Reactions to a very special book!

On my two weeks vacation from my first professional football/soccer season I decided to check out a new book called; Mind Gym, Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence.  A friend on the island who is also from the States recommended me to read it because I was not happy with the way I was performing on the pitch.  I pretty much laughed at him and said no that is not going to work but I will read it anyway.

I was completely wrong.  This book is the real deal.  It takes you outside of your own vision and look inside and see what being an athlete is all about other than your talents and what you can bring to the table physically.    The book really relaxes you and makes you realize that being an athlete is not only about your talent, your determination, your work ethnic, and your love for the game.   A big part of being a successful athlete is about the mental part of your game if you already got the goods.

The writer of this book is a sports psychologist who has worked with many professional athletes including Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Kurt Warner, and many others.

I can’t put a percentage of what part of the game is really mental.  It is a high percentage.  I have always been so gifted with my athleticism that has always helped me achieve to the high level in football/soccer.  My mentality is something that I have been struggling with since I left South Carolina in fall of 2006.  Mentality is a huge piece of an athlete’s game. 

Yes, 2006 seems so long ago but it is the truth.  After reading this book my team has played against the top two teams in the league and we won one and tie the other.  I have been performing better than I have been all season. I have scored 3 out of 6 of our team goals.  This book is not going to make me reach my maximum potential in a matter of days, weeks, or even months.

If I continue to follow the philosophy of this book I believe it will take me to places that I think could be possible.  Basically what it really emphasize on is whatever sport you play, don’t think about scoring, hitting a homerun, and etc.  For my football game I just focus on my weaknesses and what I can do to improve.   I write down my strengths and weaknesses; and say how much I want to improve (there is always room for improvement whether they are strengths or weaknesses).   Before each game I can tell myself what I need to work on that will cause things to fall into place.  I try to avoid the line “I need to score, I need to have a hat trick, etc.”

I need to worry about what I need to do in order to score; I need to stop worrying about how many goals I will score each game, which is preventing me from reaching the maximum level.  It is time to focus on many little things and if I succeed at each of those little things success will come my way.

Those who are athletes and have struggled here or there I would recommend this book.  Trust me, I know now what I need to do to become a better football/soccer player.  That is to work on my strengths and weaknesses and think about what I need to do in order to score; pressure well defensively to cause defenders to make mistakes; make good first touches; good passes; take more shots (become a little more selfish).  There is so much I need to work on in order to become a better player.

Basically my philosophy is not how many goals I will score in a game now, it is what I will work on in order to lead into that direction and things will fall into place.  Last but not the least to believe in myself 100%.

If you’re a athlete trying to reach the highest possible level! Pick up this book and read it!

What's next?

What’s Next?

These past few weeks I have been pondering about the place I am at in my life.   One question I keep asking myself is what is next?

To be completely brutally honest, I really have no clue.  That is what makes my life so exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.  I know my family really supports me more than anything in the world and I am so grateful for that.  I am also sure they would like me to move on and go back to school to get a masters degree or get a real-world big girl job.   I know they are THRILLED that I am doing this because not everyone gets this kind of opportunity.  I do know my dad just wants me to be able to support my own self financially instead of coming home at 24 years old “dad can I have a couple bucks?”  In fact, I told him to get his wallet ready when I get home in 11 days :)

Can I do it now (go back to school or get a big girl job)?  Absolutely not, not after getting to see how big the world really is.  I have been to Finland, Sweden, and England all in 3 months since I have been here.    Football has its limits, my body isn’t going to be able to handle all of this working out at 30+ years old but school/work will be there forever.  How many people can truly say they can play the sport they love and be truly happy everyday.  Getting to see other cultures/countries is what I have ALWAYS wanted to do and I am able to do it for free or without getting into debt.

Which brings me to my original question; what is next?  I have no idea; literally I don’t.  With the way things are going on this island; having a beautiful apartment, forming strong friendships with different people around the world, learning about different cultures, and playing football.  There is a strong chance that I come back to this island next year; depending on many factors: other options, money, when I would need to be here, and etc.  There is a good chance I could come back for another season but there is also a good chance I leave and go to another country and play.

