Hey everyone! Thank you all so much for the overwhelmingly positive response to the first blog entry. I will attempt to make this entry live up to the first, but I have a bit of performance anxiety so lower your expectations just in case. But first, before I go any further, here are some relevant updates:
1. I should probably be up front with y'all and say that nobody specifically asked me to write this blog. That is to say, this is NOT sponsored by USA Swimming. There IS going to be an official team blog that I will post a link to as soon as it goes live for those of you who are interested in hearing about the experience but could live without my commentary.
2. The circumference of Leah's ankle has (thankfully) gone back to normal.
3. After spending two nights on a mattress that is roughly the size and shape of a tombstone, USA Swimming is getting us mattress pads!!!! There will be further description of the beds/apartments further down in this post.
4. For anyone who wants to watch, ESPN3 will be broadcasting finals of the meet, LIVE, starting July 4th at 6 AM. If you really love me, I fully expect you to get up at the crack of dawn and watch me swim (roommates, teammates, and family members I'm looking at you). If you AREN'T crazy enough to wake up before the sun rises to watch swimming, we have nothing in common so stop reading this blog now (kidding). But really, if you would prefer to sleep I believe that ESPNU is streaming finals beginning July 16 at 7 PM. The drawback to this is we will already be back in the US, so the experience will be devoid of excitement and suspense.
ANYWAY! Now that I've bombarded you with semi-relevant information, I'll move on to descriptions of the village and the pool, staring with.....
1. I should probably be up front with y'all and say that nobody specifically asked me to write this blog. That is to say, this is NOT sponsored by USA Swimming. There IS going to be an official team blog that I will post a link to as soon as it goes live for those of you who are interested in hearing about the experience but could live without my commentary.
2. The circumference of Leah's ankle has (thankfully) gone back to normal.
3. After spending two nights on a mattress that is roughly the size and shape of a tombstone, USA Swimming is getting us mattress pads!!!! There will be further description of the beds/apartments further down in this post.
4. For anyone who wants to watch, ESPN3 will be broadcasting finals of the meet, LIVE, starting July 4th at 6 AM. If you really love me, I fully expect you to get up at the crack of dawn and watch me swim (roommates, teammates, and family members I'm looking at you). If you AREN'T crazy enough to wake up before the sun rises to watch swimming, we have nothing in common so stop reading this blog now (kidding). But really, if you would prefer to sleep I believe that ESPNU is streaming finals beginning July 16 at 7 PM. The drawback to this is we will already be back in the US, so the experience will be devoid of excitement and suspense.
ANYWAY! Now that I've bombarded you with semi-relevant information, I'll move on to descriptions of the village and the pool, staring with.....
The Apartments
As I've already mentioned, these buildings are intended to be marketed as "luxury apartments" after the games end. In the interest of avoiding a massive paragraph, I'm going to make a pros and cons list for you guys (are you noticing a trend here?):
PROS:
- USA Swimming provided us with a router that has WIFI for our individual condo. This is super nice, because the WIFI in the village is spotty at best (is WIFI something you capitalize or does it count as a word?).
- They give us clean towels every day!! The only drawback to this is that if we lose them/steal them (don't act like you've never done either), it costs something like 70 dollars to replace.
- THE VIEW! I'm pretty sure I put a picture in my last post, but the view from our balcony is amazing!
- We're on the ninth floor, which may not sound great but when you put into perspective that there are 32 floors and one elevator for the entire building, nine suddenly seems much closer to the ground than say, 29.
CONS:
- I would politely call these beds "compact". If I were a part of the USA Men's basketball team, I would probably laugh upon being presented with them, and then panic when I realized I was expected to sleep on something roughly as long as my left leg and harder than granite. Luckily, as I've already mentioned, USA Swimming got us mattress pads, so this particular complaint is easily remedied.
- The rooms range in size from "quaint" to "broom closet". While the room I'm in sleeps three of us semi comfortably, one of the other rooms in the suite is physically too small to open the door without pushing the beds together. I'm not sure if the rooms are actually small or if we Americans are just used to everything being huge (very possible). Will consult with a non American athlete later to see if this belief is correct.
