WASHINGTON – The Georgetown swimming & diving team is currently in Puerto Rico for its annual winter training trip. Throughout GU's week-long stay, GUHoyas.com will receive updates from members of the team. Today's first update is from junior diver
Naomi Peng.
…
Greetings from San Juan!
Although the H2oyas have only been here for about one full day and had three practices, we have already reapplied our sunscreen more than five times and many of us are still burnt. The team started off our trip with an early morning departure on Dec. 31 from Georgetown at 5:30 a.m. and headed to the airport. After a four-hour flight which passed pretty quickly, we landed in San Juan around 1:30 p.m. and could immediately feel the strong sun and humidity in the air. We checked into our hotel and had a little down time before our first practice. During this time, we were able to settle down, get lunch and enjoy the beautiful beach and blue, tropical ocean views.
While we were on the way to our first practice, we set the mood by listening to some Spanish tunes and reflecting back on our best memories, pictures and songs of the decade.
The pool itself is pretty big, with a long-course pool on one side of the facility and a separate pool with 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards and a full platform tower on the other side of the facility. After practice, we headed to the grocery store which always gets a little crazy, as 50 athletes are running around trying to locate the bread, deli meat and snacks. I learned my lesson from last year and went straight to the peanut butter aisle before all of the H2oyas emptied the shelf.
In the evening, team members bonded with each other by playing games and cards, watching TV or relaxing as we counted down the last moments of 2019. Looking over the balcony of our rooms, we could see various fireworks going off from different locations around San Juan - some of them even coming from the street right below us!
Practice the next day was from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. so those who stayed up for the new year were still able to get some good rest in before another full day. After kicking off 2020 with a wonderful morning practice, we went to the beach and played frisbee while others caught some waves at a surf beach nearby.
Overall, we've had a great start to our trip! I know all of us are just excited to be back in Puerto Rico with our amazing teammates, doing the things we love the most. We look forward to working hard and having an outstanding rest of the week!
- Naomi