It all depends on how this season goes.  Nonetheless, I am staying on path with my dreams of being the best footballer I can possibly be.  All I can say from this experience is that I do not have ANY regrets and could not be happier.

Criticism

Thanks to twitter.

I have an interesting topic (interesting to me anyway) today to talk about.  Sorry guys it has been awhile since my last blog post.  Also sorry if this does not interest you.

Criticism.

How do most people like criticism? How do people respond to it?  How do people accept it?

It is a huge controversy especially in the “athletes world.”  Why?

Because of twitter.  Enough said.  10+ years ago we were not able to read personal tweets towards ourselves about what people think or how they feel about us as players or people.  Yes, people still criticized us behind our backs, through the media, but often the media likes to investigate into many situations and find the worst out of everyone to try and bring them down.  So for many years us athletes have chosen to ignore what the media has to say (most of us anyway).

My entire life, I always had people beating around the bush trying to hint to me that I wasn’t going to get anywhere in soccer just because of that “disability” I have.  Am I able to walk? Yes. Am I able to run? Yes.   Am I able to communicate? Yes.  Can I hear? No, but that doesn’t make me disabled.  How did I respond to those?  I ignored them and carried them in the back of my mind each time I tied up my cleats and step onto the pitch for practices or games.

I feel that is what us athletes need to learn to do.  To ignore these critics.  Why?  It saves us room for when we fail, if we respond to them and we do not achieve what we wanted to achieve in the first place.  When you see an athlete talking sh*t, responding to critics, attacking fans and saying they will prove you wrong, they look ridiculous in the end when they “fail.” 

I put quotations for fail for a couple reasons.

1.)  If they DO not respond to the threats defensively, and go on with their lives without responding, they do not look as stupid nor do they have as much pressure on their shoulders the next opportunity they get.

2.)  I believe you fail numerous times in order to succeed.  Even one of the greatest athletes in the world believes so. “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”  Take your guess, YES, Michael Jordan.

First athlete that I would like to take into consideration for this blog post is Chad Ochocinco.  For those who do not know him; he is the wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals and is one of the most controversial players in the game.  I recently joined Twitter in December, and his tweets get to me the most.  He always has something interesting to share, I enjoy following him.  One thing I do not like about him is that he has over a million followers and STILL continues to respond to personal threats very defensively.  Statistically speaking he has not had a great year for a few years, the more he talks/responds to these threats, the more stupid he is going to feel once he has another “ok” season.  There are way too many tweets for me to even choose from, but he most certainly does attack a lot of people individually.

Another reason of this blog post is the overflow of threats a certain athlete has had on her/her team fans.  The 2011 US Women’s soccer world cup roster was announced on Monday.

Twitter has given people the opportunity to express and speak freely of their emotions, thoughts, and opinions.  But those are not what people look for.  People test athletes to see how they respond to their threats, doubts, and critics.

One of the players that is being criticized is Carli Lloyd who has been named to the World Cup roster, personally, I think she is a great player.  The best midfielder in the US? I don’t know, I will find out when we see them play in Germany J  I also have not seen every player play so I cannot answer this question nor will I ever be able to.  All I know is that she was chosen to this roster or a reason and no one should argue with that until they see the results of the World Cup.  She is responding well to the critics and I applaud her for that.  One quote I really liked that she tweeted. ““A critic is someone who never actually goes to the battle, yet who afterwards comes out shooting the wounded.” 

Now, other teammates of hers are not responding well to the critics.  I have seen some responding by attacking fans.  This is a shame because what happens if they don’t do well in the World Cup, people will get the opportunity to say I told you so.

Yes, I have dreams of my own, but I am keeping my dreams to myself, only me.  Why?  So I cannot be criticized when I don’t make it, each time I fail I will try again, and every time I step over an obstacle, I can say I told you so, instead of hearing it.

Basically my point is: think before you speak, respond wisely to these critics, and respond by stepping onto the field, court, pitch, or anything by giving it all you got.

Continuing my experience in Aland

Two weeks have came and gone.  Still loving it!!  There is still snow on the ground; slowly melting.  It has not really snowed since I have been here, only a little flurries during the night hours.  It is about 30 degrees here and has not been any colder than that.  It makes me happy because ever since I decided to come here everyone’s reaction is like “it is soooo cold there!”  Ever since I have been here all I have been hearing from everyone is “I cannot wait for summer!”  Apparently here, is one of the biggest tourist places in Northern Europe, June-August gets as warm as 75-80 degrees.

