Few students experience the joy of traveling to another country, let alone fulfill a childhood dream at the same time. Junior Julia Taliana, however, lived such a dream when she traveled to Malta: a small country in Europe, over the summer to train with their national soccer team.

She had been invited by the coach over e-mail. It was a very rare opportunity, traveling to another country just to tryout for the team was exclusive to her and another player.

“It was a dream, I never really pictured myself trying out for a national team,” Taliana said.”Then when I got the email from the coach I was yeah i get to go to Malta!”

The experience itself was completely new to her, but she arrived in the country with a sharp attitude, ready to train with the Maltese national team members. While there, they tested her endurance and adaptation to the hot Maltese climate, but nonetheless, she was eager to learn from the players and was excited to have the opportunity to be there.

“It was definitely eye-opening,” Taliana said. “It was kind of difficult to adjust because it was 98 degrees plus the humidity, so I had to adjust to play in that weather. I trained outside the practices before and I played a pick up game to train.”

While right now Taliana has her goal set to make the varsity soccer team at CHS, she plans to eventually join the national team. She also hopes to receive a scholarship in soccer for college and may go to college in both the U.S and Malta.

“I’m planning on playing for the team and then maybe go two years of college here and then two years of college there so I can actually play every week there,” Taliana said. “Or I might move there after high school and just go to college there.”

Taliana learned something knew about herself and where her family came from, her grandfather being from Malta made her appreciate the historic value it had to offer and enjoy the activities the Mediterranean brought.

“It was really nice to see my heritage,” Taliana said. “We tried to find relatives too. There was a bunch of history, and we snorkeled a lot so it was fun.”

Her parents were happy at the idea of her traveling to train in Malta, giving her the chance to further her knowledge and capacity for the sport.

“My dad went and he was super proud, it was a dream to get this e-mail,” Taliana said. “They were really supportive. My granddad is from Malta, and he cried over the phone.”