- The elevator situation. There is a single elevator for the entire building, as I've already mentioned. While elevator time is a great opportunity to meet other athletes and make awkward small talk ("This is creepy but I'm reading your badge and you go to Duke and I got to UNC so we're basically neighbors!"- actual thing I said to another human being without any sort of lead in), the wait for the elevator can be substantial.
- There aren't any dressers to speak of, so we've had to make due with hanging our things on the clothing racks provided in the main areas. While this makes for easy access, we've received so much USA stuff that it kind of looks like Uncle Sam vomited all over our communal area. See photos below.
All in all, the accommodations are actually really nice, but the upgrades (for lack of a better word) USA Swimming has provided for us have definitely made the experience much more comfortable (Like all females born in the mid to late nineties, I experience withdrawal symptoms if I go more than 24 hours without WIFI).
Moving along, let's talk about...
PROS:
- USA Swimming provided us with a router that has WIFI for our individual condo. This is super nice, because the WIFI in the village is spotty at best (is WIFI something you capitalize or does it count as a word?).
- They give us clean towels every day!! The only drawback to this is that if we lose them/steal them (don't act like you've never done either), it costs something like 70 dollars to replace.
- THE VIEW! I'm pretty sure I put a picture in my last post, but the view from our balcony is amazing!
- We're on the ninth floor, which may not sound great but when you put into perspective that there are 32 floors and one elevator for the entire building, nine suddenly seems much closer to the ground than say, 29.
CONS:
- I would politely call these beds "compact". If I were a part of the USA Men's basketball team, I would probably laugh upon being presented with them, and then panic when I realized I was expected to sleep on something roughly as long as my left leg and harder than granite. Luckily, as I've already mentioned, USA Swimming got us mattress pads, so this particular complaint is easily remedied.
- The rooms range in size from "quaint" to "broom closet". While the room I'm in sleeps three of us semi comfortably, one of the other rooms in the suite is physically too small to open the door without pushing the beds together. I'm not sure if the rooms are actually small or if we Americans are just used to everything being huge (very possible). Will consult with a non American athlete later to see if this belief is correct.
- The elevator situation. There is a single elevator for the entire building, as I've already mentioned. While elevator time is a great opportunity to meet other athletes and make awkward small talk ("This is creepy but I'm reading your badge and you go to Duke and I got to UNC so we're basically neighbors!"- actual thing I said to another human being without any sort of lead in), the wait for the elevator can be substantial.
- There aren't any dressers to speak of, so we've had to make due with hanging our things on the clothing racks provided in the main areas. While this makes for easy access, we've received so much USA stuff that it kind of looks like Uncle Sam vomited all over our communal area. See photos below.
All in all, the accommodations are actually really nice, but the upgrades (for lack of a better word) USA Swimming has provided for us have definitely made the experience much more comfortable (Like all females born in the mid to late nineties, I experience withdrawal symptoms if I go more than 24 hours without WIFI).
Moving along, let's talk about...
The Village
I've said it before, I'll say it again, THIS PLACE IS AMAZING! Amenities include, but aren't limited to:
- A huge dining hall. Actually, I'm making the executive decision to give the dining hall it's own section because I can't do it justice in a short blurb.
- A beauty salon and "nail art shop" for those trying to . At first I was a little confused as to why on earth there would be a beauty salon in the Athletes Village, but then I realized that swimming is, in fact, the only sport that requires the athletes to literally do everything possible to make them look less physically attractive while competing (if you look good in a cap, goggles and racing suit, I hate you). We walked over yesterday during our free time to see about getting a manicure, but it turned out that unless we were willing to pay the equivalent of 40 American dollars, the nail salon was closed until July 3.
- A convenience store, a flower shop, and a coffee shop. The convenience store had a decent selection of candy and snacks but was a little bit lacking in variety. The "flower shop" consisted of a single refrigerator type thing and some succulents for sale, but was a nice touch nevertheless. As for the coffee shop, I will elaborate more on my feelings towards coffee later on but I was a fan.
- A game room of sorts for the athletes that has pool tables, air hockey tables and more! I haven't really gotten a chance to look around in it much, but I plan on going and using my superior air hockey skills to hopefully impress some foreign men because everyone knows that insane air hockey game is a highly desirable trait in a potential mate. There's also a game room that has board games and Jenga and computers, but because I hate board games and have my own computer, I have little reason to visit.
