By Sydney Paulauskis-Lauher

Sydney Paulauskis-Lauher writing entires of her Spring Break with CUC Womens’ Softball Team.

So far, this trip for the Cougar softball team has been an amazing time to learn the in-and-outs of our lineup. Becoming 3-3 by Tuesday afternoon, that left us to a day all to ourselves in the sunny and warm climate of Florida.

For myself, I chose to spend that day with my feet in the sand and the breeze through my hair, at Cocoa Beach Pier. With another teammate along for the ride, Melissa Balkema, we were all set to get a full day to enjoy the sun. At the Pier, we took my sister swimming in the ocean, tanned, and bought some beautiful palm tree paintings from a man on the beach. After a couple of hours enjoying the ocean life, we went up on the boardwalk to enjoy some lunch with an ocean view. The seafood here definitely trumps the type of seafood you’ll get back in Chicago, getting the freshest food right from the ocean.

Times like this we are able to step back and appreciate our opportunity to play a collegiate sport and be able to travel to different places. Not every team gets to do what we do, so all of the hours of fundraising seem to be all worth it once we are on the beach or able to play on actual dirt. So as we round out this amazing trip we have had, we are more than thankful for the opportunity to be here and that we have been able to become closer as a team in this past week. Four more games are to be played in the Sunshine State on Thursday and Friday, so more amazing experiences await us with new foes we have not seen before.

We appreciate our opportunity here in Florida, but soon enough we will be back in our own Windy City, ready to compete just as hard back home!