The Beginning

July 31^st, 2011

And so it begins, the journey of a lifetime.  Something I never thought would happen in my life has come true.  After the most stressful and complicated summer of my life, calling the UK Visa Embassy daily, emailing school officials certain documents, tracking legal documents through UPS, DHL, FedEx, trying to renew a passport and get a student visa, (studying abroad is not an easy task) I am finally boarding my plane from Atlanta to Manchester, England and I have mixed emotions. Excited for the program and all the possibilities that could come from it, yet somewhat nervous for the unknown, sad to say goodbye to all the loved ones, and determined and confident to conquer what is to come.

So a little about the program. It is called Richmond, the American International University in London, but we are studying in Leeds. The school has three campuses (London, Leeds, Rome) and this specific soccer program (and other main athletic programs) is located at the Leeds campus at Leeds Metropolitan University, Headingley Campus.  So I will be receiving an International Business degree while I am here and attending an American soccer academy with roughly 35 other “lads”. There are about five teams you can play for in the academy; university team, u19 team, first division team, second division team, and showcase team. On Saturdays we play in the West Yorkshire Men’s League and depending on whether you are a first year (freshman-which I am in this program at the moment) or second year (sophomore) decides whether you are on the first division team or second division team in the Men’s league at first. But as we settle in and school gets started (school does not start till early/mid September) the teams will get shifted around if the manager believes players deserve the chance. The showcase games are the big games against the pro youth academy teams (Blackburn Rovers, Hull City, Manchester City…). I am not really sure how the u19 or the university team is working out but will update you on that once I find out. Here is a YouTube video about the progam. Also, here are two links to the home websites for the programs http://riasa.org/home and http://www.richmond.ac.uk/content/riasa.aspx. Well it is time to board next time I speak with you I will be in Leeds!