Women’s Soccer Jamaica Blog V

Hello to all of our faithful readers! Our lovely Corrine and Miranda had to head back to school early due to challengers obligations, so you have a new reporter! For two of our teammates, their day started earlier than ours at around 3:30 a.m. to head to the airport to fly home. A few hours later, we all mingled sleepily into breakfast at 7 a.m. with a departure date of 7:30 a.m. to head to Ocho Rios.

Senior Salem Woody wrote this blog...

Ocho Rios is one of the most popular and beautiful attractions in Jamaica with a beautiful beach and waterfalls. Today was an extra special day, as one of our own, Caitlin Foreman, turned 19! What a great way to spend her birthday here in Jamaica!

Check out the photo gallery from Jamaica...

Once we departed for Ocho Rios, let me add in here the trip was close to 3 hours!, we had our daily devotional. Today's topic was on how to be successful by maintaining discipline, whether it be spiritual, sport related, social, or mental. We were challenged to think about the kinds of choices we make as individuals and how it affects our lives in both negative and positive ways.

After our devotional we began the long journey just talking and cracking jokes to make the time pass. We took a pit stop about halfway to exchange some more money and to take bathroom breaks. A few of us were able to sneak into the gas station and buy some balloons. We blew them up and about 10 minutes back on the road started singing happy birthday to Caitlin and threw the balloons around. The roads we took to get to where we were going were absolutely insane. We must have traveled on every type of road, dirt, gravel, pavement, straight, bumpy, windy, and many more. We had to go up the mountains and then back down. On the way, we passed several different kinds of communities and "levels" of living environments. The one that stuck out to me the most was the stretch of houses built basically out of scrap metal with the roads designated by the massive amounts of trash all over the place. I could not believe that people could live like that and it broke my heart to see kids walk around in that with no shoes on.

After our long drive we finally reached the falls. I can't even begin to explain to you how breathtaking, magnificent, and beautiful this place really was. I have never seen a waterfall in real life before, as the same was for some of my teammates. Once we got our tickets, we trucked down to the bottom of the waterfall in our bathing suits and tennis shoes, climbed into the cold mountain water and began our climb up. We got to slide down into some of the grooves of collected pools and as a team we worked up the slippery rocks, mini waterfalls within the larger waterfall, and gushing waters. It was quite the workout, but a priceless journey filled with a lot of laughter and joy! Once we accomplished the waterfall, we took a picture at the top that said "Congratulations, you have completed the Dunn's River Falls!" After that we headed back to the bottom and straight to the beach. Let me tell you, this beach was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen in my life. The water was clear and the prettiest shade of blue, surrounded by tropical trees, white sand, rocks in the distance … It looked like an exotic place you would see on T.V. or in a magazine! We enjoyed taking pictures, swimming, and spending time together. Once we were all beached out, we headed back to the bus and began our long journey back to Kingston. We stopped for a late afternoon lunch at an Indian restaurant. The menu consisted of anything from oxen tail and curry goat to tacos, quesadillas, and barbeque chicken. And trust me, at least one of everything was ordered!

With full stomachs we all loaded back on the bus to head back down the winding roads. It started to rain and before we knew it we were stuck in traffic only to find out that there was a car accident about three cars in front of us. If Corrine hasn't explained to you about how crazy these people drive (imagine NYC driving times 10) not to mention the roads on this mountain are really only made for one car at a time, a wreck of some sort is inevitable! This particular accident, however, was quite the humorous one as this car drove off the road into a ditch full of tall grass and trees. A tow truck had to come and pull it out in the rain, and finally when the car had been saved it had to drive past all of the spectators. I jokingly called it the "drive of shame," because everyone was laughing at them and they had a bunch of leaves and grass stuck to their car and windows. It takes real skill to drive off a road into the tropical rainforest ditches. After a good laugh, everyone in the bus began to doze off and nap after the long day's adventures. Due to the weather and accident, it took us about three hours to get back to Kingston. We stopped to eat dessert first this time at a favorite Jamaican ice cream shop. We then headed downtown to grab a luxurious meal of Burger King and Dominoes. YUM! Finally we arrived back to the hotel around 9:30 p.m., where a lady was waiting for us to braid whoever wants their hair done! Great way to end the day .

I can't believe how fast this trip has gone as we are beginning to approach the close of our trip with only one more full day here in Jamaica. Some of us talked on the way home about how time flies especially in college. As a senior in the classroom and a junior on the field, I can't believe my days in college are narrowing. I look forward to my last year here at Mars Hill College and am so grateful to be a part of this amazing team with big dreams and high hopes. It has been nice to go a week without a cell phone and computer because time has become more precious. There are no distractions and each day we are able to give our full attention to this gift we have all been given. Eyes and hearts have been opened; we are not letting life and special moments pass us by. I encourage you to do the same; we are too consumed with the privileges we have as Americans to always truly appreciate the joys that life provides. True happiness and selfless love comes from within, not by the materialistic things we have in life. Take the time to admire and stand in awe of this beautiful world that we live in and the people that live in it.