Senior reflections can be found here, and a full photo gallery from the trip can be found here.
June 28 - Allie DaCar
Kia Ora, Bula, Thank You Stanford
Hi, I'm Allie, and I'm a graduated (eeep) senior from last year's team. I'm going to tell you all about our day from Waitomo to Hobbiton to Rotorua.
I woke up at six this morning feeling wide-awake after ten hours of a very deep sleep. Our sleep schedule has been out of whack on this trip; I can't remember the last time I went to bed before 9pm in the US. One of my roommates in the cute Waitomo cabins (shoutout @Trudie) was sound sleep by 6:30pm, leaving the rest of us to figure out what three-person card games we could play. After I woke up this morning, I went outside to call my dad for his birthday, then put on some warm work-out clothing to go for a jog around the beautiful town. Yesterday Chelsea was proposed to on top of these breathtaking, green, rolling hills overlooking all of Waitomo, so I set out on this destination once again. As I jogged to the trailhead, I passed a few teammates (and Chelsea) doing hill sprints, so naturally I sprinted quickly DOWN that hill to avoid taking part. I got to the trailhead and started to ascend at probably the slowest-paced jogging speed I could go, then remembered that I am a retired athlete, so I started to walk. I got to the lookout just before sunrise and of course, took some beautiful iPhone 6 pictures. After about ten minutes up on the hill by myself, the two teammates doing hill sprints earlier appeared out of the trees and came up to the hill and joined me in watching the sunrise. Another photoshoot!!
We then went back down the hill to take some pictures with the cows in the farms nearby. I had to get an iconic picture with the cows while I wore my HumBio Got Lactase? shirt.
After our many photoshoots we grabbed breakfast before heading back on the bus towards the Hobbiton movie set.
There might be a couple Lord of the Rings references in here, but I am right there with anyone who hasn't seen all the movies or read all of the books. I think I've watched one movie from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and another from the Hobbit Trilogy, so I am just as familiar with those of you who know absolutely nothing.
The first thing I learned on our Hobbiton tour was that all five feet, two inches of me is short enough to fit into a hobbit hole without crouching down. The maximum height of a hobbit, according to our tour guide, is 5'4''. By these standards, eight people from our roster can start living life as a hobbit. I also learned that there were forty-four hobbit holes in the Hobbiton Movie Set; in case you don't know, forty-four is my lucky number. Just check out our roster. These two fun details alone settled it—I'm a hobbit, and Hobbiton is my home. I think a good rest of our team found a home in Hobbiton, being that the 33+ people in our group stopped at nearly every hobbit hole along the way to take pictures with the little doors and hobbit-sized gardens.
Our Hobbiton tour guide made a funny note of how the director and filming crew "creates" a hobbit. Put a normal-sized man in front of a hobbit hole door and the man looks like Gandoff. Put a similar-sized man in front of a very large door and the man looks like a hobbit. It's all about perspective. Perspective is what gives us the opportunity to use our imaginations and to foster our creativity. But perspective is also what allows us to be thankful and mindful. This small description of how hobbits are created reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, "what is behind your eyes holds more power than what is in front of them." All of our traveling in Fiji and New Zealand has truly enlightened what is behind my eyes. And I think many people on this team can say the same. In Fiji, we stayed at a resort that housed the most high-end training facility in the entire country, where the gold-medal Fijian Rugby Seven's Team does all of their training. Compared to our training facilities at Stanford, this place was a cesspool. The grass hadn't been cut in months, it was flooded from the rain, wild animals lurked everywhere, but this was the best they had. Coach Amy reminded us to take a step back and appreciate what we have at Stanford, and that's exactly what we did. The Fijian rugby players are more than grateful for their facilities, and as such we should be grateful for ours, and grateful for our chance to explore this side of the world. Likewise, for the short time we did service in Fiji, we tried to take the perspective of the kids, who had not much more than the clothes on their backs. I personally left feeling enormously thankful for the opportunity we have to share our love of the game with these children. I felt even more thankful for the luxuries that we all have in the United States, especially at a university like Stanford.
