After a fitful night of sleep for all the participants a hearty breakfast of both sweet and savory crepes are served. Pipi makes sure to clean up any scraps that may have fallen from the table.
The Opening Ceremony of the First Annual Coldifesta and Coldilympic Games begins the festivities. Jordan holds the ceremonial "Sharpest Knife In All Coldigioco Used For Carving the Wild Boar," Sam is wearing the ceremonial "Flag of Undisclosed Origin Found On Monte Gran Sasso," and Taylor holds the "Pub Hat" while Travis reads his welcome speech and explains the day's importance and the festivities that are about to ensue: "Let the games begin!"
Colin warms up for the first event: Speed Walking.
One player from each team is represented in the first heat. From left to right: Devin of "I Scorpione" (aka the Scorps), Alyssa of "Jeff Is Not Playing," Travis of "The Pyroclastic Peacocks," and Sam of "Cono Piccolo."
The final results: Matt wins Cono Piccolo, Travis gets second for the Peacocks, Alex gets third for Cono Piccolo, and Devin comes in fourth for the Scorps.
Devin throws the first toss in the second event: Rock Put.
Alex's winning toss of 14.5 meters.
Jordan, wearing the pub hat for being the worst participant of the previous event, throws while Colin interpretive dances to "the energy of the event."
Guess that Strike/Dip is next. This game is only fun for geologists because they finally get to not stress about the inaccuracy of their measurements. This task, which they usually do many times a day, is made very difficult when one is not allowed a compass.
The final round of Guess that Strike/Dip was made even more difficult for the participants. After being blindfolded they were pointed due north and then only given the use of their feet to guess the strike and dip of the piazza.
What could be more exciting for geology students than this next event: Rock Identification!
Because this is a sport requiring great agility and speed, it is difficult to catch participants in the moment of the action.
After a tiring morning of action and excitement, a lunch of jambalaya and cornbread should keep the athlete's energy up for the afternoon's events. "Did we make enough?"
Travis explains the rules to the first of the afternoon's events: Pin the Tail On the Wild Boar. Once blindfolded, the teammates of the participant may help their teammate locate the boar's rear end, however they may only use Italian. Their ultimate score will be the number of seconds taken to pin the tail plus the number of centimeters the tail is from the boar's rump.
Catie needs a little more direction from the rest of the Pyroclastic Peacocks. You'd think the experience of being blindfolded in Guess that Strike/Dip would have helped.
Alex explains the rules to the next event: Throw Rock From Rock Hit Rock On Rock Off Rock. The name says it all.
Hannah represents the Scorps with a good showing.
Bryn, after winning Pin the Tail On the Wild Boar, also dominates Throw Rock with a whopping four hits out of ten throws.
Sandro is the official judge for this next event: Snack and the Aesthetic (a pun on the title of our art class Science and the Aesthetic). The rules are: each team is given equal access to a handful of basic foods--cornetti, crackers, olive oil, and three types of cheese--and using only fruits and vegetables from around the village they must create a snack to be paired with the house wine.
The maestro grades each snack on aesthetic value, taste, and originality of ingredients. The final victor is the Scorps because of their geological presentation (on a slab of limestone) and a great tasting cheese and cracker topped by a fig jam.
The final events are two Italian classic games: Bocce Ball and...
...of course Foosball.
A dinner of wild boar is the ultimate reward for all the participants whether they scored well or not. With only the foosball and bocce semi-finals and finals left to be played, all the teams are in range of metaling.
After the TAs give each student an award specifically tailored to their characters, the students gave the TAs awards. Jordan received a raw sausage in recognition of his esteemed title as "Mr. Sausage" and Carly achieved the rank of "Best Driver" and received an old tire.
The foosball finals were won by Sam and Alex for Cono Piccolo against Alyssa and Jeff who finally showed up to play for Jeff Is Not Playing.
With everyone gathered around the bonfire, the Award Ceremony concludes the First Annual Coldilympic Games. With the greatest number of Olympic points won throughout the day's events Cono Piccolo takes the laurel victors' crowns with the Pyroclastic Peacocks in second and Jeff Is Not Playing taking third. I Scorpione are given a metal of commendation for their outstanding sportsmanship.
Finally a concert is put on by Coldiplay, aka Alex, Matt, and Alyssa playing a few lf Alex's original tunes. Then Alex, Taylor, Walter Alvarez (a geologist and fiddler who comes to Coldigioco every year), and Sandro take over with some old time fiddle and folk music while the rest dance in Coldigioco's main street.
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