Ultimate Day!

I'm deliciously sore tonight from ultimate and definitely smiling from a day of disc under the sun but I'm getting ahead of myself.  Yesterday afternoon I finally got myself properly organized for school and did some cleaning.  Those of you who've seen me do this know that all the papers go in their specific folders, labeled of course, reading lists are made, etc, etc, etc.  Somehow I'd made it through the first week of class neglecting to do this and dealing with the fact that they use A4 paper here which is slightly larger than a regular 8.5x11 and does not fit in a regular folder.  Anyway, it felt nice to put my stuff back in order and I'm ready to dig into classes.  Last night we did end up heading down to the Thames for dinner and a movie.  The waterfront was beautiful at night, Tower Bridge and the Tower were all lit up with white lights.  I didn't bring my camera but I'll definitely be back there with it; there's just something about being on the water.  The movie was playing at the Scoop, an outdoor amphitheater which was packed full so it was hard to see.  Instead of battling along the rails for a seat, we sat nearby and enjoyed our sandwiches from EAT! while discussing how hard it is to find a 'normal' sandwich here - there's all sorts of things you wouldn’t normally put in them here.  Afterwards we found spots where we could mostly see and watched the rest of True Grit leaning up against metal barriers.  Even though it was chilly by the end, definitely a good night.  It ended by saying hi to the family, pup and all, before they sat down for dinner (by the way guys, you owe me a slice of pizza). 

Today was ULTIMATE DAY!!!!! I'd been sorely missing it and didn't even realize how much until I was on the field.  Tube construction meant that it took a half hr via bus to get there since my section is under construction but it was easy enough.  Practice was at 11 and I was so eager to lace up and get going that I only partially minded that right after we warmed up, we did sprints.  The rest of practice consisted of teaching people new to the sport how to toss, doing a couple of bullet drills (man am I out of practice breaking the mark on this, or just not used to defenders nearly a foot taller than me), on the hook (as winner I earned myself a free beer and possibly some cred?) and lots of scrimmaging.  Being out there playing was so much fun I barely took a sub even though it was hot out again today, 80s F or 20s C, and even spent a reasonable amount of time handling.  It's not my position back home and definitely somewhere I'm not totally comfortable yet but we'll see how it plays out.  I definitely need to work on my dump cuts though!  One of my favorite parts was just the people.  Players are one of the reasons I love Ultimate so much and this bunch was no different, they were all very welcoming and it felt like I just slipped in as one of the group pretty easily.  Afterwards, most of the group went to a nearby pub to relax for a bit before heading back towards campus and home.  Overall, it's been an excellent Saturday all around, so long as one ignores the pile of reading I've yet to do and believe I'll go start now.  Tomorrow's likely to be spent at the library so I wouldn't expect an update but then there's only one day left before our trip to Edinburgh!