Adopted Countries: Amanda.

I have two friends in Europe this summer.   These two friends just happen to be in med school.  These two friends also happen to be dating.  One of them is summering in Amsterdam and the other is in Valencia.  This couldn't be more perfect.


AMANDA


Disclaimer #1: I have watched more soccer in the past month than I have in my entire life. In fact, I am not sure that I had ever watched a soccer game in its entirety before this summer.
Disclaimer #2: I actually watched two of the Spanish matches (1 in the semifinals and the latest semifinal match against Alemania) in an American bar. The others I watched at home or the apartments of Spanish friends. However, in my defense, the Spanish to English/American-born ratio at the American Bar (the Portland) was at least 2:1, I was there with Spanish people from the lab I am working at, and the bartender there likes me and gives me free drinks for coming there on Wednesday nights and speaking English to Spaniards who want to practice.

Since I just recently learned how to spot offsides, and in all honesty my favorite posts on this blog are the ones commenting on hairstyles (your analyses are brilliant, Mr. Strauss) I’ll spare you my insights into the game itself. Rather, this is merely my observations on the experience of watching the World Cup in Valencia, Spain.
1. David Villa is like Peyton Manning to the kids here. For me, all I can concentrate on is how dumb that little patch on his chin looks and how tiny he looked next to the German players, but they can’t get enough of him. At least for the kids, they don’t yet resent the fact that he will be moving on to bigger and better things than the Valencia Club team next season. I had a red and yellow crayon for painting faces with Spanish flags, and all this kid wanted was the number 7 written up and down his arms. When I asked him who his second-favorite was, he looked at me like I was from another planet.
2. El portero de España is dead-sexy to me. He’s dating some famous news anchor here, a woman who is also drop dead gorgeous, but sometimes I secretly get excited when the other team attacks the goal so I can get a few close-up shots.
3. Not everyone here is futbol-crazy. Maybe it’s because I work with a bunch of nerdy scientists, but in the beginning of the World Cup, when the games would be at 4pm, everyone would just work straight through without even checking the score. When I wore a yellow tube top with a red skirt to work to represent the colors (a day after wearing a similar outfit for the USA), everyone chuckled politely at “how cute it was of me.” However, following Germany’s game, there was not one person I talked to that had not watched the game the night before.
4. Winning the semifinal game was basically an excuse for 16 year olds to run like madmen through the street. One of the largest plazas here in Valencia, Plaza de Ayuntamiento, was so congested with parked cars and people in the street that you could not pass through at all until well past 2am. Every bar was open late, there were TVs outside and on the street, and every car had a Spain flag flying high.
5. The Spanish need a freaking anthem. Last weekend in Amsterdam, I had the pleasure of sitting next to some Germans following their win over Brazil. They literally sang over 10 songs, and as annoying as it is to listen to drunken young German men sing nationalistic propaganda repeatedly, I have to give them props for solidarity. If you watch the Spanish team before the game, no one knows the song they are playing. After they win, there is no unified singing of a patriotic song. Rather, there is a lot of attempts at honking car horns in distinctive manner (dunn-du-dunn-du-dun-dun-dun), general running around with the Spanish flag, and cubatas (shots, for the uninformed).
6. The finals. I honestly can’t wait. I wish we were playing a team I could hate a bit more. Holland grew on me a bit when I was in Amsterdam for their quarterfinal game and saw ladies in bright orange wigs riding their bicycles yelling in Dutch while toting around their groceries. I have to work the day after the final on Sunday but there has already been champagne purchased for afterwards, and plans made for what bars and clubs to attend afterwards. If Paul el Pulpo is correct, it's going to be a bit rough, friends. 


Vamoooooooooooos!