I live about half of a mile from the beach, so oh yeah in a few months I will realllllly be living the dream.  Playing the sport I love, living .5 miles from the beach.  People here say a lot of tourists come here and go so you meet a lot of people from all over.  Beach volleyball is very popular here in the summer.

The PAF open 2011 will making a stop in my town/city August 17-21^st!  This is the world tour for beach volleyball for men’s and women’s.  So I will definitely be going to some of the games over the 5 day course in August.  I love beach volleyball.  Nothing better than spending the summers at a beach playing beach futbol and volleyball.

Two nights ago America had their spring forward, so you all Americans lost an hour of sleep.  We do the same here in Finland but not until March 27^th.  So currently until then I am 6 hours ahead of you guys.  Once March 27^th hits I will be 7 hours again.

I still have not done much of anything quite yet.  After our first friendly match last Saturday, I did the polar bear plunge.  We went to the pool on one Saturday afternoon and at the pool you have to go in the shower naked and wash off then go in the sauna (optional) naked.  Then you can put your bathing suit on and go out to the pool.   The pool is indoors but you can go under the wall and go outside.  The water is obviously warm.  The scenary right now doesn’t justify what it would be like in the summer.  The Baltic sea is frozen as of right now.  Outside of the indoor pool there is a deck and stairs that goes down to the Baltic Sea, there is a ladder and a hole drilled for those who want to jump in the icy cold water and run back up the stairs and jump in the pool.  After I did that, we got yelled at and since the sea is salty we were supposed to jump in the sea and go to the showers.  There was no way I was going to be able to jump in the shower, it was FREEZING and the showers were too far away!  It was quite the experience.  It is something you should try once in your lifetime just for the thrill of it.

After we left the pool, I went home and took a shower and went to the IFK Mariehamn game, a men’s professional team here in Aland who play in the best division in Finland.  They played a team from Sweden and lost 1-0.

Over the course of the week, we had one practice on Monday, two on Tuesday, then the American’s arrived mid-day Tuesday.  I was so excited because I had company in my room.  One of them is my roommate, from Columbia, Missouri and went to Mizzou.  The other American is from the suburban’s of Chicago but she went to University of Florida (yuckkkk, love you Liz).  Liz is staying in a hotel for 3 weeks while they look for a 3bdrm apartment so we all can live together.  Ever since they have arrived I have not been as bored at all.  We have gone next door to get some gelato.  There is a gelato shop next door so you can bet we will be making about 2-3 stops a week!!  Thank god I am playing futbol because I would be really fat if I wasn’t after eating all of that gelato (ice cream).

We had another friendly match against a team from Sweden this past Saturday.  We played very well defensively but we need to work on creating opportunities through the midfield and working on our transition from winning the ball in the defensive third and transitioning through the midfield and attacking third to create opportunities.  We scored the first goal off of a free kick; our center back finished a loose ball from inside the 18.  The second goal occurred about a minute or two before half time.  The center back made a bad pass to the outside back and I took advantage of it and chased after the ball and took a shot at the 18 yd line to right lower corner.  It was 2-0 at half, we ended up finishing the game 2-1.   We have many quality players and will be very good if we learn to work together nad create more opportunities offensively.

I am so excited; season opener will be in Helsinki, the capital of Finland against HJK on April 10^th.  We still have about 3 and half weeks until then; plenty of time to find the team’s chemistry and plenty of time and room for improvement.

On Saturday I went out for the first time with 2 girls on the team.  The americans were too tired because it takes probably a little over a week to get over the jetlag.  I was too tired to go out last weekend.  We went to this  huge bar called Arken, it has a casino, two floors, and two huge dance floors.  I was definitely not aware of this but most European singers/bands sing most of everything in English.  Haha, how many of you Americans knew that?  I most certainly did not, but I guess it’s not THAT important for me to know since I am deaf.  I met some guys from the guys team and they were all really nice. 

I am having fun so far, sorry there isn’t too much to share at this point since all I am doing is sleeping and playing futbol.

