Christ Church Regatta & Turkey Day

So… Our first race in the Christ Church Regatta, which began yesterday, could have gone better. We had a great start, and about a half a minute in we were moving at an incredible (for novices) pace. To be fair, we’re all actually very proud of ourselves – had we not caught a crab, we surely would have won, and by multiple lengths! But we did, and ended up getting disqualified when we veered into our opponents’ racing lane. And yet, I think we all still had an absolute blast! It was really fun to come together as a boat/unit/team and finally get a chance to put our 7 weeks of hard work to the test. We had fun, and nobody fell in the river, so I’m calling it a win (just not a Win).

The regatta will continue on through Saturday afternoon, with one race per team per day. We had a chance to redeem ourselves this afternoon, and we pulled through with a W! Though it was what they call a ‘friendly race’, we still pulled through with a great performance: we were catching in time, staying balanced, and altogether rowed a very clean race. And boy, I had almost forgotten how good it feels to WIN in sports… 🙂 We race again tomorrow, though this time it will be twice as long – I’m confident that we’ve got another couple of good races in us, but I’m happy that we have the rest of today to rest up and enjoy Thanksgiving!

Other than suffering a disappointing defeat yesterday, life at Mansfield is pretty darn good (especially after today’s race!) – we’ve nearly come to the end of 7th week, and most students are beginning to finish up their final work for their tutorials. The stress level at college has noticeably been raised a tad, but come next Friday (sooner, for some), we’ll be home free! I’ve chosen to stay an extra week and spend some time hiking around northern England with some of my British friends, but other visiting students have chosen to head back to the States straight away. Regardless, I think we’re all pretty excited to be going home to spend the holidays with our families. I can just imagine it: the delicious food, the pine scented candles, the slobbery kisses from my dogs…

Though I’m sad I’m not home celebrating Thanksgiving today with my family in Minnesota, I’m just as happy to be here, making memories with my new family 🙂 Plus, Mansfield is hosting all of the visiting students and our guests (most of us are bringing other Mansfield students) for a classic, American-themed Thanksgiving dinner tonight, so at least we won’t be missing out on Turkey Day food!

Until next time,

Cheers!

HRH

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New Words of the Week

1. crab n. – a rowing error where the rower is unable to timely remove or release the oar blade from the water and the oar blade acts as a brake on the boat until it is removed from the water; this results in slowing the boat down
2. cull v. –  killing animals, ​especially the ​weaker ​members of a ​particular ​group of them, in ​order to ​reduce or ​limit ​their ​number*
3. smashing adj. – terrific, wonderful

*the reason I learned this word: cull can also be used informally when someone is nixed or cut from something; say, being removed from a Facebook chat

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