Hello again!
This past week has been like a dream. I have these memories of it, but they feel so surreal. I spent the last four days on the other side of the country in Boston, MA. The trip was with the crew team in order to race at the biggest rowing regatta in the world. Hundreds of teams come from all over to compete at The Head of The Charles each year. You could say it's kind of a big deal in the rowing community. Even though this trip was all about rowing and being with my team, we all were still juggling our academics that are nowhere near slowing down.
This trip was both something I would never take back and in many ways a quite a struggle. In order to go on this trip I had to miss two days of classes, take long flights, lose many hours of sleep, and face an unexpected outcome against 39 other boats on some choppy water. I currently face a lot of schoolwork to catch up on, but it was all worth it. It was an extremely rewarding experience to travel somewhere I've never been before, to see so many other rowing teams, and to grow closer with many of my teammates. On top of that, our race went better than I could have imagined.
We rowed on the Charles River in a boat with eight rowers and a coxswain. Lewis & Clark has never been to this race before, so we had low expectations for what place we would get. Many of us in the boat voiced a goal to each other to just have a good row and not be in last place. There was a lot of anticipation leading up to our race yesterday as we practiced the course and watched other boats race. At the end of the day, both our women's team eight boat and our men's team four did wonderfully and everyone enjoyed their respective races. We had a powerful row and beat several boats, returning to land with big smiles and exhausted bodies.
It was a bittersweet return to Portland, OR today, but it had to happen. I'll be sure to write again soon!