Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Smoke, Salami and Soccer

U14 was a great year filled with lots of traveling and much excitement. Our team was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel to Germany for 10 days! This was my first time traveling outside of North America and it was a great experience. This trip was meant for our team to experience a new culture, train in new environments and for our team to bond together before we headed off to Montreal, Quebec for Nationals.


2 flights, 1 long bus ride and about 11 hours later our team finally arrived at our destination spot in Dusseldorf, Germany! The first facility we stayed at was huge! It consisted of a massive swimming pool, a soccer pitch and a large cafeteria. Our team even had the whole floor to ourselves in the building we stayed at in the facility. I thought that was pretty sweet until I actually saw our building. About what felt like a million stairs later we finally arrived at the front door of our building. But it doesn’t stop there… about another couple hundred steps later we make it to out rooms. What can I say about those rooms… well let’s just say large pillows, dangerous balconies and bugs, bugs and more bugs! My friend and roommate Emily actually made me go on a bug hunt one night to de-bug our room. The railings on the balcony were so low that our coach banned us from even stepping foot onto them. Even the locks to our rooms were suspect. I swear even the slightest breeze could open those things. One of the most memorable moments on the whole trip was our first meal overseas- the infamous quiche. At least for me it was eatable, but for most of the people on my team it was like trying to eat nails. However watching my teammates try to eat it made it that much more unappetizing for me. Other than the rooms and the quiche, everything was great. Every meal consisted of buns, chocolate milk and some kind of meat like salami which I didn't mind at all. Surprisingly I didn't get tired of the food day after day. I think it was because I was hungry all the time so any food they served I was happy with. However, the one downside to the trip was the constant smell of smoke. Even the airports had a strong smokey smell. It gave me a greater appreciation of the fresh air we have here at home. Speaking of home, after a few days into the trip I was starting to miss my family. However, I was fortunate enough to have seen my dad while I was there. He came down with a few other dads on the team and made a trip out of it. My dad rarely misses a game of mine let alone a practice! He would never have passed this opportunity to come down to Germany to watch my team and I play.

1 comment: