Cloro = Chlorine

Wednesday I did something that spans countries and cultures and brings people together no matter what their backgrounds- lap swim! It's hilarious seeing the exact same scenes but in Spanish. The university pool is in a giant marshmallow bubble, which is good because it's not heated, but everything seems so much louder. At the time I went, there were 2 lanes for lap swim and the rest for swim team and kids' classes. As soon as I walked in, I felt at home; little kids pulling on the lane lines and screaming for candy, coaches yelling angrily at a group of 13-14's, lifeguards looking like they wished we would all drown so they could get the heck out of there, and of course, the awkward dance of the lap swimming. There was a “fast” lane and a “slow” lane, but like at Hickey (UCD's lap pool), these designations are both misinterpreted as “flailing areas.” Not that I'm super fast or anything, but it seems like no pool I have ever swam in has people who know how to circle swim. At one point during my workout, a girl asked me what they pull bouy was for, and I was quite proud when I could answer in Spanish. Then she asked me what muscles it worked. I think she wanted a shorter answer, but I was the wrong person to ask for that. There was a lot of pointing involved in that answer! Anyway, I did manage to get a good swim in, as well as get info about water polo.
So yesterday, I went to my first polo practice in 2 years! Thank god I've been swimming! There are girls and boys club teams here, but the girls don't compete, just practice and scrimmage with the boys sometimes. Life is weird without Title IX . The coach wasn't there (they said he has come every other day that year!), but we practiced anyway with sprints and ball handling and passing, so that worked out well for me. Since they swim long course here (50 meters, NOT 25 yards), the sprints were a bit difficult. Like a lot. And it was indoors so I felt like my face was on fire. Luckily, the girls here are not crazy fast, so I'm already towards the front of the group in that area, but my ball handling leaves a lot to be desired. The experience level is pretty varied and not everyone was there the first day, so I think I'll fit right in the middle. There is a girl from Chicago who is studying here, a girl from Italy, and the rest are Spanish. Polo practice was another experience that seems to have little cultural difference. There were some girls sitting on the side talking, arguing about setting up the pool after, silliness during passing- I think this is gonna be great! I'm really excited about polo I get to make some friends and practice my Spanish. I need to learn how to speak in a game now. Things like hole set, I'm open, stop kicking me would be good to start learning. I am going to my first scrimmage in about an hour, so if this is my last post for a while, it's probably because my arms are too sore to pick up my laptop. Hasta lluego!