Nearing the end of this trip I have found myself feeling especially appreciative for the opportunity that being on the Stanford Women's Lacrosse Team has given me. If you had told me in high school that playing on a sports team would give me an all-expenses-paid trip to Fiji and New Zealand, it would have taken a while to see that dream as a reality. One could complain about the cold weather in New Zealand, or one could appreciate a morning walk to see a breathtaking sunrise around one of the prettiest lakes that I have ever seen in the world. I think going with the latter perspective makes this trip 100% worthwhile. Thank you Stanford lacrosse; this experience is one I will remember forever.
June 27 - Maggie Nick
Kia Ora from New Zealand!
Day nine was mightyyyy fine. We woke up this morning in Auckland to blue skies and sunshine before departing for our two-hour journey to Waitomo. Along the way, we transitioned from the city to the countryside. We came for the grassy hills and large cows (they produce amazing dairy products which explains why our pizza we had for dinner was so delicious) and stayed for the Waitomo glowworm caves. The only word I can use to describe this experience was LIT (pun intended). The Waitomo glowworm cave is a main attraction site found exclusively in New Zealand. Inside the dark caves made purely of limestone, a luminous glowworm species (no larger than a pinky nail) attaches to the cave ceilings. When we were deep into the cave, we took a boat ride down a stream of water and saw the thousands of tiny glowworms light up. Once our tour guide compared the glowworms to stars in a night sky, we were on a mission to find the little dipper. After finishing the boat ride, we headed back to the hotel for some "rest and down time." Little did we know, these few hours proved to be everything but unordinary. As some of us went on an afternoon jog, we heard excited cheers from our team that our assistant coach Chelsea Gamble got engaged! We immediately grabbed my speaker, ran to the top of the hill to the lookout spot where the rest of our coaches were, and danced to wedding songs to celebrate how (Mike) #Hoffmantakesagamble. Our team already prepared their wedding hashtag. It was an amazing experience to overlook the north island area of Waitomo while celebrating with our closest teammates, coaches, and friends. Everyone was ecstatic! We finished off the night with a champagne toast to the beautiful newly engaged couple, Chelsea and Mike, before ordering tons of great pizza and French fries. This day was definitely one of my favorites and I am so excited to be the flower girl in the wedding next year. Bye for now and stay tuned for what's in store for day TEN!
June 26 - Kelsey MurrayHi I'm Kelsey and I love food, so this was an appropriate blog day for me cause pretty much all we did was eat. I'll break down our menu for you...
Breakfast:
We had lots of free time this morning, which means the team splintered in different directions for breakfast. Many people woke up and took advantage of the many activities in Auckland – hikes on Mt. Eden, trips to the top of the Sky Tower (tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere!), runs (or shopping) throughout the streets of Auckland. This meant that food included quick stops at the hotel breakfast, various local Auckland coffee shops, or a larger breakfast in cute little cafes. One of my roomies and I (shout out @Maggie) took advantage of the lovely morning time to catch up on some sleep, so we were the creative ones who bolted across the street to Starbucks for a quick bite before the bus (don't sleep on New Zealand Starbucks though, the warm Pretzel chicken sandwich that I had was great. I will be petitioning USA Starbucks to add this menu item).
Lunch:
Our tour guide Katie gave us a tour of Auckland with various facts about New Zealand and its history as we drove to Mission Bay. We all learned a lot, but for the sake of the length of this post I won't give you my random list of facts. When we arrived at Mission Bay, we all went different directions (again) for lunch. I went to the place Katie recommended, called BurgerFuel. She also recommended that because of a surprise we were having later, to split the burger with a friend. This was difficult for me because I don't remember ever sharing a burger in my life. But my half of a burger was really delicious... we also all tried Kumara Fries, which is a vegetable grown in New Zealand that tastes like sweet potato. Big fan of lunch.
