Marika: February, Nemo, Spring Break '13

Hello hello! Dear friends, welcome! My name is Marika and I am a sophomore bringing you the latest news and updates from the YWGT, Yale, and life at Yale. YWGT Training February has been a busy month for all of us on the YWGT. We’ve sprung out of winter hibernation and kicked up our training to more intense levels than before. From golfing in our indoors facility, to workouts with our trainer Emil, to Thursday spinning classes with assistant coach Caitlin, and to biweekly sessions with Judd on learning to “get in the flow”, February has been chock-full of activities bringing us together in preparation for the upcoming season. “We Found Nemo!” The blizzard that hit us in the first week of February was glorious. As a native Californian and Floridian, I hope you can understand my emotions, which ranged from naive wonder, to giddy excitement, to pure happiness. I witnessed these around campus: residential colleges waging snowball wars upon each other, friends and strangers building an enormous snow submarine together on Old Campus, much of Yale sledding down the Divinity School hill using dining hall trays, sparkling icicles, a hot chocolate party, random snow angels lining the JE-Branford walkway, and too many (bad) Finding Nemo jokes/puns. For two hours I even caught up with a friend inside an igloo. Because of the 34" of snowfall we received, Yale and the city of New Haven cancelled two days of classes since roads could not be travelled... a monumental event as cancellations are unheard of in Yale's history! The initial news flash came from the dining hall manager of TD College (who knew she was so in on the “in”?!), even before the YDN could pounce on the story and before Yale College Dean Mary Miller could send out her official email. In that moment I was miserably penning my midterm paper alongside a friend who was cramming for a Spanish exam the next day. So when we heard the news, we stopped, stared into each other’s eyes, both dazed and elated, and roared in excitement with whoever was around us.

Veni, Vidi, Vici! The Proof Three pictures from my Nemo-collection: 1/ View outside my window, post-blizzard morning 2/ Gate closest to my entryway, Jonathan Edwards College. Backstory: In the midst of the blizzard, a bunch of TOO eager Branford students piled an eight foot mountain of snow onto one of the three gates that welcome you to JE. This was rival-enemy residential college BRANFORD in their hooligan attempt to seal us in. 3/ Well, this is my suitemate Ashley… but the main point is how TALL the snow is!

Thoughts on Spring Break ‘13 Midterms and paper deadlines are FINALLY over. The YWGT and the rest of Yale are in a celebratory mood tonight; spring break is just a day away! Our team is leaving tomorrow afternoon to Florida, where we will be staying with our old captain Lissa (DC ‘11). (We can’t wait to see you Lissa!!!!) Upon landing, the next morning we are bringing out the guns and playing in a fun yet competitive matchplay against each other by drawing names out of a hat. On Monday, we will be competing with the University of Richmond and Lehigh University in an organized match. Note: Be forewarned. Our competitiveness is clawing its way out of us like how Rihanna does it in her music videos. While we will be golfing every day and conclude our trip in Virginia at William & Mary’s tournament, we will definitely make a detour to the sandy beaches of Florida if the sharks don’t get us before: http://abcnews.go.com/US/spring-break-shark-swarm-thousands-sharks-shut-florida/story?id=18673202.

My motto for spring break is Relax. I am looking forward to starting my running regimen, reading for pleasure, playing golf on grassy slopes, and basking in the sunlight. (Compare this to my current situation: it is Thursday night before spring break and snowing in New Haven.) Most of all, I am looking forward to bonding with my lovely teammates.

We will note all the times Sun makes random, unrelated remarks during conversations; bask in Alex’s feel-good playlists and her knowledge of fun games and stories; scare the always stoic-faced Deanna and try to get a reaction; deflect all of Moon’s loving advances; coax Michelle to sing for us and show off how good she is at Irish dance; share in karaoke, beauty tips, and peanut butter straight-out-the-jar with Caroline; laugh at Joy’s humorous interpretations of people and situations; and record “Stuff Shreya Says” and provoke Shreya with “Shreya music” to make her demonstrate her hip-shaking dances.

During our trip I will be posting tidbits on our blog, but watch out for a longer post on YWGT anecdotes and golf updates after we wrap up our spring training tour. Stay tuned for more! Until next time, Marika