me? lazy?

So there has been a lot going on and as a result I've become a tad bit lazy about a few things ... like this blog. But this time I mean it (really). So the fall has been a busy time with a lot of rowing in small boats (1x's, 2x's, lots of sculling) and a handful of opportunities to get out in the 8+ and a couple of coxed 4s. This coming weekend we have the 4's Head of the River. www.hor4s.org.uk/ I was supposed to be racing with one of our coxed 4s but took a "leave of absence" and headed home for a couple of weeks for a few reasons: 1) It's been 6 months and I haven't seen my family 2) I need winter clothes (yoga pants and juicy hoodies will not cut it even now) and 3) I wanted to race the Head of the Charles and Head of the Schuylkill.

Before I even booked a flight I checked with our head coach several times to make sure it was ok and that I wouldn't have a problem with my absence. He said yes every single time. Yet when I came back I found that my seat in the 4 had been replaced with the explanation being "you were away". I'm going to say that I'm frustrated. Let's leave it at that. This is not my personal b$!@# board.

That being said we've got a full regiment racing this weekend and I plan to go down to cheer for all of my teammates and friends- some from other clubs- racing. Before we could race though we needed to do some practice. In an effort to acclimate ourselves to the tideway (yes, the Thames in London is tidal... loads of fun! ;-) we've spent the past few days training there. I had the opportunity to check the tideway out for myself on Thursday when one of our other coxies wasn't able to make it. It was windy, cold, rainy and smelled of sewage. Definitely not the nicest of introductions to the tideway. But we managed and I'm proud to say that my crew handled the constantly changing but always adverse conditions as well as could be hoped. I hope that they kick some ass on Sunday. On that note I need to go find a ride into London so until next time, remember that adventure is out there!

how do you take your rig?

So it's Monday ... but don't let that stop you from looking for adventure! I came across something rather neat recently, courtesy of my pal Gareth who happened to be part of this interesting rowing/ science experiment. It involves rigging, i.e. the order/ placement of the riggers on the boat. You've got some rather standard and traditional rigging styles that you see on about 95% of boats. But then there are the "different" ones. Mostly known as a bucket or the Italian rig, it consists of having usually two rowers of the same side directly in front/ behind each other. But Imperial College Boat Club took that to a new extreme in an 8+ recently. The full explanation appears in "The New Scientist" (not sure if this is only in the UK or not) but for an explanation you can just head over to Imperial's website: http://tiny.cc/qb87j

The photo above is of the crew putting their experiment to the test. I'll be honest- I'm kind of glad that's a boat I didn't get to cox? Either way it's pretty cool to see rowing mixing with science. So check out the article (and the research behind it if you'd like) .... happy reading!

movie

Ok, so I thought I'd add a few more bits on the movie. Only because every time I was the proper trailer I get really excited. Here is the imdb link to the movie's page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/ The director, David Fincher is awesome; he's directed a few films you might know like Seven, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button oh and everyone's favorite, Fight Club. So go see it. It'll be better than you think and it'll be my 2 1/2 minutes of fame. Cheers! xxx

it's been a while

Well hello there! It has been a while hasn't it? My sincerest apologies to anyone who actually reads this thing; I have been pretty busy coxing, coaching, being a movie star (yes, more below...), traveling. But fear not! I intend to try to post more often... and I mean it this time.

So recap: I got to cox at Henley Royal this year in the Ladies Plate with the "B" boat at Leander which was a lot of fun. Yes, having a length put on us by the end of the island by Harvard was tons of fun! No, seriously, it was a great experience. I'm so lucky to have had the opportunity to race and be a semi-finalist; I am one lucky girl.

On top of coxing and coaching for Henley I got to do a lot of coxing for a movie. Yes! you heard me right- a real movie... It's out on October 1st in the states; October 15th in the UK. (http://www.thesocialnetwork-movie.com/) Be sure to check it out! Basically the story is that the Winklevoss twins raced in the final of the 2004 Grand Challenge Cup v the Dutch Olympic Team (stroked by Michiel, how ironic...) and lost. It was the catalyst that caused them to take Mark Zuckerberg to court. So my Leander teammates and I portrayed the Harvard (that's me!) boat and the Hollandia boat. We did two filming runs during finals at HRR and then a week and a half of filming at Dorney Lake for a total of about 2 1/2 min of screen time. Wicked cool.

Beyond that I went to Scotland for half a week. I didn't get to race at Nat Champs because it was so far away and no one sent coxed boats (no one I knew anyway) but my teammates and friends were racing so I came for moral support and a vacation. I took a day and was very touristy in Edinburgh- where I thought of my parents a lot since they spent some time there, oh about 25 years ago....

