Sophomore defender Angela Rineer (Shillington, Pa./Governor Mifflin)

Day 1, Jan. 3, 2008

Today started off really early. Well lets just say yesterday ran into today like nothing else. Having either taken an all-nighter or sleeping for two hours, everybody knew it would be a long, but exciting day. Our first flight left at 6 a.m. from Philly to Miami, which was pretty exciting because we were getting out of Pennsylvania. Then from Miami we traveled to Barbados! My favorite part of traveling was getting off the last flight. We didn’t just get off the plane into the normal terminal tunnels like the U.S., we actually got to get off by stairs into the Barbadian atmosphere. It was overwhelming because everything was happening so fast, or maybe it was just the lack of sleep, but it was an amazing feeling. We are in Barbados! All we had to do then was get our luggage and head to our beachfront view hotel. We went straight to our rooms and then had a quick meeting with coach and Julian, our tour guide. Julian had a lot of insights about the island and it was very helpful. We were all so famished and went to dinner at Just Grillin’. It was very intriguing little place. Then after dinner we all got into the ocean, which may I remind you is right outside our hotel! It was like nothing else, plus it was in the dark and I personally had never swum in the dark before. Then after all the excitement we unpacked and basically passed out from all the excitement.

Day 2, Jan. 4, 2008

There is nothing better than waking up to the sound and beautiful view of the clear blue ocean. Today is to be filled with soccer and relaxing. After eating breakfast we had a little time to ourselves before we had to leave for soccer practice. We had an hour long practice just to get ourselves prepared for our game later this afternoon. It had been a little while since everyone played together so it was good to get back in the same mindset of playing. It was interesting practicing because one, we haven’t played in the heat like this in awhile and two, the field we were using also happened to be a cricket field too. After practice we had a good bit of time to ourselves before we had to leave for our first game. In that time, a lot of us were on the beach either in the water or searching for sea glass or seashells. There was a good bit of us that went on a hunt for food that we could make four ourselves for lunch time. Before we knew it, game time had arrived and none of us had any idea what to expect from this team. The team, the Pro Shottas FC had various ages ranging from 12 to mid-20’s with various skill levels. The game turned out to be a good one; it turned out to be a pretty physical one at that too. The game started out a bit sketchy at the beginning, but once everyone got the rhythm of the game, it was a pretty interesting game. There were two goals scored by us and one by them. Bekah (Bekah Stonecypher) scored on a sweet header off of Blessing’s (Lindsey Blessing) corner kick. The second goal was scored by “Trudi” (Collen Kafka) after she got rocked inside the box resulting in a penalty kick. So the outcome of the game was a good one and everyone was very well pleased. We then wanted to celebrate our victory by going out to dinner at Woodpecker’s restaurant, where we enjoyed the food very much. To celebrate our victory even more, a bunch of us went out searching for ice cream and then we finished the day off with a little sea glass/seashell searching and sitting on the beach taking it all in.

Day 3, Jan 5, 2008

Today was the first day of the trip with everyone. We left at 8:30 in the morning for our 4x4 jeep tour. The island Safari 4x4 jeep tour would take up the majority of the day. We left in these ten seated safari jeeps, which everyone had an amazing view in. There were three jeeps in all that took us all on our safari adventure.  We all had a very knowledgeable tour guide that gave us very important and valuable information about the island.  Our guide tour was hilarious which kept everything very interesting.  The whole jeep excursion was probably the greatest thing I have ever done in my life.  We all got a chance to see very captivating sites and views of the island.  I want to say the views that we got to see were the most breathtaking views ever, words just don’t explain how amazing it was.  There were many, with all of us, taking pictures everywhere we went but a picture just can’t capture the actual blue or beauty that the water holds.  We ended up stopping a few different places to have a social good time with everyone and experience the views as well. Let’s just say that today was the best day ever!!  One of our last stops before lunch was the Soup Bowl and that’s where Barbados holds their main surfing competitions and just a general surfing area as well.  We got a chance to also see some cricket action as well at the Soup Bowl.  There were just some locals just playing around when we were there, so it was pretty cool to watch them play, since cricket is the main sport in Barbados.  We then stopped to eat some lunch at Sunberry Plantation, which again the food was amazing!  I think I’m safe to say that everyone had a really great time and would do it again in a heartbeat if they could.  The views were spectacular; I could just sit there all day and watch the waves break over and over again, if I could.  After we got back from our safari adventure, everyone was pretty wiped out.  We all went out to the beach and just relaxed for awhile.  I swam a little, searched for some sea glass/seashells and then went on a walk with Jenny and Emily a little. On our little walk I ended up finding a nice hardly broken conch shell, it was pretty cool.  We then had dinner on our own.  My roommates and I stayed in and had some pasta to save some money.  Then a little later we went for a walk to see the nightlife of Barbados.  As soon as we got back we basically passed out again on our beds.  Ready for a new and exciting day.

