Duke Rugby World Cup Tournament April 21, 2008

Every April, Duke University’s MBA class (Fuqua) hosts an annual Rugby Tournament that brings schools to Durham, NC from all over the world.  The women play touch rugby (non-contact or somewhat like flag-football for my American friends) and the men play full contact rugby with shortened halfs.  Beyond that, I don’t know much more of the rules or terminology. 

In November, when our MBA class began organizing our teams for the tournament, things were looking a little uncertain, especially for the men’s team.  The reason was that many of my male classmates had never played rugby before but still wanted to play.  The efforts in organizing the practices, finalizing the teams, getting sponsorship, and arranging the logistics for travel were a bit of a nightmare.  Though thanks to a lot of hard work and effort, especially at the end, we managed to send 46 Rugby players overseas for one weekend of a lot of fun and competition.

 

As for the women, we fared well for being out of the country for the whole month of March, but didn’t come away with a trophy.  ON THE OTHER HAND, the men stole the show!  With a team of mostly injured players and the will to win, the Smurfit Men defeated London Business School in the finals to claim the 5th straight victory at the Rugby World Cup. 

 

 

 

Personally, I wasn’t sure if everyone was actually going to get up in the morning and be well enough to play the tournament because of some late evenings out.  Despite my misgivings, the Irish showed their true blood and kept trucking on and pushed through some tough games while suffering from the deadliest hangovers.   

 

  

 

   

Unconventional Signage April 6, 2008

I digress from the typical blog topics to share some unconventional signage in the bathrooms around Queenstown.  The first is the sign for the ladies room at the Kawarau Bridge Bungy Jump site.  Don’t worry, I just went to watch the bungy jumpers.  Heaven forbid I get up the nerve to do such a thing.  But skydiving, as you can see from my other post from today, was a different story.

 

 

 

The next signs are from the men’s room at the Sofitel Hotel.  I didn’t just happen upon these pictures on my own.  My travel companion cleared the way for me to sneak in a few pics while the stalls were not being used.  To plaster these women on the walls of the bathroom in the Sofitel is quite brash for this upscale hotel chain, and I give them accolades for doing something different. 

  

 Now, to wrap in a little something about wine for this post.  I dined at the Bezu, which is just behind the Sofitel on Beacon street and had the most lovely Sauvignon Blanc of the trip: Vavasour ‘Redwood Pass’.  As you might have seen from my earlier post, this was my #1 rated Sauvignon Blanc of the trip. 

Full Circle April 6, 2008

I returned back to Dublin Saturday evening after flying for over 20 hours from Auckland to LA to London and then finally back to Dublin.  I began my trip around the world on March 9th and in 21 days made a full circle back to Dublin.  Here’s the details:

• March 8:            Dublin to London, London to Shanghai
• March 9-14:      Travel around Shanghai visiting businesses and sightseeing
• March 14-17:    Byron Bay for Ann and Adam’s Wedding
• March 17-20:    Nelson, Abel Tasman, Marlborough
• March 20:          Christchurch stopover
• March 21-26:    Queenstown
• March 26-29:    Auckland and Waiheke Island
• March 29:          Fly to LA
• March 30:          Fly LA to London then home to Dublin

Looking through this list, it seems like a pretty intense trip, but actually it was one of the most relaxing vacations.  The reason being is that no activities, other than in Shanghai and Ann’s wedding were planned in advance.  This allowed for endless options and wild spontaneity – as seen in the pictures below.  Next up on the travel adventures is Durham, North Carolina for the Duke University Rugby Tournament.  Hopefully, this time no one will end up with any black eyes.