Arrivee

After watching the sunrise at Seatac Airport in Seattle, the sunset in Philadelphia, and the sunrise again somewhere over France, I finally have arrived in Europe. The flights were long, but I had good company. A nice couple on the Philadelphia flight who were headed to Paris for the first time (Surprise 10th Anniversary gift for his wife), and a Swiss man heading home to St. Gallen, a town near Hohenems on the Swiss side of the Rhein. The fly into Zurich was beautiful and I wish I had my camera out to take pictures of all the Euro 2008 stuff in the airport. Italy plays France (repeat of the '06 World Cup finals) in Zurich for a first round matchup. I can't wait.

Markus Falger (Fak), a former player of mine in Innsbruck, picked me up at the airport and drove me home to Hohenems. I met several of the imports and team owner Christoph when I arrived. Christoph has two kids who are pretty neat, but very aggressive. I think Keegan may get along with Kevin who is almost 3. We'll see though, they have very different personalities the two of them.

Since arriving I have had a chance to get acquainted with the town, grab some groceries (everything will be closed until Tuesday to observe Easter) and some essentials for my room. I will buy a cellphone on Tuesday; the store closed just before we got there.

After getting slightly situated, Carl & I hit the gym for a workout. Carl focused on his bench while I got in some light bench, heavy triceps & a bit of core. Not bad for a quick 35 minute workout. I plan on doing some legs and bicept tomorrow along with some cardio. It was snowing on our way back to the trainstation in Dornbirn (we workout at EasySport in Dornbirn, the town just north of Hohenems).

Stayed up until 2am tonight, to chat with Keegan via Skype and watch the Cougs put it on Notre Dame.

From what I hear, our team should fare pretty well. The offense, coordinated by flatmate and OC/QB Paul Troth (former QB & Graduate Assistant at Eastern Carolina) looks to be refining things for our upcoming games. The defense, which I will be heading, seems to have most of my base package installed, but for a few refinements. On Tuesday I'll have a pretty good idea of how we'll fare defensively during the game this Saturday versus the Carinthian Black Lions (who have GUARANTEED victory, bleh).

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter & hugs from afar!