Spain – Olympic Clay, Tapas, and Picasso
One of my goals for my stop in Spain was to see the Barcelona 92 Olympic site, the Picasso museum, and the beach. Not only was I able to see the Olympic sites, I was able to get some court time on centre court of the 92 Olympic games. It was my first time on clay and it threw off my technique during warm-up, but eventually I got a good hitting rhythm. The clay court plays very slow and is unpredictable in taking on the spin of the tennis ball. One of the biggest challenges for me to date is overcoming my nerves when leading in a tennis match. Up 3-0 serving, I completely lose it and for the next 5 games unable to gather my composure. The match ends at 4-6 which was a bit of a disappointment, but hopefully I can work on my nerves during tennis training in Florida this week.The week went by very quickly and I found myself spending most of my time wandering around the city admiring the beautiful architecture. Aside from Gaudi’s work, there are many architects from around the world who have contributed their designs to the landmarks in the city. After wandering the streets, there were plenty of delicious tapas bars to grab a bite to eat and nice cold drink. For the first time in my life, I was offered free drinks in order to fill out the ratios at the local clubs while I was passing the bars with a mate of mine. This would not be sustainable in North America or Australia to give free drinks to get people into the bar.
With all the travelling, my language is all mangled with random outbursts of French, Japanese, and Spanish coming out. A part of me is glad to be in going to Florida where I wont have issues with language.
