We Lost, but that was Fun, too.

Tonight I went to the first intramural indoor soccer game of the semester. And my first intramural anything game. Ever. And the first time I can recall that I've been inside a huge air-supported, heated dome. We played in a virtual bubble. Maybe a real bubble, at that.

Originally, I'd signed up for the recreational level of play, thinking that five years of not-playing is long enough that I might look a tad foolish out there. However, it looks as though we got dumped into the intermediate level, probably because there weren't enough women who signed up to play indoor soccer (the men have four teams).

The important part is that I played soccer for the first time in five years. I discovered it's kind of like riding a bike. Before I realized it, I was calling "man on" and "time" and all those other phrases used in soccer (or am I out of date? I don't know...), and remembering not to reach (that one took a few mistakes to re-learn, in fact). I also found out how out of shape I really am, when I got all out of breath after a few minutes' play. It's kind of comforting, and gratifying, to realize that I haven't lost all skill, just familiarity.

As I started playing, all my memories of five years ago and the last time I'd played five-on-five on fake turf suddenly crowded up to the front of my mind, and the time faded away like I'd just played last week. For a moment or three, I really felt like I was back in undergrad, playing on one of the three outdoor mini-fields on Tuesday evenings, which were our "optional" practices (in fact, I rarely went). Wearing layers against the cold, running across other playing fields to get the out-of-bounds balls, smelling of turf and wind and sweat, walking back through the gym and climbing in my window so I wouldn't have to walk all the way 'round to the front door. It felt odd, though that's a bit of an understatement.

Now if only I could attach muscle memory to the remaining Italian in my brain, maybe I could re-learn that just as quickly...

Memories of Italy: Bolzano, Winter 2005

All this writing of and going to Christmas markets has brought to mind plenty of memories of Italy. I went to two Christmas markets while there, one at the very beginning of the season with my German friend Franzi, in Bologna, and one in the Trentino region of Italy. I took a train with a small bunch of other foreign students to a city called Bolzano, where the smallish Christmas Market is held in a piazza. It had snowed recently, which made it seem even more seasonal.

Somehow, a fellow student I didn't know very well, and I got behind the others, perhaps because we decided to start with some spiced white wine. She was hungry, so we got pretzels, too. We stood and enjoyed those for awhile, and when we wandered deeper into the piazza, stopped at another stall that sold mulled wine (the usual, red kind), to try that too. Then we got to the food stall, which sold polenta (there was this huge vat of the stuff, the woman standing over it and stirring it looked like a domestic, winter witch) and blue cheese, together - as well as German sausages. Yum. She got a sausage, I got the polenta. They spooned so much of it onto my plate, and it and the cheese was so rich, I couldn't finish it. Later we found the rest of our group, who'd seen everything else, the decorations and toys and incense and whatnot, and had stopped to see the musicians.

We ate (and drank) our way through the market. And it was excellent.

Doing some research for ITER today, I came across maps of Italy's regions, which is what brought this on. Here's Bolzano, and just south is the Veneto, which is where I studied and lived for four months. Bolzano is the one with the balloon, and Verona is almost directly south, in the foothills.

I think we went skiing once at Lago di Garda, but that's a story for another day...

Veronese Playlist

This playlist can, almost without fail, take me back to the good times in Verona in 2005. The most exciting (in every sense of the word) four months of my life.

Verona 2005 Playlist (created 2010)

To Remember: Autumn Visits Summer, June 2010

Yesterday was the first really hot day in the past week. Now the entire east coast is engaged in battle with a nearly record-breaking heat wave.

But four days ago (all timeframes and dates approximate), the mid-Atlantic region felt like Autumn had arrived early. Meaning I got even more restless, bored, irritable, and itchy to be outside. (Note: the downside to not having a day job is not necessarily having anything to do during the day. That, or I'm more lazy than adventurous.) Eventually, a few days later, I believe Thursday, I managed to get up early enough to drive to Great Falls Park and view the amazing falls from the three observation decks, and hike the River Trail. This trail is rocky, slightly hilly, and in places comes perilously close to the cliff edge. I witnessed a kayak practice, where kayakers crossed the river in the up- and downstream directions, caught a glimpse of climbers ascending the cliffside (shudder) and passed several groups of hikers, like me.

Great Falls passes ($5 for one private vehicle) last three days. Counting the day you pay for the pass, the first Park Ranger was careful to tell me. So two days later I went back, this time with the madre, and to hike a section of the Swamp Trail, which is more interesting, nature-wise, and quieter, people-wise, than the River Trail. Though more poorly marked. That day marked the return of summer heat and humidity.

This whole cool week, the breeze blew, mornings were chilly, the days full of sunshine, and nights downright cold. We left the windows open and my winter down comforter became a necessary comfort. The air even smelled like fall. I miss it already. I long for the apple cider, apple pie and pumpkins, the bright and deep color of the leaves, the scent of autumn, the crisp mornings and cool evenings, the light layers that make being outside comfortable. All the best holidays are in the fall, too. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and just into winter, Christmas. Hot chocolate, hot soups, baked squash and potatoes. Warm boots, that puff of cloud on the breath.

Fall has always meant new beginnings to me. I loved shopping for the First Day of School Outfit. The plastic smell of new school supplies. The excitement, that first day, of learning new things and getting back into the habit of organizing notes and binders and figuring out classes.

I don't want to miss what summer has to offer, but I can't help looking forward to September.

Childhood Snapshot: Road Trip to Washington State

While I was in Toronto, I met a Canadian who wants to travel the States. He started asking me about all the places I'd been in the states, and a road trip my family took when I was a child came up. My dad loved road trips, and on summer vacations (he worked for the school) he would pack us all into the car to travel a route of his choosing. Usually we spent two weeks at it.

We drove to Nova Scotia; Jekyll Island, Georgia; Orlando, Florida (yes, and Disney World); and Washington State, where my dad's brother lives.

I remember being disappointed we weren't going to pass by the Grand Canyon and the point where four states meet. Instead, we took the northern route. In my conversation with the Canadian, I mentioned the national parks we went to. Only, I couldn't remember where they were, other than a vague, "Montana?"

Thinking about that today, I googled a map of the national parks to find out. Curiosity, and all that. What's fascinating is that on a map of the U.S. I can trace our general route by the national parks we visited. From Washington, D.C. through cow-and-corn country, via the Badlands in South Dakota with a stop at Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills, past the Little Bighorn Battlefield and Crazy Horse National Monument in eastern Montana, through Yellowstone in Wyoming on the border with Montana and Idaho, and to northern Montana and Glacier National Park.

I think it's possible we hit just about every national park in that part of the U.S. And after all that research and remembering, I want to go on a road trip again.