By: Delaney Crawford
Traveling abroad for the first time can seem scary, but not when you are going with 14 of your closest friends. This summer I had the amazing opportunity to travel overseas to France with my teammates from the Hood College Women’s soccer team. We were accompanied by our coach, Connor Pracher, and athletic trainer, Thomas Chattfield. These two thought they knew us pretty well before the trip, but now they know more than they ever wanted to about our lives.
Our seven-day adventure began on June 7th when we arrived at Hood College at 10 in the morning. All the girls were happy to be reunited and excitedly chatting about what was to come. We took three vans and went to Washington Dulles airport where we left on an overnight flight to Paris, France with a three-hour layover in Germany first. Being someone who hasn’t done much traveling, I thought the eight-hour flight would be terrible. While it was for many of the girls, it wasn’t too bad for me. I ended up sleeping for six of the eight hours and slept through both meals that were provided. A lot of my teammates and my coach didn’t get as much sleep and some none at all, so by the time we finally reached Paris, there were many sleep deprived attitudes running around.
Many people say that the great thing about vacation is how relaxing it is, those people would have hated this trip. When we finally got to our hotel, all of us wanted to just lay down and nap but our coach told us we had to stay up because we had practice. So, we listened and when it was time, we met in the lobby all ready to walk to the fields, besides coach…. Coach opted to use the whole “do as I say not as I do” strategy and fell asleep in his room. Our wonderful tour guide Gilles and Thomas walked us to the fields and we left coach sleeping at the hotel. He eventually woke up too many calls from our other trip associate Jerry, and made it to practice only a little late.
As much as we all dreaded practice after the long day we had, I personally thought it was very cool to know that I was playing soccer in France. Every time I looked up and saw my surroundings, I knew that this trip would be great. After practice we all showered and had our first dinner together at the hotel. I have always been a picky eater, so I thought I would struggle with finding things I liked to eat, and I did a little bit, but not near as bad as a few of my teammates. We had to make many late-night journeys to the nearest fast food chains we could find so that the picky girls could eat something. As exhausted as were after that long first day we didn’t allow ourselves to let our first night in Paris go to waste, so a few of my teammates and I went out exploring and we fell in love with the cities night life immediately.
Day two in Paris was game day for us. When we woke up in the very early morning we had to dress for our day of touring and pack our soccer stuff up for our game later on. Our means of transportation in Paris was a little bus that took us everywhere we needed to be. Day two was all about seeing as much of Paris as we could so we had a long bus tour that took us around to all of the sights around the city. Every day of this trip we had lunch on our own, so the bus dropped us off at a pretty part of Paris that had many little shops and restaurants. We broke off into groups and everyone shopped and ate as they wished until our meet up time.
Once back on the bus, the journey to our first international game began. When we got to the field we were given a locker room to change in and then it was down to business. We went about our normal game time warmup, pre-game talks and lineup but so much was different because of where we were. The game ended with a score of 3-0 in our favor. I’ve always loved the game of soccer and feel so happy whenever I get to play but playing in another country against girls that speak another language took my soccer experience to a whole new level. After the game we had a little meet and greet with the other team. They could speak very little English and we could speak basically no French, but we all found a way to communicate and it actually ended up being fun. Again, we were exhausted after a long day but then came another night of eating dinner at the hotel. Dinner at the hotel meant another run to Burger King for the girl that wouldn’t eat the hotel food, and then we were off exploring the city again! We went all together this night and had a lot of fun and obviously took a lot of pictures. Two days of the trip already done but we all felt like we had been there for a week.
