Thursday, August 11, 2011

The IceMan

So it is now official, I will be continuing to play basketball... as a profession (HAHA!!). Mannn, I love saying that. That just feels good to say right now. I'll be playing in Iceland (Greenland is ICE, and Iceland is NICE) for my rookie season. For those of you who want to know, the team name is the same as the city. It's called Keflavik. They are a part of the top league in Iceland known as Express L. where there are 11 other teams. The team had a lot of success last year, losing to the eventual champions of the league in the semi-finals. I'll be there with one other American, so I'm guessing the English language will be scarce around there. Just one of those culture shocks that I'm gonna have to get used to. Hopefully pick up a little bit of the language while I'm there. Other than that, I'm crazy excited about this whole thing!

Honestly, I can't imagine a better feeling than doing something that I absolutely love as a career. Those of you out there who love your job, I can definitely relate to you on this level. Just knowing that I have the opportunity to do this is a huge blessing in itself. Freshman year (at Iowa), I thought my dream of playing professional was snatched away from me. The fact that God's plan has since then aligned up with mine gives me all the strength I need to continue.

I'm looking forward to pretty much every aspect of this adventure, except for the dark winters. In the months of December and January, there is roughly four hours of sunlight (avg) a day. What in the world is that gonna be like... 10AM rolling around and the sun is just coming up... that's gotta be insane. However, I hear they have this nice hot spring called the Blue Lagoon that's a nice little chill spot. Best believe I'll be seeing what that's all about.

I'll be just a little ways away from the capitol, Reykjavik, which also holds the previous seasons conference championship. Needless to say, that will be a great trip.

I'll be leaving around September 1st and I'll be back between late March or mid April, depending on our post season success. As the season goes, I'll be posting on here regularly, so be sure to check back in with me. I'm sure I'll have plenty to talk about!


5 comments:

  1. SOOO proud of you. Love you :)

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  2. Excited to hear all the stories about what life is like over there! :) Maybe we'll see you this weekend when we're back?

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  3. Jarryd. Welcome to Keflavik. I can not wait to see you play with my team. I hope you can help us go all the way this season. And yes, the Blue Lagoon is a magical place. Hope you will like it here. Áfram Keflavik.

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  4. Welcome to KEF Mr Cole.
    Don't worry about the language barrier, you won't have a problem communicating in English with the majority of people here.
    Since you are a pro baller I assume you like the holy herb, so the biggest shock will be the price of weed, about 3500 ISK for 1 gram. (thats almost $900 for an ounce).

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  5. HEY !looking forward to see you play here in Iceland . GOOD LUCK and GO KEFLAVIK !!!

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