Volleyball

Last night after writing my blog Natalie and I stayed awake until 6 o clock in the morning. We were chatting and couldn't fall asleep for anything! We had to be up by 8am to go get tickets from the Gore Hotel in Chelsea for US Men's Volleyball. Therefor 2 hours of sleep to hold us over. Waking up was terrible but we had to do it. We went for a walk to Gore Hotel passing the Natural History Museum and a lot of cute shops. After picking up the tickets, we did some shopping. Grandma B-I found a bookstore:) We both felt extremely jet lagged and decided to head back to the flat to shower and then go to the P&G house. We ate there and fell asleep on the huge bean bags where the big screen TVs are. We missed the mens polo game on TV because of our nap! After we woke up, we decided to be productive and do some touristy things. We went to and took pictures in front of the Tower Bridge and the London Bridge which were fun to see. The Tower Bridge is the one with the huge Olympic rings on it that a lot of people in the US see pictures of. It was time for dinner so we headed for the P&G house again. I saw a lot of swimmers in the building today. A lot of them had medals on. I also saw Shawn Johnson again. My favorite people that we ran into were Jeff Powers (#4 on mens polo team) and Merril Moses (Goalie #1.) We got  to visit with them and take some pictures. Jeff is like an older brother to me and I was so excited that I got to see him in London. We then went to the men's indoor volleyball game where Coach Speraw hooked us up with ground zero tickets. The picture below of me and Natalie is not zoomed. We were actually in the second row from the court! He just told us he could most likely get us quarterfinal tickets as well. The mens team dominated making them the winners of their bracket. After the game, we went to a cafe and had some dessert and hot chocolate to wind down. Now, I am exhausted and know I wont have any trouble sleeping like I did last night. Here are today's pictures.

Love,

Kelsey

Quarterfinal Success

Hi there,

Today was another awesome day in London. Natalie and I woke up around 12pm (slept for 12 hours!) and it still felt like the middle of the night when we woke up. We were famished, so we went to the P&G house to get some food. We were different people in this time period; more like walking zombies than our usual selves. We arrived there at around 3pm and pretty much made a B line for the buffet. After eating we were back to our usual selves. We, again, saw a lot of Olympic athletes in the building and also saw Shawn Johnson on the way out in what's called the Borough's Market. We had to go pick up our tickets from a lady who works at USA Water Polo by 5pm, so we headed to the Olympic park to meet her. This was a little stressful because we went to the wrong Starbucks and did a little wild-goose chase to get to the tickets. Eventually, we found them and were good to go. We ran into Genai Kerr (Olympian in 2004 and 2008 and UCI Alumni) and he directed us to the Olympic Park entrance. We found out that we received an extra ticket and were able to give it to John Speraw who is the former mens volleyball coach at UCI, the current assistant coach for the men's indoor volleyball team, and Dan's roommate. After exploring the Olympic Park for a bit, it was finally the moment we had been waiting for-THE QUARTERFINAL GAME! The venue is unbelievable. This is one of the only times water polo has had it's own arena separate from the swimming pool. The girls won against Italy 9-6 and played an awesome game. After the game we got to visit with the team, their families, coaches, and fans just outside the venue. After visiting with everybody for a while, Dan took me and Natalie on a walk around the park. He showed us some pretty cool things that we probably wouldn't have seen if we were just wandering by ourselves. We went down a path by a river in the park that had these water falls that spelled out words (pictures will help explain.) We also visited all the other venues such as track, field hockey, swimming and the basketball arena. We just looked at the outside of them. We cant go in without a ticket to one of the events, but hopefully that will be happening! We grabbed a bite to eat at a Mexican food vender and then started to head back to the Tube. However, Usain Bolt had just ran a race at the track and floods of people were also heading to the Tube. It was jam packed and there was a huge line to get on the Tube so we decided to go to a coffee shop and wait until the crowd died down. We had a nice chat and coffee and it was nice to just relax and spend some time with Dan. After the crowd had dwindled, we made our way to the Tube and hopped on it to get back to our flat. Now its 2:30am and, unfortunately, I am not the least bit tired. We have to wake up relatively early tomorrow to obtain mens indoor volleyball tickets that John Speraw hooked us up with so that should help us get more used to this time schedule. I am looking forward to exploring tomorrow, doing some shopping, and going to the men's indoor volleyball game! Below are some pictures from this exciting day. Enjoy :)

