Shout out to Everyone

So this the new refreshed version of my website thanks to Daniel at Merlin FX for getting it all set up for me. There should be some photos of my adventures so far here in Italia since I left Australia back at the start of September.

So a lot has gone on between now and September. I have been living in town called Porto Potenza Picena, which is a very relaxed little town on the Adriatic coastline. The people here are very nice and it has been great place to get to know and settle into. We practice in a stadium very close to the Resort village most of the team lives in. We have been training 5 days a week twice a day Tues - Friday and once on Mondays. The team is a cultural melting pot with 2 Aussies (myself and Jace Clare), 2 Latavians, 1Belgian and 1 Polish player. It can get pretty crazy at practice with all the languages, the coach speaks German, French, Italian and English so he pretty much has all bases covered. The team is also providing us with Italian lessons so we can get into the language both for team and everyday life.  We have a had a up and down start to the season with a young team like the one our coach Malick Abes has been working hard to bring the team together. At the moment we are starting to find our footing with a an awesome win on the weekend at home over Roma Elecom (who also have 2 Aussie players on their team). So we have up 3 wins and 3 losses having already played the 3 toughest teams in the competition Taranto, Santa Lucia and Roma the last 3 games are very winnable putting us in good stead for the second half of the season.

I have been able to travel around a fair bit too already which has been great! I have already had visits from a few aussie mates from back home. First Diana came dropped in on her way home to Australia after an epic adventure across America and Europe she finished up her journey here in Italia. We drove to Bologna (2hrs north of here) to meet up with some friends of Diana's friends which as great the people were really awesome taking us in for a few days and making sure we were well fed and looked after. From Bologna we drove to Venice(another 2hrs north east from Bologna) for the day which is one of those cities that is undescribable and looks exactly like what you see in the postcards and movies, but a thousand times better.

More recently I have also had Adam and one of his mates Damo stay with me here in Porto Potenza Picena (PPP) for their last week in Europe of a 6 week tour. We visited the sites around the local rarea and Adam and Damo came and watched the team train. Also great effort boys for a 10min tyre change after I decided it would be good idea to mount the footpath in a massive thunderstorm which had the roads more like rivers than roads. The boys went to Rome while I drove with the team to Taranto to play our game that weekend. After the game I caught a train through the night to meet back up with them in Rome. It was my second time being in Rome and we had great day there just walking around and seeing the sites and of course as always here in Italia consuming large amounts of vino and amazing food!

The weather here is starting to cool down a lot, last night it got down to zero degrees, and it has been snowing up in the mountain regions near here. It is unusual for this time of year though.

I am really enjoying the Italian lifestyle and culture. Although it has similarities to Spainish customs from last year like the siesta everything closes here from 1-4pm it has been a very different experience from my time in Spain. Anyone who is in the area is welcome to drop in will have a bed to crash. I already have another school mate booked in to stay before I come home home at Chrissy. Its great to have people come visit and compared to one Aussie visitor last year I have already had 3 this year! and more to come I suspect.

Well thats all from me for the moment, I will be updating the site regularly with articles and photos so keep and eye out. Keep the emails and msg's coming its great to hear whats goin on back home and around the globe.

Hope all is well where ever you might be!

Darren