March 12, 2011
WASHINGTON - The Georgetown University women's soccer team is spending its Spring Break in Brazil, touring parts of the country, playing soccer and watching some professional games. Throughout the trip, members of the team will provide updates from Brazil. The third installment comes from freshman forward Colleen Dinn (Kensington, Md./Holy Cross).
Day Three
"We start on our "short" trip to the game, but shockingly it wasn't quite what we expected. Oddly enough a tour bus cannot fit up a narrow, curvy, cobblestone road, so we had to find an alternate route. In this case it was an unmarked dirt road that was actually a swamp because of the constant rain for two days. Our bus swam through the mud at a nice slow pace while tipping at almost a 30 degree angle. All this while game time is approaching quickly and Ingrid (Wells) was getting restless.
"To top off the mud impeding our travel to this field that was yet to be spotted, there were cows and horses walking in front of us and taking their sweet time. At around 10 minutes till kick off, we stop suddenly with no explanation, leading us to believe we were stuck. After 20 minutes of dance parties and speculation we were told we've been at the field the whole time and it was time to warm up. The game was enjoyable, we scored a lot in the first half but in the second half the other team recruited Na (coach Naomi Meiburger) and we struggled a bit. However, she finally had to take a breather and we were able to pull out a comfortable win.
"The girls from the other team were super friendly and we enjoyed some time to take pictures, trade shirts, and talk with them after the game. Miraculously we made it out of the mud back on to paved road and back to our hotel. Dinner was served at the hotel dining room. To make sure we really appreciated the food they made us wait for a small time. The food was delicious when it was served late into the night."
Day Four
"The morning started with a group of girls going on a nice run through the cow pastures, dodging goats and cow pies, but otherwise very enjoyable. After another delicious buffet breakfast in the hotel dining room we headed down to a sand soccer court for some three-on-three tournament. Everyone had a great time playing and it became quite a heated competition, with a lot of good natured smack talk and healthy cheating.
"After the tournament, we were introduced to a group of children we would be playing with. They were a lively group of kids and we all had a lot of fun playing futbol with them and working past the language barrier. At the end of the training session we presented them with some gift of soccer balls, t-shirts and shin guards. It was an awesome experience and I think everyone enjoyed it. We had a small amount of free time before we got back on the bus to go back to Saquarema for an afternoon on the beach. We got to town easily enough, but in order to fill our time-in-bus quota we drove around in circles for a bit. When we finally got off we headed to the beach to the pleasant surprise of the sun! It was quite a sight to see 21 blinding white bodies laying out near all the Brazilians, but everyone enjoyed some fun in the sun.
"KK showed some Brazilian boys how to properly throw a football and other girls joined in to play a quick game. Monday was the second to last night of the Carnaval, and we attended some festivities at night. The theme of the night was for the men to dress up in costumes of a sort, and Mike (Calabretta) made some great friends and was very enthused by the whole experience. We all enjoyed the rowdy crowd and interesting costumes the men were sporting, and only wished we could have stayed longer with Mike's new friends. However, it was time for dinner at a quaint pizza cafe off the main square and then ice cream from down the street. After a long and exciting day we headed back to the hotel for a relaxing night and early bed."