Other than that I'm back in Henley, enjoying the summer until we start training as a group again at the end of August. Still looking for a job (because making movies is cool but not reliable employment) and just enjoying life. Because after all- you should live life to the fullest, right? Photos from Henley, Yorkshire and Scotland are all on facebook. Until next time ... adventure is out there! xxx

long time no post...

Ok so to everyone who actually reads this I just want to say I'm sorry for not posting anything in a few weeks. Things are getting busy in a good kind of way. I am at Leander regularly (i.e. every day unless told otherwise or I'm sick) for practice and I've even gotten to cox a few times. It's mostly when Zoe (our other resident cox) is sick or has a conflict or e.g. when we took the lwt 8 out this past Friday. I am just happy to have the opportunity to train at Leander and am taking nothing for granted. I'm expecting nothing but preparing for anything. As someone once said "unthinkably good things can happen, even late in the game... it's such a surprise". I think taking everything with an open mind and a positive attitude is the perfect recipe to accomplish great things.

That being said I'm looking forward to the summer. Everyone here is so nice and just genuine. They all want to train hard with you but be good friends too- something I didn't find in Philly or even most training centers in the states. People were just so "cold" or closed and less willing to open up and let you be "part of the gang". So I've made friends and am just happy. On that note I'm going to end this post but I end it with a promise to TRY to update more frequently so you have something read when you're bored out of your mind or fed up with facebook or just want to see how things are going. Thanks for checking in and remember to have a mini adventure of your own every day! :-D

One week anniversary

Well it's been a week. And what a week it's been. I have come to a few conclusions:

1) I miss Heidi. I miss my running buddy.
2) commuting from London to Henley and back is a) not fun and b) expensive
3) Everything here is expensive
4) Henley is gorgeous and Leander only makes it even better. Henley is going to be fantastic whether I'm racing or not
4) I'm such entertainment for everyone via my pronunciation of such words like "bottle"
6) Did I mention it's expensive?
7) Cars are costly but I really want one
7) I did not bring enough warm clothes as it just happened to be really cold this week
9) I am addicted to oatmeal and have been experiencing oatmeal withdrawal (if that's even possible)
10) I will be spending my 25th birthday in England. And have no idea how I'm supposed to celebrate this kind of "milestone" ... maybe I'll convince all those hot boys I'm newly friends with to come out Saturday night?

In the past week I've gotten a bank account, a sim card (but no phone with which to use it since apple is ....), almost found a job, almost found a room in Henley, got stranded at Dorney Lake, learned to use the Tube and buses, decided Hyde Park is a great place to run, realized how much I love (via missing) my [family, dog, friends, walk in closet, pistachio larabars, kale smoothies, the discovery channel, history channel and Vanguard- yes, I said I miss my corner cube...], and made plenty of new friends. I've been here a week and I feel like I could end up staying forever...

Well, It's England... it DOES rain there...

Cheers for checking in everyone! So yesterday was a great adventure at a lovely little place called Dorney Lake. Dorney is Eton College's Rowing Center and the equivalent to Mercer Lake in NJ- all the major sprint races such as trials, UK regattas, World Rowing events, even the 2012 Olympics will be held there. A really nice facility... though I wish yesterdays weather would have been just as nice. It was cold (in the 40s), wet (raining/ pouring at times) and windy (think 19 mph cross wind). I can handle any one of the three- I'd lose the wind first- but all three together? That was just a miserable combination. One of my teammates, Nick, introduced himself formally at the end of the day as "hi, I'm Nick and I'm miserable". He wasn't miserable because of the weather but if you'd asked me to introduce myself earlier in the day I might have said "hi, I'm Alex, I'm happy to be with the team but thanks to this weather I'm miserable".

Things cleared up eventually and it was actually sunny on our ride home. Er, I mean my ride from Nick back to the club and then hour long train ride back to London since the friend of a friend who was supposed to give me a lift sort of forgot about me and left. Oops. All was fine though as I got to relax on the quiet train ride back. The team did alright considering it was the first major regatta of the season.

Today I have the day off (the boys were not so fortunate) and then they start seat racing on Wednesday back at Dorney again. I'm actually thrilled to be typing this blog on my net book in my flat as opposed to McDonald's or Starbucks again. My internet works and that's prob the best news of the day. Only thing better would be finding out that I could unlock my iphone and add a UK sim card so I don't have a $600 At&t bill.