Last night I found out I have two weeks off June 19^th-July 3^rd.  Thinking about some places to visit during that time.  Definitely going to go to London the first part of it and visit some friends from the Deaflympics.  I am also hoping to run into Alice and Mia, my two exchange students from Denmark and Italy (they stayed with my family and I my senior year of high school). 

The Deaf European football championships are in Odense, Denmark (an hour or two from Copehagen) so I may make a stop to catch some games and meet some deafies and football players.

Hope things will start to speed up in the next week or two so I will have more to share with all of you!!

Miss and love you all!!

Football in Aland...

After the 48 hours were over...we were off on Wednesday and went to the gym; we go to the gym whenever you want during the day.

Thursday I was picked up at 7:30am...we had training indoors, I just wore my running shoes.  We did warms up, possession (5 v 5) with two people standing on the outside for wall passes.  Coach was on the side further away from the goal.  He picked a defender to stand on the other side for wall passes.  Whenever a team hits up to 5 consecutive passes, whoever has the ball after the 5th pass goes attack on the goal, another player on the same team goes.  So it was 2v1.  After that we added on to 3v2 and so on.  For you all footballers back in the US get this; those who do not, it is always the attacker (forward, my position) number is always first, and the number of defenders is always second.  So 3v2 means 3 forwards and 2 defenders.  We did that majority of the hour.  The last 15-20 minutes we did 6 v 6 with smaller goals (i think they were a little bigger than lacrosse goals but not an actual football goal.)

Later that night, I had my first professional football experience.  We had a scrimmage against the 2nd best team here in Aland, (remember I am on an island so when I say around here, that means just on the island). We won 4-0.  I was impressed by the team because we have a lot of young players.  Youngest is 16.  Here in Europe you are done with high school by the age of 16 and you have the option of pursuing a football career, going to college for two years then to an university.  Schooling over here is a lot different than I thought.  I am not going to lie, I really envy the younger girls in a good way though.  I am so glad they have the option that I did not have at 16.  In America, it is so important to go to college if you want a real stable job (paying wise) to be able to live on your own.  Here, you can get a job anywhere and be able to live on your own.  The oldest here is 30, she is the fastest on our team, from England.  You wouldn't believe how fast she is...in track in the 100 she runs probably a little over 11 flat.

During our game, we played two halves of 30 minutes.  Usually in a full soccer game there are two 45 minute halves.   The first goal was by the left outside mid who is 18 years old and a lefty...it was a beautiful goal right inside the 18 by the left side.  The second goal the left mid was on a break away to the goal then passed me the ball right inside the 18..about 10-12 yards out and took a shot to the right corner....then the 3rd and 4th goals were penalty kicks... The 4th PK I was on a break away down the sideline and no one was on me because they thought it was gonna end up out but I made it and crossed it and it hit a defenders hand.

Overall, it was a good performance but our season opener isn't til April 10th so we have a lot of work to do and a lot of improvement along the way.  Two americans are coming on Tuesday and I am so excited to get our final roster finalized and get started with pre-season.

Things are looking good as far as the players go.  There are players from Norway, Sweden, the US, England and a few others that I am not sure of yet.  We had a girl from England playing with us the last couple days but she left today to go back to England.  She was trying out to get a taste of the island to see if it was something she wanted to do.  She wasn't sure if she wanted to leave England to play, but dear lord, I hope she ends up coming, she would play a critical role on our team.  She is amazing, she plays for the U23 England national team.  So hopefully next week I will hear some good news from her :)

After the game we did 4 sets of running,...sprint for 2 minutes rest for 25 seconds, sprint for a minute and half rest for 25 seconds,  sprint for a minute rest for 25 seconds, sprint for 30 secs then rest for 3 minutes and repeat 3 more times.  It actually wasn't too bad but with me playing a real soccer game for the first ttime in a couple years, with the jetlag, only less than 72 hours later, the girls told me to stop after the first one.  I said no I'm fine, they were like NO sit down you have to be soooo tired just relax and you will catch up with us in a week or so, no worries.  I can't emphasize how awesome these girls are so far :)

Last night we had training at 5 and we trained for about 2 hours, we worked mainly on the midfield then did some 7v7 then more running! Ugh, we had to run 8 laps around the full soccer field in 12 minutes and again my body is exhausted but I refused to let myself stop, I ended up only doing 7.  I will be able to do it in a week after I recover from the jetlag :)  I usually wouldn't say jetlag is an excuse because it's my first time in Europe, IT REALLY does affect you!!  You'd be surprised!

