When it comes to traveling overseas, it’s best to travel with friends. Such was the case for sophomores Adam Grube, Nick Nelson, Aaron Middaugh and Joey Gray, who were all a part of Real Kansas City, a soccer team that traveled to Spain for 9 days this summer to play friendly games against local teams.

“It was a lot of fun to travel with them,” Grube said. “We got in a lot of trouble … we were a very loud bunch.”

Grube did not have high hopes when it came to competition.

“I thought we were going to get destroyed,” Grube said. “We did, but one game we were actually somewhat close, so it was fun playing in that game.”

Nelson felt it was a rewarding experience.

“We played some really good teams,” Nelson said. “Just seeing how they loved the game was really fun.”

Playing in a different country was also about seeing different ways people play soccer.

“We thought it would be a really neat experience to play in another country,” Nelson said. “To go see how they played soccer and … they lived around that sport.”