Everyone either asks me if I’m nervous to go to Spain or if I’m excited. I always find it a dumb question because obviously, I’m both. I’m excited about the experience and making new friends from all over the world. I’m also excited to not be in school because I am so done with Marquette. I get so much homework it’s hard to have a social life at all. I’m also excited because I only have to do 3 hours of school each day besides Saturday and Sunday and the rest of the day I get to play soccer and explore the country. I also am excited to get away from home and have some freedom without parents looking over my shoulder 24/7. But I’m also nervous for almost the same reason. I’m worried I will get behind on my school work on the computer and I know I will eventually probably get homesick. Also, I have to be on the plane by myself which I have done before but for a much shorter trip. I have a layover in Iceland for 4 hours so I just have to sit in the airport by myself which seems pretty scary. I am in Spanish 1 so I know a little bit of the language but I probably won’t be able to communicate very well with the people over in Spain. I know that I will miss my friends and my dog and a lot of other things I’m used to here but overall, I think I will be fine and it will be a great experience.

I went to the JV girls basketball game tonight which was a lot of fun. I played basketball last year for Marquette but this year I just had too much soccer to make that time commitment to another sport. Watching the team made me really miss playing which was a bummer. The team got creamed something like 55-25 which was hard to watch but the girls worked hard the whole time and didn’t give up. I got to say hi to all my friends after the game and my friend snuck me free food from the concession stand since she was running it which was nice. Basically, the whole team is coming to my party tomorrow because I know them all so well from last year and most of them play soccer as well. When I got home from the game my mom and I put up lights on our deck and then started the preparations for food for tomorrow. Pretty much our house is full of junk food for the party which is new because my dad is super healthy so we never have junk food in the house, He’s not too happy about it but I guess its ok since its obviously not all for me lol. Tomorrow I have to wake up really early to clean the house and finish making food for the party so its gonna be a busy day tomorrow. I also have quite a bit of homework to get done before Monday so that pretty much gives me just Sunday to work on it.

This Saturday I am having my going away party for Spain. A bunch of my friends are coming and I’m really excited. There are a lot of preparations that need to happen before the party though. My mom and I are putting up the Christmas tree today after I get home from school which usually takes about 3 hours to do. The tree is kept in our basement and is really heavy to move. There are 5 different stories of branches that go on it which makes it really tall. We have about 700 ornaments that we hang on it every year which is always very tiring to put up…and take down. Whenever we put up the tree we play Christmas music the whole time which is always a lot of fun. we also have to put up Christmas lights outside our house and on our back deck. After that, my mom and I have to go shopping for all of the food and materials we need for the party. The party is 6-10pm which is going to be fun but also very tiring. Right now I have about 38 friends coming to our house is going to be pretty packed. My friend is bringing her huge speaker with a disco ball on top which we will probably put in the basement where most people will be hanging. There’s probably a million details were going to forget but I hope that overall, the party goes smoothly.

I just got back from North Carolina on Sunday night for Nationals League. We won all 4 of our games was were great and I scored 2 goals in my first game. We only had 1 game per day so we had a lot of free time as a team. I got behind in a lot of school work though which dropped a bunch of my grades which sucks sense finals week is coming soon. I made it onto the top scorers’ list on the website which is cool because college coaches look at that often. The head coach of the University of Alabama was at the game where I scored 2 goals and later that day I got an email from them saying they were interested in me and inviting me to a camp. The area that our hotel was in was very sketchy and there had been many kidnappings right outside our hotel the week before we arrived. There was also a murder a few plazas down from our hotel which was scary. A bunch of police officers came into our hotel looking for the suspect. I officially leave for Spain in 24 days which is terrifying and exciting at the same time. It seems so unreal as I get closer to the date and am trying to mentally prepare myself for the trip. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend besides the fact that I’m behind in so many classes and finals are right around the corner.

So I haven’t been keeping up with blogging so I guess I will just talk about my Thanksgiving bream. On Wednesday morning my cousins and I all went to Top golf for a couple hours and then we went home and played ping pong at my house. Later that night we went over to my other cousins house to make pies. Thanksgiving day we went over to my cousins house around 3 and ate at 6. The food was sooo good (as always). After that, the fun started. My cousins and I piled in there huge van (19 seater) around 8:00 and we went Black Friday shopping…(or in this case, Black Thursday shopping) we went to Walmart, target, Kohl’s, and ULTA. We got home at 3:30 am and took a 1 hour nap because we had to be at the Bass Pro Shop for a free giveaway that started at 5am. I slept over at my cousins house and we went shopping again on Friday. On Friday night my family always hosts a bingo and chili night. It was a great night except for I got no sleep and had a soccer game in the morning. Well that’s it for now.

One of my favorite quotes would probably be “Live your dash”. This quote has always inspired me because when you die, your gravestone has the date you were born “dash” and then the date you died. that dash that separated the birth and death represents your life no matter how long or short it was. “Live your dash” to me means that when you die, that little life represents my life and I want to live my best life so that when I pass, people who knew me or who come to my funeral look at my dash and think wow, She really did it right.