That is all so far :)

ps. since I will be blogging a lot and such I barely go back and edit it.  After I post the first blog I realized there were a LOT of grammar and spelling mistakes but people kept saying you need a blog up NOW haha so I wrote that one really fast!!  Hope you all are enjoying reading this!! Miss you all!

First 48 hours of my new adventure (Beware super long and detailed)

As I finished up packing, I knew it was time to take all of my luggage up.  I slowly go up the stairs anxiously because I knew Bengal (yes my little man, Bengal who is a boxer, who I've had for 3 years, will be 4 in September) would react somehow to all of my luggage.  Once I made it up top he saw it all, started to sulk the whole entire morning; refused to eat his dog food.

As I was getting ready, it was slowly starting to hit me.  My parents were like, "you ready?" I responded, "yeah hold on."  I went into one of the bedrooms upstairs to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything, Bengal followed me and was sulking as well.  I called him to get up on the bed, and tried to give him a kiss, he was still sulking and turned away.  At that exact moment I started bawling, I am hugging and kissing him, probably was pretty loud because he started licking me; I started sobbing even more.  

Once I walked out, my mom started crying and said "you know he is in good hands, we will take such good care of him" I said I know that is not the point I can skype with you, Dad and Leslie (sister) but it's not the same being able to squeeze Bengal's squishy, permanently sad face, being greeted so graciously by him or getting his best kisses ever.  Yes, I've been blessed with the perfect dog.

As we got to the airport, the guy who checked in my baggage was as nice as he could be.  Surprisingly, my two suitcases hit 45 lbs, the limit is 50.  I thought there was no way because I packed so much.  The paper I had printed out prior to traveling said only one travel bag per traveler.  He did not charge me for the 2nd bag, thankfully.

My parents and I ate at Damon's and I ordered a chicken ceasar salad, anyone who knows me knows that is one of my favorite dishes (boring I know, yet so good).  As soon as they gave it to me, I looked at it and looked up at my parents.  My dad was in the bathroom and my mom was sitting there like what the hell is that?  I responded...."are you fucking kidding me, a PERFECT example why fucking Americans are so fat and lazy,"  The romaine lettuce was NOT cut up at all there were 2 sticks of them with chicken on top.  So much for a great last meal.  Here is a picture of it-


Oh yeah I was very pissed although I was laughing my ass off with my mom and dad at the same time.  So I guess the laughing was worth the $12.00.

Time for me to go, as I said my goodbyes to my parents they both started crying so of course I started crying and got out of there as fast as I could so I didn't have to spend the next 5-10 minutes listening to their lectures and bawling some more :) (love you Mom and Dad).

Anyone who knows me...will say "yeah only Felicia" once they hear/read about my time/luck before actually arriving to my destination. 

The plan was to go from Cincinnati, Ohio to Newark, NJ/New York then to Stockholm, Sweden and the chairperson of the club was going to pick me up.  We were going to take a ferry to the Island.  There are about 3,600 Aland Islands but 80%-90% of people live in Mariehamn (where I am living now).  Aland Islands are owned by Finland, but is much closer to Sweden.  People here speak Swedish.  People in Finland speak Finnish.

Nope, because of the awesome thunderstorms we had the very early morning I left, delayed my flight from 1:50pm to 5:30pm which caused me to miss my flight in Newark.  Once I arrived I told them where I was going the guy in Newark was like "ok you are going to London, then Stockholm."  I said wait what?!?! I want to go straight to Stockholm.  He said "well then you'll have to stay overnight here." I was like eh okay never mind no thanks. London is the #1 place in the world I want to visit, and of course I am going to be teased by being in the actual city and not able to go anywhere.  So I am going to my gate, got online, and ate some sushi, YUMMY, then got on the plane.  Finally at 11:30pm I am boarding.  The girl next to me was like "you're from Cincinnati?" I said "yeah are you??"  She was like "yeah I lived there for two years, but my visa expired so I am being sent back to Germany."  So she was on the same flight from Cincinnati, to Newark, to London.   I was so glad to meet someone so we had a good conversation on the way to London (6 hour flight) except for when were asleep!! What a nice woman (she was 30, although she looked like 25ish).

