And we’re off….

So we’ll just say my trip didn’t start off too lovely. The day started at 3:30 am east coast time. I had to be at the Detroit airport in time for my 6am flight to Chicago. I passed out pretty quickly and woke up to the girl directly next to me throwing up in her barf bag. Yes, that’s right, throwing up right next to me. This, in return, made me want to throw up. I pushed myself up against the window as much as I could. So I got off my first flight already nauseous. Then my flight to LAX was delayed 45 minutes and I was flying seperate from my CW teammates and coach. So I went to kill time at Starbucks and then they didn’t have my blueberry white tea ice tea I wanted!! So I settled for a non-fat latte.

I met up with some teammates and coaches from Northwestern, one of them being Matt Grevers, whom I enjoy. He always has a good story or something entertaining to say. Heading to LA, this passenger tried to switch me my window seat for her middle seat. Ummm ya, no thanks. So I passed out again after flipping through my fashion magazine.

Fortunately I was lucky enough to upgrade my 11 hour flight to Tokyo. I met an awesome American family who live in Bangkok and the 2 children swim there as well. They were very nice to speak with and told us we would enjoy our visit. I expressed my concern with how bad the humidity was and how my asthma wouldn’t be a good combo but they actually thought it was harder to run outside in the states then it is there. That was great to hear. I watched a movie, ate an interesting meal, and feel asleep for about 7 hours. I finished the flight by indulging in Harry Potter. I’m on the second to last book right now. I know I’m totally behind. I love these books. I wish I could go to Hogwarts!

After our 11 hour fight, we had a short lay over, then a 7 hour flight to Singapore, where we will stay for about 6 days. The plane wasn’t full so I got to take up 3 seats, so I just laid across them and went to sleep again. I swear, I am a sleeping champion! I am so lucky I was able to sleep for the majority of this 46 hour travel.

After getting through customs and retrieving our bags, we got on the road towards the hotel at 12:45 AM. Everyone seems to be in good moods despite the long travel. I actually do not know too many people on this trip, but I look forward to meeting them. I am for sure the veteran/grandma of this team.

We are almost to the hotel. It’s a 5 star hotel that is supposed to be amazing. I’m excited to see it. We have to be up and ready to head to the pool by 7:45, that’s pretty soon!! Better get some more sleep!

~KSS

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Star Blogs to Resume From Bangkok

After the inaugural “Star Blog”, written by Jessica Hardy from Australia during the World Championships, Kaitlin Sandeno has now signed on to blog from Bangkok where she will be competing at the 2007 World University Games.

Kaitlin’s exclusive blog will appear right here on Swim Stars Live in between our own posts covering the CP Summer Nationals in Indianapolis. For easy access to Kaitlin’s blog, bookmark this link or you can access it from the menu on the sidebar to your right.

Kaitlin will leave for Bangkok on Sunday, so keep an eye on Swim Stars Live for Kaitlin’s first post!

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another blog

hello hello. again, sorry that i have not written in quite a while. the past couple of weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions, and i have been a bit caught up. i’m sure if you’re taking the time to read this, you also took the time to follow the meet..so i’m sure you already know how that went.
i struggled a bit in the 100 breast, and i am not exactly pleaseed with a 4th place result and swimming over a second slower than my best time. i could tell myself that i am exhausted from ncaa’s and the whole collegiate season before world champs, but i don’t like excuses. it was a humbling experience and i now have extra motivation going back into training. i did have the opportunity to swim the 50 breaststroke also at worlds, an event that i am very pleased with the outcome! i went a lifetime best time, and broke my own american record…and even beat the infamous leisel jones!! it was my first international gold medal, and i was so proud to hear the national anthem on that podium for an event that i won all by myself. an experience i will never forget. the only thing i am bummed about is that i didn’t have any grillz to wear like ryan!!
after world i had to go directly to sydney for the duel in the pool. that was another fun event. a few more team members were added to our usa roster for the duel, and 2 out of the 3 women were breaststrokers, so we definitely had our breaststroke events loaded! so i didn’t have to swim the 200 breast like the coaches were threatenening all week (thank god!); however, i did get the rare opportunity to swim the 50 free. i went a lifetime best (26.0), even though i finished last in my heat (whoops)! but i was just happy to be in the race. when we were in the ready room before the event, libby lenton came up to me and jokingly said “i wouldn’t have made you out to be a freestyler!” it’s a lot more fun to swim events when there’s no pressure.
i then had to come straight back to berkeley, cali to get back to school. i have already missed almost two months of school combined with the dates missed from all of the duel meets, pac 10s, ncaa’s, worlds and duel in the pool. my professors have been supportive, but i definitely have a lot on my plate with makeup work. wish me luck!!
tomorrow is easter sunday! i am going to go to my friend’s house who lives close to campus to celebrate with an easter brunch and some egg hunting. then it’s back to work in the library!
i just wanted to take the time to thank you all for reading my blog! i appreciate all of your support and enthusiasm. keep looking at the swim stars website - they never cease to have tons of fun pictures and articles to look at cheers, jessica

