Big Day Tomorrow

So...Tomorrow is the big day I suppose. I have my first professional tryout/practice. Yes, it's only a one on one session with a former player, however, this session could open many many doors seeing as he has ties to an agent and other professional teams. As I sit here thinking to myself, I know that I shouldn't be nervous...I have nothing to lose. However, with the opportunity that this brings, there is immense pressure (If I choose to put it on myself) to do well tomorrow. Anyways, its the first opportunity to really see where I stand in terms of being able to make it over here...so hopefully things go well and I have good news in the days to come...

Hope everyone at home is doing well...

Brian

Happy Birthday Party Justin!

Happy Birthday Nephew!

Gautschfest 09

The last two days have been pretty cool, and an experience that has taught me a lot about the people of Germany and the character of the country itself. As I mentioned, I was going out to experience the nightlife of Augsburg. Last night, I went to Maxfest, which is situated in the city of Augsburg, the "province" of where I am staying here in Germany. Think of it the same way of the "Midwest" (Augsburg) and "Illinois" (Konigsbrunn). The festival is held every year and Max is a name of the largest street in town. Every street in the area was shut down so people could walk and bike etc around town easily. Every festival here seems to deal with beer, but more importantly, it signifies a time to go out, have a great time and be surrounded by good people. One of the strangest and things that reallly caught me off gaurd were two huge differences from here and the states. Upon walking into the center of town (the picture below) there were groups of kids that were no more than 15/16 years old just hanging out, talking and drinking beer. I was different, but I realized the difference in culture and expectations of alcohol from Europe to the US. It actually seemed like a really cool concept for these kids to just be sitting in a huge open area with their good friends enjoying a few drinks. Secondly, before actually entering the Maxfest we stopped at a bar for a few drinks with friends. When told we were going to the main entrance, I chugged my drink so I could be on my way. Little did I realize, you can walk with open containers here...something that blew me away...too bad, learning experience, and a full belly.

Back to the fest, when talking to people and friends of my cousin Simone, I likened it to Taste of Chicago, but it was with bars (though not as many)..and the street is a lot cooler and older. The beer over here is really good as suspected, and hits you pretty hard if you're not used to it. After a long night, I headed home and used skype for the first time...If anyone has skype, find me...I would love to talk (Byrnie18). Today I woke up with little sleep and headed to lunch at a Chinese restaurant. To be honest, seeing a Chinese individual speak German was something I never expected to see... The food was halfway decent, nothing special but it did the job. After lunch, we came back to me aunts house and I spent the majority of the day on the computer looking at pictures of family and Loyola...showing my family where I went to school etc...pretty fun. Around 6 we all left for Gautschfest 09. Now what I can compare this to is the Frontier Days and BG days of the northwest suburbs of Chicago. A small carnival type atmosphere with rides and drink. Except as expected, this had a huge beer tent. As I was saying, these festivals are eye opening to the culture of Germany. Everyone here is so happy and relaxed. Everyone constantly has a smile on their face and genuinely seems to be happy with life when surrounded by the company they enjoy (See video). Nobody cares for other opinions when it may interfere with fun and everyone dances as if nobody is watching and lives life as if there is no tomorrow. It's a great sight and an example for most of us. As you can tell from the pictures (Myself, my cousin Bernd and his girlfriend), the steins were huge and to say the least, it was fun. Tomorrow, I am off to play a pick up game with my cousin so I'm excited about that. However, a night is not complete without some rides, Wii and a good nights rest...the latter I'm about to do. Hope all well back home and hope to talk to you all soon. Brian

Training News

So today was a somewhat eventful day. I woke up a bit later than I expected, I guess that the jetlag had not worn off even with the long nap. After a nice breakfast where I nearly had some spoiled milk for breakfast, my aunt and I headed into the middle of Konigsbrunn, which I´m told was at one point the Countries (I was corrected :) longest village. We went to the local vodaphone store to buy a new chip for the phone I have while over here. When we got back, I took a quick 20 minute run around town and then we recieved some pretty exciting if not interesting news. On tuesday I will recieve a training session that is also a tryout of sorts with this man, Bernd Meier. This guy has played for some of the biggest teams in Germany, so to receive some training from him is not only an honor but a huge possibility for future open doors. During this session, of what I am assuming is only going to be an hour or so, Mr. Meier will assess whether or not he sees it fit to reccommend me for his agent. If this were to happen, the possibilities are endless and it would be a great boost for my hopes. On the same topic, the Gerry Weber Stadium is where the tryout/session will take place. This venue, which hosts the annual Gerry Weber Open, is usually host to tennis matches all year round and looks like a beautiful venue...so I´m pretty psyched about that. After that, my cousin Berd came over again and we all had a fine German meal of McDonalds. After the food had settled, the South Africa and Brazil game was on, so with the company of two of my aunts old neighbors, we had a few beers and talk about soccer and the game itself. Very nice people...and it helped that they knew english. Tomorrow, my cousin Simone gets home from a 2 week vacation from Spain and is planning on showing me the nightlife of Konigsbrunn, so thats gonna be interesting, and a bit frightening ha. I haven´t seen her in maybe 15 years so it´s going to be surreal. Anyways, I should probably get to bed seeing that it is 2am. Feel free to comment on anything and let me know if you guys want to know anything about the experience over here. Hope to hear from you guys soon.
Brian

