Sitting in the library café was Ray Mundo, a fellow international student from Bavaria, Germany. His large frame towered over my notebook.

“Rowers do more before 8 a.m. than most people do all day,” he told me.

Being part of the Alabama crew, Ray gets up every morning at 4:30 a.m., to be out soaking up the morning mist on the Black Warrior River by 5 a.m. This is a physical and mental commitment, a little more than what your average sport asks of you. But, Ray tells me, it’s worth the commitment.

If you can imagine, then, being an exchange student with such a commitment to the sport, this semester has felt as much like an intense few months of rowing camp as a college experience. Rowing is more than just a sport, Ray tells me, but a sort of culture. It has allowed him to travel the United States, heading out to regattas and races across the country and to meet like-minded people. This has played a major part in the experience.

Meeting these people has not just benefited Ray as an outsider, but it has benefitted the team. From his club in Germany, Ray has had the experience of rowing for the Alabama crew. Rowing for a college team is like being part of a community and has enabled a pooling of skills. The crew has been able to push each other harder to improve their performance, helped by a member from outside the United States.

Ray explains to me his feeling of honor at being picked as the stroke for the crew. This means he literally sets the pace in the water. In exchange for this new skill level he brought to the team, he was proud to wear Alabama’s uniform and be accepted as part of a team. Such an intense and demanding sport only helps to build closer relationships between the teammates, even if this is from across the continent.

Being a part of this team has eased the difficulties of cultural exchange, Ray tells me. The rowing team is always open to new additions. Despite the slight difference in relationships between the sexes and the team, which Ray told me were much more formal in American row teams than in Germany; he has fit the mold of the American rower perfectly and plans on continuing relations with the team. He has even invited them to visit him in his hometown of Wuerzburg to train with his home crew. The exchange works both ways.

So as we finish up, I ask Ray for a word of advice for anyone looking to join the rowing team. He tells me “real athletes row, others just play games.” He shook my hand and told me, “Row tide.” I had to ask him to repeat it to make sure of what he just said. Witty for a man who wakes up before dawn.