A Summer Behind The Camera In Kenya

TigerBlog's plane was in line for about 35 minutes waiting to take-off out of Heathrow last week.

As his flight got close to the front, TB could see another plane to the left that was also waiting, this one at a 90-degree angle. Then that plane went in front of TB's and took off.

Since that plane was an Air New Zealand plane, TB thought the pilot of his flight might have just waved the other pilot in front, figuring that he was only going eight hours and the Air New Zealand flight was going nearly twice that. Well, not really.

TB would love to go to Australia or New Zealand, but he's not sure he would be able to sit on a plane for 15 or so hours. The flight across the Atlantic was long enough.

During his flight, TB watched four episodes of "Sons of Anarchy," the movie "Creed II," the map that shows where the plane is and the scenery out the window for the last two hours or so.

TB loved "Creed." He thought "Creed II" was pretty good, certainly a good way to pass two hours on a plane, but it was also one of the most predictable movies ever made. And you have to give credit to the "Rocky" franchise people for building on "Rocky IV," which wasn't exactly the best one in the series.

As for "Sons of Anarchy," he can never watch that enough. As for looking out the window, it always fascinates him to see the world from a plane. He always wants the window seat. 

And then he was back.

Speaking of long flights and movies, TB read the story on goprincetontigers.com about how women's basketball player Lexi Weger is spending her summer.

Weger was part of a group that traveled to Kenya to work and study at the Mpala Research Centre. As part of the program, she produced a documentary. She and her group did everything for the movie, including writing the script, filming and editing.

From the story:
Weger and her group produced "Chasing Queens," a story about Pollinators and why they are necessary in our ecosystem and their contribution to food security.

You can read the whole story HERE.

According to Wikipedia, these are what Pollinators are:
A pollinator is the biotic agent (vector) that moves pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female stigma of a flower to accomplish fertilization or 'syngamy' of the female gametes in the ovule of the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grain. A pollinator is different from a pollenizer, which is a plant that is a source of pollen for the pollination process

Weger is a 6-3 rising sophomore from Fairfax, Va. Her best game last year was at Cornell, when she scored 13 points.

She's a graduate of Episcopal in Virginia, where she is the school's all-time leading scorer, with 1,458 points. She also holds school records for rebounds (744) and blocks (341).

TB has said this before, but one of the best parts of being a student at Princeton is the opportunity to see the world. There are so many chances to travel, and there are so many Princeton students - and athletes - who take advantage of them.

TB would love to be able to total up the number of miles that Princeton's athletes have traveled this summer. The answer is "a lot," he's guessing.

And the ones who flew around the globe to compete internationally are just a small sample. Princeton's athletes also did things like Weger, or went to Vietnam with Coach for College, or studied in countries throughout Europe or simply traveled for the sake of traveling.

The new school year is just around the corner. The first athletic event of the year is a week from Friday, if you can believe that, when the women's soccer team is at St. Joe's. The first home event is two days later, women's soccer against Boston College.

All of Princeton's fall athletes will be returning to campus very shortly. The rest will be back shortly after that.

The travels of summer will give way to another academic year and everything that comes with it.

In the end, though, those travels will be remembered as a big part of the overall Princeton experience that these athletes have in their four years.

TB is guessing Lexi Weger would agree with that statement.