Today is going to be a day for getting more logistical things done like finding a flat and job closer to Henley so I don't have to spend lots of time and money to commute every day, some kind of cell phone that won't cost me a limb a month and maybe another jog around Hyde Park. I'll try to take some photos for everyone too! Pass the blog on!!! Thanks everyone and remember "adventure is out there"!!!

On the other side of the world...

Well, I made it! A little later than I'd hoped for but I made it none the less! So my flight was uneventful. I have a nice little temporary flat in Holland Park (think Rittenhouse for the Philly people) and have decided that Leander & Henley are GORGEOUS! But back to the adventure updates...

So on day 1 I was so productive (yes, I am so proud of myself). I successfully opened a bank account and in a few days I should have a bank card. I almost secured a job at Whole Foods in Kensington (nicest store ever!) and that should hopefully be done within a few days- cross your fingers people. London/ the UK is an expensive place and I need money! Just to survive and pay my bills...

I got an oyster card... basically a transit pass and have been using the tube (almost) like the rest of the people who live in this city. I can't seem to get my internet to work though in my flat (I'm sitting in McDonald's right now as I'm writing this because they have free wi-fi...) and I need to unlock my iphone so I can get a british number and stop paying exorbitant charges to access the web, call, text, blah blah blah. We'll see if that works. Ps, I just ate a McFlurry and I feel ill. Fast food = yuck.

Today started with quite the adventure. I got up at 5am to catch the bus to the tube to catch a train to Henley for 7:30 practice. Well I missed my train... and got the next one but I was going to be late. What a nice first impression. I somehow made it a little late but caught everyone and biked back and forth along the GORGEOUS racecourse. The day started off rather crappy but I managed to salvage it and then got some errands in and figured out that I still don't have internet at my flat and I need to jail break my iphone or cough up 450 pounds for a new one (I don't think so...) Craigslist anyone? We'll see how that goes.

Alright, I know that was a lot but, well a lot has happened since my last post and I wanted to share. That's all until tomorrow folks. Remember, adventure is out there !

It's raining

So it's raining and pretty much all my "rain gear" is packed short of one jacket that's hanging up to dry because it's already soaked from chasing my dog around the yard last night at 1 am (don't ask...) and another plastic poncho from Disneyland Paris (Yes, I know it's called Euro Disney now, that's how long ago I was there...) that is a little uh, too poncho-ish for wearing around the Main Line.

T - 36 hours and I'm still not fully packed and I have so much to do that it all prob won't get done. Hello care packages!

Time to think about "the big move"

So I'm getting closer every day!!! My flight is scheduled for 10 pm on Tuesday night and tonight's project is re- packing all of my things to a) clean up my room b) make sure I have everything that I need/ want to have with me from an initial standpoint and c) well because some things just became unpacked over the last week that everything has been sitting around my room. I would love to go to bed early but somehow I feel that I'm going to be up until midnight or some other middle-of-the-night hour. Yes, it's going to be one those evenings.

Stay tuned and I will try to post of photos of just how much of a mess my room has become due to my luggage having seeped out of it's bags and all over my room like a slow moving and destructive lava flow (yes, volcano reference intended) and everything once it's jammed, crammed, and squished back into place.

Volcanos are not good for coxing adventures...

So here we are, almost a week after I was supposed to be in the UK and I'm stuck, stranded here in the US. Despite my daily efforts to find a new flight out since mine was canceled, the earliest flight my airline could offer me is on the 27th!!! (unless I can find a cool $5000 for a new reservation on one of the few seats available) Eeek! That means I'll arrive in the UK a solid week and a half after I was supposed to. Things are not exactly off to a great start. But I'm not giving up- I haven't even gone anywhere yet! This is just turning out to be an exercise in patience. A lot of patience.

Regardless, it just means that this adventure is starting on with well, some adventure. Next will be to see how well I handle wheeling two big duffels around plus a smaller "carry on" and an overstuffed back pack through JFK, Heathrow and then the train to my initial abode. My new title will be luggage wrangler. I'll be sure to take pictures.

So until next time, remember that "adventure is out there!"

Getting started is hard...

So this it. No turning back. That is, if I can even get off the ground. I'm speaking of my "big move" in regards to my coxing/ life adventures. I'm moving to the UK to keep coxing and just experience something different with my life. But I have a problem. There's this volcano in Iceland with a really long and complicated name that has decided to spew ash ALL OVER THE PLACE (i.e. Europe). As a result my 10pm flight tonight has been canceled. I refuse to let that deter me from getting to England. I will just have to be patient and/ or have some perseverance. I'll keep you posted.

On a side note, cramming your "life" (i.e. everything you would need if you moved to a new place) into 3 duffel bags + a backpack is really difficult. Be advised. ; )

More to come so stay posted...