Linda Tien

Past Entries

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

Entry 5

Entry 6

Editor's Note: From January 3-15, the Emory women's tennis team is visiting South Africa. Team members are e-mailing diary entries.

For pictures of the trip, follow this link:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOGrNk3buG7go

January 9, 2005

To start the day, we began with our tennis practice at the University of Cape Town courts, followed by a hike up the mother of all Stairmasters -- Table Mountain.

I must have climbed more steps that day than I've ever done in my entire life. But once we got to the top, we had the hiker's equivalent of a runner's high, except with an amazing view.

Looking off the top, I could see the bay and the city of Cape Town miles below. What beats that view is the abseiling (rappelling) that some of us did with the world's largest commercial abseil company -- 400 feet off Table Mountain.

However, they don't tell you that halfway down, the cliffside stops supporting you and you look down to see this 200-foot drop below you. The funny part was that the instructor was about to close up for the day -- claiming the wind was too strong, until they found out that our tennis team was made of girls instead of guys.

One of those had-to-be-there stories was when Lindsay decides she really wants our instructor's abseiling shirt, and so they switch. I guess you had to be there.

The weather was nice today, which meant it wasn't too hot. That was good news for my many sunburnt teammates.

Once the abseiling was over, we reached the top to find ourselves walking through a cloud. We then took the cable car down to end our amazing day.

Linda Tien is a freshman from Tampa, Fla.