Online Diary: A Canadian in Germany

Kris Fernandes is a writer and advertising director for Canada's premier soccer magazine, InsideSOCCER. He has worked within the Canadian soccer community for five years in various areas including the community affairs coordinator position of the Toronto Lynx Soccer Club and founded a free soccer program for underprivileged youth in Toronto.

June 8: Leading up to kickoff this Friday I must admit, like millions of other fans, I am having trouble sleeping at night. The anticipation is killing me. Perhaps it will be good practice for when I arrive in Germany, as I know there will not be a single night in which I will be in bed before 3 am. This might have something to due with where I am staying.

Eight weeks ago I was frantically searching online looking for a great place to stay during the Cup. I came across all sorts of little interesting hotels, hostels and campgrounds. I reckon you cannot possibly enjoy the World Cup to the fullest by staying in a hotel room all by yourself.

Hostels are pretty great for young travelers but they, like hotels, lack the soccer specific atmosphere I was looking for. Then I hit the ultimate soccer fan mecca, the Westfalenhallen Dortmund Fan Camp. Picture yourself being only 100 metres away from the stadium in Dortmund with 4000 fans from across the globe under one convention centre full of big projection TVs, musical performances, comedy acts and cinema.

Now toss in a free rail pass for a large region in Germany that includes three World Cup host cities for as many nights as you stay. To top it off, how about having it all for free? That's exactly what the manager of this monstrous site agreed to do when I inquired about staying there as a writer from Canada. As long as I covered the fans during the month long soccer circus I would be taken care of at no cost. For a Canadian student, this is the sweetest thing imaginable.

Although I will be resting my head in Dortmund for most nights, the free rail pass allows me to also cover matches and fan experiences in Cologne and Gelsenkirchen. Some of the teams that are playing at these venues include: Brazil, England, Sweden, Argentina, Portugal and the hosts Germany among others.

Not bad at all. That is my brief little snippet of where I am staying and some of the teams that I intend to watch live. With only a few days to go, maybe I should get some sleep but I probably won't.

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