Post-Lunch Dessert:
Yes, post-lunch dessert is it's own category... and if you knew what Giapo's was, you'd know why. There is truly only one word to sum up the experience: indescribable. Unfortunately, you all are stuck with me trying to describe it. I'll do my best... Katie led us into a seemingly small shop that smelled strongly of chocolate and waffle cones. I wondered how we would all fit in to this place until we were taken upstairs to a large table with 22 place settings. As we settled in, Giapo explained to us how he created his store and concept. By blending two positives that are normally separate entities, such as music and ice cream, he believed he could create a combined harmonious experience that was greater than the sum of its parts. The student in me feels the need to let you know that Giapo has published a peer-reviewed papers on the topic, the most recent an examination of the effects of background music on the taste of gelato... but the graduate in me feels that providing you the link is sufficient, rather than a proper APA citation (https://www.giapo.com/effect-background-musicfood-pleasantnessratings/ ). Ok, so I only read the abstract for that article, but after the afternoon I just had, I can tell you that everything he thinks, studies and creates is true. Imaginative, intense, creative, technical... a beautiful blend of art, music, science and most importantly, ice cream. We were served multiple courses of gelato each paired with a song blasting through the speakers behind us. Enter Sandman, Dream On, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Big Papa... we were jamming. Cones were topped with crazy chocolate shapes that had been 3D printed (yes, 3D printing in chocolate) and included a large squid, a scale version of the Auckland SkyTower and two halves of the Auckland Harbour Bridge. We enjoyed flavors inspired by street carts in India, scraps from the Cadbury Factory in Dunedin, and, my personal favorite, French fries with ice cream.
Alright, this French fry situation gets its own paragraph because it was by far my favorite part. I'm an avid supporter of all things sweet and salty, so when Giapo started talking about the first time he ever dipped a chip into his ice cream as a child, I started to get really excited. It only got better. When a plate of warm French fries topped with gelato was placed down in front of us, I think our team collectively felt like the happiest people in the entire world (the last time I saw that many smiles we had won the Pac-12 championship. Just for reference). The fries were perfectly crunchy, soft and salted - easily the best I've ever had in my life. Alright, that's my attempt to describe the indescribable. If you're still reading this, you should really just come to New Zealand and try Giapo's yourself. I already know I didn't do it justice.
Dinner:
Elliott Stables is a former stable in Auckland that now serves as the site of a fancy food court. We had our choice between numerous cuisines, including Mexican, Italian, Seafood, Sushi, Indian, Thai... there was something for everyone. I had a sushi/sashimi combo that arrived in a sushi boat (don't worry, I shared with Galen) and it was delicious, albeit a little strange that the people around me were eating pizza and risotto while I was eating sushi.
Overall our fancy food court experience was a huge plus, and I think we would definitely support an Elliott Stables opening up in Palo Alto!
I just reread this post before sending it in, and I'm honestly surprised I wrote this much about our day of food. But it did play to my strengths! Another wonderful day on our trip.
June 25 - Madison O'Leary
Woo! Monday, June 25th here, our FIRST FULL DAY IN NEW ZEALAND! First order of business of course was breakfast, a Best Western President full buffet, eggs, pancakes, granola, more pancakes, everything one would need to fuel up for the big day ahead. We left the Hotel around 8am and walked down to the waterfront to meet our Ferry over to Waiheke Island. We had heard raving reviews about the Island from the girls on the U19 New Zealand team and it certainly did not disappoint! We were fortunate enough to be invited into the stunning home of the owners of Te Rere wine label. The winery and home stood perched on the side of the Waiheke hill and had sprawling views of the water and rest of the beautiful island. After a quick tour of the property and home we sat down inside, or for some of us on giant floaties in the pool(yes, I am looking at you Cameron), for some good ole' Fish and Chips.
