Adventure, practice and karaoke

1/7 - Today, I felt almost as great as I did in those five minutes in Central London after returning from Barcelona.

Almost. Why?

It was sunny after I finished with Bleacher Report so I decided to go somewhere I haven't been since I came here. I went to the wealthy neighborhood of Sandbanks, which is a narrow strip of land I can see from my window. The property prices there are some of the most expensive in the world, and I could see why. Sandbanks has an absolutely perfect beach, and it was so relaxing there, listening to the crashing waves. There was also a period of time on my way back I was wondering who lives in those houses. Where there any famous people I was close to? I probably wouldn't recognize them anyway if I saw them.

Sandbanks

Haven Hotel in Sandbanks by the ferry to Shell Bay

I came around a hotel on the tip of Sandbanks from the beach intending to find a bus stop to go back to Poole, but I came across the ferry entrance, which would lead me to Shell Bay. I saw it was just £1 for a return trip so I got on. It was another instance of a spontaneous adventure, and it turned out to be fantastic. The ferry took only about five minutes, and it was guided to the other shore with a giant chain.

When I got to Shell Bay, I saw it had sand dunes. Think back to when you were a child, and how playing on steep sand dunes made you feel. Running up and down, flailing your arms like a moron and jumping off ledges is just a simple, innocent pleasure. I felt like a kid at Dylan's Beach or another California beach with sand dunes. It was so much fun. There was a feeling of pure joy around the moment I did a 360-degree jumping spin off a ledge and fell into the sloping, cold and damp sand. There's something about discovering more details about your home city and being out in gorgeous nature. One of the keys to happiness, in my opinion, is to do things that result in sand in unwanted places on your body.

I'm going to go back to Shell Bay and explore more of it. I saw some jagged cliffs to the east, so I'll focus on getting there next time. But really, I can't believe I live here, where there are great beaches and natural features close by. I'm so lucky to be here!

1/9 - Today was our first football practice of the second half of the season. We all agreed last month we need to get more physical during practice so we won't miss so many tackles during games, and that's what practice was like. We padded up straight away and got to hitting each other. There was a little bit of conditioning thrown in, so after two and a half hours of getting hit and conditioning, I'm exhausted, bruised and battered, but exhilarated. I like the rough nature of the sport, but I find myself getting tentative when it comes to closing down and making a tackle. I need to find the confidence I had in the Southampton game and just go for it. Lower my shoulder into the guy and stop him in his tracks.

And something else strange happened. Isaac and Tebow both complimented me. Tebow said I look twice as good with the new haircut, and Isaac asked if I've been working out (I was wearing a skin-tight base layer at the time). Er...thanks? And no, I haven't done anything for a month. And then Bill complimented me on the haircut. I guess it looks better on me? Yes, the beard was a little bit out of control.

1/10 - I did more work today on essays. Three out of the five people in my group have another language besides English as their first language, so I edited their work, which was pretty annoying. I also went out with Bill, had a drink and watched Crystal Palace beat Tottenham, the team I dislike the most because, of course, I support Arsenal. It was fantastic. My second favorite club, a smaller club, beat a team that was favored. Magical. Especially with the rest of the people inside the pub rooting for Palace and the two Tottenham supporters sitting in the corner quietly after Palace scored the second goal.

But Bill and I continued to drink until we went back to my place and sang karaoke. I sang and danced a bit, but now I need to get some sleep so I can get up and go to practice in the morning!  (I have a massive purple-and-red bruise on my arm, of course.) These people are my friends and family now. I'm totally comfortable with them, and I will do more than I usually do in front of them, now that I'm family. That's all I'll say for now.