A week ago, all of us put on unfamiliar clothes and shoes in which we struggled to walk, ate some fancy food, exchanged gifts and thank yous, and officially called it quits for the '08-'09 ski season. After four years of Harvard skiing, I, along with David Woods McCahill (alias "Badman"), wrapped up our careers as Harvard athletes. Our banquet was 4 hours long and I never really got to say even of the things that I wanted to about Harvard Skiing. As such, I reserve the right to be sentimental and cheesy in the following blog post.
Skiing is the best thing that ever happened to me. My earliest memories of skiing involve a lot of crashes, a hand-me-down snowsuit (which was still purple, despite the fact that all of my older siblings/cousins were boys), and serious bribery in the form of M&Ms. The only reason that I liked racing was because when I first started, I was still able to beat my little brother. I also had a huge crush on Cam MacKugler, which was sub-optimal because I'm pretty sure that he and Ida Sargent kept sneaking off and making out in bathrooms. Then a few years down the road, Peter Graves sweet-talked me into applying to Harvard. Sheer laziness kept me from filling out any other applications, so I wound up at a school that is completely foreign in every way from everything that I was used to at age 18. It has Asians and black people, it has people who are smarter than I am, and it is situated in a city, which means that it has homeless people, traffic lights, ethnic food that does not come from Wok 'n' Roll, and a dearth of dirt roads, hills, and snow.
Harvard is not an easy place to ski. I'd argue that its location forces any motivated skier to be more creative, more dedicated, and more immune to boredom than skiers at any other college in the EISA. In trying to be all of those things alongside many of my teammates, I found that I forged some of the best friendships of my life. I'm leaving this program and this school with memories and friends that I wouldn't swap for Petter Northug. (That's a lie, but not too much of a lie, so I'm leaving it there for dramatic effect). Because I came to Harvard to ski, I have had the opportunity to feed Chris Nabel out of pudding-filled paper cups for two straight weeks, the privilege of having Dave's assorted footwear nauseating every Jordan resident, and the honor of seeing the entire girls team naked.
So in just over a month I'm outta here. Where I'm going and what I'm doing, I don't know, but I do know that I'll miss you guys. So thanks for the good times.
Over and out,
Schlutzerrrr
Skiing is the best thing that ever happened to me. My earliest memories of skiing involve a lot of crashes, a hand-me-down snowsuit (which was still purple, despite the fact that all of my older siblings/cousins were boys), and serious bribery in the form of M&Ms. The only reason that I liked racing was because when I first started, I was still able to beat my little brother. I also had a huge crush on Cam MacKugler, which was sub-optimal because I'm pretty sure that he and Ida Sargent kept sneaking off and making out in bathrooms. Then a few years down the road, Peter Graves sweet-talked me into applying to Harvard. Sheer laziness kept me from filling out any other applications, so I wound up at a school that is completely foreign in every way from everything that I was used to at age 18. It has Asians and black people, it has people who are smarter than I am, and it is situated in a city, which means that it has homeless people, traffic lights, ethnic food that does not come from Wok 'n' Roll, and a dearth of dirt roads, hills, and snow.
Harvard is not an easy place to ski. I'd argue that its location forces any motivated skier to be more creative, more dedicated, and more immune to boredom than skiers at any other college in the EISA. In trying to be all of those things alongside many of my teammates, I found that I forged some of the best friendships of my life. I'm leaving this program and this school with memories and friends that I wouldn't swap for Petter Northug. (That's a lie, but not too much of a lie, so I'm leaving it there for dramatic effect). Because I came to Harvard to ski, I have had the opportunity to feed Chris Nabel out of pudding-filled paper cups for two straight weeks, the privilege of having Dave's assorted footwear nauseating every Jordan resident, and the honor of seeing the entire girls team naked.
So in just over a month I'm outta here. Where I'm going and what I'm doing, I don't know, but I do know that I'll miss you guys. So thanks for the good times.
Over and out,
Schlutzerrrr
