A Chinese Girl's Experience with S.S Lazio in Rome

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Offline Biafra

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A Chinese Girl's Experience with S.S Lazio in Rome
« il: 18 Set 2012, 19:05 »
Infrango le regole del forum lo so, ma vista la bellezza del post spero proprio che gli adm chiudano un occhio. :roll:


Preso dal forum Laziofever

« on: September 15, 2012, 05:03:52 PM »
My Experience with S.S Lazio in Rome

Jieyi

It's been a few days since I left Rome, but the Lazio anthem remains embedded in my head. With it playing in the backdrop of my mind, I repeatedly sought out a multitude of strangers and friends to regale them with my incredible experience in Rome and the Olympic stadium with S.S Lazio. I talked about S.S Lazio on the train ride from Rome to Florence, from Florence to Venice, from Venice to Munich, from Munich to Hannover, from Hannover to Paris, and even on my flights from Paris to Singapore and from Singapore to Hong Kong. It was exhilarating.

Posting on forums has never been a habit of mine. However, since coming back from the Olympic Stadium, I have an irresistible urge to share about my experiences with fellow fans in the online Lazio Chinese communities. Now, I want to reach out to the whole world to tell them how great Lazio is.

My dad is a football fan and I started watching football with him when I was a little girl. He usually had no favorite team per se, but there was a time he was obsessed with the Italian league. It was at that time when I first heard about the name – Lazio. I remember being completely mesmerized by the beautiful sky blue kit. From then on, light blue became my favorite color. At that time, Lazio was in their heyday, and the eagles were gloriously crowned champions that year.

An incredibly large number of Chinese people turned to watching football in 2002, which was the year that China's national team got into world cup final for the first time. Even as primary school students, we talked about the games all the time. Somewhat surprisingly, the Chinese media were optimistic about the chances of our national team. However, that was before the match between Germany and Saudi Arabia, the media had boasted that it was a pity our national team was in the group with Brazil, and not Germany, as we would definitely defeat the old and unfanciful German team. The press was silenced after an overwhelming victory by the Germans, and it was then that everyone started to notice Salto Klose, the young man who scored a hat trick in the match. Time truly flies; we have since bid farewell to a whole generation of great footballers (Zinedine Zidane, Raul Gonzalez, Michael Owen, etc.) in the last decade. Only Miroslav Klose is still running on the field, and in all these years that I have followed the beautiful game, he is always there. For me, football would be vastly different without him.
I left for Singapore for middle school and high school. Staying in the supposedly strictest student hostel in the world, it was just impossible to follow every match without a time lag. I think the reason why I am so crazy about soccer now is because I was so deprived from watching live broadcast soccer matches. The craziness must be a form of compensation for  all the games that I had missed.


Rome has always been the city of my dreams; the food, the rich culture heritage, the fairy tales, and La Lazio. I was so glad when my hero Miroslav Klose joined Lazio that I promised myself to make this trip to Rome. It really is like a Disney cartoon; my favorite player in my dream city, and he plays for my childhood dream team! Everything fit perfectly, just like a jigsaw puzzle!

I had originally intended to travel to Rome (my first stop) in July, but it was off-season, and thus I rescheduled my itinerary to go there in August instead. A friend on the Chinese Lazio forum, who had just caught a game in Rome earlier this year, gave me Paolo's email. It was quite a last minute thing and I didn't expect his spontaneous reply. The feeling of being in the same city with Miro and watching a Lazio home match brought me enormous joy. Paolo's message was succinct and humorous, when I asked if the people in the Lazio Style Shop would direct me to him, he responded by saying, “We would recognize each other.”

I have since understood his meaning. On the way to collect our tickets at the Lazio Style Shop, we received help from several people. On the bus 32, someone helped me and my friends press the bell, smiled and said "See you guys in the stadium later".

We got lost on the way from the Olympic Stadium to the Lazio Store, and an old man who had already walked past us actually turned back to guide us all the way to the Lazio Shop. When we arrived, Paolo stopped me just before I stepped into the shop. Isn't that Lazio magic? He said he would help me to get Miro's autograph, but he was not sure if he will be playing. As I had planned to visit the Formello training ground, he told me to enjoy the match tonight and he would arrange the Formello part. When I heard those words, I felt absolute delirium! He is just like Father Christmas!! (Dear Paolo, please do not be mad when you read this. From the bottom of my humble and respectful heart, you will never grow old!)

