yall ready for this?
ok so here goes possibly the longest entry ever.
let me begin with my trip to russia....the first chunk is synchro, so if u don wana read it...skip it.
IT was AMAZING! after the springs, we got to moscow (an all day long flight). so we got there at like 3 ish in the afternoon, and imediately got in the competition pool. WOW we were tired! So that night we slept like rocks. after a few days of practice it was COMPETITION TIME. we did prelims, and got 3rd in routeen. we were so stoked. but after we did figures, we dropped to 5th. bummer. russia was in first, japan second, china third italy fourth and us 5th. we knew that we would have to have a really good finals swim to move up. so finals day rolled around, and the team was sooo ready to kick some ass. we got the last draw and were so pumped. i love our team cd, and our “team speech” it gets me so fired up and ready to go. so after we swam, we looked at the score board, and it flashed 3rd!!!! omg we were so excited. a bunch of us started crying we were so happy. then they flashed the overall standings.........1. Russia 2. Japan 3.USA 4.China. yay. while we were crying for joy china was crying too....not for joy tho. but little did we kno, we had another surprise ahead of us. the standings that they flashed at the end usually had figures combined in them.....but 20 min after we were celebrating tam came up to us and informed us that figures were not combined in that score. china had beat us by less than a point....in fact, by only a meer .3 of a point. i must say that was both the happiest day and yet the saddest day of my life. i dont think i have ever felt so let down, so defeated b4.
so i decided to swim off my disappointment, and warm down in the warmup pool. i swam for a long time. long and easy, letting myself cry, letting the cold water cool off my hot face. after awhile i felt much better, and came to realize that 4th really isn’t bad at all! esp seems to how at the last worlds, the US got 7th. we have made a huge comeback. but i decided that i should still not watch the awards ceremony, cuz it would hurt too badly to see china getting medals placed around their necks, and given all the gifts from the sponsors, that in my mind still had the name USA written across them. Low and behold, i walk out of the warmup pool into the competition pool area, only to see them announce china, and put the medals around their necks! wow perfect timing huh? at that point all i could say was.....next time....next time.
so after finals were over there was an athletes party. sooo fun. we danced, traded items witht he other teams, and enjoyed ourselves tons. oh ya did i mention that they served us wine and champaign? ya, eveyone on the team (well all but one) drank. haha. even the coaches! synchro, unlike other sports would not tolerate drinking at any sort of a function related to synchro. its really ghey. i kno tons of sports who when they go to hotels have a party in the room n shit....but no not synchro! we actually are usually forced to go to bed even after the competition is over. we cant be goin back and forth btween rooms late at night. anyways, everyone on our team was either drunk or tipsy, and it was really fun.
after the meet i went to the kremlin, and red square. then i went to st petersburg and saw peterhof and the hermitage, along with various other historical places. it was beautiful! to top it all off, the president of the russian federation of synchronized swimming found out that i was touring his beautiful country, and he gave my mom and i one of his coaches as a personal tour guide! once again amazing. i went to a club in st. peters burg, with my mom and the russian synchro coach, and it was totally outrageous. i had like 4 or 5 guys ask me “how much?” it was a complement....i guess? .....funny thing is tho that i was the MOST conservatively dressed there....strange. regardless, it was totally fun. and yes, throughout my trip in russia i drank practically dailywith my mom. kinda awk at first, but it became normal after awhile. after russia i went to estonia and the little town of tallin. sooo cute. it looks like a fairytail place. the buildings look so old....well they are....some date back to the 1400s! after tallin, it was time to start heading westward. at the airport, i met this awesome group of guys from england. at first they told me they were a part of a rugby team......but they weren’t. they were kinda like a frat, traveling around for both sober, but mostly drunken fun. actually a few of the guys were getting married, so it was kinda a trip for them. but they were awesome, and made my wait at the airport fun.......i never thought i would associate a wait at the airport as being fun lol. but i was wrong! so i got to germany, and ate my first meal that taisted even remotely american.
so i got home, and two days later i swam in the OMPA! my god, i really think im crazy. yet, i did really well. at the meet i got to see all my long lost friends....namely the SH crew (who i had already seen at workout on thur at my one and only workout), the mira polo crew that i kno oh so well ; ), and HEATHER! greg redig....sh quitter...u shoulda swam...even showed, and clark, who it turns out my mom knows, and went to hs with his fam.....strange. i also managed to see a few non swimmers who decided to swing by and see what all the commotion was about. after OMPA i went to ford’s house. it was hella funny. at the after dinner party at the pool, i was getting ready to go home and then his dad was like....hey what are you guys (the coaches) doing after this? i said that i didn’t kno but that if something was goin on that i would proly go do it. so then he said...well y dont u come over to our house and u guys can swim and go in the hot tub. haha five min later, ford came up and asked if i wanted to go to his house...i told him taht his dad had already beat him to the punch haha. so fords was fun, we swam and hot tubbed....not that we dont get enough water anyways.
