{"id":153539,"date":"2026-06-08T07:47:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T11:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539//?p=153539"},"modified":"2026-06-05T10:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T14:48:10","slug":"what-i-learned-from-rowing-across-the-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539//what-i-learned-from-rowing-across-the-ocean/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539//","title":{"rendered":"What I Learned from Rowing Across the Ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On how the ocean changed him:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/n

I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/u2019ve never been as calm as I’ve been since returning to land. I/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/u2019m a kind of restless person in general, somewhat impulsive in certain contexts. I always feel the need to do something, another adventure in nature. I have this fire in me that just makes me adventurous. But I think the success of the crossing, including the three years of preparation, gave me a lot of confidence. And with confidence, I think came the calmness of knowing I didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/u2019t need to prove anything to anyone anymore./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/n

World Ocean Day is June 8./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/n

On UCF/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/u2019s influence in pursuing his dreams:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/n

It was once a dream of mine to leave my home country and do research with NASA. Coming to UCF, I realized that dream. Maybe at one point I wouldn’t have been able to think rowing an ocean was possible, but achieving my dream at UCF gave me the courage to try./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/n

On the role a common goal can have in a team/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/u2019s viability:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/n

Our ultimate goal was to cross the ocean such that we would be willing and able to do it again in the next few years with the same team. This is the first time I am admitting out loud, I think we failed at that /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/u2014 none of us wishes to row an ocean again, nor are we planning another adventure with the same team./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/n

So, though I have to admit we didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/u2019t succeed in the ultimate holistic goal that we had, I think our crossing in general was quite successful. What I didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/u2019t understand going into this was how strongly a common goal can influence your ability to withstand stress, interpersonal stress or annoyances from other team members. Everyone in this team had to work properly for us to be able to complete the goal. So even though we had that interpersonal tension and occasional conflicts, because of the salience of the shared goal, we were able to work through it./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/n

On the breathtaking force of mother nature:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/n

The ocean is so vast and so powerful. You/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/u2019re nothing. We felt that the most when we had a school of whales approaching us from the stern. We saw them breaching, and then one whale swam under our boat, and we saw that it was longer than our boat, like 30 feet at least. It could have just pushed our boat over and do whatever it wanted with us. We had no power whatsoever./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/n

And I really enjoyed the storms. During the last week we had such a strong wind coming from behind, with rain falling literally horizontally. It hurts when it hits you. The rain comes on so strong. And then the wind was so strong that it just pushed our boat. We usually did like 3 knots on our own, but the speed at that moment was 7 knots without rowing. We raised our oars and they became sails basically. We felt how the wind pushed through our oars. You/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/u2019re just experiencing this unbelievable power of nature. It was amazing./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/153539/n