- An assigned bus for each sport to take us to our venues and back. These bus drivers and STICKLERS for the schedules, though, and I've sprinted up to one only to see it drive away.
In addition to all of this, I have to say that far and away the best part of the village is the other athletes, and I don't just my teammates (although they are awesome). Our coaches told us to make conversation and introduce ourselves to other athletes, so I've been attempting to do so with mixed results. For example, I asked some random Canadian girl where she was from in the dining hall because my roommate is Canadian and therefore I feel like I have insight into Canadian geography (shout out to my girl Annie for attempting to educate my uncultured American mind) and it turned out that not only did she only live about 30 minutes from Annie, but also that she knew a girl who ran track at UNC! Small world, right? On the other hand, when I told some guy I liked his suit that said "Tequila Sunrise" in the warm up pool he just smiled and nodded and started speaking some unrecognizable language to his friend. So I guess I should probably keep working on this whole "make foreign friends" thing.
And now, the thing I'm most excited to write about and the moment you've all been waiting for (don't kid yourself)...
- A huge dining hall. Actually, I'm making the executive decision to give the dining hall it's own section because I can't do it justice in a short blurb.
- A beauty salon and "nail art shop" for those trying to . At first I was a little confused as to why on earth there would be a beauty salon in the Athletes Village, but then I realized that swimming is, in fact, the only sport that requires the athletes to literally do everything possible to make them look less physically attractive while competing (if you look good in a cap, goggles and racing suit, I hate you). We walked over yesterday during our free time to see about getting a manicure, but it turned out that unless we were willing to pay the equivalent of 40 American dollars, the nail salon was closed until July 3.
- A convenience store, a flower shop, and a coffee shop. The convenience store had a decent selection of candy and snacks but was a little bit lacking in variety. The "flower shop" consisted of a single refrigerator type thing and some succulents for sale, but was a nice touch nevertheless. As for the coffee shop, I will elaborate more on my feelings towards coffee later on but I was a fan.
- A game room of sorts for the athletes that has pool tables, air hockey tables and more! I haven't really gotten a chance to look around in it much, but I plan on going and using my superior air hockey skills to hopefully impress some foreign men because everyone knows that insane air hockey game is a highly desirable trait in a potential mate. There's also a game room that has board games and Jenga and computers, but because I hate board games and have my own computer, I have little reason to visit.
- An assigned bus for each sport to take us to our venues and back. These bus drivers and STICKLERS for the schedules, though, and I've sprinted up to one only to see it drive away.
In addition to all of this, I have to say that far and away the best part of the village is the other athletes, and I don't just my teammates (although they are awesome). Our coaches told us to make conversation and introduce ourselves to other athletes, so I've been attempting to do so with mixed results. For example, I asked some random Canadian girl where she was from in the dining hall because my roommate is Canadian and therefore I feel like I have insight into Canadian geography (shout out to my girl Annie for attempting to educate my uncultured American mind) and it turned out that not only did she only live about 30 minutes from Annie, but also that she knew a girl who ran track at UNC! Small world, right? On the other hand, when I told some guy I liked his suit that said "Tequila Sunrise" in the warm up pool he just smiled and nodded and started speaking some unrecognizable language to his friend. So I guess I should probably keep working on this whole "make foreign friends" thing.
And now, the thing I'm most excited to write about and the moment you've all been waiting for (don't kid yourself)...
The Food
Is there a such thing as an athlete who doesn't love food? Is there a such thing as a person that doesn't love food? (If you're raising your hand right now, I don't believe you). As I said in the previous post, I was a little nervous about the food and basically packed as if I was going to be living on peanut butter, granola bars, and instant coffee for the duration of the trip. Thankfully, this is not the case. I'm going to have a hard time doing the dining hall justice, so bear with me if some of the descriptions get a little hard to follow.
