Why the Best Ships Are Friendships
August 28, 2018: Sitting on the concrete bleachers overlooking Sheerr Pool in Pottruck, I was more nervous than I wanted to admit to myself. I was a freshman surrounded by about 40 other strangers, many of whom were pulling swim caps and goggles out of their bags and chatting with friends they hadn’t seen all summer. I introduced myself to the people around me, whose quiet demeanors suggested that they were freshmen, too. As always when I meet new people, I was more focused on making sure the words coming out of my mouth were coherent than on actually learning names. I remembered maybe one person, but I figured it was a problem for later. Practice got underway, and all the newbies and I were split into two groups: the swimming group and the “dryland” group. I headed down onto the pool deck and over to lane four, unaware that I just made one of the best decisions of college. And yes, I am referring to both the fact that I joined Penn Club Swim and that I decided on lane four (to my fellow lane four swimmers: I am forever loyal).