Scotland

Greetings from Glasgow, Scotland! Of all my travels over the years, this is the first time I've ever been to Scotland! Although it has been a bit dreary and rainy, I've quite enjoyed my stay so far. We arrived as a team just over a week ago, and it has been a bit of an adjustment.... for quite a few reasons. First, you would think it would be easy to get around and communicate, everyone speaks English... until you hear some of these Scottish accents!! Scottish is like a different language than American! Most of the time I just smile and nod my head in agreement, even though I have no idea what was said! :) At least I'm friendly, right?! haha. Another big adjustment is that we are 5 hours ahead of EST. We've traveled halfway around the world and been much further from home, but for some reason, the jet lag hit us pretty hard on this trip! Maybe it's because we haven't really traveled overseas in a while? Or maybe it's because we are so far North that it doesn't get dark until 9pm? haha but we've been having some weird sleeping patterns! Fortunately, I think most of the team was on a somewhat regular schedule once we started games on Sunday! The last adjustment we have had to make is just dealing with the weather. It seems to always start raining right we get on the pitch. It could be sunny all day, but as soon as we step on the field to practice, the rain comes pouring down! But it's only a little rain, so we can handle it! ;)

The tournament has been going pretty well so far. We finished pool play in first place in Pool B. We started off with a 3-1 win over Spain, then fell 2-2-1 to South Africa in the second game, before finishing our pool with a 3-0 win over Ireland. The 6 points was still enough to land us atop the pool. We've played some good hockey and still have some things to improve on.... and now that we are in crossover play, every game is do or die! So tonight we play India in the quarterfinals! I hope you'll be following online! All games are streamed on the fihockey YouTube page!! GO USA!!!!!!

Here are a few pictures from around town and Scotland tournament fun!!