First Day in Germany

So I arrived here in Munich safely and soundly. The flight was long, and uneventful but actually was kind of nice to go through the experience of a long flight once again. I again lucked out as I was in the first row of economy seats and got to have a bit more leg room so that was nice; i was actually able to fully extend my legs straight to the wall. The weather here today is actually pretty miserable. Cloudy with some showers, right around 65 degress (the above pic pretty much sums it up, except imagine a United plane). My Aunt Amparo picked me up from the airport and we began our little over an hour trip back to her house, which is awesome. The floors and stairs seem to never end. Germany is beautiful, even in the midst of clouds and drizzle. Everything is so old and full of charachter, and gives you a real sense of how young the United States is. I also found that spanish will be our language of choice between my Aunt and I when we hold conversations, as her english, although 1000x better than my german (i know nothing) is lost in translation. It`s pretty cool to find myself translating in my head and actually understanding everything she is saying and being able to respond. On the way back, we got a chance to say hi to my cousin Bernd at work, who is always a pleasure to see . He recently, well a few months back, had his first child and getting to see pictures for the first time of her was nice..she is a beautiful baby. The agenda for today is to just rest and get some needed zzzzzz´s. Hopefully i´ll be able to catch the USA vs Spain game here tonight...GO USA. I also might play in a small pcik up game with my cousin later tonight...who knows. Alright well off to take a nap...it`s 1:05 PM here, meaning it´s 6am for me in my brain. The 1.5 hours of sleep on the plane is not cutting it. Take care all.
Brian

Day of Departure

So, plenty of people have asked me to keep them updated on my travels and to inform them of how things are going while I'm overseas. I figured starting a blog would be the best way to allow people into my life during this remarkable and unpredictable voyage and that Tweeting just isn't my style. First of all, I want to say thank you to my parents, especially my Dad. Without their support and relentless work, this trip would have never happened and this opportunity never afforded. So, thank you Mom and Dad, I Love you and I thank you for everything go have a relaxing day at the pool and drink a beer or gin and tonic for me. Next, I need to thank our family friend Christian Helber...he has helped us out plenty and is really the voice between the two ends right now, so thank you Christian. Also, I'd like to thank everyone else for actually caring and taking the time to read this. Knowing that I have people in my life that really care and want the best for someone in my situation really allows one to see the beauty and necessity of friendship, so thanks everyone...go on and give yourself a pat on the back, maybe even buy yourselves something special like a Shamwow or Snuggie...btw the Snuggie is awesome. I guess I should start by mentioning why this blog is even in place. I am headed to Vienna Austria for a 7-day trial with Rapid Vienna of the Austrian Bundesliga. Depending on how this trial goes, I could find myself stationed in Vienna on a longer basis, or I could become a vagabond of the european soccer world itself. Anyways, I leave later today for Munich, Germany the capital of Bavaria. Not only is Munich one hell of a historical and beautiful place, but it is one of the only places on Earth to recognize beer as a staple food; not an alcoholic beverage. Europe just has it's head on it's shoulders. Right now, I simply have a wide range of feelings towards the day and journey ahead, from excitement to fear... it spans the whole way around. From mixing it up on the field with guys who have accomplished so much and played at the highest level, to tackling the rigors of temporarily living in a country where we Americans tend to mess up our words, it's going to be quite interesting. Nevertheless, this is going to be an awesome time and something I will be able to look back upon in the years ahead and say to myself, thank god I did that, it was one crazy ride. Anywho, once I arrive, I'll finally get to see my Aunt Amparo, one of my Mom's wonderful sisters whom I rarely get to see, and spend time in her city of Augsburg. It will be great to see family that I rarely get a chance to really spend quality time with. From there, I will head to Christians hometown to train with a team before I head to Vienna to begin my first trial. I hope to get as much sightseeing in as I can, while staying focused. To finish this initial posting, I just wanted to let everyone know that I'll try and post as much as I can and put up pictures, video etc...to keep everyone informed. So feel free to check back here at any time and if you have any questions or suggestions for what I should see...let me know! Once, again thanks for everyone checking in and have a great day/night/week/sleep.

Brian

"Hold your own, know your own name, go your own way."