the next weekend was county. not so much of a fun meet. i also didnt taper all that much. i was out pretty late all the days that week. i have no idea what or where i went....i dont remember....except for that i hung out with clark on thrus night. so at the meet, my IM sucked but whatev. but i totally dominated the breastroke from lane one! ya baby...ended up winnin it from lane one! haha. the life guards at that meet totally HATED me tho. i was always “playing around” in the warmdown pool. sheesh grow up. i got in the most troubble when i decided to push kyle in......ya so i went in with my shoes. the l-guards were actually pretty mad. haha. another highlight from the meet.....belle and heather in the clerk of the course right as we’re getting ready to go out for IM. im all nervous and foccused. then i take my towell off from around my neck. haha then i hear OMG POPPY WHAT IS THAT!!!!!!! lol nuf said....thanx girls. haha but i saw belle a couple days ago, and she looked like me at the meet.....haha i love u belle.
this past week i decided i needed to catchup on my socialness. so tues i went to the gym, and got my first lesson from my personal trainer. who, actually graduated from campo in 96, and who’s best friend is my stanford coaches husbans brother....weird. that day i shopped more for shit for my dorm, then went out to play with my friends. i met up with kyle, and we went to “the mansion...” thats waht he called it. it was a gynormous place tho. however, this is the night i got into tons of troubble with the madre cuz i came home a wee bit too late. woops! so basically i dont have my car for two weeks as of tues. but my dad thinks my moms wack so he’s letting me drive his truck...which is awesome. then wed i hung out with clark, and later saw amanda and jenn and ashley and kyle for the first time this summer.....ive been behind on the social scene. thurs ash and i drove around without headlights on, and stalked random cars....fun we also, or maybe i should clarify, i also went to doorbell ditch this one house, and its not that late, but i have a sweatshirt on, with the hood up, and im walking casually up this driveway. all of a sudden, i hear a deep and angry womanly voice yell “ who is that? what do you want?” omg i was scarred shitless. honestly i could have just been coming to say hi....seriously. i didn’t look like i was up to no good at all! later that night i saw steve, and met charlie, and saw derik. fri i went out to lunch with my bro. that was awesome. thanks dude. at the restaurant i saw my long lost best friend from middle school! rebecca. so we’re goin to chill on sun. then that night me n ash chilled with the dudes from the night b4 again with sean as an addition. none of us wanted to drive all the way out to the beach, so we didn’t go.
today, sat i went to ronnie’s wedding. im so happy for him. he is truely an amazing guy, and he deserves the best. between him and matt, they have shaped me into the person i am today, and have taught me everything i kno and use with reguards to mental toughness, sports, sportsmanship, gratitude and passion. now i am home, and very tired, and cant believe i just wrote such a freakin long ass entry. goodnight world
THE END
let me begin with my trip to russia....the first chunk is synchro, so if u don wana read it...skip it.
IT was AMAZING! after the springs, we got to moscow (an all day long flight). so we got there at like 3 ish in the afternoon, and imediately got in the competition pool. WOW we were tired! So that night we slept like rocks. after a few days of practice it was COMPETITION TIME. we did prelims, and got 3rd in routeen. we were so stoked. but after we did figures, we dropped to 5th. bummer. russia was in first, japan second, china third italy fourth and us 5th. we knew that we would have to have a really good finals swim to move up. so finals day rolled around, and the team was sooo ready to kick some ass. we got the last draw and were so pumped. i love our team cd, and our “team speech” it gets me so fired up and ready to go. so after we swam, we looked at the score board, and it flashed 3rd!!!! omg we were so excited. a bunch of us started crying we were so happy. then they flashed the overall standings.........1. Russia 2. Japan 3.USA 4.China. yay. while we were crying for joy china was crying too....not for joy tho. but little did we kno, we had another surprise ahead of us. the standings that they flashed at the end usually had figures combined in them.....but 20 min after we were celebrating tam came up to us and informed us that figures were not combined in that score. china had beat us by less than a point....in fact, by only a meer .3 of a point. i must say that was both the happiest day and yet the saddest day of my life. i dont think i have ever felt so let down, so defeated b4.
so i decided to swim off my disappointment, and warm down in the warmup pool. i swam for a long time. long and easy, letting myself cry, letting the cold water cool off my hot face. after awhile i felt much better, and came to realize that 4th really isn’t bad at all! esp seems to how at the last worlds, the US got 7th. we have made a huge comeback. but i decided that i should still not watch the awards ceremony, cuz it would hurt too badly to see china getting medals placed around their necks, and given all the gifts from the sponsors, that in my mind still had the name USA written across them. Low and behold, i walk out of the warmup pool into the competition pool area, only to see them announce china, and put the medals around their necks! wow perfect timing huh? at that point all i could say was.....next time....next time.
so after finals were over there was an athletes party. sooo fun. we danced, traded items witht he other teams, and enjoyed ourselves tons. oh ya did i mention that they served us wine and champaign? ya, eveyone on the team (well all but one) drank. haha. even the coaches! synchro, unlike other sports would not tolerate drinking at any sort of a function related to synchro. its really ghey. i kno tons of sports who when they go to hotels have a party in the room n shit....but no not synchro! we actually are usually forced to go to bed even after the competition is over. we cant be goin back and forth btween rooms late at night. anyways, everyone on our team was either drunk or tipsy, and it was really fun.
