Jenna Stiegler and the Wheaton women's soccer team are spending their spring break in Portugal.

What do you get when you put 23 soccer players, two coaches, six parents, one sibling, one athletic trainer and a tour guide together on a bus? A great trip through Portugal. So far our trip has been very eventful. We arrived in Lisbon at about six in the morning Portugal time on Friday, March 7th on three hours of sleep, at the most. Right after arriving, we met our tour guide and got a great tour of the city. Lisbon is a beautiful city full of statues of ancient kings and famous Portuguese icons, old buildings, enormous churches, and a lot of history.

The night we arrived (still on three hours of sleep) we went to the city of Odivelas to play their women's club team. After a formal international walk-out to the field and a 90 minute soccer game, we ended up with a 3-0 victory. It was very interesting to see the Portuguese style of play as well as the commitment of their players. Their field was located in their club house which consisted of a gym, another field, locker rooms, and a place to eat.

The next couple of days, the weekend of March 8th, were filled with sightseeing, shopping, and eating traditional Portuguese food. We visited the town of Sintra where we were able to walk through the Royal Palace of Sintra. There were also many little shops and cafes lining the narrow roads of the town. Our meals up to now have consisted of a buffet breakfast with bread, cheese, meat, cereal, coffee and much more. Lunch has been the main meal of the day which was usually broccoli, potatoes and different types of meat. Lunch also included a starter, soup or salad, and a delicious pastry.

Our second game on Sunday, March 9th was against Beiro Mar in the town of Almada. The final score was 2-1 Wheaton. Locals from the town gathered to watch our game and cheer on their home team. It was a new experience for most of us not to be able to communicate with the referees and it was hard not to question the calls they made, but it did us no good. Luckily our coach is from Portugal and has been the ultimate communicator for us.

Later that day, we did some more touring of the castle of Saint George. It was an ancient fortress that we were able to climb to the top of and get the best view of the city of Lisbon. After the tour we went to a professional European soccer game, the home team Benfica vs. Uniao de Leira which ended up in a 2-2 tie. The best part aside from the high level of soccer was the intensity of the fans. If we made any cheers for the visiting team (Leira) the Benfica fans would give us a look of death; so we decided to cheer for Benfica.

If we had time after our evening activities, we would try and go see what the night life was like. Restaurants closed at 10:30 pm and one of the best places to go were the Docks, which were a strip of clubs on the river's edge. Every place that we went into was playing American music so it didn't feel too foreign.

We are now in the Algarve region which is in south Portugal. We will spend five days here to go to the beach, practice, shop, and sight see. On March 10th, we went to watch the women's U.S. National soccer team play at the Algarve Cup. This is a tournament in Portugal of the best women's soccer teams around the world. After the game, which the U.S. won 4-0, several players from our team were able to meet and talk with the team. They also posted a comment about us on their own blog; the link is http://wnt-ussoccer.blogspot.com/.

It is great to share this opportunity with my teammates and coaches. We have one more game at the end of our trip, so we will have practices in preparation for the game and the upcoming spring season. We still have so much to see and do here and I'm glad we still have five more days!