Day three was Eiffel Tower day and my favorite of the trip. We were all excited to see the Eiffel Tower until we saw the line to get in and we complained instantly. After we all got over ourselves, we waited in the line nicely and made it go faster by playing little games and talking a lot. Once we got into the tower some things went wrong. Two of my teammates were very afraid of heights so there were some tears and many hugs going around as we adventured up. Since there were so many people there and many different flights we ended up splitting into groups and ventured on our own. My group went right to the top and spent a good half hour up there taking pictures and staring out at the incredible view. Being up at the top made me realize how cool this experience was. I was at the very top of the Eiffel Tower looking out at a beautiful city with my best friends! I thought, “what could be better than this” and then practice getting canceled did make it even better. At this point in the trip, though we all felt like we had been in France for so long, we had not been able to do much shopping or day time walking around the city which was a big thing that we all wanted to do. So, we asked our captain to sweet talk coach into letting us have off and sure enough it worked. After we made it back down the tower we were free to go off for the rest of the day and do as we please. I went off with two of my teammates and we shopped until our arms were loaded down with bags. We hit every tourist “I LOVE PARIS” store and got so many cute things for ourselves and people back home. This day was my favorite in France because it was the one day that we had all to ourselves. As much as I loved playing soccer there, it added on stress and lost us a lot of exploring time. This day we got as much time as we wanted to do whatever we wanted, and it was so fantastic!
The next day in Paris we saw my future home, The Palace of Versailles. The Palace was beautiful, and it was the biggest building I had ever seen. We got to walk all through it and of course we took a bunch of pictures, especially with the statue heads that lined every hall. While the Palace was so pretty and super interesting, the gardens were even better. My group spent most of our time walking through the gardens and finding so many different paths that led all over the place. The gardens were twice the size of the palace. It was so big and confusing that at one point a teammate and I thought we were on two completely different sides of the Palace. We betted on it and of course I lost but I really did think I was right for a while. After spending all morning adventuring around the Palace, we worked up quite an appetite. We walked about a mile and a half down the street and into a cute little area with a bunch of restaurants. As a team we stopped and got lunch then walked around until our bus arrived for us. The minute the bus arrived we all jumped on board as fast as we could because we were on our way to our first World Cup match.
It was time for USA vs. Thailand and we were all so excited. We got changed into our USA gear and headed to the game. The atmosphere at the game was unreal. There were so many USA supporters that it felt like we were back home. Of course, as soon as we got there we all rushed in line to get shirts. The line took forever and by the time a lot of us got up there, there were none left. Everyone was super annoyed by the shirt fiasco, but those feelings were forgotten the minute the whistle blew to announce game time. USA beat Thailand 13-0 and we got to watch all 13 of those goals in person. They made history that game and we were a part of it. All of us were screaming our heads off all game long right up until the last whistle blew. It was an awesome experience and one that I will never forget.
The game ended late and we were still two hours away from our hotel, so we didn’t get back until around 2 am. Instead of us getting to actually sleep for once we were up by 7 am to catch a train to Nice. It was a six-hour train ride and it was rocky in many ways. It was my first time on a train, so I was freaked out and didn’t like the feel of it moving for a while. We were all exhausted, but it was kind of hard to sleep on the train, so many of us got no sleep. The only good thing that happened on that trip was the burger I had. After those six long hours were finally over, we arrived in Nice and it instantly became my favorite place. We checked into our hotel and then walked down to get dinner at a restaurant in the downtown area. Right from dinner we jumped onto the bus and headed to our second World Cup match. This night we were France supporters for the first and last time. France played Norway and won. Our seats were so good this game that a few of the girls even got seen on TV. We thought the atmosphere was crazy when USA played but it was ten times crazier this game because France was the host country. The fans were going nuts and we all learned a few chants in French because of how often they screamed them. It was a very good game and a great end to our first day in Nice.
