Westphal-Edwards, traveling man

Wrestling is often said to be the hardest sport for a high school teenager.

One local athlete has taken the hard work and dedication that the sport requires and used for opportunity.

Tristin Westphal-Edwards just graduated from Washington High School at the end of May and left for and arrived in Europe Sunday.

'Wrestling has taken me very far, such as landing me a spot on a national team for the last eight years,” Westphal-Edwards said on his mother's Facebook page as he attempted to raise $2,800 for the trip.

It was a success.

Westphal-Edwards will compete in the Kosovo Duals June 9-18 and return in time to wrestle in the Disney Duals, June 19-24 in Orlando, Florida.

Westphal-Edwards will attempt to stay in touch with the Washington Evening Journal every day and provide a first-person account of each day, as long as he is able to get internet availability.

This is his report from Sunday.

Today I had many different plane rides starting from Chicago. I met my national team at the airport, where we ventured around and soon after hopped on the plane to Zurich, Switzerland. It was an eight and a half hour plane ride that was very smooth and took care of many of your needs.

Once I was finally out of the country, I lost all signal to my phone unless I was in WiFi connection.

When we arrived in Switzerland it was chaotic - so many people of so many different cultures. Switzerland was so fancy and, honestly, just like I imagined: big buildings, lots of people, stray dogs, buses, lots of stores. It was very cool and interesting, many people could tell we were Americans. They were very fond of us, though.

We toured Switzerland and finally got off the bus to walk through the city. We stopped to eat and I had to use the restroom, when I learned the hard way that Damen means woman... as I entered the girls bathroom, I was swarmed on by a woman who was screaming at me in a different language.

We soon got back and hopped on our next plane to Pristine. It was only one and a half hours.

I got the honor of sitting next to some strangers that were really excited to find out I was a U.S. wrestler coming to Kosovo. Llama and Janeque were those names. We talked the whole plane ride as they asked me questions and taught me things.

We arrived in Pristine, which was a poorer city with a big heart. People were wild, fun, and very nice.

We ate at one of the best pizza places I'd ever had and saw many cool things.

Tomorrow we learn more and get to wrestle!