An invention I think someone should make would be heated turf. At really nice sports complexes they have “Cooling” turf for the Summer but they have nothing for the Winter when our toes are freezing and numb. I would rather have hot toes then frozen toes. When I have told people about my idea they ask how would it work? Well, underneath the turf there would be little tiny ventilation holes all over the field that heat would be able to come through while we are out on the field playing. This invention would be beneficial to every sport on turf, not just soccer.

Writing about my dream last night would usually be normal but yesterday I had a really scary dream. So a few days ago my whole family was home and we were just hanging in the house. My mom decided to take the dog for a walk and when she stepped outside the garage door she noticed something odd. One of our flower pots that line up the side of our driveway was in the middle of our driveway shattered. If it had just fallen over it would have cracked in one place and would not have moved to the center of our driveway. It looked as if someone had come to our house, picked up the pot, shattered it, and left. If we were in a normal neighborhood it wouldn’t be as scary. But we live hidden deep in the woods with very few neighbors, and a chunk of woods separate us from all of our neighbors. When my parents went out the other night and left me home alone I was kind of jumpy all night just thinking about the prowler we had outside our house. ANyways, back to my dream. I have a window in my room that can see right out onto the driveway.  So yesterday night, I had a dream that there was someone outside my window smashing our plant pots outside of my window. Then after the person got done with that they chucked one at my window causing it to break. As they started climbing in my window to get to me I woke up shaking and scared. To make things scarier, right when I woke up from that dream, my alarm clock went off and scared me so bad I fell off my bed. This morning I looked at my clock with my mom but both my “Wake up reminders” Were set to there normal times. So I have no clue why it went off at 1 in the morning.

If I ever have children I have many things I would do differently from what my parents did to me. First, I will never pressure them to play a sport and will NEVER yell at them during there games. Its there game and their time to shine. I know they will give there best and its not my place to yell or try to tell them they did a lot wrong. As a parent its good to encourage your child more than getting down on them. If they have a bad game I will support and be kind to them instead of ignoring them because of their performance. I will also never keep them up for hours telling them they’re not serious enough about the sport when they train 3 days a week and have 3 games every weekend. Another thing I would do differently is giving them more freedom. I would give them a phone at the age of 10 (That seems like an appropriate age) and I would let them have the apps they want and check it occasionally. I believe that as a parent if you try to ban your kids from apps and having a phone for a long time it just makes them more rebellious. If you give them trust and freedom from an early age, they will do there best to keep your trust and freedom by following the rules that er set in place. I will also never pick favorites if I have more than one kid and I will not give all my attention to one child if they are struggling. That teaches the other child that they aren’t as important and teaches them to not be as loving towards their parents at a young age.  If I ever have a child that grows up to be abusive or threatening I will make sure my youngest child is always safe and send the child who is struggling to get help instead of keeping them in the house as a threat to my other child.

Why are people so cruel? This has been a question I have wondered a lot just because everywhere around us there are people who are cruel for what seems to be “no reason” But what we don’t know is that they are actually probably really struggling. People aren’t usually cruel unless they have been hurt before and that’s the only thing they know how to do. I myself have experienced people who have been cruel. My brother for one has a cruel side to him. he was raised well but he is socially awkward which caused him to not have many friends, I think that had a big part of him growing mean and threatening. I was also bullied a lot in seventh grade and I think that was because they were jealous. Seventh grade I moved to a new school and made some friends and was having a good time. but some people didn’t like having a new person in their group, which turned them to be cruel to me. We finally got past that but by that time I just decided to switch schools.

My dream car would probably be a white/black Jeep Wrangler. I know it sounds basic, usually, people say a Lamborghini or some other high tech car but I keep it plain and simple. Jeeps look really cool and  I would love to have the doors off in the summer and just ride around with my hair flying behind me in the wind. I could also see my driving around with a bunch of my friends in the car with the doors off and the music turned all the way up.

Spain: I leave for Spain in almost a month and I’m super excited/super scared. I just found out a few days ago that apparently, I’m the only girl apart of the program so it’s me and 12 other boys all ages 16-18. I also learned that on my flight home alone I have a 4-hour layover in Iceland so I have to find the right terminal for my next flight by myself and then sit alone for 4 hours. That part really scares me because I’ll only be 16, sitting in an airport all alone. My parents are going to fly down with me early to Barcelona before the program starts so that we can sightsee for a few days which should be fun. We also got tickets to see The Barcelona team play. I don’t know who they play tet, but I’m really excited to see them play. When I get back from the trip I will be able to get a car and start driving and get a job for the summer which I’m really excited about.

I leave for Nationals league in 3 weeks with my soccer team to North Carolina. (I have been saying South Carolina in my other blogs but I found out its actually North Carolina.) I’m really excited for the trip since my team gets to fly there together but I’m really nervous about my playing time. My coaches have been really unfair to me and some other players and have been playing his favorites. It’s sad because he has favorites and to make it worse…we all know who they are. To make sure I earn more time and a possible starting position I have been determined to train after school in my basement every day to try and become better at my skills and speed. One thing that’s really annoying is that a bunch of girl on my team goof off at practice and don’t take it seriously and they still start the game. I, on the other hand, am serious about training and getting better and get hardly any playing time. I’m really hoping Spain can really help me grow and I can come back Finominal to prove to my coaches that they made a big mistake by sitting me on the bench. Since our team just won our bracket we get to go to Nationals league again next year and Regionals. I’m really excited because Regionals this summer is in Michigan and I love Lake Michigan. My mom and dad used to live in Michigan so they have taken my brother and me there to visit many times.