 

Day 4, Jan. 6, 2008

This Sunday we had the entire morning to ourselves to enjoy.  We all came down to breakfast around 8:30 a.m. and enjoyed the wonderful food that they served.  Most of us enjoyed our time we had on the beautiful beach.  I again was in search for some sea glass and sweet seashells.  I got in the water for a bit and then something great happened.  Some of the girls got out boogie boards!  Emily the famous surfing and skim boarder I know was doing a little of skim boarding and naturally everyone wanted to try.  I’m pretty sure that the majority of the team gave it a go.  It was actually pretty entertaining watching everyone wipeout on the sand and everything.  I shouldn’t talk, I wiped out many times and had sand everywhere imaginable.  But it was all good times and it was fun and something different.  The game snuck up on us before we knew it.  I’m not sure of the name of the field we played on because we weren’t scheduled to play on it.  But let’s just say it was the worst field I’ve ever seen, but we played on it anyways.  We were against the U-20 National team of Barbados and it was a better game than the one before.  We actually played better today than we did before.  There was more competition with this team than the last.  As much as the field conditions were poor the game was a good matchup.  It ended up being a very physical game at the end, the ref was letting a lot of calls go, so we could play, which is good and bad in a way.  Before the first half was over Kyleigh (Kyleight Roth) had a nice breakaway right in front of the goal and slotted to the near post right past the keeper.  In the second half Bekah made a beautiful cross right in front of the keeper and Trudi headed it past the keeper and scored.  It was a very enjoyable game, plus it was being recorded live by the Barbados TV, so that was cool.  We all went out to dinner at Jumbies which had amazing food.  They served food like dolphin, Jerk chicken, and porkchops which were all very tasty indeed.  We then ended our night by shopping or looking around the Gap, which was where Jumbies was located.

Day 5, Jan. 7, 2008

This morning we woke up again to the beautiful view of the clear blue ocean.  Today would be another fun-filled packed day to relax and enjoy the sunshine on the crystal clear Caribbean Sea.  We left the hotel around 9 a.m. to Shallow Draught in the Port of Bridgetown for the day’s adventure of Tiami Catamaran Cruise.  We weren’t the only team on the Catamaran , we were joined by a British cricket team and the Nazareth University track team from New York.  At first we were all kind of hesitant but a little time went by and we were all mingling with each other.  The day would include relaxing on the Catamaran soaking in the sun, some snorkeling with the turtles and near the reef as well as swimming at the nearby beaches too.  The swimming with the turtles was a pretty cool experience, you can’t just say you go swimming with turtles everyday now, so I really enjoyed that.  The only part I didn’t like as much was that everyone was out at the same time and the turtles were only in a few spots so it became very crowded very fast.  It almost felt as if were in the movie Titanic because the amount of people in one area, plus we all had life jackets and snorkeling gear as well.  One way to put it in works as coach would say “I feel like I’m in a giant mash pit, but in the water”, so it was pretty funny.  We then got to swim out to a reef and explore it a bit and see what’s around it and such.  Overall I want to say it was a really great day, not everything can be perfect, the experiences were fun and entertaining as well.  Majority of the day was spent relaxing in the sun on the cruise.  The rest of the day we had free to do what we wanted to do.  Many girls on our team spent it on the beach and then going out to dinner.  My group which included all of the Finocharios, Emily, and myself went and did a little shopping in the Gap.  We had a little change of food, we went for some Chinese food and it was actually really good.  I guess you could say it was good to have a little change in the food selection for one night.  We ended the day by sitting on the beach and just gazing into the star and moonlight. 

