Some School, Some Summer Plans, but Mostly Frisbee

Hi friends!

My last real blog was me introducing my classes, and now here we are in reading period! It’s been a good semester and I have lots to update you guys on!

School: This semester has been good! Biochem was hard, bio was interesting, and orgo 2 and orgo lab were a pain but not that bad, which is essentially what I was expecting. At this point I just have 2 finals and a final lab report (plus some grading for TAing…) then I’m home free! My finals period this semester is pretty chill as although I’m really worried about my biochem final, I am pass/failing orgo 2 because I don’t need it for my new major (bio) and decided that it wasn’t worth the stress so just need to show up to that final which is really nice. I do feel bad for my friends who still are trying to do well in the course though… If I write my lab report sooner rather than later, I’ll be done with school on the 7th!  I also picked my classes for next semester which I think I am excited about? I’m sure I’ll give the low down next year, but I’ll be taking 2 bio classes, 2 edu classes, 1 latin studies class, and a music class or two that I have not decided on yet.

Frisbee: So much fun stuff! We had sectionals a few weeks ago which was a crazy, crazy day. Because of Passover and Easter, every team ever was trying to have it’s events on the same weekend so field issues became the theme of the day. Us and the rest of Metro Boston met at one set of fields, got all set up, and started playing, only to be kicked off by PeeWee soccer! (Lexington’s fault for double booking, but still unsure as to why toddler soccer got priority). We finish the first half of our game, hop into vans and play the second half at a field behind an elementary school that is part rolling hills, part marsh. We then drive to a middle school to meet the rest of our section to continue the day. It’s fairly rainy, so over the course of 2 games we absolutely destroy the 2 fields (and get very muddy), but win both of our games! We then have to move to a new field (unsure why this time), so we get back in the vans for a tour of Lexington on our way to our 4th field complex of the day. However these fields are turf and the sun comes out in time for some great naps (and sunburns lol I took of my shirt for the first time in months and paid for it) during our bye. We play one game and start the next before getting kicked off by peewee lacrosse. Luckily the field next to us is open so we can finish the game without driving, but the move to the 5th field of the day for the last few points of the last game was pretty comical. We go undefeated so win Sectionals! Our only real threat was Northeastern who came in as the No. 1 seed, but it’s still fun to do well. We ended the day with some fancy ice cream from fancy Lexington (imagine Kensington but nicer and bigger and colonial).

Our next tournament was Regionals, which happened last weekend! There was lots and lots of prep and hype and nervousness for this weekend as Regionals decides who goes to Nationals. I won’t go into the complicated algorithm for determining bids, but our region (Northeast) had three bids for nationals, meaning that placing in the top three at Regionals gets you to Natties. We knew that we had what it takes to qualify as we had beaten Northeastern a few weeks before, but were still pretty stressed as there were four teams who had a good shot (Us, Northeastern, Dartmouth, and Vermont) but only three spots. Pool play went well on Saturday, with our only competition being Dartmouth. We spend the night in Amherst at various family homes and eat at the UMass dining halls, which was a terrifying experience. They are ranked No. 1 in the country for food, which made sense, but they had so many options that it was very overwhelming to go for the first time.

Anyways, I think I’m giving you guys too many frisbee details. Sunday started bracket play which is the real intense part of Regionals. Because of our pool play performance, we started in semis against Northeastern. Winner of this game goes onto the final, and more importantly gets a spot at Nationals, while the loser gets put in the losers bracket and must win 2 more games to get to Nationals. It’s a close and intense game, and we lose half 8-6. However Northeastern is too confident (or something idk, but they really messed up) and in the second half we score every single point to win 13-8! Wrecking Northeastern in the second half was so fun and insane and after our 7 straight points we punch our ticket to Natties!!! Yay! We then play Dartmouth in a game just for bragging rights and seeding. We didn’t expect much because of Dartmouth’s reputation, but we end up taking them to universe point (12-12 game to 13) which was crazy too! We lose on universe but taking the reining national champs to double game-point was really exciting. Northeastern barely makes it to the third spot, and forfeit their game against us for seeding.

The rest of the day was spent anxiously watching the men play, who found themselves in the stressful losers bracket. In an exciting game against favorite UMass, the Emen pulled out a surprise win and qualify for Natties while ending the UMass season (big-ish news in the ultimate world). This was really exciting because the Emen had not qualified for Natties in a long time and it had been even longer since both Tufts teams went together, in addition to it being rare that a school sends both a mens and womens teams to Nationals. However, the aftermath of these kinds of games is brutal. The UMass team was previously ranked as a top 10 team in the country so had never considered that their season could end at Regionals, so while the Emen were celebrating like there was no tomorrow, we watched the UMass men quite literally mourn, and not to mention attempt to cancel already booked flights and offer us their AirBnB they had already picked out.

So yeah! Nationals are May 24-28 so I’ll be hanging out here far after I’m done with school, which should be fun. I’m also playing at graduation with Wind Ensemble, but most of my time will be chilling and practicing. I am so excited!!!

EPO (elephant people) after all qualifying!

Summer: After so much deliberation and mind-changing and job applications and nail-biting over whether ewo is going to Nationals, I finally almost know what my summer will look like! I have to be here to move stuff into my new house (ahhh!) so will be on the east coast until June 1st. Then I think I will fly to Seattle to visit Emma for a bit then will somehow get home to visit my mom. Then in a quick turnaround I head back to the east coast to start working at the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, Vermont (essentially Dartmouth. I’ll be living in Hanover) on June 17th! I am very excited about this job, but finding housing has been very stressful (and tbh still isn’t set in stone) and I really don’t know what I’m getting into. Also because of Nationals and the dates of the job, I will probably only be in the Bay for a week in June the whole summer, which I do not know if I’m prepared for. However, I’ll be seeing Emma and my mom in June and my mom is coming to nationals and I’m hoping that they both come visit me over the summer, which is the important part. Really it’s just Lulu that I will be missing :(((. I’ve been trying to remember that if I can move to Yosemite for the summer, I can move anywhere in the summer.

So yeah! Long post, yet again. I find frisbee exciting, but realize that you guys are probably less enthralled than I am...