There were five of us that went to the match. My classmate Kylie, an adorable girl from Hong Kong who was summoned by her dad to watch a Lazio match, a fellow Laziale from Beijing, and a couple who come from Venezuela. Kylie and I met the Venezuelans at our hostel; I dragged them to the stadium on our way out. I really like their sportiness. Just because I told them they were 75% right with the dress code, they went back to the hostel and put on the blue t-shirts and pants after we bought the tickets. We bought two jerseys at the shop and were looking for a marker pen. We got into a grocery shop and the owner freaked out when he saw us carrying the Lazio shopping bags. The latter turned to the Totti’s poser on the wall, and almost cried out. But dramatically, he gave us a marker pen for free, and sends his best wishes to Lazio.

It was Kylie's first time ever in a stadium for a football match; she was even more excited than I was when we entered the scared Curva Nord. I solemnly swear that the Laziali are the greatest supporters! Prior to my trip to Rome, I read about how spectacular the Curva Nord is, but I disagree. ‘Spectacular’ is an understatement because there is no word for it. The feelings aroused in me that evening were simply indescribable. I felt like I was immersed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and everything was covered with blue.


Throughout the whole match, Kylie and I didn't sit down for a second. We yelled with the crowds, we applauded and jumped with everybody else to enjoy the splendid atmosphere. Several times, I opened my poster which stated in bold letters that “there will be many more Ronaldos but there is only one Klose” on it. Every time I showed off the poster, the crowd around me reacted with thumbs ups for the poster. Lots of people came to take pictures with the poster and told me how superb Klose is. I was glad to see him adored by the people here. He must enjoy playing in Lazio. It was amazing to witness the victory. Forza Lazio! Kylie was elated and insisted that we must return for the Sunday’s Serie A. Which amazingly, I already had the plan to go back to the stadium to watch Klose play.

The day in Formello was such an experience. I thought the training would be held in the afternoon so we didn't set the alarm clock the night before. When I woke up at 11am, I saw Paolo's missed call and message. In that instant, my heartbeat almost stopped as I checked the email. He said he had asked for special permission and I could wait for Miro at a reserved area. The training was from 11 to 1230. I couldn't think about anything else. I woke Kylie up and rushed out to get a taxi. We got on a Roma fan's taxi and he took us to the wrong way. I am still unsure if it was unintentional. Shortly after, Paolo sent me a text message staying that Miro had just left Formello; we were five minutes away. To this day, I try not to think about this misfortune, as melancholy sets in whenever I think about it. I hope the pathetic 5 minutes will not haunt me for the rest of my life. However we still we got to Formello. The security came out and repeated the same sentence over and over "he's gone, he's gone." I missed Miro by five minutes. I never thought I would be this close to him, and even with so much help from Paolo, I still missed him. I stood there feeling sorry for myself for quite a bit of time. As we were in a hurry on our way out, I forgot to bring the notes for the routes. Kylie had to try asking for the directions back to the city center. The security couldn't explain in English so he found Sani to help us. Sani was going to the restaurant at the fuel station, and he offered us a ride. The bus stop was just next to the fuel station, but when we checked the schedule, the next bus would only arrive in 2 hours. It was drizzling a little and we didn't have an umbrella. Sani was very kind and he invited us to join him and his friends for lunch. During lunch we met the eagle trainer Juan and other Lazio staff. I told them that this season there are more TV channels in china that feature a live broadcast of Lazio's game, they were very happy to hear it. Juan invited us to see Olympia after lunch; and another staff member offered to drive us back to the city later.

I felt like I was walking on air when I entered the interior of Formello, taking pictures with Olympia. Everything seemed so unreal. What an experience! Olympia was standing on her wheel, without her fancy pretty ribbons she still looked good. I still cannot believe it, I was in such close proximity to Olympia! We were so lucky to meet so many nice people in Lazio!!! Sani called his friends and asked about the training schedule for the next day. He promised me that if I came back tomorrow, he would try find a way for me to meet Miro. Knowing that we intended to watch the match on Sunday, he offered to get us the tickets.

I decided to try my luck at Formello again. I cancelled my day trip to the leaning tower of Pisa. The tower would not fall in the near future, but I don't know how many years Miro will still be playing and when I am coming back to Europe again. I was about to set off to Formello again when I received Paolo and Sani's updates saying that Miro was not coming for the training. Kylie and I stuck to our original plan to visit the leaning tower.