Day 6 was also one of my favorites. Nice was so beautiful, and this day was the time when we got to see the whole city. It is fairly small and separated into Old and New City, so it was easy for us to find our way around. We had a tour guide take us through the whole city and show us all of the great places around it. Once we were free to go off we all made a beeline for gelato and then went our separate ways. Nice has a market every day in the streets filled with fresh fruits, vegetables, art, jewelry and so much more. A lot of us spent some time walking through that and the other shops along the road. After shopping a group of us went to the beach and let me tell you, this beach was something else. The biggest difference was the rocks. The rocks proved to be very hard to walk on so we all looked like idiots as we tripped into each other trying to find a place to sit. We eventually found a spot big enough for us and our stuff and settled in. Well settled in for about a minute because as soon as we were all ready we ran right into the sea. The sea was another huge difference from beaches we’re used to. It was the Mediterranean Sea and it was so peaceful. There were no waves and it was super easy to just float around in. We spent a lot of time in the water, mostly because we didn’t want to walk on the rocks again but also because of how cool it was that we were swimming in the Mediterranean. We did so much so quickly that morning that by 3 pm my group realized we had not eaten anything all day, so we rushed to find something quick to eat for lunch. After lunch we hurried back to the hotel, so we could get ready for our second international game. This game was against a top team in Nice and they were insanely good. We lost but even though we didn’t get the result we wanted we brushed it off because we were in France and we wanted to stay focused on the positives!
Our last day had arrived and no one was happy about it. We all woke up and were determined to make the day count. What we weren’t aware of was how much we would be walking, and we sure complained throughout the whole time, but looking back now I would do it all over again. We jumped on the bus in the morning and headed to Eze where we first went to a perfume factory. The factory workers walked us around and showed us how they make all the different soaps and perfumes. Then we got to shop and many of the girls bought the different types of perfumes. After the factory we headed to the top of Eze. There was this huge mountain that had the prettiest cobblestone all up it. While it killed the legs walking up, especially after the rough game we had the night before, it was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. All up the mountain there were cute shops and houses tucked into the rock walls. My teammate Grace didn’t realize that people actually lived in those houses, so she went to take a picture with one of the doors and ended up opening it and falling into someone’s home. She quickly shut the door but continued to pose for the picture and got yelled at in French when the lady walked out. After that we all made sure to stay far away from doors the rest of the way up. It took a while to get to the top, but it was well worth it. The trip down was much easier, and we were all thankful for that. When we made it back to the bottom we hopped on our bus and were off to Monaco. Monaco was beautiful, and it was so cool to see the Palace were their current king and queen actually live. We had some free time in Monaco to grab lunch and explore and then we jumped back on the bus heading to Monte Carlo. I thought Monaco was a super fancy and rich place until I saw Monte Carlo. That place attracts famous people left and right. We only got to see a little section of Monte Carlo but we all loved it. Some of the girls tried to go shopping and it proved to be difficult because every store was very high end. After adventuring around these three beautiful areas it was time for our last game in France. We were determined to come back in this game and finish our trip strong with a win and that is exactly what we did. Exhausted, we headed back to the hotel to eat our last dinner together. After dinner we of course had to make one last gelato run. There were so many sad faces running around that last night because no one wanted to leave. But, sure enough we had to and at 5 am the next morning we were off for our long trip home.
We went to Nice’s airport and it was here that we said goodbye to our tour guide Gilles. He was the best and we were all super sad to leave him especially after his sweet goodbye speech to us. We flew out of Nice on an hour flight to Switzerland where we had another sad goodbye to our man Jerry. He made us all close to tears after saying his goodbye. We had another three-hour layover and this time everyone was so exhausted that many of the girls fell asleep on the floor. After what felt like forever, we boarded the plane that would take us back to America. It was another eight-hour flight and it seemed much longer this time since we were all trying to stay awake, so jet lag wouldn’t hit us once we were home. I ended up watching two movies and read a lot of Harry Potter on that flight. Once we finally landed at Washington Dulles, it hit us all that we would be leaving each other again. There was a long trek through customs and the airport until we reached the spot were some of us were leaving to get picked up. Then it was coaches turn for a heartfelt goodbye and if you know him at all you know he is not well known for those, but he made it work and even got a round of applause when he was done. After coaches talk we all knew it was over. We said our goodbyes and thanked each other, Coach and Thomas for the best week.
This trip I was never alone. I was constantly surrounded by my teammates at every hour of the day and night. There were points where I got annoyed at them and they got annoyed at me. There were even times when I was so exhausted I just wanted to sleep through the day. But while this trip was stressful, tiring and had me wanting to kill some of the girls at points, I would not have changed it for the world. It was the best week of my life and I am so glad that I got to experience it with my team.
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