Just my luck...

So one of the guys in our group found out that USI has intramural sports that are free to all students. They have all kinds of sports and activities that anyone can sign up for ranging from belly dancing to water aerobics. I signed up for volleyball, soccer, and basketball (even though they're not quite my sports of expertise I enjoy attempting to be adequate at them). Volleyball was the first sport on Monday, and there was five of us that went to play. We didn't really know the expertise level to expect, but the description said that all ability levels were welcome, even beginners. It was quite an adventure to just find the place where to play volleyball but we finally got there. It was quite the experience let me just say. The players were not kids, they were adults, men and women. The one girl I swear was a 6 foot tall transvestite. We were obviously out of our league, except for Lindsay who played volleyball in high school. It was definitely a bunch of fun though. I did pretty well considering we were playing with experts but did make a lot of comical mistakes. Tuesday was soccer, and I was really excited for that since I'd have to say it was my best sport out of the three. Again, we were surprised by their skill level. It was a bunch of 30 year old men in their full soccer uniforms. Val and I were the only girls, but it was a lot of fun. We were on teams of five and we rotated winners stay. The only problem was that one person had to be goalie, and no one wanted that job, especially me. The one time it was for like 5 seconds and they scored quite soon after lol. When we were cleaning up the field getting ready to go I saw one of the guys bring out what looked like a hockey stick. My eyes lit up and I asked him what sport they were played next. Found out from 8-10 was floorball, a sport played with a hockey stick with a plastic curved net at the bottom. The ball is like a miniature wiffle ball.

Of course the sport is completely different from field hockey, but I was definitely going to try. I was the only one of our group to stay, and the only girl in the whole program. I was asking some of the guys the rules and how to play. There weren't really any rules to the sport, but we played 3 v 3 with one goalie. The goalie position blew my mind. The guy played on his knees, and stopped the ball with his hands. It reminded me of a monkey trying to stop the ball, but required so much talent. It took a while to get the hang of the sport, especially since you can now use two sides of the stick, kick the ball, and do pretty much whatever you want. It was a whole lot of running with only a total of three members on your team, so you literally sub yourself out about every 5-10 minutes. My first couple of minutes in the game I was a little timid because I was getting used to the stick and the sport. Although, after I got the hang out of it, it just kinda clicked. I wasn't just playing with amateurs either, this one kid looked like he was 16 but was sick at the sport. I ended up scoring two goals and had some assists, and a bunch of steals. It felt really good to be a part of something, and I made friends with all of the guys who would cheer when I would score. They were all so friendly telling me where they were from and other stuff. They were completely shocked that I had played soccer for two hours before and were in better shape than most of them on the floor. That was the biggest problem with defending was speed. I had to drop a couple steps so I wasn't beat every time. The next day it was so nice out in Lugano that a bunch of us went to play basketball after school. We were playing 5 v 5 and Miles stole the ball and dribbling down the court for a fast break. I went after to go steal the ball, and we ended up getting tangled. My ankle was bending toward the opposite direction, and Miles ended up falling on me the other way. My knee was gushing blood, but the only thing I could feel was the pain in my ankle. I knew I did something to it, and they carried me off the court. I had to call Julien to drive me back to the Montarina and my ankle was the size of a soccer ball. He couldn't even take me to the hospital because they wouldn't even be able to take an x-ray with the swelling so high. The only thing I could do was elevate and ice and pray that it would get better. The only major problem was that I was leaving for Berlin for my ten-day the next night. Just my luck right. We decided to see if the swelling went down the next day and go from their. I got to stay at the Montarina and take my final instead of walking all the way to USI. The swelling definitely went down the next day even though I could barely walk on it. Julien and Brinberg took me to the pharmacy to get a brace so I could walk easier. The brace definitely did help me walk, but I was still in a lot of pain. I had no other choice though because I was so excited for this break. They were some of the cities I was most looking forward to going. So I brought lots of Tylenol, band aids. ace bandages, and braces, and decided to tough it out.