Wednesday, May 30th 2007
Last week was an exciting time for the Regents Park rowing team- the week of Summer Eights. Even though I wasn't actually rowing in the boat for competition time, my daily schedule centered around the women's racing.
I missed the races on Wednesday, but on Thursday was able to watch the second round. Because the river isn't wide enough to have 13 or so boats race side by side, the boats line up and attempt to catch the boat in front of them (called a Bump because they used to actually hit the boat with their own) before they are caught by the boat behind them. This is not so easy...if the boat in front of ours bumps successfully...then both that boat and the boat they caught are out of the race...and our girls then have to catch the boat that was in front of both of them...So, you can see how a lot of the competition is based on skilled rowing...and a lot is based on pure luck...
My house is just around the corner from the river...so several of us from Stanely road went to Donnigton Bridge to watch the girls race on Thursday. The gun fired...and several teams went by us while our girls were nowhere in site. Finally, we saw a group dressed in red heading into the trees...this was clearly the Regents team, but we could not figure out why they weren't rowing straight. My heart sank for the team convinced that something had gone horribly wrong...but apparently, they had bumped with in the first 15 strokes of the start and just needed to move out of the way!!
It was a beautiful day, so I found my books in the SSL and went to the University Parks to read for a while before dinner. I couldn't imagine spending a day as beautiful as this one inside a library...even if it is more effective for studying. Like I've mentioned before, the sun is not promised to show up everday here..so I have to enjoy it when I can...I watched a bunch of students play ultimate frisbee. I was jealous, trying to recall the last time I had been able to play. I think it must be last fourth of July at my house. I thought about how frisbee must be a universal college pastime...if school in America were in session right now...there would sure enough be a ton of students playing in a field at any given university.
Friday was gross and rainy outside...but my housemates and I braved the weather to watch the races once again...and of course, our girls did an amazing job bumping fairly quickly into the race again.
Gloria
I couldn't hang around for long, because this was the evening of our Choir performance of Vivaldi's "Gloria". We have only been working on the piece for a few hours overs the course of 5 weeks, which is not really any time at all to learn such a piece. I have loved being part of a choir again, even if I really don't read music that well. Singing is just one of those things I need in life -for stress relief...artistic expression...or just to be part of the music...I don't know what it is. The neat thing about Gloria was that we performed it right in our own quad at Regents. The rain cleared off to make for the most beautiful setting. The concert was preceeded by free Pimms for the audience- who were all dressed up as formal hall was to follow. It was just one of those moments that is exclusive to my Oxford life. Vivaldi, tuxes, and a endless flow of Pimms shared by students and faculty in the garden before dinner.
Formal hall had an extra bit of excitement to it..complete with table cloths..and a much greater crowd than usual because of the concert. Though no event followed I spent quite a lot of time visiting in the JCR before heading home.
Last week was an exciting time for the Regents Park rowing team- the week of Summer Eights. Even though I wasn't actually rowing in the boat for competition time, my daily schedule centered around the women's racing.
I missed the races on Wednesday, but on Thursday was able to watch the second round. Because the river isn't wide enough to have 13 or so boats race side by side, the boats line up and attempt to catch the boat in front of them (called a Bump because they used to actually hit the boat with their own) before they are caught by the boat behind them. This is not so easy...if the boat in front of ours bumps successfully...then both that boat and the boat they caught are out of the race...and our girls then have to catch the boat that was in front of both of them...So, you can see how a lot of the competition is based on skilled rowing...and a lot is based on pure luck...
My house is just around the corner from the river...so several of us from Stanely road went to Donnigton Bridge to watch the girls race on Thursday. The gun fired...and several teams went by us while our girls were nowhere in site. Finally, we saw a group dressed in red heading into the trees...this was clearly the Regents team, but we could not figure out why they weren't rowing straight. My heart sank for the team convinced that something had gone horribly wrong...but apparently, they had bumped with in the first 15 strokes of the start and just needed to move out of the way!!
It was a beautiful day, so I found my books in the SSL and went to the University Parks to read for a while before dinner. I couldn't imagine spending a day as beautiful as this one inside a library...even if it is more effective for studying. Like I've mentioned before, the sun is not promised to show up everday here..so I have to enjoy it when I can...I watched a bunch of students play ultimate frisbee. I was jealous, trying to recall the last time I had been able to play. I think it must be last fourth of July at my house. I thought about how frisbee must be a universal college pastime...if school in America were in session right now...there would sure enough be a ton of students playing in a field at any given university.
Friday was gross and rainy outside...but my housemates and I braved the weather to watch the races once again...and of course, our girls did an amazing job bumping fairly quickly into the race again.
Gloria
I couldn't hang around for long, because this was the evening of our Choir performance of Vivaldi's "Gloria". We have only been working on the piece for a few hours overs the course of 5 weeks, which is not really any time at all to learn such a piece. I have loved being part of a choir again, even if I really don't read music that well. Singing is just one of those things I need in life -for stress relief...artistic expression...or just to be part of the music...I don't know what it is. The neat thing about Gloria was that we performed it right in our own quad at Regents. The rain cleared off to make for the most beautiful setting. The concert was preceeded by free Pimms for the audience- who were all dressed up as formal hall was to follow. It was just one of those moments that is exclusive to my Oxford life. Vivaldi, tuxes, and a endless flow of Pimms shared by students and faculty in the garden before dinner.Formal hall had an extra bit of excitement to it..complete with table cloths..and a much greater crowd than usual because of the concert. Though no event followed I spent quite a lot of time visiting in the JCR before heading home.
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