Soccer At Last

Hello Everyone!

This week's entry will most likely be shorter than the rest. However, I guess we'll see what happens by the time I am actually finished :). I had an excellent week, but not much has been new news to report. Per usual, I will begin with the weather. Last week was miserable, and the rain didn't really let up until Friday. Tuesday was the worst day, as I woke up late. Knowing I couldn't miss my first class, I grabbed my stuff and took off. I ran the entire way to school in a downpour only arriving a few minutes late. At the end of the day, the weather seemed to not let up at all. Although, my entire walk home is uphill. Thus, I was trudging uphill in tide-like conditions. Kidding, sort of. My shoes were completely soaked through by the time I was halfway there, and the highlight was when I was standing too close to the street not paying attention, waiting for the light to change. While doing so, a car layed on its horn, and zoomed by inches in front of me. Conveniently, there was a huge puddle right in front of me, and I got completely soaked. Words can't describe how goofy the look was that Cruz gave me when I arrived home holding an umbrella, yet completely soaked.

In contrast, Wednesday proved to be a much better day. I was invited at the Superbowl party last week to play soccer. Through word of mouth, I showed up at the meeting place to quickly find out I would be the only girl. Not that unusual, considering most of the pick up games I play at home are the same way. However, I was pretty nervous because this is Europe, and most people learn how to play from the time they start walking. Since I have been dying to play since I've arrived, I still jumped on the opportunity. Quickly, the Spanish guys we played against let it be known that almost no girls play in Spain. I ended up being able to hold my own pretty well, scoring a goal and having an assist out of three goals. I should also mention, though, that I fell down countless times and even got hit full force in the face with the ball. So graceful. The first hour was pretty fun, but because there were no subs and it seemed intense the entire time, I got exhausted and was dragging the final half hour. Oh, I had to play goalie too. Not my best position....

Thursday we met up with our advisors. Paula brought an advice book that each group of students fills out at the end of each semester. It was so amazing to get the chance to read it, and hear about the experiences the other students had. The best part was reading the funny advice and comments about the teachers. We spent a solid half hour mimicking some of the weird quirks of our professors, and ended up laughing until we were all crying. Each and every entry solidified, once again, that this will be the best experience of our lives. They all highly suggested to try our best to immerse ourselves in the language and culture. Also, the entries all said something along the lines of don't worry about the money that you spend, because it is the best possible way you could spend it. I am a little precarious about that bit of advice, but it is the best time in my life for traveling.

Friday I was asked to play soccer again, so I headed out right after school. I was even more nervous because one of the guys told me that this is a lot more intense, and taken more seriously (news to me, I thought the last time was taken seriously too). I was still so sore from the last time we played, but I figured nothing would help it more than to play again. The guys we played this time were all very good, but I seemed to be able to keep up the entire time. When I got back to the pizo, I was taking my shoes off when I noticed my entire sock was drenched with blood. Cruz freaked out, and kept saying we should go to the hospital. Luckily, Danny was around to calm her down, and tell her it wasn't a big deal since all I could do was stiffle my laugh since I was imaging how different my dad's reaction would be. It ended up being that my largest toe nail was cut, and completely destroyed. Pretty painful to walk on, but Cruz went to the pharmacy and got me a little contraption to put around my toe. Friday night was pretty chill as we headed to an apartment that our friends from Boston own. Cruz is pretty sick right now, so there really wasn't much going on around the house.

Today I woke up, and went with some friends to the market. It is my favorite way to spend Sunday because the atmosphere is absolutely marvelous. The streets were packed, vendors were haggling, and some live music from street performers was blaring. I found a few treasures that I already cannot wait to give to people back home. Because it was very cold out, we headed home early. Thank goodness, though, because at the door I was greeted with a huge rib dinner. It was hands down one of the best meals I have had here, and filled me up quickly.

I know this hasn't been the most exciting blog entry, but I've been studying a lot for two exams I have this coming week. I'm not sure what to expect in either one, so I guess I'll just have to find out. My Spanish has improved greatly, and I also seem to be a lot more confident in my speaking. Already, though, I can feel my English declining quickly. I know that may seem strange, but I keep finding myself using the same sentence structure as is used in Spanish Grammar. My favorite example: "What are you doing tonight for the party of Superbowl?" I also seem to be a lot less careless when it comes to making grammatical errors, so I apologize if any of you have noticed this.  This weekend I will be heading to Portugal with the club, so that seems to be promising as far as my next week's blog entry goes.