Yesterday we spent the entire day in Venice. After an early breakfast at our hotel just outside of Venice, we took a bus into the city. We meandered around the narrow streets looking at all the shops within the island. The team took different routes around the island, passing various places like the Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco. While we walked, we passed many anxious gondoliers waiting to give us lovely American girls a ride on their gondolas. The stores we passed were filled with Morano glass jewelry and authentic leather purses (those items seemed to be the most popular amongst the team). The canals were gorgeous, filled with boats and fishermen, and people eating at the bordering restaurants.
After three hours of exploring the city, we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta before dinner. For dinner we went back to the island and had a huge meal of delicious salads, pasta, and about 5 different types of pizza. The pizza had everything from artichoke hearts to wild boar salami. It was quite the spread and a great way to end our trip. After roaming around the canals one more time we headed back to the hotel and got ready for our long flight back to Chicago.
Alexandra Ayers
Freshman outside hitter
Day Seven - Friday, March 27
Friday was another early morning, which we all love so much! Our last match in Italy was at 9:30, so after a quick breakfast we were off to the gym by 8:45. Our final opponent was the Italian Junior National Team that we had lost to the previous afternoon, and we were both looking for a win. The Italians are preparing for the European World Cup and are leaving for Holland next week, so they had every intention to bring their A game. And this being our last match in Italy, we were seeking revenge. Even though morning matches aren't necessarily our specialty, it was an exciting and hard fought battle each game. We played our best volleyball of the trip and won the match after five great games! Afterwards, Tim congratulated us and told us he was impressed with the match. He explained that, because their season is so long, European teams don't usually celebrate or cheer like most American teams. They save their emotions for their most important matches. During our match, the Italians were pumped up and cheering, which says a lot about how we competed against them!
Our win made leaving much easier Rome a few hours later. We said our goodbyes to the Olympic Sports Training Center after lunch and got on a train to Florence. The trip was about an hour and a half and we got to Florence around 3pm. Tim stayed with our bags as we explored the city for almost four hours.
I had never been to Florence before and I didn't really know anything about it. I was thrilled to find it an amazingly historic and beautiful place! I spent the majority of my time with Mary Grace, Elyse and Ariel. Together we decided to see as much as we possibly could in our short time. First, we saw the Duomo, which the huge church in the city. It was built in the 1400's and the architecture was stunning. Next, we were determined to see `David' by Michelangelo. Everyone has seen pictures of the `David' statue, including me, but I was floored by the real thing. It is more beautiful and impressive than I ever expected. The famous `Birth of Venus' painting by Botticelli is also in Florence, but after a race against the clock to its museum, we were too late. We tried to see the tomb of Michelangelo in a nearby church next, but we were disappointed again. Back at the train station, we found ourselves wishing that our stay in Florence wasn't so short.
The day was uneventful after our stop in Florence. The train to Venice was three and a half hours and we reached our hotel after ten. Dinner was up next, and we were all starving when we got to the restaurant. After another great meal, we finally got back to our rooms with full tummies, and we were all ready for bed!
Naomi Johnson
Sophomore middle blocker
Day Six - Thursday, March 26
Today was our second day in beautiful Rome. This morning we had to wake up early in order to get in our site seeing. We began the day in Vatican City. Since we arrived so early there was no wait to go inside to see the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel is truly a breathtaking site and being in a place so rich in history and beauty is humbling.
After marveling over the Chapel's paintings and architecture, we made our way to St. Peter's Square, the preaching place for His Holiness. St. Peter's square is one of the busiest places in Rome due to all the pigeons and people that frequent it every day. Most of those people end up inside one of the largest domed churches in the world, St. Peter's Basilica, a staple of the Catholic Church and a marvel to art lovers everywhere. Yet, since we had a game in the early afternoon we could not spend too much time looking at Rome's other treasures.