After lunch we said our goodbyes and ferried back to the mainland for a little R&R (rest and relaxation) before our afternoon Clinic at the Epsom Girls Grammar School. The clinic was another awesome opportunity for us to help grow the game in New Zealand and hang out with girls who love lacrosse as much as we do! It was a little wet and slippery but luckily there were few casualties to the mud and Cameron only hit the goalie once with a shot (which for all the fans at home, don't worry, Cookie got a video of). So, all in all, I would say it was a successful outing!
We ate a delicious pregame meal at Wagamama but unfortunately a few of our teammates weren't feeling well and so we dropped them back off at the hotel before heading back over to the Rifle Club for our game against the Auckland Invitational team. With many of our Middies down and out with sickness I saw this as my chance to make my midfield debut!! After a quick bus X's and O's consultation to learn the offensive plays with Kelsey and Dillon I let Amy know I was ready to go should she need any help on the offensive side of the ball. Unfortunately my dreams were quickly crushed when Amy made it abundantly clear "I was not needed down there, thank you." Never fear, a quick mental bounce back and to defense you go Madison. Much to our coaches chagrin though a few plays into the game I saw my chance. A quick save and clear by Allie DaCar led to me carrying the ball over into, unknown territory, the offensive end. It was my moment, now or never, everything went into slow-mo, the right side had cleared through and I took the lane, the goalie held the pipe so I pulled back and ripped a shot off stick side low: MY FIRST EVER COLLEGIATE GOAL in MY LAST GAME EVER!!! The crowd erupted, fireworks flew, Amy shook her head, Douglas didn't get it on camera but he has since been forgiven. The impossible had become possible, it was a truly out of body moment and the only thing missing was my goal song. The rest of the game was honestly a blur but today was definitely the highlight of my trip and I am never washing this jersey (sorry mom and all future roommates). Madison O'Leary, signing off.
June 24 - Sandy Smith
Today we headed to New Zealand from Fiji! We had an early wake up and packed up our stuff to head to the Nadi airport and take the three-hour flight to New Zealand. As a recap of our time in Fiji, it was truly special to be immersed in a culture unlike our own. Hosting a clinic on the field that the World Cup Champion Fiji 7's Rugby team trains on was very special. It was another amazing reminder of how incredibly fortunate we are to have the facilities we do and all of the resources that go along with training to be at peak performance. I truly believe it is a different type of experience to see and hear about what other athletes do around the world and then to actually be physically be there and understand just how much athletics can bring countries together no matter what the facilities look like. On top of this, the kids' joy, smiles, and energy were infectious and truly made a lasting impact on our team. For one, they were very athletic and caught on quickly to the passing and catching aspects of lacrosse! Secondly, they were so very happy to be there and running around trying something new. It definitely emphasizes how impactful sports and community can be when two cultures come together that barely even speak the same language - a very, very cool experience. Without the help of all the incredible donors, we could not have had this experience as student-athletes. As a senior, it is a true privilege to get to be a part of this foreign tour, for we are on our way out of Stanford. Getting to represent Stanford one last time as an undergraduate in this way is a once-in-a-lifetime thing to do.
Tonight, we play the New Zealand U19 national team. They are training for their U19 World Cup. In 2015 and 2016, the New Zealand Senior National team came to Stanford to play us, and it is awesome to be able to see how the game has developed in the younger ages in New Zealand. Once we arrived in Auckland, we went straight to our game. It was definitely a competitive game, as we were awed by their scrappiness, athleticism, and speed. Their team had some girls actually heading back to the United States for college lacrosse at Villanova and Longwood. After the game, we had a social with the team at the clubhouse where they hosted us for dinner, and we got to mingle with all of the girls and coaches. They ranged from ages 15-18. We asked them a bunch of questions about the game of lacrosse, how long they had been playing, what it was like to play in New Zealand, and more questions about their everyday lives. Dillon and I spoke to two girls who said that really there is only about 3-5 local teams that play lacrosse, but training for the national U19 team is something they are extremely proud of. Additionally, they are preparing to travel to Virginia in July for tournaments that we played in ourselves as middle schoolers and high schoolers. It was really unique to be able to share those experiences with them and hear their perspectives from halfway across the world. Tomorrow, we will get to tour a winery and see a lot more of Auckland as well as host a clinic and play a second game. It was an early start of a morning with a great finish of a night!
