The HSU women's soccer team won the first game of its three-game trip. Austin Ricker had a pair of goals and Megan Ryan added another.
Today was an incredible experience going up the mountain to Montserrat and playing our first game against Spaniards who passionately love the game. In the morning our bus ride up the mountain was absolutely breath taking. Pictures did not do any justice to the amazing drop offs and the rugged boulders. There is only one other mountain range which is similar in formation, which does happen to be the United States, but nothing beats looking down from the top to see Spanish villages and rooftops. With multiple beautiful locations for photos, we took many team pictures atop Montserrat (probably too many as we began to find that each different view was more beautiful then the next). Several people were very daring, standing on the brick walls that separated the lookout from a hundred foot drop off on the other side.
All scenery aside, Montserrat is equally known from the beautiful monastery built atop the mountain. The cathedral was clearly built with great attention to every detail in the ceiling, the light, and every other part imaginable. Just to think of the long hours men put into building this cathedral for their Lord and that these men never saw their years of work completely finished. Again pictures and words cannot do any sort of justice to the majesty of this very special place.
After a steep train ride down the mountain and a quick change to our new bus, as our original bus broke down shortly after dropping us of at the mountain, we went to a nearby town for lunch. A true Catalonian meal, we were a huge pot of seafood paella family style for all 26 of us. The jury is still out on this Spanish favorite with some who liked it and many who did not. Either way, it was definitely not your everyday pregame meal.
From there we bused over an hour to our game against U.E. LLeida, making a great time to experience the Spanish culture by way of siesta. Upon arriving at the game we all seemed slightly apprehensive but that quickly changed as we warmed up. They were a different type of opponent then we are used to in the States but we were still able to get a 3-0 win with two great goals from Austin and another from Meg!
This whole experience has really put our minds into deep thought about their way of culture being really laid back compared to our “the busier the better” way of life. Since our phones would be extremely expensive almost all of us leave our phones in our bags or in the hotel, which might have been the greatest bonding experience possible. We’ve realized that we’ve had more conversations at lunch, on the bus, or just sitting around with these girls that we see every day than we have ever! I love how God can turn a vacation into making our friendships grow deeper and more meaningful!
Adios :)
Amy Kuykendall, Christina Hartsfield, and Brittany Vacca
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