Finally I landed in London.  I had about two hours before departure for Stockholm.  I went to a lady because I was not sure which airline to use.  My itinerary said to fly with British Airlines but it was operated by Scandinavian Airlines.  British Airlines was at terminal 1 and SAS was at terminal 3.  She told me to go to terminal 1.  So I got there and in London the gate for your flight does not show until 30-50 minutes before departure and I had about an hour and half to an hour.  My flight wasn't even on the board at all so I was slightly confused but decided to go to the money exchange and exchange my money from US dollars to Euros.  Then went on the computer to get online to keep my coach and everyone else updated.

Once I was about an hour before departure my flight still wasn't on the board and I ran into Isabella (the German I sat on the flight from the US to London) I told her about how my flight wasn't on the board.  She was like oh shit let's go talk to someone.  So we went and talked to someone they were like you're at the wrong terminal I was like oh shit three people told me to go to terminal 1, they were like HURRY up you need to go to terminal 3 or you'll miss it because of the security (there are a different security for each terminal) so I am sprinting and once I got to terminal 3 there were no lines, thank god.  So I got in and looked at the board there it was, what a good feeling knowing what was going on.  

I sat down and looked over and saw a woman holding a starbucks, I was like oh lord I need some of that so I went and got a white chocolate mocha (so yummy).  Sat and literally stared at the board along with hundreds of people waiting for my gate number to pop up.  It finally popped up and I went to the gate.  Wow, I must say, everyone at my gate was pretty much super blonde and blue eyes so it was very OBVIOUS I was somewhat, entering a new territory.  

As I am sitting there I started to get a little bit nervous.  We got on the plane, the two beautiful swedish flight attendants must have been informed that I was deaf so they both came up to me and started talking real fast in English with their accents.  I was like waaaaait I am sorry but I'm deaf slow down.  They both smiled and were AS NICE as you just could possibly be.  They explained beforehand what they were going to do, the usual boarding procedure.  I just said oh no worries I fly all the time.  They were like ok great, do you need anything, beer or wine??  I just looked at them for a couple seconds and thought about it then I said oh no thank you I'll just take a water.

I couldn't believe how well they understood me and how nice they all were.  I knew at that moment I was nowhere near America with rude ass people. 

I slept for majority of the 2.5 hour flight from London to Stockholm.  I arrived in Stockholm.  Yes, everyone is mainly blonde and beauiful, so I definitely felt like a tourist.  I was waiting for my luggage and got them.   I went out and my chairperson was nowhere to be found so I went to the information desk and asked where I could find the internet.  They pointed the way, so I went to the computer and it said you had to pay, I didn't have my credit card with me and I took all of my money out of my account so I could exchange my USD to Euros.  So, I was basically screwed.  I went back to the information desk and told them what was going on and the man turned his computer and was just check your email really quick.  Now answer this how many information desks in America would have done that, YEAH PROBABLY NONE!!!

After checking my email my coach is like "since it is so late, the ferry is closed...." I am sitting there like oh mother#$#$#....and then it continues "we booked you a flight from Stockholm to Mariehamn (the Island) and no worries it is much faster than the ferry and you will beat the last ferry anyway.  So I was thinking oh shit I have to check in my baggages again.  So I ran upstairs and saw this information desk for Switzerland, I decided to take a shot.  I told her what was going on she was like let me call someone.  As I was sitting there waiting, she was like okay go to this gate and pay for your flight.  I was like oh no, my flight is already booked, the club I am playing for took care of it for me.  She was like oh oh okay can I see your passport so I handed it to her and she gave me all of the information.  Again, so nice and helpful.

I am sitting in the check in line (I was in the front) and once the lady came to it she typed in my name, it wasn't found.  I was like oh I swear so I wrote down the name of my club and etc.  She made a call and then said oh no problem we will take care of you.  I felt like I was getting the special treatment so finally went to the gate.  After I gave her the ticket at the gate, I walked out there is a freaking bus.  

