Day 5

     Day 5 was here and now it's gone. We picked up some new activities to do in our spare time other than croquet. But first the rowing. We had an early practice yesterday, we woke up and took our daily warm-up run to the race course. Coach Lamb said we were going to do the workout by ourselves, which was a whole course piece. (30 spm off the line, 26 spm for the body of the race, 30 spm at the end). Just before we were about to shove, he said that Yale's Women's 8 might be meeting us up at the line, and that they were going to do the piece at open ratings.

     We didn't know what to think, the thought of losing to girls was in the back of our minds but we were positive they wouldn't beat us (their coach even said so). We warmed up and got to the line, and there they were, 9 women, from Yale, in spandex, 10 ft. away from us (it was hard to focus on the piece). But we went off the line, and we jumped them, then pushed away, and the final margin was about 8 boat lengths with our first whole course victory on the river. Then we thanked them and wished them good luck.

     After our workout we decided we had to paint our oars. A handful of us walked home, and the rest stayed to help out with the oars.

     We all met back up at the house and just hung around, some napped, some played croquet, some watched a movie. And at about late afternoon about 6 of us went to City Hall to watch the draw to see who we would race in the first round (Emanuel).

     While almost everyone was at the draw, Brad, John, and I represented the USA in a game of croquet vs. 10 guys/girls from Exeter. I won't lie, these guys were pretty awesome at this game, and our big American mouths couldn't trash talk our way out of it. We came in fourth (out of 4), which means even the girls team beat us, and we cheated too. But they said they would be back, and we won't embarass America like that again, it was pretty awful.

     After the Exeter rowers left, we went back to hanging around the house, and Mr. Coleman said he had a new game for us to play. So he came outside with a baseball bat, and a bucket full of golf balls (yes, it's exactly what you're thinking). He said his garden ran back a long way and at the very bottom was a driving range, so he likes to collect the golf balls that get hit in his yard, and hit them back. This is what a lot of teenagers wish they could do around their neighborhood but never have enough room too. So we were cautious at first, but then John Connolly took a swing and cracked the furthest one we've seen so far.

     We all took turns, just whacking these golf balls down this garden, Pat Dewechter had some hits that gave John a run for his money, and Mike Lombardi had some good ones. After we emptied the bucket, we ran and collected as many balls as we could find and then ate dinner.

     Dinner was hamburgers and chicken, which was delicious, with a dessert of cheese cake. Afterwards we were all planning on going to the movies but decided not to, so some of us walked around the town for a bit, observing the nightlife, while the rest just sat around at the house.

     We all took advantage of not having a practice this morning and slept in long and hard. Right now some are still sleeping, some are hitting more golf balls, a few eating breakfast, and we haven't seen Coach Lamb since yesterday before the draw. We have practice again at 6, so you'll all be hearing from us again soon. Later days.