World Cup

These last couple of days have been so cool! On Tuesday (June 17th), I went to the Belgium/Algeria game that was being hosted by my city.

The game started at one so Sandra and I had to leave super early to get to the stadium on time. We caught a normal city bus that took about an hour to get to the stadium but it was not even close to a normal bus ride. As more and more people got on the bus, more fans came on the bus. Next thing you know, the whole back of the bus is filled with screaming Algerians with air horns and waving flags. For the whole bus ride everyone was filming the back of the bus and laughing hysterically. I even learned how to chant with the Algerians! And of course since they came all the way from Algeria, they wanted pictures of everything and everyone! Every 5 minutes they were asking to take another picture with us.
After the bus ride, we had to walk another 25 minutes to the stadium with thousands of other people as well. There were so many colours and flags I couldn't believe it. Since I was wearing a Brazilian jersey, everyone thought I was Brazilian so they kept saying "Picture with the Brazilian!!"
It took us so long to walk to the stadium because every 2 seconds, there was another group that wanted a picture! The excitement of the crowd was phenomenal. It was impossible to not get happy and excited in that atmosphere.
Luckily, since Sandra and I arrived there early, we didn't have to wait in any line! We literally just walked right through and into the stadium.
Even inside the stadium there were people asking to take pictures. Everyone wanted pictures with everyone.
Another cool thing that happened once everyone was seated was the wave! There was a 56000 person wave that happened; it looked so cool.
I can't even begin to explain the excitement whenever someone scored. The crowd went crazy and the chants were so loud.
Since there were so many more Brazilians in the crowd, the Brazilian chant even started a bunch of times. (Brazil wasn't even playing)
Belgium ended up winning, which is great because all of our friends who went are from Belgium. The excitement continued the whole night.
Right after the game we had to rush out of there because the Brazil/Mexico game was about to start so we had to get to a TV as fast as possible.
When we got off the bus, we ran to the nearest TV and squished between people to watch it. Every single game that Brazil plays is emotional because 99% of the people around you are Brazilian. Brazil and Mexico are both really great teams so the game was so intense. I couldn't stop biting my knuckles! It ended up being a tie.

That night there was a peaceful protest that was happening in the same area where everyone watches the games. Hundreds and hundreds of police officers were there with guns, shields, gas masks, and bats. They didn't harm anyone but they were super scary. They made a wall around the area and marched around looking scary. It was literally buses and buses full of policemen.

The World Cup is seriously so incredible. Everywhere you look there are flags from all over the world and chants in every language. I've already met so many cool people and cheered for random countries. At this point in the World Cup, everyone is happy and is cheering for everyone. Once it gets closer to the end, it's going to get pretty emotional...
I am 100% team Brazil though! I am so lucky I get to stay for the whole thing!