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Since my last diary entry I've been to Europe, had a quick break and then got down to some serious short-course training before competing at the Australian Short Course Championships in Hobart at the end of August.

Our trip to Europe was pretty amazing - we went there to compete in the Mare Nostrum series. Our first stop for racing (and trying to overcome jetlag as quickly as possible) was Monaco, not too shabby!

We arrived on the Tuesday afternoon before starting to race on Saturday, so we had a few days to check out the French Riviera and soak up the sun of the approaching European summer. I managed to make the final round in the elimination 50m freestyle series, after starting off with 32 competitors and having the slower half eliminated each race. I was beaten in the final by fellow Aussie, and Fuji Xerox athlete, Libby Lenton, but still managed to pick up some Euros.

Our next stop after a 7 hour bus trip was Canet, a small city in the south-west of France, right on the coastline. Despite getting a little burnt due to the outdoor pool I swam okay. Canet definitely wasn't as nice as Monaco though. My favourite European city was our last stop, Barcelona.

Again, I swam alright and was looking forward to going home as racing for 6 days out of 9 with long hours of travel in between had been extremely tiring! I had a truly unique experience in Barcelona. As we were getting on the train one night to go back to the hotel from dinner, about 3 of us jumped onto the train and realised the others weren’t going to make it! So we quickly jumped off, or the other 2 jumped off and the doors closed with me still on the train! As I waved goodbye to my team mates, I was lucky enough to remember which stop to get off at and waited for them on the platform with some Spanish gypsies trying to get my money - being blonde and blue eyed I was a definite tourist!

So since the trip it has been back to normal in Canberra, despite it being a lot colder than when we left! Back to training, work and uni means back to 40hr weeks. But I still love it, and hope you like hearing about it.

Till next time...
Alice Mills