I have been in Stockholm for one week today. This is the first time I have actually
had time to sit and reflect on the past two weeks (which have been some of the
most exciting weeks of my life). I
will try my best to summarize these past two weeks, starting with my first ever
voyage to Europe: London for the 2012 Olympic Games… not a bad first trip to
Europe if I do say so myself. My
cousin Ally and I have been dreaming about going to the Olympics since we were
young and we made it happen this summer. Ally got very lucky and scored tickets
to the games—we were able to see women’s volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s
fencing and beach volleyball.
We arrived in London a few days before the opening ceremony,
which meant we had to fit in all the sightseeing in just two days (which we did
very successfully!) I think we saw more in those two days than most people see
in a week. We rode the
double-decker tour bus, like any tourist in London probably does to get a great
overview of the city. Other
highlights in those 48 hours included touring Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s
Cathedral, The Tower of London, The Tower Bridge, Kensington Palace, seeing the
changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and Parliament, riding the
London Eye and renting bikes to ride through Hyde Park.
And after all of that, the Olympics hadn’t even started yet! We watched the Opening Ceremony in a
British Pub near our hotel with some locals, however we were decked out in USA
gear, clearly out of place. For
all of the British references that went over our heads, the nice Brits filled
us in.
All of the Olympic events we saw were in a different venue, so
we got a taste of everything. My
favorite arena by far was beach volleyball at Horse Guards Parade. We were able
to scalp tickets – which was pretty sketchy and very illegal in London! –
however the tickets were not fake and our seats had a great view of the London
Eye and Big Ben at sunset. It was a lively atmosphere with many rowdy Americans
cheering on team USA. The next day
at the fencing match our seats were so close that we were surrounded by the
close friends and family of “Team Maya”, an American fencer. The last day we
had tickets to Men’s basketball inside the Olympic Park, which is huge!!! It took us 40 minutes to walk across the
park, therefore making us miss half of the China v Russia game. We had awesome seats (mostly because
they were the only ones left) and got to catch Spain v. Australia. We spent a
good portion of the day in the Park trying to stalk some athletes near the
athlete’s village, but no luck.
It was moving to see people from all over the world in one city
supporting their countries and appreciating the world’s finest and most
competitive athletes. This truly
was a trip of a lifetime. Ally and
I are already making plans for Rio 2016. I’ve decided that I love London. I’m sure the fact that the
Olympics were there helps, but I know I would love to go back soon!
On to Stockholm…
After all that non-stop excitement I arrived in Sweden to begin
my professional soccer career. So
far I have experienced many firsts… my first time to Sweden, my first
apartment, and therefore my first trip to Ikea, my first time attempting to
speak Swedish, my first time playing professional soccer, my first time being
on my own in a foreign city, and my first blog. Before I got here, everyone back home said that Stockholm is
a beautiful city and that the Swedes are very nice… all of which I have found
to be true. The club I play for is
called Ragsveds IF, which is in the Division I Swedish league. The girls are
extremely passionate and super competitive and I am happy to be a part of the
team. The coach does not speak
English, so myself and Kika, the other American, get the quick translation
after. Kika has been here for a few months so she has been my personal tour guide. Me, Kika and Ally took a boat cruise to the Archipelago Islands on a beautiful Stockholm summer day.
No comments:
Post a Comment