Real Zaragoza Soccer Game

Hello Everyone,

On January 14^th, after the bike trip with my scout troop I went to a Real Zaragoza soccer match. I was invited by a boy named Gonzalo that I’ve become friends with.  Gonzalo is a friend of Maggie, one of the other Rotary exchange students in Zaragoza. She introduced us in December and we have hung out a few times since then. We met up in front of my school and walked to Romareda, the stadium where Real Zaragoza plays. It was nuts when we arrived! Many people here are upset with the president of the team so before the game, there were people outside of the stadium protesting. When the doors opened, we went inside and found our seats which were very close to the field right behind Zaragoza’s goal.

The game was very exciting! Gonzalo and I were of course cheering for Zaragoza. At minute thirty-two, all of the fans starting blowing whistles and horns, ringing bells, and screaming and yelling to protest the president of the team. After the first half, Gonzalo and I changed our seats and went up to where the fans of the opposing team, Getafe, were sitting. We went there because there were empty seats with much better views of the entire field. I thought it was very funny because every time that one of the teams scored Gonzalo and I had the complete opposite reaction than the Getafe fans. In the end, it was a tie. Before leaving, Gonzalo and I took a picture with a banner with some Getafe fans even though we were cheering for Zaragoza.

Overall, I had a really nice time. It was really exciting! I wanted to go to a soccer game since I arrived in Spain and I finally did. I am also glad because Gonzalo and I got to know each other better. I hope you all enjoy the pictures!   

Until next time, Brian

Scout Bike Trip & Monument Dedication Ceremony

Hello Everyone, 

On January 14^th I went on a bike trip with my scout group. There is a great bike path that goes around the entire city of Zaragoza. It encircles the city and also passes many of the great sights including the ‘Cathedral del Pilar’, the great canal, the sight of the 2008 world expo, and the bridges over the ‘Rio Ebro.’ We set out at about 10 am and finished around 3 pm. Along the way, we stopped at a new scout monument in one of the city parks. The monument is to celebrate scouting’s 100^th year anniversary. We stopped at the monument to have a snack and take a few pictures. Aside from the snack stop, I don’t have any pictures because I was riding my bike and there was bad weather with a lot of fog.

The following weekend, the 21^st of January, we rode our bikes to the new scout monument again for the dedication ceremony. The ceremony not only included our scout group, but all of the scouts in our council, Scouts de Aragon. During the ceremony, the scouting directors spoke and then the scouts planted flowers around the monument.

I really enjoyed the bike trip because it tours the city and you can see many of the great tourist sights. I would like to and plan on doing the same trip in the spring with nicer weather. I also enjoyed the monument dedication ceremony because I was able to see and meet more scouts from our council.

Until next time, Brian