This post is late as well but in my defense I am currently flying somewhere over the Atlantic ocean using crappy wifi I was forced to buy from United because I have an essay due. I have been in Helsinki Finland this weekend for a world cup and I am finally on my way to sweet ole PSU. I have already been to Helsinki in fact I wrote a blog post about it last semester, however this post will be so different than the last as this time there was also a mens event here at the same time which always makes things super interesting.
This time coming to Finland was a lot less exciting than last years however I certainly enjoyed myself much more than last time. There were no trips to the city (we were staying at a small hotel next to the convention center like 15 min away from the actual city) so there were no cute cafes or cool churches to visit, instead we wandered to the grocery store and this shack that looked like a really sketchy food truck called X-burger which was surprisingly delicious it was actually one of the best burgers I have had in a while. Besides our occasional outing to the convention center and X-burger, we mostly just stayed in the hotel and hung out or in my case did homework in the same room with all my friends because I have no time to spare anymore.
The actual tournament was both super stressful and really fun. It was awful in terms of having to think about results and team points ( I am currently fighting for the last spot on the team that represents the USA at world championships) but when I forgot about all the political stuff and get in my zone I always have a blast no matter how much I complain about it. Our individual event started at around 11:30 which is pretty late for us as we mostly get 7-8 am check in. We fenced a round of pools and then had DEs until around 8. It only took this long because they were running the men and women event at the same time and three of us made the top 8, myself included. After fencing all day and gaining some team points (yaaassss) we had to rush to the hotel restaurant because the kitchen closed at 10 and we got there around 9:15.
When we sat down and looked at the menu we realized it was the same exact menu as previous years and you know what that means, pasta drowned in bbq sauce with some chicken tossed on it. My friend and I are both still scarred from last time haha. I branched out and had meatballs one night, a burger another and then finally tried the salmon all of which I thought were excellent. The next day was team events so we had to be there early and have group warmups as well as plan our chants.
Team events help the USA standing team wise at worlds so we always make sure we fence it for practice. We had a tough ladder and only got sixth however we all fenced very well considering we were pooped from the day before. After team finished we trecked down to X-burger one more time and just kind of chilled out until people had to catch shuttles for their flights home.
As you can see tournaments are pretty in and out especially when you have a shit ton of hw to do.
I initially chuckled as you posted this blog late because I too am commenting on this late. However, I am behind because I was absent from being sick one day, not because I was on another continent, halfway around the world… That’s awesome!!
Anyways, I thought this blog was awesome. I love to travel and I have unfortunately not been able to go anywhere in Europe yet. I never really thought of Finland but after reading this blog, it sounds pretty lit. Additionally, the one thing that sounded cooler than Finland itself during this blog was you and how you are a fencing badass! First and foremost, congrats. From the sounds of it, you could beat any knight or pirate in a sword fight and that’s pretty impressive. Fencing was not even a thing from where I came from, so once I first heard that you were on the fencing team, I thought that was very interesting. Best of luck as you continue your career!