Postcard #5
The Amazing Race
The Tigers' Step Outside Comfort Zone With Amazing Race:
Pacific divided up and raced to complete a variety of tasks in a contest of self-reliance. Redshirt Freshman Hailie Eackles talks about stepping outside her comfort zone in a foreign country and adapting to local culture.
At the start of this trip, we were relying on other people. We just asked our tour guide and trip coordinators "Where to we go? What do we do?" and did what we were told by (Jackie Espinosa and Sara Mosiman: Shout to them, they've been awesome!). So doing our version of the Amazing Race -- where we had to find our way around Paris, and complete our list of six required tasks and a few bonus point opportunities -- really forces us to move outside our comfort zone. Since the goal was to get photos of us at different places doing different things, we had to get around the city on our own.
It was fun to do everything on your own and figure things out for yourself. You have to become independent, and if we need help, ask locals instead of our trip leaders. That meant making an effort to use French and work on communication. It was a good opportunity to be in a different culture and see new things and do things the way they do things instead of what we're used to.
We had to use a lot of team work, which will definitely translate to the court. We know we can accomplish things together and I think we won't have to remember it all season long, we'll just expect it. And the amount of running we put in trying to come in first was our daily conditioning.
-- Hailie Eackles, August 15.
Effiel Tower Base: (L-R) Brianna Johnson, Clair Conricode and Sam Pettinger at the base of the Effiel Tower
Challenged with getting pictures of breakdancers as a bonus task, the Tigers improvised when none were found.
(L-R) Erica McKenzie, Hailie Eackles and Shanice Butler at the eternal flame at the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc was commissioned in 1806 by Napoleon and the eternal flame, lit in 1920, burns in memory of the dead who were never identified in World War I (and now both World Wars).
Ande Lampert holds a lock, symbolizing the bond of the Tigers as teammates and family
The Tigers take part in the tradition of placing their locks on the Pont des Arts
Last season Gena Johnson drew a charge. It now hangs in the The Louvre.
