March 14, 2005

Day 2:

So we got up this morning around 8AM (11AM Eastern Time), so much for sleeping in. When our assistant coach, Jim said we could sleep in during school, I started laughing. I don't know about everyone else, but I can never find the time to sleep, oh well. Everyone was still a little groggy from the flight, but with breakfast in the very near future, especially waffles with fresh fruit, everyone picked up a bit. We ate and then took a walk around the piers in Fisherman's Wharf. Our hotel is literally one block away from the wharf and it was a great location (total props to coach). The view on the piers was awesome; we could see the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge and Alcatraz just a little ways away. Going back to the hotel we walked near some of the shops and some girls saw Brad Pitt and even had their picture taken with him! Well... at least the wax figure of him, close enough.

We got back to the hotel and got ready to leave for Berkeley and our game against UC Berkeley (a top 10 team). I love visiting the UC Berkeley campus; it's just such a beautiful campus and has a great atmosphere. My mom and my grandpa both graduated from Berkeley and it has some great people in the area. So everyone was let go to go roam around the area until we met up for lunch. We ate at a really nice place that made homemade bread, which was very good. When the girls came back a couple of them mentioned that they felt a little uncomfortable or odd because the people in the area were so "free" or liberal. I felt so much at home. No one cared whether you wore Gucci or made your own clothes; it didn't matter what you looked like. The people were very friendly and were very open for discussions and, it felt so good to be there.

We met up and walked to the vans to head over to San Ramon to play UC Berkeley. Before we stopped at the game though, we went to the grocery store for some water and small snacks. When we were pulling up to the store I saw something very dangerous... Girl Scout cookies. The girls grabbed their wallets and ran over there to get some. Apparently Samoa is the popular kind for our team and just a small note, Michelle bought two boxes (Good Job Jersey!).

When we were driving up to the stadium to play I saw my mom! I was so excited to see her and I ran out to the field early to talk to my family and friend from Cali. I saw all of them and it was great, very comforting to know my family was there behind me and supporting the team. The volleyball team showed up as well, so we had a pretty solid cheering section (Thanks Volleyball!!). We played a pretty intense game and there were some bumps and bruises throughout the game, as usual, but when all was said and done the score was 1-1. That day was a good day.

Afterward the girls went to an Italian restaurant, but I heard it wasn't as good as they thought it would have been. I wouldn't know, I hung out with my family after the game. I had such a good time I didn't want to leave, but I was getting tired and almost fell asleep. Everyone was at the hotel when I got back and after a while we all crashed.