Before you walk in, you have to stop and drop off your bags at the bag check out front. You write your room number and building number on a sheet of paper, and then the volunteers put your bag into a box and stick it on the shelves in the back. After doing so, they hand you a number and say "Thank you, bye!" which may seem dismissive to some people. I, on the other hand, quite enjoy this. The bag volunteers aren't here to mess around or to be our friends. They don't have time for small talk or niceties. They are going to devote 100% of their energy to protecting my belongings while I shove food in my ravenous maw, and I really can't fault them for that. Also, aside from the 10% (20% if you're lucky) of the time we actually use equipment in practice, gear bags are a giant pain in the butt to haul places, especially when they're soaking wet.
When you walk through the doors of the dining hall, there are generally volunteers every couple of yards that enthusiastically tell you hello and welcome. They are sweet and charming and encourage the use of hand sanitizer and I appreciate their presence. The first thing visible when entering the dining hall is the station against the back wall with a sign that advertises "omelet noodles" which, in fact, are two separate stations and not (as I had hoped) long noodle-shaped omelets or noodles with omelets on top.
There are two buffet lines, each starting with a salad bar followed by a deli meat and cheese station, a hot food station, and finally a dessert and fruit station. It seems like they've tried to put out dishes that cater to every country, so there is an insane variety of food. The available dishes range from rice and seaweed to pizza and fish cutlets with tartar sauce. The desert station usually has a couple different fruits and two or three cakes cut up into itty bitty pieces. I judge it would take five of these little pieces put together to create a satisfactory slab of cake, but I realize I may have high standards.
I wish I could say I've been super adventurous with food and had curry for breakfast and kimchi for dinner every night, but that unfortunately isn't the case. Much as I admire the people trying fried fish balls for breakfast, I'm having a hard time venturing out of my comfort zone. That isn't to say I haven't tried anything new, though. Yesterday, I sampled a fruit that looked like a sea urchin on the outside but tasted like an orange once it was peeled. I instantly felt more worldly and cultured and perhaps it was this success that inspired me to try something else new this morning. I grabbed a piece of "sweet potato deep fried in sugar" at breakfast, imagining it would be reminiscent of a sweet potato fry. It wasn't. It tasted like armpit with a side of gas station donuts. Dining hall:1 Emma: 0.
My favorite thing about eating in the dining hall (aside from the thrice daily option to stuff my face at an all you can eat buffet) is seeing what people from other countries eat, especially for breakfast. Despite the fact that the pizza and fried potato type foods are probably there for us Americans (after all, we are the country that invented the Big Mac), I'm pretty sure I've seen someone from every single one of the 170 countries represented with pizza on their plate. This cements a belief that I have always held, deep down: pizza crosses all cultural lines and is never not the right answer to the question "What should I eat today?"
One of the most popular stations in the dining hall is the coffee and tea station. As what could be politely described as a "coffee aficionado" and realistically described as an addict, I'm a huge fan of this station. I was actually a little bit panicked before I left that there wasn't going to be coffee here, or at least coffee like I know it (true story: I googled "Starbucks in Gwangju" the night before I left. Not sorry.) so this has been an extremely pleasant surprise.
So, how am I feeling on this trip so far? That depends. In the water, I've either felt amazing or like the Titanic, post-iceberg collision. This is to be expected though, and I plan on talking more about the pool/training in my next post. For now, since I don't swim for another week, I've still been doing a decent amount of yardage to shake off the trip/stay in shape until the 200 fly gets closer.
Out of the water, this meet is awesome! Here is something serious and painfully embarrassing (yes, I do possess the ability to write about serious things): I was terrified before this trip that I wasn't going to make any friends. I can't believe I'm admitting this for the internet to read, but I actually started shaking before I got off the plane in San Fransisco because I was so nervous I would have nobody to talk to and I'd be eating every meal and hanging out by myself the whole week. Now that I'm here, I realize that was completely ridiculous. I realize I'm gushing, but everyone, including coaches and staff, has been super friendly and excited about this trip.
Before I sign off, here are some more pictures of the village, the pool and the dining hall! Next time (hopefully tomorrow) I'll go into a little bit more detail about the pool/locker rooms (the doors to which are NOT automatic, which I learned yesterday when I ran into them).
