I am from the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, we play soccer. Soccer and field hockey. We play some more sports, but that's about it. I think there are like 2 basketball teams in the whole country. I don't know anything about basketball. I don't get basketball, it confuses me. However, I like to watch basketball. And I've been watching a lot of basketball here. And altough I don't know a lot about it, I knew our team was pretty good.
Last Friday and Saturday, our varsity boys team has been playing for State Championship. So did our Football team, but we lost.. I was pretty nervous this time, but guess what? WE BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF THEM!
I went to both games and had a blast. Especially the one on Saturday was legit. The game was in the Orleans arena, Las Vegas. It was huge. Which was pretty cool, even though our little school didn't quite fill up all the chairs, and neither did the other school, since they were from a place 8 hours away (yes, that's what they do here in America. They drive.). It was pretty cool, still.
Both schools had brought their basketball teams, cheer squads, dance teams and bands. It was like a social war. We did not only share the same school colors (YEAH BLUE AND GOLD), we also happened to share the same fight song (Dutchies; a fight song is a song the band plays all the time, to which the audience is supposed to stand up, clap, sing and get all exciited. Like Wilhelmus, but a little more up-beat..). It was like Battle of the Bands. Ours won. AND SO DID OUR BASKETBALL TEAM!
You should have seen the spirit. It reminded me of that day in 2010 the Netherlands beat Brasil in the soccer world cup. It was nuts, but so much fun. I wish I could share this year with all of you. 'Cause you probably don't want to hear this and I'm going to be pretty rude about this, and don't take it personal because it doesn't go for some of you, but trust me, your life is pretty freaking boring. SO GET OFF YOUR BUT AND DO SOMETHING EXCITING! Just a little advice. I am glad I did.
I do have one way to share this experience. They are pictures but I really am too lazy to get my SD card. Maybe tomorrow. Ha.
Viva la vidaaaaaa
See ya!
maandag 28 februari 2011
donderdag 24 februari 2011
woensdag 23 februari 2011
Brian Head!
This might become a very long post, because I'm sitting right now and to be perfectly honest I seriously doubt I will ever get up again. My entire body hurts and that has a reason. For the past two days, Monday 21 and Tuesday 22, I have been at Brian Head, Utah, to snowboard.
What? Cille? Snowboarding? Yes, that's right. It was my first time on anything like ski's or snowboards. It surprised people, because I am from Europe and in Europe it's cold. I don't remember for how many times I have explained that the Netherlands is flat, and my parents are just not the right people to do something cold, intensive and slightly dangerous. So, my firsr time, at sixteen years old. It came with a lot of falling. A lot lot lot of falling. But let's start at the very beginning. *A very good place to start.*
(Now, that song will stay in my head for the rest of the day. Great.)
On Monday morning, President's Day (read; another free day in tha U S A !), we left the small town of Logandale. The drive up to Brian Head took about two to three hours. When we arrived we (fyi, 'we' is a group of 9 foreign exchange students) got out of the car and started walking to the snowboard rental place. I started feeling pretty dizzy. Altitude. We were up 10,000 feet. Now I don't know how much that is in meters but trust me, it's high. When we walked inside it started getting worse. Eventually I decided to run off to the bathroom and nearly passed out. Great start of the day. I was given some Gatorade and taken to the Ski patrol to put me on some oxygen. After about 10 or 15 minutes of breathing straight oxygen, I was free to go again. I felt great. I don't know whether it was the oxygen that did it, or the looks of the guy who gave it to me, but I felt good again. I went off and got my snowboard and boots and immediately went outside, because my lessen had already begun.
My snowboard instructor was pretty good-looking too. So was one of the guys in my group, and pretty much every other guy around. I felt lucky. Haha. Anyway, snowboarding. I sucked so bad in the beginning, you have no idea. I fell all the time, couldn't even stand up on the thing. Getting off the lift was terrible. Everything hurt and I hated everything and everyone. I am the kind of person who gets really mad when something's not going perfect. When it was lunch time I threw my board in the powder snow by the side of the piste and went inside. I considered doing skiing but didn't want to give up (read; wanted to go back to my snowboard instructor). So, brave as I was, I ate lunch, grabbed my board, and went back on the bunny hill.
Surpisingly, I got off the lift without falling. I did a whole lot without falling. Everything suddenly went how I wanted it to go. My instructor was proud of me too and I suddenly loved snowboarding. After my lessons were over, I went off the bunny hill (which wasn't really a bunny hill.. it was pretty dang scary if you ask me) a few more times and at 4.30, the lift closed and we went off to our hotel.
The hotel was a lot nicer than I expected. It had a pool, a hottub, a bar, a really fancy restaurant, and a lot of other stuff. We ordered pizza in our room, watched tv, talked a lot and had a great time. Sleeping didn't go that great. We tried, but half the people in the room had a cold and couldn't breathe through their nose, didn't like the bed or the pillows, it was too warm or too cold so the ac went on and off, and well, I didn't sleep for longer than 30 minutes straight, I kept on waking up.