I sat there thinking "how is this bus going to fly us to the island?" I was slightly confused.  It was obvious I wasn't the only one.  Three older men were sitting in front of me and as soon as we started moving they all 3 took their hands and starting flying as if our bus was gonna start flying.  I started laughing my ass off because I knew exactly what they were referring to.  They all looked at me and realized I was laughing at them so they laughed with me.  It was a nice connection HAHA.  Once the bus took us where we were flying out of.  I was sitting there like good lord, that is the smallest plane I have ever seen, it was almost like a private jet, it had to be anyway.  

I hopped on the plane and I was too anxious to fall asleep so I am sitting there for about 15-20 minutes and the seat belt light popped right on, I'm thinking no way.  Before I knew it we landed.  It had to be the SMALLEST airport I had ever seen, there was only one plane on the island and only one place to get your luggage.  I turned around and saw a soccer looking coach and I smiled and waved.  He waved back but I couldn't go out there until I got my luggage, my luggage came in last.  I picked up the last of it, and realized my 2nd luggage wasn't there.  So I went out there and told coach Steve he went up to the front desk and we filled out papers.  Then we formally introduced ourselves.  We went out to his car and we put my stuff in the trunk.  Then I went to the side where in America the normal passenger seats are he is like oh no no the other side.  I responded "oh shiiiit they drive like that here"  He started laughing and was like no no I shipped my car from England (he is from England).  I was thinking in the back of my head, oh wow, he must be a big deal, haha.  

I arrived at my hotel which was literally about a mile from the airport so it is pitch black out and I'm thinking oh god this is the smallest place I have ever been to, this is crazy.  So I took my stuff to my room the room was pretty small but I wasn't going to complain I had a bed right there!  I went back downstairs to the lobby to get on the internet to let everyone know I made it.

Once I felt exhausted and it was time for bed I went to the front desk to get coins for the vending machine, I pressed sprite, of course it was sold out.  So I pressed water so I am opening it and I drink it....I thought I got water, so as Im walking up the stairs I spit it out because it tasted like SHIT!!!! .....oh my god....the nastiest shit EVER, I am thinking to myself there is NO way.    It tastes like carbonated water where you go to freaking mcdonalds and you try to  get coke or sprite and the clear shit comes out!  That is exactly what it tasted like, so I am sticking to tap water for the whole stay unless a miracle happen and I find a normal bottled water!! (I ended up finding it when I went grocery shopping).  I went to bed.

I woke up and went to the restaurant for breakfast, I hardly recognized anything I grabbed two hard boiled eggs and a couple pieces of bread.  I looked around and realized everyone had their eggs in an egg holder.  I am sitting there like oh shit just hurry up and eat before everyone looks at you like an idiot.  After I ate I went to go buy some shampoo and conditioner.  Came back and got online for a little bit then I went in the room.  I came down and the front desk was like "here is your 2nd luggage and lunch is free for you as well."  I said "oh thank goodness I thought they lost it, thank you."

I went in the restaurant and saw a salad bar, and said to myself "thank god everything looks familiar you are going to have a normal lunch."  I sat next to a couple (either a couple or a son with his mother I didn't want to look and stare, we were way too close to do so).  One had spaghetti and meatsauce (it had orange/yellowish sauce) I was thinking to myself and the swedish menu...hmm you might as well take a wild guess or get the spaghetti just to be safe, so I saw "spahetti" so I knew that had to be it.  They brought it out, and I dug into it.  Wow, had to be the BEST spaghetti and meat sauce I have ever eaten.  So delicious.

After lunch, I got picked up by one of the girls who was Finnish, she was really good at English we had no problems conversing.  We went to the gym and got a work out in.  She took me back to the hotel and she left.  I got my  things together and took a shower then packed she was back an hour later to help me move into my apartment.   The chairperson gave me the key for my apartment then took me to the internet company and got a cable cord and then took me to the grocery store and paid for my whole bill then took me back to my apartment.  The pictures are up on face book, but I am not going to lie, I LOVE my apartment and it is much better than I had expected.  

As soon as I got back it was 7:30pm I put all of my groceries away, put my sheets on the bed, and passed the hell out.

My first 48 hours were finally over. 

To be continued.....