On Sunday morning, Kylie received an urgent call from Hong Kong. I had to go for the match alone. Not completely sure if Miro would appear in the stadium, and without any company, I was in low spirits. However I bumped into some blue T-shirted people from Austria at the bus stop and Paolo took my jersey for Miro to autograph and gave me instructions on where to meet him after match. I immediately felt much better. Before entering the stadium, I checked the news on the start lineup, Miroslav Klose's name was right there! My disappointment was erased immediately. I met a Chinese girl wearing Klose's jersey inside the stadium and some lads from Nanjing holding FORZA LAZIO in Chinese. I had heard about them from the online forum but failed to contact them, what a coincidence that we finally met each other in the stadium. Our large Chinese presence in Nord Curva definitely stood out. The crowds warmly welcomed us. I had brought the same poster to the stadium. Our little Chinese gang attracted quite a lot attention from the Nord Curva. People came to take photos with us and of course show thumbs ups and saluted the poster for Klose. The crowd was in such high spirits that the blue ocean seemed to almost evaporate. We jeered the opponent team and cheered our start lineups. I have never felt so attached to and proud of a team. As I am recording this down, the fresh memory is replaying in my mind and my heartbeat is racing, it is as if I was still in the stadium witnessing Klose's two goals. It was an overwhelming victory. It rained for quite a while but the young men siting on the barriers never let the Lazio flags droop for a second, not even in the heavy rain. The players sought every opportunity to advance despite the extremely bad weather. The game ended with an overwhelming victory. After the match, Paolo passed me the jersey with autograph. We took some pictures with some of the players as well. Paolo drove us back and we had a nice talk from Chinese Laziales to his favorite gelato Latte.


Kylie and I left Rome the following morning. We rushed to the Fountain de Trivia before the train departed. We asked the bus driver for help with regards to where to stop and a gentleman overheard our conversation and offered his help. He guided us all the way to the fountain. We talked about the match last night. He was very impressed by Lazio's victory even though he is a Roma supporter. He said it was quite rare to see that many scores in one match in Serie A, but it was Klose who kicked in two goals, so everything makes sense, Klose is a great player indeed.

The trip to Rome is unforgettable! Tons of love and hugs to all the people I met here. Rome and Lazio have the greatest hospitality ever! Loads of thanks to everybody who helped me, you made these 5 days so meaningful to me. Rome, I promise I will be back soon. I will try my best to share my experience in Lazio with more people. I believe that even if Miro leaves, I will still be here in Lazio land. Once a blue, always a blue.


Offline St£fano

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6250
Re:A Chinese Girl's Experience with S.S Lazio in Rome
« Risposta #1 il: 18 Set 2012, 23:12 »
STUPENDO!


 :band1: :band1: :band1:

Online syrinx

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22071
Re:A Chinese Girl's Experience with S.S Lazio in Rome
« Risposta #2 il: 20 Set 2012, 10:35 »
Grandissima!

Offline JoePetrosino

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16376
Re:A Chinese Girl's Experience with S.S Lazio in Rome
« Risposta #3 il: 20 Set 2012, 10:47 »
I decided to try my luck at Formello again. I cancelled my day trip to the leaning tower of Pisa. The tower would not fall in the near future, but I don't know how many years Miro will still be playing and when I am coming back to Europe again.


 :D

Online balivox

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5289
A Chinese Girl's Experience with S.S Lazio in Rome
« Risposta #4 il: 26 Set 2012, 15:17 »
Spettacolo!La frase finale è bellissima!

Offline Alcares

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5524
Re:A Chinese Girl's Experience with S.S Lazio in Rome
« Risposta #5 il: 28 Set 2012, 01:02 »
I heard by chance her interview in LSR few weeks back.

Always nice to hear how people from different Countries are so passionate to support Lazio!
Re:A Chinese Girl's Experience with S.S Lazio in Rome
« Risposta #6 il: 02 Ott 2012, 21:45 »
Oddio che mito, fossero così tutti i tifosi! Respira Lazio più tanti romani.
Re:A Chinese Girl's Experience with S.S Lazio in Rome
« Risposta #7 il: 02 Ott 2012, 22:05 »
"[...] Once a blue, always a blue."
That's all!

Online Valon92

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16856
Re:A Chinese Girl's Experience with S.S Lazio in Rome
« Risposta #8 il: 07 Ott 2012, 18:15 »
L'ho vista allo stadio! Spettacolo!
Re:A Chinese Girl's Experience with S.S Lazio in Rome
« Risposta #9 il: 13 Ott 2012, 10:00 »
portiamola qua
Re:A Chinese Girl's Experience with S.S Lazio in Rome
« Risposta #10 il: 15 Ott 2012, 00:23 »
Citazione
Once a blue, always a blue

god bless you!

Citazione
the Fountain de Trivia

and always be blessed who makes us smile

:band1:
 

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