So you understand that when the alarm went off the next morning, I yelled some bad words inside of my head. My body hurt and I wanted to sleep. But I got up anyway and we went back to the piste. No lesson that day, so I went off the bunny hill with the whole group, after which Caro took me on another hill.
The lift went up really high and I was really scared, because there was NOTHING to protect you. I could've easily given Caro a little push and she would have been dead. It was worth it, though. The view from up there was amazing.
We went down a few times, ate lunch, after that I did some more boarding with Ploy and Sarah (Caro had gone and joined the group of people of people who actually KNEW what they were doing. I couldn't blame her..) and I did better every time. I did some major falling still, but I did better.
At the very end of the day I managed to get off without falling once. Now it was a pretty long way so I did sit down, but on purpose! I was so proud of myself..
At 4 p.m., half an our before the lifts would stop, I was left alone and my body was totally done. My head still wanted to go go go, but my legs said no and collapsed every time I tried to stand on them. So I went inside, turned in my stuff and got changed. I bought a Starbucks coffee, and sat.
And now, everything hurts. I feel pretty sorry for myself. But everything was worth it! I love snowboarding, I love snowboarders, I love snowboards. I still hate snow. But I had a blast!
I will post some pictures in here. I'm still waiting for a lot of pictures, though, so I will post those later if they're worth posting.
Love,
Cille
What? Cille? Snowboarding? Yes, that's right. It was my first time on anything like ski's or snowboards. It surprised people, because I am from Europe and in Europe it's cold. I don't remember for how many times I have explained that the Netherlands is flat, and my parents are just not the right people to do something cold, intensive and slightly dangerous. So, my firsr time, at sixteen years old. It came with a lot of falling. A lot lot lot of falling. But let's start at the very beginning. *A very good place to start.*
(Now, that song will stay in my head for the rest of the day. Great.)
On Monday morning, President's Day (read; another free day in tha U S A !), we left the small town of Logandale. The drive up to Brian Head took about two to three hours. When we arrived we (fyi, 'we' is a group of 9 foreign exchange students) got out of the car and started walking to the snowboard rental place. I started feeling pretty dizzy. Altitude. We were up 10,000 feet. Now I don't know how much that is in meters but trust me, it's high. When we walked inside it started getting worse. Eventually I decided to run off to the bathroom and nearly passed out. Great start of the day. I was given some Gatorade and taken to the Ski patrol to put me on some oxygen. After about 10 or 15 minutes of breathing straight oxygen, I was free to go again. I felt great. I don't know whether it was the oxygen that did it, or the looks of the guy who gave it to me, but I felt good again. I went off and got my snowboard and boots and immediately went outside, because my lessen had already begun.
My snowboard instructor was pretty good-looking too. So was one of the guys in my group, and pretty much every other guy around. I felt lucky. Haha. Anyway, snowboarding. I sucked so bad in the beginning, you have no idea. I fell all the time, couldn't even stand up on the thing. Getting off the lift was terrible. Everything hurt and I hated everything and everyone. I am the kind of person who gets really mad when something's not going perfect. When it was lunch time I threw my board in the powder snow by the side of the piste and went inside. I considered doing skiing but didn't want to give up (read; wanted to go back to my snowboard instructor). So, brave as I was, I ate lunch, grabbed my board, and went back on the bunny hill.
Surpisingly, I got off the lift without falling. I did a whole lot without falling. Everything suddenly went how I wanted it to go. My instructor was proud of me too and I suddenly loved snowboarding. After my lessons were over, I went off the bunny hill (which wasn't really a bunny hill.. it was pretty dang scary if you ask me) a few more times and at 4.30, the lift closed and we went off to our hotel.
The hotel was a lot nicer than I expected. It had a pool, a hottub, a bar, a really fancy restaurant, and a lot of other stuff. We ordered pizza in our room, watched tv, talked a lot and had a great time. Sleeping didn't go that great. We tried, but half the people in the room had a cold and couldn't breathe through their nose, didn't like the bed or the pillows, it was too warm or too cold so the ac went on and off, and well, I didn't sleep for longer than 30 minutes straight, I kept on waking up.
So you understand that when the alarm went off the next morning, I yelled some bad words inside of my head. My body hurt and I wanted to sleep. But I got up anyway and we went back to the piste. No lesson that day, so I went off the bunny hill with the whole group, after which Caro took me on another hill.
The lift went up really high and I was really scared, because there was NOTHING to protect you. I could've easily given Caro a little push and she would have been dead. It was worth it, though. The view from up there was amazing.
We went down a few times, ate lunch, after that I did some more boarding with Ploy and Sarah (Caro had gone and joined the group of people of people who actually KNEW what they were doing. I couldn't blame her..) and I did better every time. I did some major falling still, but I did better.
At the very end of the day I managed to get off without falling once. Now it was a pretty long way so I did sit down, but on purpose! I was so proud of myself..
