Orlando
Well, I'm back from Orlando. The weather was quite good down there, very warm and sunny. It ended up being quite a shame to have to go back up to PA where it was wet and cold. For anyone who was wondering how the team did, the answer is not too well. We lost our first match to Alabama (who got knocked out of the tournament early), won our second match against Florida and Texas and then lost our third by five points to Tennessee (who ended up placing second overall).
DAY 1
I woke up at 3, left for the airport at 4, got there at 6 for an 8 flight. This part of the trip was no fun, in particular the lack of sleep was lacking in fun. We arrived in the sunny state of Orlando at around eleven, the flight having been spent laughing at the ridiculous things in SkyMall. We watied around for an hour in the absolutely beautiful airport for the shuttle to take us to the hotel, a shuttle that was guaranteed to come in under half an hour. Apparantly half an hour means something else in Florida.
The shuttle took us to this hotel
Madame (our coach) started to check in at this hotel, however there was no reservations for us at that hotel. In fact they'd never even heard of LifeSmarts. I knew that we were going to the wrong hotel, we were supposed to stay at the Port Royal not the Best Western. Luckily we did, after dashing with all of our luggage across a highway, arrive at the correct hotel.
The pool was of a small size but it was absolutely beautiful. We came at about noon, weren't allowed to check in until four. Come back at half past three, oops, said the people at the desk, we gave away most of the rooms already. You can't have three rooms together. So we got smoking rooms, which did, in fact, smell like smoke. Badly.
The rest of the day was spent in orientations, and then there was the mixer. I danced with two guys, Matt and the very attractive and gentleman-like captain from South Carolina. Then at 10, the mixer ended and we had a study session until 11.
DAY TWO
Team Photo
Captains Photo
We had our photo taken, in the first one I'm the one with glasses, and in the second one I'm the one in the left section with the blue and white skirt. The South Carolina guy is behind me and to the right.
We lost our first match this day, to Alabama. Then we went to Downtown Disney. Along the way, Matt died and oozed strawberry slurpee from his stomach wound.
DAY THREE:
This is the day we won and lost a game. So we ended up not moving on in the competition. But we didn't really care, we went to EPCOT.
Who knew that there were molecular modeling kits at Disney?
Of course we had to go to Mexico and see the amazing Mayan (or possibly Aztec) temple.
Morocco was also beautiful, the attention to detail was amazing.
Of course, I had to take a picture of the Beauty and the Beast shrubbery. I love Beauty and the Beast, and was very pleased to see them be one of the numerous topiaries at EPCOT. There was also Cinderella and Prince Charming, Simba, Snow White and several others.
And of course, the giant golf ball. We didn't actually go on this ride, just walked past it a dozen times.
If you've never seen it, the fireworks show at the closing of EPCOT is amazing. Things catch on fire!
DAY FOUR
We watched matches and went home.
There were a couple of funny questions in the various competitions. One question was: What temp. should you cook chicken at to kill all the bacteria? One team said 120, the other said 175, guess what we said? 360.
Another, in the finals: Why shouldn't you stand under a tree in a lightning storm? Both teams got this one wrong, btw.
Another: Name two products of a fire. We gave a very chemical but true answer. Their answer: flames, heat, light, smoke. We confuzzled the judges.
We also completely pulled a random acronym out of our heads and it was right. They asked us what HELP stood for. We said: Heat Escape Lessening Position, and were more shocked than anyone when it ended up being right.
Next year: Minneapolis/St. Paul. Hello, Mall of America.
DAY 1
I woke up at 3, left for the airport at 4, got there at 6 for an 8 flight. This part of the trip was no fun, in particular the lack of sleep was lacking in fun. We arrived in the sunny state of Orlando at around eleven, the flight having been spent laughing at the ridiculous things in SkyMall. We watied around for an hour in the absolutely beautiful airport for the shuttle to take us to the hotel, a shuttle that was guaranteed to come in under half an hour. Apparantly half an hour means something else in Florida.
The shuttle took us to this hotel
Madame (our coach) started to check in at this hotel, however there was no reservations for us at that hotel. In fact they'd never even heard of LifeSmarts. I knew that we were going to the wrong hotel, we were supposed to stay at the Port Royal not the Best Western. Luckily we did, after dashing with all of our luggage across a highway, arrive at the correct hotel.
The pool was of a small size but it was absolutely beautiful. We came at about noon, weren't allowed to check in until four. Come back at half past three, oops, said the people at the desk, we gave away most of the rooms already. You can't have three rooms together. So we got smoking rooms, which did, in fact, smell like smoke. Badly.
The rest of the day was spent in orientations, and then there was the mixer. I danced with two guys, Matt and the very attractive and gentleman-like captain from South Carolina. Then at 10, the mixer ended and we had a study session until 11.
DAY TWO
Team Photo
Captains Photo
We had our photo taken, in the first one I'm the one with glasses, and in the second one I'm the one in the left section with the blue and white skirt. The South Carolina guy is behind me and to the right.
We lost our first match this day, to Alabama. Then we went to Downtown Disney. Along the way, Matt died and oozed strawberry slurpee from his stomach wound.
DAY THREE:
This is the day we won and lost a game. So we ended up not moving on in the competition. But we didn't really care, we went to EPCOT.
Who knew that there were molecular modeling kits at Disney?
Of course we had to go to Mexico and see the amazing Mayan (or possibly Aztec) temple.
Morocco was also beautiful, the attention to detail was amazing.
Of course, I had to take a picture of the Beauty and the Beast shrubbery. I love Beauty and the Beast, and was very pleased to see them be one of the numerous topiaries at EPCOT. There was also Cinderella and Prince Charming, Simba, Snow White and several others.
And of course, the giant golf ball. We didn't actually go on this ride, just walked past it a dozen times.
If you've never seen it, the fireworks show at the closing of EPCOT is amazing. Things catch on fire!
DAY FOUR
We watched matches and went home.
There were a couple of funny questions in the various competitions. One question was: What temp. should you cook chicken at to kill all the bacteria? One team said 120, the other said 175, guess what we said? 360.
Another, in the finals: Why shouldn't you stand under a tree in a lightning storm? Both teams got this one wrong, btw.
Another: Name two products of a fire. We gave a very chemical but true answer. Their answer: flames, heat, light, smoke. We confuzzled the judges.
We also completely pulled a random acronym out of our heads and it was right. They asked us what HELP stood for. We said: Heat Escape Lessening Position, and were more shocked than anyone when it ended up being right.
Next year: Minneapolis/St. Paul. Hello, Mall of America.