GVSU, Kingston rowers face off

Editor's note: GVSU communications specialist Brian J. Bowe is visiting Kingston University in England on an annual staff exchange program. The following is the third in a series of dispatches he is sending back.

Amelia Bueche, a Grand Valley senior from Saginaw, will row against the Laker squad in England during the Henley Royal Regatta in July.

Bueche is a biomedical sciences major studying at Kingston University on an exchange program. She was a member of the Grand Valley crew when she was studying in Allendale.

'I rowed at Grand Valley for a while, but it's much more time-consuming. It's pretty busy here, but there it's 5:30 in the morning six days a week,' she said.

Her love for the sport has been rekindled at Kingston, and she counts that experience as one of her favorites of the entire program.

'That's definitely been a good way to meet people here,' she said.

The famed regatta on the Thames River is held annually for five days in the town of Henley upon Thames in Oxfordshire. The Henley Regatta was first held in 1839 and has been held each year ever since, except during the two World Wars.

'I'll be competing as a Kingston student. It should be interesting,' Bueche said. 'I'm not exactly their favorite person right now, because I'm rowing for Kingston.'

Bueche has been in Kingston since Sept. 19. Her flight was supposed to leave on Sept. 12, but after the terrorist attacks she had to wait until Sept. 19

'My family minded more than I did, but it was all right,' she said.

Bueche, who has already been accepted to medical school, said she came to England looking for 'something new, something different something unique for my last year.'

She added: 'I had taken all of my MCAT courses and everything, and I was kind of burnt-out on study and work all of the time. I could find classes that fit everything, and before I left I made sure I could still graduate, and it just all fit and it was kind of like 'Why not?''

For more information about the Henley Royal Regatta, visit http://www.hrr.co.uk.