At 4 p.m., half an our before the lifts would stop, I was left alone and my body was totally done. My head still wanted to go go go, but my legs said no and collapsed every time I tried to stand on them. So I went inside, turned in my stuff and got changed. I bought a Starbucks coffee, and sat.
And now, everything hurts. I feel pretty sorry for myself. But everything was worth it! I love snowboarding, I love snowboarders, I love snowboards. I still hate snow. But I had a blast!
I will post some pictures in here. I'm still waiting for a lot of pictures, though, so I will post those later if they're worth posting.
Love,
Cille
dinsdag 15 februari 2011
maandag 14 februari 2011
Half of my heart
Half of my heart's got a real good imagination
Half of my heart's got you
Half of my heart's got a right mind to tell you
That half of my heart won't do
Half of my heart is a shotgun wedding to a bride with a paper ring
And half of my heart is the part of a man who's never truly loved anything
John Mayer - Half of my heart
Half of my heart's got you
Half of my heart's got a right mind to tell you
That half of my heart won't do
Half of my heart is a shotgun wedding to a bride with a paper ring
And half of my heart is the part of a man who's never truly loved anything
John Mayer - Half of my heart
vrijdag 11 februari 2011
Track & Field
After soccer season was over and I didn't make the basketball team, I decided I was done for a little while. Done with 2 hours of practice every single day, done with always having to watch what I'd eat, drink, or did, and done with the competitiveness of America. Using other words; I was lazy. And oh, I've been lazy. For about three months I have been sitting on my but and last week I finally got off!
In a few weeks, the last sport season is about to start. The basketball teams and wrestlers are playing their last games/matches and conditioning for softball, baseball, and track&field have started. For a little while I've been wanting to try out for softball and I was planning on going to the conditioning to check out if I would like it. Then, however, I started thinking about how I used to play softball/baseball in P.E. pretty much every other week and how I didn't like it at ALL. Also, I remembered that I sucked at it big time. I figured the only reason that I wanted to try out for softball was to be part of a team, but all the track people claimed that track was as much as a team and that the meetings were so much fun.. And since I really, really need to get in shape before I go home, I decided just to do track.
So there I was last wednesday, on the track of our High School. I wasn't very excited at first, to be honest. Of all the things you could possibly do in track, I decided to run. Basically because.. do you see me high jumping or throwing something heavy? Nope. So there we went, we started running. After two warm-up laps we left the track and ran in the desert, where we ran up and down a hill on a sand path with annoying obnoxious rocks. The American kids did great. The exchangers? Not so. After practice, everything hurt, and when I woke up everything was even worse. Yesterday (thursday), I went again and now I hurt even more. The only thing that keeps me going is the memory of the beginning of soccer season. That hurt even more. So coming weekend I will (hopefully) work out to get ready for conditioning next Tuesday again, because I really want to do this. And I better get used to it before the temperature outside will rise to 45 or 50 degrees celcius again. 'Cause believe me, that doesn't make running any easier. Neither does the fact that I was really never made to be an athlete.. Thanks mom & dad. BUT I WILL KEEP ON FIGHTINNNNN! Go team.
In a few weeks, the last sport season is about to start. The basketball teams and wrestlers are playing their last games/matches and conditioning for softball, baseball, and track&field have started. For a little while I've been wanting to try out for softball and I was planning on going to the conditioning to check out if I would like it. Then, however, I started thinking about how I used to play softball/baseball in P.E. pretty much every other week and how I didn't like it at ALL. Also, I remembered that I sucked at it big time. I figured the only reason that I wanted to try out for softball was to be part of a team, but all the track people claimed that track was as much as a team and that the meetings were so much fun.. And since I really, really need to get in shape before I go home, I decided just to do track.
So there I was last wednesday, on the track of our High School. I wasn't very excited at first, to be honest. Of all the things you could possibly do in track, I decided to run. Basically because.. do you see me high jumping or throwing something heavy? Nope. So there we went, we started running. After two warm-up laps we left the track and ran in the desert, where we ran up and down a hill on a sand path with annoying obnoxious rocks. The American kids did great. The exchangers? Not so. After practice, everything hurt, and when I woke up everything was even worse. Yesterday (thursday), I went again and now I hurt even more. The only thing that keeps me going is the memory of the beginning of soccer season. That hurt even more. So coming weekend I will (hopefully) work out to get ready for conditioning next Tuesday again, because I really want to do this. And I better get used to it before the temperature outside will rise to 45 or 50 degrees celcius again. 'Cause believe me, that doesn't make running any easier. Neither does the fact that I was really never made to be an athlete.. Thanks mom & dad. BUT I WILL KEEP ON FIGHTINNNNN! Go team.
maandag 7 februari 2011
When you know it's worth it
'Cil, I miss you' in my offline messages from one of my closest friends I haven't spoken to in way too long. Just those words, not any less, not any more. And that's it. That's when you know everything is worth it. Now I'm so far away, such a small thing can mean so much.. Thank you. I love you.
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