If she comes in your box, HIT HER!

Well, the official score yesterday was Bristol – 4 Husker Soccer – 2, but the actual score was a 2-2 draw. I’m not usually one to rip on the refs, but when the “linesmen” are members of the team that you’re playing and two of the goals that are scored on you were so far offside that you could have fit a semi-truck in between their forward and our last defender (slight exaggeration, but only slight…), then you know you’re getting hosed. They were also a pretty dirty team…two of our players almost had their legs broken from straight leg cleats up tackles. But I do feel bad that one of their girls tore her ACL in the final minutes, even though I’m pretty sure that some of my teammates still wanted a fight after the game. In fact, when  I subbed in, my centerback told me "If she comes in your box, hit her!" When I asked what number girl, she said, "ANY OF THEM! Just hit 'em hard!" haha it was one of those kinds of games...I played the final 20 minutes again, and it went very well. Didn’t give up any goals and took a girl out on a breakaway save (a bit of retaliation for some of their antics, but it was a fair challenge and I got the ball…she just happened to eat a little turf afterwards). But all in all it was a good game played under terrible windy/rainy conditions on a relatively small field.

Today we went into Manchester to do some shopping in probably the biggest mall I’ve ever been in…and it was awesome (even though I’ve just about reached my spending limit). I got some awesome Manchester United gear and some gifts for people when I get back to the states, and it was just fun to walk around in the town. The thing that I’ve noticed about these cities that makes them so different from cities in the U.S. is the mix between centuries-old buildings and super-modern buildings. Literally, they sit one next to the other and it’s like one minute you’re looking at 14^th century architecture and the next you’re seeing space-age like skyscrapers.

Random other things that happened…

-          We went for a walk around the lake, and some crazy teammates of mine went for a quick dip in the water, even though it’s like 45 degrees and raining!

-          Saw some gypsies walking down the road yesterday…it was kind of weird. They had (really pretty) horse drawn wagons and were just meandering down the two lane street with about 20 cars trying to pass them. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

-          Had a guy come up to us today out of the blue and ask, “Hey are you guys Americans? Cool!” and then he proceeded to ask us random questions and talk to us about random things for 5 minutes…apparently we’re an oddity around here.

-          Moving cottages today! Going from Stapleton to Empress with 4 new teammate/roomies…kinda stinks that this new one only has 1 bathroom for all of us, but I’ll live. Somehow. Someway. We’ll live. Also, I have no idea where any of my stuff is now because I just kind of threw it into my bag and dragged it over haha…it’s going to be a long night!

-          Had “cottage pie” for dinner tonight (so basically, shepherd’s pie, but English sounding). It was alright…but not as good as meat and potato pies at the stadiums!!!

My name is Amy Swearer, and POTS stole my life. I’m taking it back. (In England!).