“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” – apparently, not this year. Summer has started and the weather has surprisingly been constantly sunny and warm. Somehow, this city becomes more lovely every single month. As long days approached, I decided I wanted to spend my evenings outdoors and thought it would be a nice idea to join some leagues for the summer. Not only could I get to practice activities that haven’t done in years (no time for that in architecture school, it seems like), but I’d also get to see the city’s skyline with a beautiful sunset every week.
Also what drove me to start sports was the eagerness to look for new ways to meet people. For internationals – or anyone moving to a new city – it can be quite tricky to find a consistent way to do so. It is usually best through groups, such as work, school, and housemates. So I thought joining teams seemed to be ideal to do such a thing and expand my local network and community.
I joined 2 leagues this summer: football (or soccer, since we are in the U.S.) and volleyball. As a Brazilian, it might have been expected to join soccer, as I did use to play it as a kid – and getting back to it felt great. I was a little rusty in the beginning and already got an injury, but it has been quite fun so far. Whereas for volleyball, the choice was more oriented towards picking something easier mostly for the aspect of socializing. My league plays on the grass at the park and can always get a view of the city whilst playing.
I just started and still have quite a few more weeks to go through the summer, but am already trying to decide which ones should be for the next season. I found that sports fulfill my weeks with such joy that I want to sign up for as many as I can.