after the meet i went to the kremlin, and red square. then i went to st petersburg and saw peterhof and the hermitage, along with various other historical places. it was beautiful! to top it all off, the president of the russian federation of synchronized swimming found out that i was touring his beautiful country, and he gave my mom and i one of his coaches as a personal tour guide! once again amazing. i went to a club in st. peters burg, with my mom and the russian synchro coach, and it was totally outrageous. i had like 4 or 5 guys ask me “how much?” it was a complement....i guess? .....funny thing is tho that i was the MOST conservatively dressed there....strange. regardless, it was totally fun. and yes, throughout my trip in russia i drank practically dailywith my mom. kinda awk at first, but it became normal after awhile. after russia i went to estonia and the little town of tallin. sooo cute. it looks like a fairytail place. the buildings look so old....well they are....some date back to the 1400s! after tallin, it was time to start heading westward. at the airport, i met this awesome group of guys from england. at first they told me they were a part of a rugby team......but they weren’t. they were kinda like a frat, traveling around for both sober, but mostly drunken fun. actually a few of the guys were getting married, so it was kinda a trip for them. but they were awesome, and made my wait at the airport fun.......i never thought i would associate a wait at the airport as being fun lol. but i was wrong! so i got to germany, and ate my first meal that taisted even remotely american.
so i got home, and two days later i swam in the OMPA! my god, i really think im crazy. yet, i did really well. at the meet i got to see all my long lost friends....namely the SH crew (who i had already seen at workout on thur at my one and only workout), the mira polo crew that i kno oh so well ; ), and HEATHER! greg redig....sh quitter...u shoulda swam...even showed, and clark, who it turns out my mom knows, and went to hs with his fam.....strange. i also managed to see a few non swimmers who decided to swing by and see what all the commotion was about. after OMPA i went to ford’s house. it was hella funny. at the after dinner party at the pool, i was getting ready to go home and then his dad was like....hey what are you guys (the coaches) doing after this? i said that i didn’t kno but that if something was goin on that i would proly go do it. so then he said...well y dont u come over to our house and u guys can swim and go in the hot tub. haha five min later, ford came up and asked if i wanted to go to his house...i told him taht his dad had already beat him to the punch haha. so fords was fun, we swam and hot tubbed....not that we dont get enough water anyways.
the next weekend was county. not so much of a fun meet. i also didnt taper all that much. i was out pretty late all the days that week. i have no idea what or where i went....i dont remember....except for that i hung out with clark on thrus night. so at the meet, my IM sucked but whatev. but i totally dominated the breastroke from lane one! ya baby...ended up winnin it from lane one! haha. the life guards at that meet totally HATED me tho. i was always “playing around” in the warmdown pool. sheesh grow up. i got in the most troubble when i decided to push kyle in......ya so i went in with my shoes. the l-guards were actually pretty mad. haha. another highlight from the meet.....belle and heather in the clerk of the course right as we’re getting ready to go out for IM. im all nervous and foccused. then i take my towell off from around my neck. haha then i hear OMG POPPY WHAT IS THAT!!!!!!! lol nuf said....thanx girls. haha but i saw belle a couple days ago, and she looked like me at the meet.....haha i love u belle.
this past week i decided i needed to catchup on my socialness. so tues i went to the gym, and got my first lesson from my personal trainer. who, actually graduated from campo in 96, and who’s best friend is my stanford coaches husbans brother....weird. that day i shopped more for shit for my dorm, then went out to play with my friends. i met up with kyle, and we went to “the mansion...” thats waht he called it. it was a gynormous place tho. however, this is the night i got into tons of troubble with the madre cuz i came home a wee bit too late. woops! so basically i dont have my car for two weeks as of tues. but my dad thinks my moms wack so he’s letting me drive his truck...which is awesome. then wed i hung out with clark, and later saw amanda and jenn and ashley and kyle for the first time this summer.....ive been behind on the social scene. thurs ash and i drove around without headlights on, and stalked random cars....fun we also, or maybe i should clarify, i also went to doorbell ditch this one house, and its not that late, but i have a sweatshirt on, with the hood up, and im walking casually up this driveway. all of a sudden, i hear a deep and angry womanly voice yell “ who is that? what do you want?” omg i was scarred shitless. honestly i could have just been coming to say hi....seriously. i didn’t look like i was up to no good at all! later that night i saw steve, and met charlie, and saw derik. fri i went out to lunch with my bro. that was awesome. thanks dude. at the restaurant i saw my long lost best friend from middle school! rebecca. so we’re goin to chill on sun. then that night me n ash chilled with the dudes from the night b4 again with sean as an addition. none of us wanted to drive all the way out to the beach, so we didn’t go.
today, sat i went to ronnie’s wedding. im so happy for him. he is truely an amazing guy, and he deserves the best. between him and matt, they have shaped me into the person i am today, and have taught me everything i kno and use with reguards to mental toughness, sports, sportsmanship, gratitude and passion. now i am home, and very tired, and cant believe i just wrote such a freakin long ass entry. goodnight world
THE END