trains suck.

A lot of people wonder why Amtrak is going down the tubes.  After yesterday, I can give a pretty good answer.  The drive from Hanover to Princeton should take maybe 5 hours.  We spent 11 hours on the train yesterday.  Ugh.  I did some reading, some napping, watched a movie, and still have 3 hours to be completely bored.  It was a super long day, very hot, very muggy, but we made it, and now we are hanging around princeton.  The movie I watched was "Chariots of Fire" which was surprisingly fun to watch.  A lot of it is set in Caius college at Cambridge, where I am going to school next year.  I also related a lot to the excitement of being a young athlete which the characters experience, even if I am not going to the Olympics as they did. 

I am staying at the Aquinas Institute, a Jesuit house which houses a lot of rowers during the summers for free.  Last night Dan Walsh, 6 seat of the Olympic 8+, described it as "marginally cleaner than a frat house, but there are no parties and girls can't spend the night".  Although the living conditions are less than ideal, it is something of an homage to dozens of national team rowers who have gone before us. Most guys on the National team have had a stint here, including my former teammates David Baker Banks and Jake Cornelius.  I saw Banks last night, he seems pretty happy about being selected for Beijing.  As always, however, he is a man of few words.  Jake is nowhere to be seen. I suspect that the guys who got cut have kinda disappeared in an effort to decompress and grieve.  Last night I met the famous Father Tom, the director of the Aquinas Institute.  He is quite a character; with his booming voice, he might actually be the first person I've met who is more friendly than my mother.  

Saying goodbye to Hanover was a mix of emotions.  It is nice to be doing something different, but at the same time, I have grown fond of Hanover.  It also has been really nice staying with my host Leslie.  With both rowing and Geology in common, there was always plenty to talk about.  I will have spotty internet from here on out, so my updates may be less frequent.