When we arrived back at the Olympic Training Complex, it was game time again. Today we played the top players on the Italian Junior National Team that are headed to the European Championships in a few weeks. This was our `official' match because we played best 3/5 games as opposed to 5 games no matter what, as we had typically been doing this trip. We played well but due to exhaustion and hurting feet, we could not quite pull it out and lost in 4 games. However, we learned a lot about the European style of volleyball and worked on our ability to adjust to a different team and their habits.
After the match we got our first opportunity to see Rome at night! We went into the city for dinner at a wonderful restaurant. I say wonderful because they fed us right. We ate family style and received plate after plate of tantalizing concoctions. Dinner filled us up, so some of us were ready to go home and digest it all, but many of us decided to see what Rome would be like at night. Naturally, since when in Rome you do as the Romans do, we got gelato! We ate our gelato while admiring the awe-inspiring Trevi fountain at night. Of course, we all threw in our coins with a wish. Sadly, the night had to come to an end early because we have a game tomorrow morning, so we took the train back to the Training Complex for a wonderful night's sleep.
Mary Grace Gallagher
Freshman libero
Day Five - Wednesday, March 25
Today was our first day in Rome. We woke up early and took the train into town with the coaches and then we were on our own! It was a gorgeous day, so we started by relaxing on the Spanish Steps the we started towards the Trevi Fountain, stopping at a local grocery store along the way for breakfast.
When we got to the fountain we each took turns throwing a Euro coin over our shoulder and taking pictures of the process. Then we decided to venture on the long walk towards the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We walked around this area for awhile, snapping pictures of all the ancient ruins. It was amazing seeing these ruins in person when we had seen pictures of them for so long. Then we decided to head back to back to the Spanish Steps for lunch. We put on our backpacks backwards so they were in front of us and took out our tickets before heading down into the crazy underground world of the Roman metro.
When we got back to the Spanish Steps we were ready for some food and a rest. We found a to-go window of a café that served huge slices of wood fired pizza by the gram. We each chose our toppings of choice and sat down to eat our pizza. It felt like half of Rome was sitting on the Spanish Steps, enjoying the afternoon sun. As we finished our food, we took the train back to Campi Sportivi, where we are staying at the Olympic training center.
When we got back, we got ready for our match that night against the Italian Youth National Team. These girls live at the Olympic training center and attend school, while working hard at volleyball. It was a great five games, even though we were tired from walking around Rome all day. It was a great relief to finally get some down time after dinner and get ready for our next day in Roma.
Natalie Taylor
Freshman outside hitter
Day Four - Tuesday, March 24
Hello from Roma!
Today, we left our hotel in Novara and began our journey towards Roma on a coach bus. Waking up at 5:30 a.m., we ate breakfast on the bus and shortly after all fell asleep.
On our way to Rome, we stopped in a small, walled-in town called Lucca. Here, we were each given 15 euro and the opportunity to explore the town. We all rented bikes and rode through the narrow streets, popping in and out of different stores and eventually stopping for lunch. After a couple hours in Lucca, we hopped back on the bus and arrived in Roma at about 5 p.m.
In Rome, we checked into the Olympic Training Center, and made ourselves at home in the dorm-like rooms also called the "Hotel dello Sport." The center, complete with all necessary facilities for training, houses and trains athletes year-round of all ages. The gym where we practice and train is also in the Center.
After moving into our rooms, we walked across the Training Center to the volleyball gym and practiced for a couple of hours. We ate dinner in the cafeteria just around the corner from our rooms right after practice. Exhausted from a long and fulfilling day, we all went to bed shortly after dinner.
Kathryn Chrystal
Freshman middle blocker
Day Three - Monday, March 23
It is already day three here in Novaro, Italy. A last minute serve and pass addition had the team a little upset seeing as we could not sleep in this morning; as many of us had hoped we would. However, once we got back from our hour-long serve and pass (it took us longer to get there and back, than we actually practiced) we were left on our own to do whatever we wanted for the rest of the afternoon as long as we were downstairs in the lobby by 5:30 PM. The day proved gorgeous; cloudless and mid 60's.