Before you walk in, you have to stop and drop off your bags at the bag check out front. You write your room number and building number on a sheet of paper, and then the volunteers put your bag into a box and stick it on the shelves in the back. After doing so, they hand you a number and say "Thank you, bye!" which may seem dismissive to some people. I, on the other hand, quite enjoy this. The bag volunteers aren't here to mess around or to be our friends. They don't have time for small talk or niceties. They are going to devote 100% of their energy to protecting my belongings while I shove food in my ravenous maw, and I really can't fault them for that. Also, aside from the 10% (20% if you're lucky) of the time we actually use equipment in practice, gear bags are a giant pain in the butt to haul places, especially when they're soaking wet.
When you walk through the doors of the dining hall, there are generally volunteers every couple of yards that enthusiastically tell you hello and welcome. They are sweet and charming and encourage the use of hand sanitizer and I appreciate their presence. The first thing visible when entering the dining hall is the station against the back wall with a sign that advertises "omelet noodles" which, in fact, are two separate stations and not (as I had hoped) long noodle-shaped omelets or noodles with omelets on top.
There are two buffet lines, each starting with a salad bar followed by a deli meat and cheese station, a hot food station, and finally a dessert and fruit station. It seems like they've tried to put out dishes that cater to every country, so there is an insane variety of food. The available dishes range from rice and seaweed to pizza and fish cutlets with tartar sauce. The desert station usually has a couple different fruits and two or three cakes cut up into itty bitty pieces. I judge it would take five of these little pieces put together to create a satisfactory slab of cake, but I realize I may have high standards.
I wish I could say I've been super adventurous with food and had curry for breakfast and kimchi for dinner every night, but that unfortunately isn't the case. Much as I admire the people trying fried fish balls for breakfast, I'm having a hard time venturing out of my comfort zone. That isn't to say I haven't tried anything new, though. Yesterday, I sampled a fruit that looked like a sea urchin on the outside but tasted like an orange once it was peeled. I instantly felt more worldly and cultured and perhaps it was this success that inspired me to try something else new this morning. I grabbed a piece of "sweet potato deep fried in sugar" at breakfast, imagining it would be reminiscent of a sweet potato fry. It wasn't. It tasted like armpit with a side of gas station donuts. Dining hall:1 Emma: 0.
My favorite thing about eating in the dining hall (aside from the thrice daily option to stuff my face at an all you can eat buffet) is seeing what people from other countries eat, especially for breakfast. Despite the fact that the pizza and fried potato type foods are probably there for us Americans (after all, we are the country that invented the Big Mac), I'm pretty sure I've seen someone from every single one of the 170 countries represented with pizza on their plate. This cements a belief that I have always held, deep down: pizza crosses all cultural lines and is never not the right answer to the question "What should I eat today?"
One of the most popular stations in the dining hall is the coffee and tea station. As what could be politely described as a "coffee aficionado" and realistically described as an addict, I'm a huge fan of this station. I was actually a little bit panicked before I left that there wasn't going to be coffee here, or at least coffee like I know it (true story: I googled "Starbucks in Gwangju" the night before I left. Not sorry.) so this has been an extremely pleasant surprise.
So, how am I feeling on this trip so far? That depends. In the water, I've either felt amazing or like the Titanic, post-iceberg collision. This is to be expected though, and I plan on talking more about the pool/training in my next post. For now, since I don't swim for another week, I've still been doing a decent amount of yardage to shake off the trip/stay in shape until the 200 fly gets closer.
Out of the water, this meet is awesome! Here is something serious and painfully embarrassing (yes, I do possess the ability to write about serious things): I was terrified before this trip that I wasn't going to make any friends. I can't believe I'm admitting this for the internet to read, but I actually started shaking before I got off the plane in San Fransisco because I was so nervous I would have nobody to talk to and I'd be eating every meal and hanging out by myself the whole week. Now that I'm here, I realize that was completely ridiculous. I realize I'm gushing, but everyone, including coaches and staff, has been super friendly and excited about this trip.
Before I sign off, here are some more pictures of the village, the pool and the dining hall! Next time (hopefully tomorrow) I'll go into a little bit more detail about the pool/locker rooms (the doors to which are NOT automatic, which I learned yesterday when I ran into them).