June 23 - Dillon Schoen
LAST DAY IN FIJI! The past two days have been packed with bamboo canoeing, jumping in waterfalls, kayaking, cultural immersion, and delicious food…. For our last day we were focused on doing some more service-oriented activities to top off our time on this island before heading on our second leg of the trip.
The day began around 7am with a morning workout by the ocean – our beautiful accommodations at the Uprising Resort are nestled on a strip of white sandy beach that stretches a mile down shore with sweeping views of volcanic islands in the distance. I walked out the back door of my villa straight to the beach to start my morning jog, only to see several of my teammates already out there getting their morning sweat on – from beach circuits, to 60 yard shuttle runs marked with coconuts, and sunrise kayaking, all forms of exercise are welcome, really whatever floats your boat *pun intended*.
After breakfast we had some downtime and met with some of the resort employees who are tasked with planting mangrove trees around the property. We learned that mangrove trees are crucial factors in supporting the ecosystems in the Fijian islands as they protect the land from tsunamis and promote biodiversity. We planted more than 60 seedlings of mangrove trees into recycled Fiji Water bottles. After a few months of growth, the saplings will be planted in the surrounding area for island protection.
Tree planting was followed by more beach time and lunch. The overcast weather doesn't stop this group from relaxing on the beach, reading, and of course… spike ball. Word on the street is that spike ball is becoming Stanford's next varsity sport, contact Allie Baecar, Trudie, or Taylor for tryout info.
After putting our newly learned coconut-splitting skills to the test, we headed out to the rugby field at the resort for a lacrosse clinic with Fijian children. Over 30 children from the ages of 5-to-15 showed up to the field from all over the island to learn about lacrosse. Their smiles warmed our heart and reminded us all of the power of breaking language and cultural barriers to create friendships through the love of sport. We taught catching and throwing, relay races, and held a full-field scrimmage at the end of the session to see their newly-learned skills in action. At the end of our practice we handed out Stanford stickers and honey stinger chews to our new friends and said goodbyes. It was life-changing and heart-warming, a highlight of the trip without a question.
Tomorrow we will be waking up at 6 a.m. to head back to the Nadi airport and make our trip farther south to New Zealand. We are looking forward to continue growing the sport of lacrosse during our match against the New Zealand U19 team in Auckland tomorrow! Stay tuned for updates!
June 22 - Cameron Park
Hello! Cam here, and I'll be filling you in on day 2 of Fiji! Woke up this morning pretty early (that jet lag though) and saw a bunch of teammates out running. I saw my opportunity and headed straight for the omelette bar when there wasn't any line! Great breakfast and then we headed to the town for some boating and rafting! We took some long boats and headed down the river all the way to an amazing waterfall! It was beautiful and we all got to jump in and swim underneath it!
After the waterfall, we got to float on some bamboo rafts back down the river. And then it was time to head to the village for lunch!
At the village we got to watch a traditional kava ceremony and learned about some of the different ways of the village. There was singing and dancing and then we had a traditional meal that was quite delicious! After we learned about some of the resourceful ways they used the coconut tree. They made the cups for kava (a special Fijan drink) from the coconut shells and they also made rope from the husks and baskets from the tree leaves. They showed us how they made die for their paintings and how they weaved their floor mats! Before heading back to the hotel we got to look at and buy some of their crafts, which included jewelery and wood carvings!
Heading back to the hotel, we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. I took a nice long nap (along with many of the girls in my cabin!) and woke up ready for some dinner! Post-dinner was the usual bonding and fun shenanigans and now off to bed to get ready for tomorrow's day of giving back! Thanks for following along on our adventure!