The object I chose to bring to class is my key chain.

This key chain is important to me

because it reminds me of how much I have accomplished as a track athlete. I got it from a
street vendor in Cali, a city in Colombia. I remember two people were selling it, I believe a
woman and a man, and they had all these types of souvenirs you find in a normal souvenir
shop like magnets, mugs, postcards, and keychains. If I were to describe the keychain it is
brown and it has written “Cali” on one side and “Colombia” on the other. Unfortunately, I
lost the other part of my keychain last year which was a cat and one of the reasons I bought
it in the first place was because it had a cat on it. After all, I’m a cat person.
I would love to have gone to Colombia on vacation so I could see more of Colombia but I
went because I was selected to represent Portugal at my second junior World
Championships. I have been doing track since I was 8 so track has been part of my life for
quite a long time so for me to accomplish that made me proud of myself. For me, this trip
was really important to me because I didn’t even think I was going to make it in the first
place. There were only 10 spots so I knew that I needed to make a really good performance
at Nationals which was also the last meet before the World Championships. I am a 400m
hurdler so I have to run a lap and pass 10 hurdles. I was having a really good race till I almost
fell on the last hurdle, which made me lose tenths of a second which cost me the time I
needed to accomplish. I thought I had lost every hope to make it to the world stage till days
later I received a call saying that I was selected to represent Portugal.
This was my first time in Colombia and it was a thrilling experience. I have been to
different countries, and Colombia has by far been one of my favorite countries to visit. It
had a lot of street art in almost every corner, the people were very nice, the views were
insane and the food was also amazing. Whenever I visit a new country I like to buy a
souvenir from there so I can have a memory of that country and the memories I made
there. Since I got this key chain it has traveled with me to many places. It has been to
different states like Colorado, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington. It has also been to Portugal and Finland.
It may sound silly how a simple object like a keychain has so many memories on it. The trip
was also amazing because I got to meet people from Portugal whom I had seen at other
meets and who are now some of my closest friends, and still speak with daily. It is crazy to
me how a sport can bring so many people together because if it wasn’t for track I would not
have met some of the amazing friends I have gotten. One of my core memories from that
trip was when I and some of my friends were on the terrace playing cards. There was a pool
and some tables on the terrace, and we would spend our free time there where we also met
people from other countries like Argentina. When the races were over me and my friends
went on a walk around the city with the people we met from Argentina. Another core
memory I have from this trip is that all the countries that were in the hotel were Spanish-
speaking countries so me and my team were the odd ones. It was a challenge trying to
communicate with the people I met there because most of them didn’t know English. A fun
fact is that Portuguese and Spanish are very similar languages but also very different at the
same time. I remember I had to pull up my phone and write some stuff on Google translator
which was very funny to me, but we made it work out, or even when I tried to ask for food
at lunch and dinner and had to speak Spanish with the lady that was serving me. My Spanish
was more of a Portuguese with a Spanish accent and some mimics, but it ended up working
in the end so that’s what matters.
Colombia besides being a really beautiful country, also had some weird things about it like
banana soup. I never thought I would ever get to eat a soup made of banana or any other
fruit at all, but the funny part is that it was pretty good. Not amazing, but pretty decent.
Colombia is known for its really good coffee but never talk about how they will cook
anything with banana on it, and another combo I thought was very questionable is hot
chocolate and cheese on it which I unfortunately have not tried.