some summer courses. Anyways, the end of the week in Florida was just as much fun as the beginning!

The view of Florida was much more pleasant than the view we have on the James (and the smell!). It was definitely hard to keep your head looking forward and in the boat at times (especially when there were dolphin sightings)!

On Thursday night, our coaches and coxswains cooked dinner for all of us. They grilled chicken and fish, corn, sweet potatoes, and had some vegetable skewers. It was so good--especially the corn! So yummy, and it was so nice! We all hung out around the pool and enjoyed that food!


Friday morning we had our last practice. Rather than doing pieces or drills, we had all the boats race 11,000 meters to an island. At the island, our head coach Yuriy was waiting with cookies and everything. Our Novice boat came in second to last, haha. At the very beginning we almost ran straight into a manatee warning sign, so we had to stop and spin around a little, which let two boats pass us. Oops!

On the way back from the island, our coaches let us mix everything up and basically do whatever we wanted, so Melissa and I took out the pair again. It feels so much lighter and faster than our eight! We were rowing really carefully (making us a little bit slow), so our coaches switched into the pair halfway through and we went into the launch boat so that everyone would make it home in time to make breakfast!

The whole team and our coaches!

Our coxswains! Emily and Kavya are our novice women coxswains.

Melissa and me :)

Friday after practice we basically just hung out at the beach all afternoon, and then around 6 we all went for ice cream at this little ice cream place. The store also had a little karaoke corner, so the whole team was in there rocking out. Also that store was like a little Asian market--definitely a weird combination!

The ride home was a little annoying. We had to jam 16 people in one of the 15 passenger vans because one of our coaches left early to run the Shamrock marathon. Also, because it was in deed a college spring break, most people started drinking Friday afternoon and who knows when they stopped. So I got stuck next to a person who was still half-drunk. Ridiculous. Friday night while everyone was drinking and partying, I watched Sons of Anarchy and went to bed at 10 :) I definitely had the better night! Although I am SO glad I went to Florida and had such a great time, I was ready to be back in Richmond and get back to finishing out this semester. Now, I am more than ready to go home tomorrow and see the family!