Week 1 in Zurich

I’ve been pretty incommunicado the past week. That’s because I’ve been settling into life in Zürich. I arrived this week and will be staying here throughout the rest of the season. Through the support of my club, LC Zürich, and my job at UBS, I am able to train, earn some money, and have time to travel to some great competitions across the continent.

The first week, however, was a bit hectic. I spent a lot of time learning the ropes at my new job.  I was also staying the week at a friend’s house before moving into my own room this afternoon. And then there was adjusting to the new time zone (although I think work affected my training the most this week). On top of that, I missed being around for my girlfriend’s birthday today.

The week ahead, however, looks great. I’m heading up to Germany on Saturday to visit my sister and compete at perhaps the world’s coolest hammer competition on Sunday. I mean, seriously, how many hammer meets have their own beer garden right next to the ring? Based on how my legs feel, my results might not be the highlight of the weekend, but it will be fun nevertheless. Monday is a holiday and the rest of my work week should be less rigorous than this week. My new place looks to be great too. My club helped me find a great room with an Olympic bronze medalist in curling and his friend. For those of you that know me, I’m a closet curling fan and even drove down to Vancouver just to watch the Olympic curling tournament in February. Among the highlights at the place are a thrower-sized shower (which is nearly impossible to find in Europe), American television (including ESPN), a full kitchen and BBQ patio, and a great internet connection.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures to share. I’ve lived in Zürich before and tend not to take my camera around with me any more. I’ll try to remember to go out of my way to do that this summer. In the meantime, I’ll share some photos that my friend Jake Boling took of me earlier this spring. One of the photos is now shown above on the header of this site. More photos are shown below. Jake is a former standout hammer thrower from the University of Idaho. Since graduating last year, he has joined the board of the Evergreen Athletic Fund and focused on growing his photography business. And ladies: he does weddings…look him up.

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