Episode 2: Sports

Howdy! How are y'all? Last week I started to write a blog for the first in my life. I'd never done something similar. Expressing myself through weekly publications and sharing some of the sensations I'm living in this wonderful trip in Austin. In the previous post, I introduced myself and I told you about the crazy weather in Austin, that, by the way, I'm getting used to it. Personally, I'm really enjoying this new experience, and I hope you have had a nice time reading as well as I had it writing. 

 

Apart from showing you the surprises I'm finding in Austin, I want to use this blog to write about me. So, in each post, you will know me a bit more. In this occasion, I'm going to tell you about my relation with sports and the relevance that they have had and they have in my life. I'm a fan of sports. I love play them as well as watch them on TV. And I like different sports, from soccer to tennis, including hockey, rugby and many more. However, if there is one sport which has had a big impact in my life, it's the basketball. I started to practice it when I was a child, and for many years it was an important part of my life. Playing basketball I made some of my best friends,  I could travel along my country and I learnt about the meanings of "compete", "win", "lose", "be part of a team" and many other things.

 

What about Austin? Which sports could I see and play in my first two weeks in Austin? Fortunately, more than one, and in each of them I had a new experience that I had not lived until now. The first opportunity to see something new happened coincidently the same day I arrived at Austin. That day, I went to the women's basketball game of the Texas Longhorns against the Baylor Bears, in the UT Erwin Center. I had been in hundreds of basketball games in my life, but they had always been men's games. And that wasn't the only new thing I could live in the game. The stadium, called "The Superdrum" because of its round, drum-like appearance . What can I say of it? Amazing, huge, imposing, extraordinary, gorgeous, and any other adjective that you can imagine. I've never felt so small. And the show, how many things can happen during a basketball game! That day I learnt that in the United States a basketball game doesn't mean just men or women playing basketball. That's just a tiny part of the show. You can also see a band, a DJ, cheerleaders, gymnasts, the team's mascot and many more things. And that was just a college's game. I can't imagine how will be a professional game.

In my second week in Austin, I had the opportunity of watching a sport which I had never seen in my life, not even on TV. Ice hockey is that sport. And the occasion was in another game of the Texas Longhorns. This time versus the Texas State Bobcats. It was a great game and, to do it better, we won 3-2 (I've already become a longhorn fan).

These are just two of the sports which I could enjoy during my first two weeks in Austin. But, I've also played soccer in the Barton Stadium with other students of the UT, I went kayaking in the Colorado River, I ran around the town, and I hope this list gets longer. So, if there is a conclusion I can draw in my short stay in Austin, it's that Austin is excellent place to practicing sports, doing some exercise and seeing Longhorns' matches live.