Just Wanted To Say To All

[El Daisy]

ok. going into the beginning of January this year, I had no idea what to expect of the few upcoming months (tis my first year), and wow was I suprised. The work that goes into the process during those 6 weeks is astonishing, and the hard work was shown in four amazing fields in texas.

a few weeks back was my first regional event at Chesapeake. That was just a blast to me, I really didnt think it could get much better. 55 great robots, tons of cheering team members, larger crowds. It was unreal. Then was our teams home event, the Philly regional. I was only able to attend the first day, MUCH to my dismay- after coming down with mono. Well, it just so happens our team won the Chairmans at Philly. Even I was able to tell..thats huge.

and now, to natls. heading to houston in the plane, I was thinking one thing (despite being tired from getting up at 2am). the feeling of pure excitement. walking into the Astrodome on Thursday blew me away, so many teams..from so many different places. So many kinds of interesting robots with amazing pit displays as well. Wow! Now, to shift to the end of natls, I have 2 things.
1. Good stuff- I was extremely happy that we were able to choose 236 and 175 for our alliance and felt very confident in our strong strong field of "Gali-leo!" We rode the wave all the way, and get ourselves to Einstein. I cant really think of a more exciting time in my life. Getting hugs from crying teammates, coaches and engineers smiling along students, and getting our medals infront of so many other amazing teams on the floor of Reliant. What a blast.
2. Good/ Bad Stuff- Looking back on each day i spent in Houston, I now realize I had the most amazing time. This is because of one thing- my team. Sitting with them at breakfast, sitting in the stands with them cheering our team on, filming matches with other media guys, just simply walking around between the 2 stadiums was so much fun. We had so much fun at Six Flags, and even more at the Hotel. However, here comes a little bad stuff. I'm a rook, so i dont know that many people. I did interact with some, but not nearly as many, and as extensively as i would have liked. I was really hoping to not just hang out with team 341 (dont get me wrong, our team is full of great people) but with people on teams i didnt know. I didnt really form any good friendships and this disapoints me somewhat. But overall I had a great time, and maybe, just maybe, some people will repsond to this, I'll get to know you online, and I'll see ya next year!!

- Aaron

ps.- to team 771....GO FLYERS!!!!!!!!!

[El Daisy]

just a few more things i forgot:

great job to teams 236 and 175..ticks and buzz...couldnt have gone that far w/o ya

congrats to 103 on winning chairmans

[Rurouni]

Originally posted by El Daisy
However, here comes a little bad stuff. I'm a rook, so i dont know that many people. I did interact with some, but not nearly as many, and as extensively as i would have liked. I was really hoping to not just hang out with team 341 (dont get me wrong, our team is full of great people) but with people on teams i didnt know. I didnt really form any good friendships and this disapoints me somewhat. But overall I had a great time, and maybe, just maybe, some people will repsond to this, I'll get to know you online, and I'll see ya next year!!

Don't worry about that too much. I still don't know alot of people on other teams through FIRST, though this year I did meet alot more. I'm sure you will be able to continue to meet these great people in the future, just look forward to next year!

[Jared Russell]

Thanks Aaron - and thanks are due to you as well!

It takes time to find new friends on other teams - I've been in this for two and a half seasons and the number of friends I've made on other teams is relatively small. In fact, it was only this year that I started meeting people from outside my own team - Joey from 357, Dave and the whole crew from 651 - but with each successive event I attend it gets easier for me to approach people and strike up a conversation.

Socially, even moreso than technically, I have learned some very valuable lessons through FIRST. Stick with it, and you just might find that eventually more of your friends are in robotics than not!