To quote one of the greats (Matt Bellassai) “Hellooooooooo everybodyyyyyy,”
I left all of you (my loyal followers) on quite the cliffhanger: the sprint test. Have you ever heard of the beep test? Our soccer team at Stanford used to run it…and they hated it…and they run for the entirety of their sport. Imagine my panic when our strength coach said that was what we were going to do. It happened, I didn’t die, and that’s pretty much the highlight. Don’t worry though, I have a few more chances to do better because we’re doing it four more times throughout the season. Honestly, I’m grateful that we run as much as we do because I’ve eaten 3 whole chocolate bars in the past week. I did say my healthy eating was going to be ‘attempted’….
On Friday we drove to Bex for a sort of practice camp retreat thing in the mountains. The Swiss don’t have the same fear of falling off the side of the mountain that I have pumping through my veins, so we got up the mountain pretty freakin quick. We stayed in a chalet literally at the top of a mountain. It was gorgeous. We immediately went on hike (I will leave this place an outdoorsy girl) and ran into a herd of cattle headed up the mountain for the night. We were gifted the opportunity to witness exactly how a cow pees/poops. FYI they just do it while walking, no pause, and if you’re behind them it’s on you to pay attention and move. This part of the night wasn’t gorgeous.
We had a few practices and got to play some 5v5/6v6 and I felt like I was good at volleyball for a minute, which was fun. We also tested our verticals (…yay) this weekend. We didn’t have the vertex pole-thing so we taped a measuring tape on the wall, smeared mascara on our fingers, approached along the wall, and put our fingerprints as high as we could. Where there is a will to measure a vertical, there is a way. We went on another hike the next day (I have now hiked more in Switzerland than the US) and happened upon or maybe intentionally ended up at (I never know) a hidden little lake with this adorable restaurant where we got coffee/tea. We drink coffee maybe 3 times a day. But this particular time, our coach had forgotten to bring his wallet (bc we were hiking) and no one else had brought theirs either (supporting the idea that we didn’t end up at the lake restaurant intentionally) but guess who did have their debit card? THIS KID. Earned some points that day.
When we got back, I needed to do laundry. Desperately. Running = a lot of sweat. The problem that Z and I ran into was reading the laundry schedule for our apartment. After a lot (a lot) of staring at these pieces of paper, we sent pics to our assistant coach and asked her to tell us what the heck it meant. She informed us that we have one day a month to do laundry. L O L whut. I needed to do laundry like 4 days ago. Michaela (the other foreigner on my team, from Canada, went to Samford/UAB, jumps like a rabbit) can do laundry whenever she wants at her apartment, so my Monday had a whole lot of Michaela in it. Let me give you a quick little rundown of how it went: I had to drive myself to her apartment. Which is stressful when you don't know the road signs + hate driving + don't have service outside of wifi so your GPS can't recalculate if you make a wrong turn. I got to her apartment fine. Parking was sketchy but I don’t think I broke any laws. Then I realized I forgot coins (need 7 20 cent coins for a load of laundry). So we took the cable car down to the post office, got change, came back. Threw my laundry in. While my laundry was going, I drove us to the cheapest grocery store in the city. There was construction everywhere. Once again, I hate driving. We get to the grocery store. I buy some stuff that I recognize. I tried to buy garbage bags but we have to get a specific kind and I can't read French and I don't think they had the right one, no garbage bags for me. Paid the cashier, it's all good. We get lost on the way back to Michaela's. Eventually find our way to Michaela's. It's fine. My laundry is done, take it out of the machine and get in my car to go home. Back car into a wall. Continue about my life and try not to panic. Get home without a GPS fine. There is no parking. Go search for parking. In my search, I am pretty sure I drove on a road that is not meant for cars. It's fine. Find a parking space in the zone I have a pass for. Check back of car. Fender is popped out. Pop it back in. Try to rub off scratches. Scratches are probably there to stay. Haul my soaking wet laundry (Europe doesn’t do driers), groceries, and backpack up to my apartment. Witness a woman trip and eat shit, which makes me realize that embarrassing things happen regardless of whether or not you are foreign. Check PO box…5 different letters. Everything is in French. Everything looks important and official. Get into apartment. Put away the groceries, hung up laundry, made toast and tea. Watched 4 episodes of Gilmore Girls. I am a functioning adult.
Later that day we were told that we could, in fact, do laundry on the weekends at our own apartment.
This morning we had a short practice where I got to work one on one with my coach and relearn how to set, which is always fun. Not a joke. I love those kinds of practices. Don’t get me wrong, I looooove to compete and scrimmage, but I genuinely love breaking down skills and feeling myself get better little by little. I can feel Inky rolling her eyes now. #volleynerd
Has everyone seen The Truman Show? I spend a lot of time convincing myself that I am not living in that movie. The people here are too nice, the food is too good, and the scenery is a little too gorgeous to be real.
Random things:
I get to see Molly McCage on Friday and I’m REAL PUMPED ABOUT IT.
I think the team is going to a festival of some kind on Saturday. Follow me on Snapchat (mbugg) to find out with me. Someone mentioned the phrase ‘sumo wrestling’…
I have already managed to kill the plant my dad got me while he was here. Ugh.
French lessons officially start in September.
Everyone feel free to FaceTime me whenever you want...
Much love,
Bugg