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Training Camp

G’day.
Apologies for not writing. I don’t really have an excuse as I have simply been swimming, sleeping, and lounging around the hotel as my only form of entertainment. I guess I just haven’t been writing as there have been a lack of events to report!
Training has been going well. I had to quickly build back up in yardage again after NCAA’s last week, but I am again coming off of that, so I have been having fun doing shorter workouts.
We have gotten to have two dinners out of the hotel and away from the buffet food. The first night, a group of us went to a small, private-owned restaurant called Savvas. My dinner was delicious, but the highlight of the night was by far trying something completely new. We noticed that there was an entrée on the menu called “Crumbed Brain,” so we asked the waiter what it was about. He told us it was fried lamb brain, and that he would bring it out for us on the house to try! It was definitely not something that I will ever eat again, but I am proud to say that I have tried lamb brain.
The other dinner out Dana Vollmer and I went for sushi, and then went to see a movie afterward, where we ran into several of our teammates who had the same idea. We ended up seeing “Music and Lyrics.” It wasn’t amazing, but it was definitely a cute and enjoyable movie.
The only other adventure that we have had outside of the hotel and normal training schedule was our beach/shopping day. Most of us took Sunday off last weekend, so a couple of people on the staff at USA Swimming organized to take some of to the beach. However, the weather definitely didn’t want to cooperate, and it was a little chilly to stay, so we then went to some local surf stores and took a look around. I didn’t end up buying anything, but I still had a fun afternoon!
We only have two more days here at our training camp in Geelong, Australia. I am definitely enjoying not having many responsibilities, but I am really looking forward to going to Melbourne and start focusing on racing! I am swimming the 100 and 50 breaststrokes, and if all goes to plan, the 400 medley relay as well. I haven’t seen the psyche sheets yet, but I believe I am the 2nd fastest in the world behind Leisel Jones, who happens to be one of Australia’s superstars. I am looking forward to racing her in her home country, where I am pretty sure the Australians will be enthused about our race.
Until next time! I’ll be sure to keep my eyes open for any kangaroos or koalas to report to you about!

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Hello from downunder!

Hello from down under! We arrived only a couple of hours ago. The flights went fairly smoothly… I started in San Francisco and had a 13.5 hour flight to Sydney, which I managed to sleep for about 12 of those hours. It’s helpful that I’m still recovering from the NCAA Championships a couple of days ago; my body welcomed the sleep. We then had a layover in Sydney for two hours, and waited for the people arriving from a flight out of LA to join us before jumping on another hour-long flight to Melbourne. Once we landed, I was immediately overjoyed because it’s about 80 degrees farenheit, the sun is shining, and our hotel is overlooking a beautiful harbor. My kind of location!! We just had some lunch (it’s about 1:45 in the afternoon on Thursday here, but 7:45 at night on Wednesday at home in Cali), and have another couple of minutes before we’re going to explore the Australian pools for some training! Thanks for reading, I’ll be sure to update you all as mufh as possible.

Cheers!,
Jessica

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Swim Stars Live presents “Star Blogs” from Australia!

A couple of Swim Stars will take the reigns and provide updates on Swim Stars Live. Fans will be treated to some behind-the-scenes perspective during the FINA World Championships through the newly launched “Star Blogs” feature.

Swim Stars Jessica Hardy and Katie Hoff have signed on to blog from down under. Their exclusive blogs will cover any topic they choose as they compete at the FINA World Championships and Duel in the Pool.

Team USA leaves for Australia today, so keep an eye on Swim Stars Live, in the coming days, for their first entries!

NOTE: Due to unforseen circumstances (and our general bad luck), Katie will not be able to participate in this feature during the World Championships. Our apologies.

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