CNN iReport

I went on a school trip to Spain this past week. I was in the country during the quarter final against Italy and the semi final against Russia. Best experiences of my entire trip!

I was in Burgos for the quarter final. We were in a sitting room in our little hotel. The entire group was there along with our tour guide, Marcello (who was rooting for his home country, Italy), and two local Spaniards. They were teaching all of us how to cheer in Espanol ("Venga, Venga!" & "Vamos Espana!"). Our teacher, Mr. Cole, hates football (soccer in America). So when he heard there was a thirty minute overtime he was to say the least not too happy. See the picture above of the man sitting by the window looking like someone just announced his death. After Spain won we went out to the street corner by a huge roundabout. Locals were gathering to cheer. Cars were honking their horns like crazy and waving flags outside their windows. I took a picture with a local Spaniard with a flag tied around him like a cape. See the picture above. To say the least, the cars didn't stop honking their horns until two in the morning.

We were in Barcelona for the semi final game against Russia. There were seventeen of us crammed into a two person bedroom to watch the game. Marcello was now rooting for Spain (although he would shout out "Italia" at random times, even though they weren't playing). I can promise you, the entire hotel heard our screams everytime there was a goal. We didn't go out to celebrate afterwards, but we saw on local TV the party going on by the Christopher Columbus statue by Las Ramblas. And the car horns honked for hours. Even though we didn't go celebrate with the locals, we were all screaming and chanting "Espana Espana Espana!" in the hotel. I was even decked out in an Espana jersey (Fernando Torres), a hat, and a flag tied around as a cape.

Watching the football games in Spain was the best experience of my life so far. Unfortunately, I was home during the final. But I was in my room, decked out in all my Espana gear, as I cheered Spain receiving the winners trophy.