Sorprendente (sore-pren-dent-tay) – Amazing (CAUTION: SPOILER ALERT FOR JUVENTUS-OLYMPICO LYON EUROPA LEAGUE QUARTERS)

            ….yesterday was downright awesome….well the day was kinda just a normal one (which means I was still living in italy so yes that is downright awesome too….) but at night I got to go to a Juventus game J and not just any Juve game, but the Europa League quarterfinals J this was an amazing opportunity because lets be honest, if I were living at home with my parents, Id bet money that I would have been watching this game on Sunday afternoon with my dad…..just like all the big European games…..it was truly just incredible to not only get to watch a professional game in Italy, but to get to watch a big game was the best….

            …so how did I get to tickets? Well one of my closest friends here, tutors two little boys in English, and after working for the family for a month or so, they asked her if she would like to stay with them for the summer and continue to tutor the kids and work as a Au Pair while they hosted her…..she jumped at the opportunity (because well, host families are the best decision ever J) and after a few weeks she discovered that the father of the family works for Juventus, in some sort of really high position…..so literally the day before the game, he came home from work apparently and asked her if she would like to go to a soccer game, and that he had two extra tickets…she said yes and when she told her roommate, her roommate told her that she should take me because I would enjoy and appreciate it the most…..which was awesome…..so I literally got a call that said “hey what are you doing tomorrow, wanna go to a Juve game with me?” the most awesome call ever…..I had been looking at the schedule for a while now (since we only have 5 weeks left here) and had pretty  much accepted that I wouldn’t be able to fit any Juventus game into my schedule and that I probably couldn’t afford it anyways…..so this call was absolutely perfect….

            …so yesterday, we went to school as normal in the morning and then I returned home after, did some homework, and took a nap (because well I must be getting sick because I literally am falling asleep everywhere, today I took a 3 hour nap after sleeping for 7 hours the night before, I don’t know)…then showered and got ready to go….the game didn’t kick off until 9pm so we left at 7, metro-ed as far as we could before getting off to take the bus the rest of the way (about 40 minute)….when we arrived at the stadium I was totally just in shock…..I mean I have gone to a Serie A game (FC Torino) and Ive seen the best player in the world play (Messi in FC Barcelona vs Seattle Sounders) but to be actually at a place where other people eat, breathe, and live soccer, and to see this crowd of people filing into a stadium, totally in love with this team, most likely because their father was, and his father was, and his father was, and so was his father….it was truly amazing….it was like, this was what my dad raised us for….to love the sport and to see this and realize that even tho its not the way of soccer in america that this sport means the world to people….its awesome J…..

            …so when we arrived we went first to go get our gear J….scarves….i of course, needed the gameday on and Rebecca got another normal Juventus one….and then we were off to find our entrance into the stadium…both buzzing like crazy bees J….after a lot of walking and getting through lines, we finally entered the stadium and let me just tell you that it was totally and completely amazinbg…..I only wish that my dad and family could have been with me, they would have been freaking out even more than I was….it was so amazing…we were in the top tear of the left side (from the view of the tv, the green part when we made the flag)….about halfway up….the most amazing part, that made me sit back and think, seriously? How amazing is life and opportunities?, walking into the stadium, and the first chant I hear is “Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Juve, Juve”….so so awesome!!!

            ….the game ended up actually being really fun to watch…we were also sitting really close to the other team’s section too so that was pretty fun….apparently whistling is a form of booing another team because it drowns them out, our eardrums found that out really fast J….but really the game was fun…went down at halftime to grab a beer and then it was back for the second half…we ended up winning 2-1, totally exciting….i truly loved every single minute of it…so thankful to have grown up on this sport that is loved so incredibly and deeply in this place…..after loving soccer in america, its absolutely heaven to live in italy J…..

             …this game was an amazing opportunity and I am so thankful to be able to cross it off my list and be able to say that I saw both pro teams from Italy while I was studying here and that I got to see a pro game in Italy….it was so awesome to be able to see this game in its heartland in italy….so much cooler than napping on the couch with dad as he watches the game and reads the paper on Sunday afternoon….thanks for getting me to love watching this sport daddy J….