I sure am glad this week is over! With two disappointing losses on the soccer field, homecoming prep, and homework, I need a break. Thank goodness we get a fall break this coming week.

We played Graceland on Tuesday; they are ranked third in the nation and every player comes from either South America or Europe . Needless to say, we had our hands full. We played well against them; it is just hard to match up to their level of skill when most of them come to America only to play soccer and not much more. Not only were they talented, but they were fast, which meant that everyone had to man mark or else they would get a break away. It's not much fun to run up and down the sideline following a guy who isn't even touching the ball.

Then on Friday, we played Benedictine. This game was winnable; however, we came out flat and they put a goal in early on us. What made it worse is that the refs were not keeping the game under control. Max, our goalie, got hit twice when he had full position of the ball. The second time, the kid cleated him hurting him enough that he had to come out of the game. The refs only awarded us with a foul. The game got ugly thereafter. They started hitting us from behind, myself included. Overall it was not a pleasant experience.

Unfortunately, the ladies came up short as well. Against Graceland, they got smoked by one of Graceland forwards who just ran past the girls' defense scoring three goals in the first twenty minutes. Against Benedictine, they actually had a one point lead, but in the second half, they dropped into a defensive shell.

We had our pep rally Friday night and Campus ministry took part in the canned food castle making contest. The point is to try to make a castle with soup and vegetable cans that stands out from all the other organization's castle. All of the cans are donated afterward. As it is not mandatory to actually build a castle, we had thought about building a cross since it would fit well with us being Campus Ministry. However in the end, we just ended up building a classic castle as we couldn't get the arms of the cross to stay up.

The rest of the week was filled with homework and writing papers for midterms. I am not sure I would have made it through had I not planned something stress free for the weekend. The planned activity was a trip to the Renaissance Festival, which was loads of fun. Neither of us had been there before, so Katie and I went together. There were some pretty amazing shows there: a battle between Sir Roderick and Sir Williams, talented jugglers, and medieval tavern singers with hilarious songs to sing. The trip gave me the time I needed to clear my mind and relax, which is necessary once you start taking upper level classes.

Well that ends my week and I am glad we only have two days of classes this week. Unfortunately, I won't be getting too much of a break as I have three papers due, so until next week…