Day seven of the Emory University Women's Tennis team's trip to Thailand, written by freshman Katie Chang.
Today was not the most typical day in Thailand for the Emory Women's Tennis Team. I'm sure by now you will have recognized a pattern in the daily vacation routines of us Eagles including our tri-daily orders of Pad Thai with extra lime as well as our almost daily $5 foot massages.
We kicked off this Tuesday morning with some major excitement. Imagine this: a swarm of fifteen people, ten matching blue backpacks, and roughly twenty tennis rackets flying through an airport terminal weaving and dodging any and every innocent local or tourist passing by. Due to some unexpected heavy traffic, we found ourselves in a panic to board our flight from Phuket to Chiang Mai on time. We laughed through the ordeal nonetheless, though freshman Sasha Hartje may have been slightly upset that her jar of crunchy peanut butter had been taken away by security.
When we finally landed in Chiang Mai, we took two red trucks to our friends' home where we were warmly greeted by neatly and colorfully made beds and an entire dining room table of ready-to-eat, exotic local fruits. After enjoying multiple plates of these fruits, we headed off to our first team tennis practice of the trip. Though we only had two courts, EWT always knows how to get in a good workout because before we knew it, we were all glistening in the sun with sweat dripping down our faces.
After a couple brutal hours of tennis under the beating Thailand sun, it was finally time for all our favorite time of the day: dinner! We took a peaceful walk to a beautiful restaurant without having to worry about getting run over by cars, tuk tuk taxis or motorcycles. The dinner, made up of 11 different dishes (only one of which was shockingly Pad Thai) was absolutely incredible. When silence overtakes the dinner table, you know that the Eagles are enjoying a good meal. And let me assure you, the meal was very good, and the table was very quiet. We wrapped up the day in relaxation by watching a movie or two and all agreed that we had had yet another incredible day's experience in Thailand.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's report; there are many more adventures to come!
Be sure to continue following the team's trip on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as with daily journal entries on emoryathletics.com.