Most of us opted to take a short nap (because we all love to sleep) and then head outside to soak in the beautiful sun. In the middle of Novaro (a 15 min walk), there is a little town square with a church and shopping strip. The Italians we have learned are incredibly fashionable and tend to wear more designer items in one outfit than most people will ever own in a lifetime. That said, they did not take too kindly to us six-foot tall girls wearing sweatpants we hoped were clean. Once 5:30 rolled around, we hurried onto a bus to head to our first match of the trip, and continued to get little lessons in Italian from our new tour guide, Cory's work partner, Tim!
We played our first youth national team of many that we would face while touring this beautiful country. Although the rules in international style volleyball state that there are only six substitutions in an entire game (compared to our 12), the rules were relaxed for us "foreigners" that have never played overseas before. Well some rules that is... we were called for being out of rotation (when two players are overlapping when they should not be) more times than I can count on both hands and possibly some toes. In the end though after some confusion and frustration on everyone's part we came out winning 4 games to 1 and chit-chatting with the local girls about the ever popular show Gossip Girl!! Tomorrow we take on Rome!
Brittani Gray
Sophomore outside hitter
Day Two - Sunday, March 22
The professional match we watched was awesome. The first game, Pesaro beat Navaro 25-9. We were sure the entire match was going to be a blow out, but then Navaro came back to win the match! It was very exciting to watch. #13 on Navaro is our team's new idol; she's a phenomenal outside. And their serving was really impressive; it was aggressive and smart.
Today, we took the train into Milan. Cory, our tour guide, gave us twenty euros that we could spend on either a metro ride to the Duomo, or on gelato if we walked. Our team chose the gelato of course! Some favorite flavors were the coffee, strawberry, stratiacella, and banana. We had a fun time meandering about the city, trying to find our way from the train station to the Duomo without a map and without knowing how to speak Italian. We walked through a beautiful park where we saw teacup Chihuahuas in pink sweaters and Shetland ponies giving people rides. Closer to the center of Milan, we did some shopping. It was cool shopping in a city where everyone is so fashionable. The Duomo was amazing; we took a lot of good pictures.
In the evening, we had our first practice of the trip. We had to get used to the balls they use here in Italy. They float more than we're used to so serve receive was difficult at first, but our passers adjusted well. Overall, it was a good practice. We're ready for our first match in Italy tomorrow. Buena sera!
Elyse Glab
Sophomore setter
Day One - Saturday, March 21
CIAO!! Today we arrived in Italy after a long and uneventful flight to Zurich and then a short flight to Milan. The entertainment selection was outstanding as each of us had our own screens and plenty of movies to choose from. The team's most popular picks were Slumdog Millionaire, High School Musical 3, and of course my personal favorite, the map screen charting our progress across the Atlantic.
We finally got to our hotel around 2:30 hoping to take naps, but unfortunately our tour guide had other plans as our one rule of the afternoon was not to fall asleep so that we would adjust to the time difference. To stay busy, we walked around the local centre commercial for a quick lunch and our first chance (hopefully one of many!) to go shopping. The salespeople were very friendly but I wish I remembered my high school Italian better since I could only answer every question with "Ciao!" or "Grazie!"
The highlight of the day was the professional volleyball match we went to. It featured Navaro and Pesaro, two of the top teams in the Italian A-1 league, which is the best in the world according to our tour guide. While we were waiting for the game to start, the event coordinators surprised us by playing the NU fight song over the sound system.
Ariel Baxterbeck
Junior Outside Hitter
Wildcats Italy Itinerary
Friday, March 20
Depart Evanston
Saturday, March 21
Arrive in Milan
Watch professional match between Novaro and Pesaro
Sunday, March 22
Practice, sightseeing in Milan
Monday, March 23
Match vs. Novaro
Tuesday, March 24
Travel to Rome
Practice
Wednesday, March 25
Sightseeing in Rome
Match vs. Club Italia
Thursday, March 26
Sightseeing in Rome
Match vs. Club Italia
Friday, March 27
Match vs. Club Italia
Travel to Florence
Sightseeing in Florence
Travel to Venice
Saturday, March 28
Sightseeing in Venice
Sunday, March 29
Return to Evanston