Day 6, Jan. 8, 2008

We basically had the entire day to ourselves, except for our last game and dinner.  A lot of the girls worked on their tans and stayed at the beach the entire day.  I was on the beach for a little collecting sea glass and seashells before Jenny, her parents, Emily and I went to Ocean World.  It’s nice to just relax and do nothing all day but sometimes you just want to go out and do something different, I mean we are in Barbados.  There was an aquarium and some mini golf at Ocean World and it turned out to be pretty interesting.  At first we were all pretty skeptical of the aquarium but it turned out to be a decent size one and had many different sea creatures there as well, throughout the entire tour.  Then we tried out our skills with mini golf.  The course didn’t have too much variation.  I wouldn’t say it was the best place to mini golf, but it wasn’t horrible.  Soon enough it was time for our third and final game of the trip.  Before the game it was raining pretty hard and we were all hoping that it would soften the field up a little before we played.  Now, at this point during the trip, we were all getting use to being on “Island Time” as they say it but coach still wasn’t all the way with the island time.  We were to play the Genesis club team at 5 p.m. on the same field as our last game which was the Bridgefield Grounds, which again weren’t the best conditions of a field.  We got to the field and started our warm up and by that time we weren’t sure if we were even going to have a game since the lights weren’t turned on and half of the team wasn’t there yet.  Lets just say they were all on definite island time.  The game started a little after 5pm, but no worries all was good.  The seniors all started for their last and final game, which is really depressing.  They will all be missed very much so.  The game got on its way, after a rocky first ten minutes or so Blessing got fouled inside the penalty area and Trudi put it right past the goalie’s reach.  Then about ten minutes later or so Sarah (Sarah Thomas) comes attacking from the back and makes a beautiful slotted shot to the corner scoring our second goal of the half.  After those two goals in the first game, it started to look a lot better and we were settled down and playing our game.  The second half was well on its way, when “Lynnie” (Lynnette Reitz) escored off a free kick that was awarded to us, making the score 3-0 Lock Haven.  With about ten minutes left to go of the game, Emily Wagner came back onto the field, but not in her normal jersey or position.  Yes she was playing up top, her final soccer game with the Lady Eagles.  Within those last 10 minutes or so another goal was scored. This goal would be the last of the game and it was the scored when “Trudi” made an awesome cross from the left side of the field and Emily was there to put it in the back of the net! I would say it was a nice change to score a goal rather than be trying to be scored on. The last game was a great way to end our tour. It’s great to say that we went to Barbados and won all three games we played down there. We ended the night with going to Bert’s (A Sports Bar owned and run by the owner of the Ottawa Senators) to eat dinner. The food was great as usual. After dinner we all celebrated.

Day 7, Jan. 9, 2008

Waking up knowing it’s your last day in a beautiful place just doesn’t make you feel good inside. But you can’t go around thinking about that now, can you? You have to enjoy the time you have or it’ll pass you by without you realizing it. Today was the day of TAX FREE shopping in Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados. The entire team went into Bridgetown for some shopping. I believe we shopped for 2.5 hours until we were picked up to go back to the hotel. I think everyone finished up their shopping when in town. We had the remainder of the day to do whatever until dinner. I believe a lot the girls either went to the beach or finished their shopping at Christ Church the rest of the day. A group of us went to a beach a quarter mile down from our hotel. This beach was more of a public beach, but there was more beach area and the sand was softer than the one at our hotel. It was really nice. We also got to do some “boogie” boarding and a little skim boarding. We ended up meeting a local down at the beach and he had a boogie board and he was showing us how to use it and such. Then he brought out the skim board and it was all over. We had a good time just playing around and having fun. Then the rest of our free time we packed up our items to get ready for the bus travel tomorrow. In the evening we went to Harbour Lights Beach Party and Dinner Show. They say it was one of the most popular entertainment attractions on the island. Dinner was amazing; the show on the other hand was not so good. The show was made for little kids more than anyone else. Quoting Coach, “If you had unlimited expenses to Walmart and had an hour or two to prepare, could you put on a better show?” We all answered, YES! Let’s just say they need to get some new material.

Day 8, Jan. 10, 2008

It was really hard to wake up today knowing we were leaving today. It was very sad. We didn’t leave until noon, so we had the morning free to work on our last minute tans and to pack up the last things that we needed. I think almost everyone was on the beach enjoying the last hours of the blue ocean and warm sun. The time came to say goodbye to the ocean and the sand and hello to the airport. I say that because we will be traveling all day long, it almost feels like the waste of a day, but I guess it has to happen. So basically we were either in the airport or sitting on the plane from 1 p.m. to about 2 a.m. the next morning. To put an official ending to our Barbados trip, I would have to say this was a great overall trip. There were many memories that were made and many experiences shared throughout our Barbados trip. I wouldn’t change anything about the trip we had, it’s one in a lifetime. Now it’s back to normal life, Lock Haven here we come again.