St. Simons is one of several small island off the coast of Georgia, collectively refereed to as the "Golden Isles." Yes, there are islands off the coast of Georgia. No, I didn't know that either. And, yes, it's as beautiful as it sounds.
The typical St. Simons beach house. Seriously.
Each year, the Yale men's ultimate frisbee team drives down to St. Simons to participate in the frisbee tournament there. (For those who aren't familiar with the sport, ultimate frisbee is basically football played with a plastic disk.) The tournament is massive, spanning four one-week sessions and attracting 175 teams each year.
I had just finished taking my midterms, and since we have a second week of spring break, I didn't have to worry about doing work over the trip. We had the first day free, so I decided to rent a bike and explore the island. I visited a lighthouse to the south and Fort Frederica, a national historical landmark, to the north. I even found the oldest church on the island, which has a special connection with Yale: the pastor who rebuilt the church after the Civil War, Anson Dodge, originally preached at a church very close to my residential college.
Frisbee. Nuff said.
The tournament began on the second day. We played three games in a vast public park 15 minutes from our rental house. We saw schools from all over the country. One team, representing "Manchester Community College," didn't even exist--it was just a bunch of regional club players who wanted to play in High Tide. (The would end up winning the tournament.) At the end of the exhausting day, we drove back and cooked a huge spaghetti dinner for the team.
The real kicker was the last day of the tournament, which was held elimination style. Despite the fact that it had been sunny the entire tournament, the weather decided to take a turn for the worse. Rain was pouring down in sheets, and everyone seemed to drop disks or slip in the mud. And despite Yale's men's and women's teams going undefeated into the tournament, both teams lost to their first round opponents in the pouring rain.
The men's team (in dark blue) stands around as a foul is called.
Probably the most amazing part of the trip was how surreal the transition was from school to vacation. One day I'm working on midterms, and the next I'm in a car, driving south on I-95, palm trees and paradise ahead. The fact that it was completely student organized (down to the real estate rental) just made it even more amazing. After having so much fun, I'm definitely looking forward to next year's tournament--and hopefully it won't rain this time.
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