It’s no secret that I’m not exactly the most athletically-inclined person around- it’s fine. What most of you may not know is that I also don’t/can’t swim (long story, but I almost drowned when I was 8 years old and stopped swimming since then) which is both tragic and comedic at the same time.

MY SURF TEACHER, RICARDO PIRES

JOSE GREGORIO

So for someone who doesn’t swim, I sure as hell spent a lot time in the water during my time in Portugal. This included a surf lesson with Ricardo Pires (brother of Tiago Pires who is currently ranked 9th in the world) and a pep talk with 4 time National Champion Jose Gregorio. Since I couldn’t even pop-up on the sand (comedic), I basically just laid down on the board and paddled (tragic). At the end of the day, I was able to go into the ocean for the first time in my life and became one step closer to conquering my fear of open bodies of water and perhaps one day learn how to swim again (success?).

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