Update

Port Vendres - the tournament was very small and we started in the quarterfinals. We each played players ranked 15, which is a few rankings below us. It had been about 5 days since our last match, and we werent able to get much practice time so it was a rough start. Both of us didnt play very consistent, but were able to pull out ugly 3 set victories. Varta won his first set, lost the second 0-6, and won the third 6-0. hahah, the guy was a horrible competitor, and acted like a baby and ended up getting into a yelling match with the ref. Colin's opponent had no backhand, but was running around everything and hitting good forehands. He

had beat a high ranked player the day before and still seemed to be treeing from the previous day. Colin lost the first but got up and early break in the second, and by the third set it was pretty over, with a 6-1 set. In the semi-finals, we both played

2/6 players who we thou

ght we had a good chance to beat. Turns out they were both REALLY solid, and we both got beat in straight sets. Those two guys ended up having a good three set match to end the tournament.

We ended up having to pull out of

our next tournament because th

e dates overlapped and we were trying to coordinate playing three matches in two days, with two two-hour train rides in the mi

ddle, which would have been no fun. So we

pulled out, the tournament director yelled at us in French, but whatever it worke

d out for the best because it turned out that we had the whole weekend off starting on last Thursday. We stuck around Port Vendres for a really nice dinner celebration at the end, where they had wine and all sorts of seafood. We planned a trip to Barcelona for the weekend, and woke up early to catch the train on Friday morning after a huge storm on thursday morning. Turns out following that storm there was a heat wave that is still lingering in Southern France/catalone area.

We snuck on the train into Barcelona early Friday morning, mainly because the line was so long to buy tickets. By the time we had to switch trains, the workers hadnt checked

our tickets yet so we got a free ride half the way! We got really

sketched when we got off though, because they were checking something to get into the train station so we snuck through the backdoor of a cafe in the train station and got in fine. We had to buy a ticket on the next train, but it was only 10 euros to get to barcelona! We stayed with one of our friends from UCSC, Nikki, who is now living in Barcelona and is teaching English at a school. We spent the day going to Placa Espana, Los Ramblas Street, and the beaches that are right in the heart of the city.

It was SO hot, we were literally sweating the whole weekend. After a few solid hours at the beach, we met up with Nikki and ended up going out to a really cool club in the Port Olympica area, names Shoko, which had a huge dancefloor and direct access to the beach to cool off. We got a free drink just for paying the cover charge, and when marc went back to the bar to order 2 vodka-tonics his jaw almost dropped when they charged him 20 euros! It was a really really fun night, and we didnt end up getting back until about 4:30 am. It had been over 3 weeks since we had slept in a real bed, and so by the time we got back and passed out we didnt wake up until around 5 pm!! hahah it was good though, because i think it was way over 100 in Barcelona and so when we left to sightsee around 5:30 it was finall

y cooling down. We went out to Park Guell in the outskirts of the city, where there is lots of unique architecture and then met back up with Nikki to watch the waterfountain show at Placa Espana. We

ended the night with our first real legit restaurant experience, with some Paella and wine.

We took the early train back to France in the morning on Sunday, back to Port Vendres to pack up and move to the next tournament in Gruissan. I dont know what our problem is but somehow we end up running to make literally every train we have taken on this trip. This time is included jumping a 12 foot gate that is a short-cut

to the train station from the tennis tournament and then throwing our 60 pound suitcases and ten

bags over. The club at Port Vendres was so nice to us, they gave us a key to the club before we went to Barcelona and let us store all our stuff there while they were closed for the weekend. Talk about trust. After a few layovers, we got into Norbonne (about 75 kilometers north of Port Vendres, and 20 kilometers inland from Gruissan) at about 9 only to realize all the buses to Gruissan were over. We bummed around the train station for 2

hours with a sign that said "Gruissan?" and finally resigned to walk to a local hostel. However, while lugging our stuff to the hostel a Land Rover pull

ed up and asked us if we needed a ride to the tennis club! They just saw our tennis bags and i guess they assumed we were playing, so we got SOOO lucky because it turns out Colin's match was at 9 in the morning the next day and theres no buses that get there that early. We had this nice couple in the Land Rover check our French phone voicemails, which were all in French, and it turns out Marc's match was on Sunday and we had already missed it, total bummer.