My Party: I am having a “Bon Voyage” party in early December so that I can get together with a bunch of friends before I leave for 3 months. I’m really excited for the party and have a bunch of cool ideas for the party. I’m considering inviting a few people from my creative writing class that I have gotten to know. My parents wanted me to make it also an early birthday party which I thought sounded dumb since my birthday is not until February. So that idea got shot down.

My family and I went to see the new Grinch movie yesterday night and it was a lot of fun. My dad fell asleep for most of it but I promise you it was not that boring, I think he was just tired…They had a lot of funny parts in the movie which was nice because I was in the mood to laugh. After the movie, we went to Chick-Fil-A because we were all hungry and not in the mood to pay for overpriced food at the movies. We actually invited my brother to come with us which was surprising because we don’t really see him anymore which I know sounds bad but there are reasons for that. He is 19 and going through those “Wild” Adulting stages which hopefully he grows out of soon. He doesn’t have a car because he has a really hard time saving his money and to make things worse, the stuff he buys with the money he gets he wastes on useless crap like movies and sweatshirts that he doesn’t even need. I try to talk common sense into him that he needs a car and a reliable place to stay but he has his mind set on other things and has other priorities of his own I guess. He intends to come black Friday shopping this year with me and the cousins which I keep telling him is a dumb idea because he is broke but I think he may have an ear problem because he seems to not hear me when I bring it up. Anyways, it was a pretty good weekend and I just hope my brother can wake up and realize you need money to survive in this world.

There are many reasons why I love Thanksgiving but probably the one thing I love most is black Friday shopping with my cousins. I have gone black Friday shopping with my cousins for as long as I can remember. We always take the big van that seats 17 people because I have a ton of cousins and the adults stay home and play poker. Technically we go “Black Thursday Night” shopping because we leave to start shopping right after our big dinner since the sales start on Thursday night. My cousins and I usually stay out shopping until 2 am and then I just end up spending the night at my cousin’s house. Normally I blow about $200 dollars on black Friday buying Christmas present, shoes and clothes for me, and any other things I really want that my parents refuse to buy me. But this year I’m literally broke. I have a ton of money in my bank account but I refuse to ever take money from there since that money is reserved for buying a car. I’m hoping to earn some money this week so I can get some things that I have been wanting. The two main things I want this year are air pods and a cute pair of boots. I doubt I’m getting much for Christmas this year because of my trip to Spain and my parents are going to help me out with buying a car when I return from my trip. I’m really excited about shopping with my cousins but I need to come up with some ways to make some quick money.

I love Thanksgiving, it’s probably my second favorite holiday (first being Christmas) but to be honest I’m not a big fan of pie. Especially pumpkin pie. Eww, pumpkin pie is so bland and sticky and has a chalky taste to it. If I’m forced to eat it I make sure there is more whip cream on it then there is actual pie. I usually just take a plate and fill it with whip cream (which I know sounds gross, but it’s sooo good). I dont like pies with nuts in them either. I do like pies with like chocolate, or Oreos, or all the unhealthy stuff on them but I’m pretty sure most kids do. My family has a tradition where we all get together a few days before Thanksgiving and make pies together. I’m not a big fan of making pies either so I usually watch and do the easy stuff like get the ingredients and hand them to my mom so she can put the recipe together. One of my favorite “Pies” and I put it in quotations because its probably not even a pie is an ice cream pie. I just had some of an ice cream pie the other day. The crust was made of crushed Oreos and there was chocolate ice cream on top and topped off with different types of chocolate bars on top. I asked my mom if we could make that for Thanksgiving but she said “no that’s not a real pie” So instead, I will be stuck with more pumpkin pies this year.

This weekend I had my last two MRL Soccer games. The first game was Friday night and the weather was awful. It was already about 19 degrees and windy and our team was not prepared for that kind of cold. Right as our game was about to start it started snowing really hard. And it wasn’t just snow, it was like sleet pounding us in the face. When I was out on the field I could not feel my toes or fingers and could barely see through the snow. The whole game we were all hoping the game would get canceled so we could jump into our cars and turn the heat to 100 degrees. But no, the game continued and we had to learn to fight through the cold. We ended up loosing which broke our streak of being undefeated and it was our second to last game. We could have easily won because we already played that team in State Cup and beat them 4-0 but I think the weather was just too much for our team. We ended up winning our game on Saturday so we won the bracket which put us straight through to nationals league again next year.  Normally we would be done with our outdoor season by now but because we made it into nationals league, we play outdoors until December 7. We have officially been playing nonstop for 1 year which is uncommon because usually we get the summers off but we didn’t this year because we were in regionals which happened in June. I’m looking forward to moving to indoor soccer and not having to deal with the cold anymore.