Kelsey

Just Touched Down in London Town

Today has been one long day. I have now been awake for 20 hours. Although, I really don't even feel tired at all from all the excitement! The flight to London was 10 hours long. I read the book "The Five People you Meet in Heaven," watched a movie, and listened to some jams. After arriving in London, Natalie and I picked up our luggage and went to purchase an Oyster card that is used to get us places using the Tube. The Tube is the metro system here in London. We took the blue line called Picadilly to get to our flat where we are staying with Tony Azavedo's wife, Sarah, Peter Hudnut's fiance, Lacey, and some of their friends. Tony Azavedo is number 8 on the mens national water polo team and Peter Hudnut is number 3. Our flat is in a prime location in South Kensington that is pretty central to the the Olympic Venue and other touristy places we want to visit. After hauling our slightly overpacked suitcases up 3 flights of stairs, we changed clothes, washed our faces and were ready to explore. We went with Sarah and Lacey to register for the P&G House. The P&G house is for American athletes and their families to hang out, watch the games, drink, relax and eat. EVERYTHING IS FREE! It is amazing. There are huge screen TV's, enormous couches/bean bags, endless buffet food and drinks. Also there is a P&G Salon where anyone can go for free to get their hair, nails, and make up done. Men have what they call a "man cave" where there are pool tables, darts, and video games. The atmosphere is amazing. Everyone is just so prideful and cheering on every sport that is being displayed amongst multiple TV's in the building. Its also cool because the Olympic athletes are just walking around all around you; some of them fresh from competition. I saw many of the athletes that I had seen on TV previous to getting here. It was difficult not to freak out and act star struck but I maintained my cool for the most part. Nobody wants to hassle them in there because its suppose to be a peaceful place for them to chill with family. Natalie and I hung out in the P&G house for hours watching different sporting events on huge bean bags. Our main thing we wanted to watch was the men's polo game of coarse. Unfortunately they lost but are still in a good place where they can advance towards getting a medal. It's really fun to watch the mens team play because I grew up with a number of them being good friends with Dan. At the end of the night Dan came to visit us at the P&G House along with Jen whose the women's national team manager and Chris who is does the video, media and film for the USA girls. It was indescribable to be able to visit with them and watch some of the track and field events on the big screen. I also saw Kelsey Thornton and her mom and got to visit with them too. Kelsey Thornton will be joining me at UCI next year on the water polo team. Her brother is on the men's national indoor volleyball team competing here in London. Hopefully Natalie and I will be getting tickets to volleyball game on the 6th. After we were done hanging out at P&G, Natalie, Dan, Chris, Jen and I walked to the Tube and went our separate ways; Natalie and I to our flat in South Kensington and Dan, Chis and Jen to the Olympic Village. The girls play tomorrow at 7pm vs. Italy. I am so excited to watch them play. Now its time for much needed sleep. Here are some pictures from the day.

Thank you

Hello family and friends!


This blog is where I would like to share my experience with you guys while I am in London by submitting entries each day about my time there. I will be posting lots of pictures and updating you with all the exciting things I get to see and do. I leave tomorrow which is Friday, August 3rd and will be there for nine days until I return on the 12th. I am so thankful for my brother, Dan, for enabling me to have this experience. He has always been the person that I look up to and now he has given me the opportunity to have gone to two Olympic games. I cannot be more proud of him and grateful to him for providing me with this amazing trip I am about to go on! I get to watch him be a part of coaching the best of the best and cannot wait to support him and all the US team's hard work. I am a very passionate about the United States of America and how blessed we all are to live in such a wonderful country. I cant wait to show my pride and cheer on team USA in water polo and every other sporting event I get to see. I know this trip wouldn't be possible with out the financial support that my family has given me. Thank you Dan, Dad, Mom, Lori and Grandma B for making it possible. You are all such amazing people that I know want me to have the best time. I will do my absolute best to provide you with every detail of the trip to make it seem like you are there with me. One more day! Hope you guys enjoy these posts. 


Much love,


Kelsey Dyan