So we got dropped off in Gruissan around 11 pm with

nowhere to stay. We ended up spending the night under some big pine trees in the Botanical Gardens haha and I woke up and walked almost directly onto the court to play my first round. I won easily against a 15 player, 6-1, 6-1 and considering the hectic travel before I played very well. We decided that we were just going to camp on the beach, and leave our valuables in the club overnight, and since I didnt play until the next night on Tuesday we spent the rest of the day hanging out on the beach and roaming around Gruissan, which isa very touristy port town on the Meditteranean and also a protected Salt Lake.

That first night we slept on the main beach r

ight outside of the port, where they have nice groomed grass right above the sand. We slept right under the barrier that seperated the grass from the sand, and it turns out around 4 in the morning there are sprinklers that come on the water the grass (and any beach bum Americans sleeping) so we got SOAKED. It took us like a full minute to realize they were going off soon and that we needed to move.

I just tried pulling my sleeping bag over my head and to tough it out, but after getting just completely soaked i finally quit and moved.

My match on tuesday was against a highly ranked Argentinian player ranked -2/6, which is about 4 rankings ahead of me. I played very well, and we played on the "quick" surface which is a super slow hard court. This guy had a very big serve and very big forehand, but was prone to errors if i hit enough deep balls and kept him moving. Despite getting down an early break, i played well and got it back to 5-5. We had a very good level going for awhile, and he broke me to win the first 7-5. The second was similiar, with bot

h of us holdin

g serve relatively easily. I had a few break points at 3-3 but couldnt convert and he ended up breaking to win the second set 6-3. It was too bad, I just didnt take my opportunities when I had them but I played well.

We found a better spot to sleep the next night, under some palm trees on the other

side of the cement by the beach that is essentially the beach walk promonade. In the middle of the night, this dog found his way over to us, and Marc woke up to find this dog looking him right in the eyes. When the dog saw he was awake, it started growling and barking and made the pose to pounce and Varta yelled SOO loud! It startled

me awake, and i said WTF is that a wolverine! By the time i got up and turned to look Marc's way he had already fallen back asleep hah so we didnt laugh about it until the next day.

On Wednesday, the tournam

ent director from Gruissan offered to give us a ride to our next tournament, in Perpignan about one hour South. She didnt want to leave un

til about 5 pm so we got to spend t

he day snorkeling and hanging out at the beach. It wa

s possibly our smoothest transition. When we got dropped off at the club in perpignan, we were given the royal greeting. They let us camp on the Bocci court just outside the club, gave us a tour of the club, and gave us two beers! Then we hit, and it turns out that they had a big family dinner going on at the club so we got fed huge amounts of grilled chicken, cous-cous, baguettes, chorizo, rose wine, tomatoes, and a chocolate de

ssert. It was

honestly like living in a dream for Marc and I, who have been making ravioli and baguette sandwhiches for weeks. We ate so much that we almost got sick, haha we both stumbled back to the tent and rubbed o

ur stomaches for the next 30 minutes.

Today has been our day off. We hit in the morning and are getting ready for our matches tomorrow night. Our new friend Andre, a retired French 'legionare' took us around town today. He is an awesome dude, doesnt speak a wordof english, and showed us a full on bayonett and grenade that he had tucked i

n his driver-side pocket of his Land Rover in case someone tried to mess with us hah. We are in the quarters of this

tournament and are the highest ranked players. Things are looking up, this club is super nice and we are getting to practice alot.

That was really long, but its been awhile since our last post. Hope this made sense.

- Colin + Marc