Journal Dec 26-27, 2007

Venice By Storm
By: Marissa Odom & Courtney Johnston-Odom

Arrividerici Italy! Today was the beginning of our expedition. My body has endured such pain between the 9-hour plane ride from home to running away from hot Italian men, like Fabio. We landed in lovely Venice, Italy around 9:30 am but in “our” time it’s 3 o’clock so Courtney and I were wide awake and ready to shop! I absolutely loved Venice and my only regret was not going on a Gondola ride. We ate some pizza and admired the streets, which by the way all looked the same. It was great and we are definitely ready for more shopping and New Years Eve.

Team Florida 16’s

Our team is great, we have some of the best players from all over Florida. Team Florida is made up of Marissa (Oak Hall/Gainesville Jrs), Courtney (Bolles/Gainesville), Meghan (Nease/JJVA), Eva (Bishop Verot/USA South), Kendahl (Canterbury/USA South), Heather (Vanguard Univ), Shelbey (Buchholtz/Gainesville Jrs), Ashley (Buchholtz/Gainesville Jrs). Erin (Mountain Brook/Magic City VBC).

Ciao Venizia
By: Jennifer Renaker & Kamryn Sherman

After barely getting any sleep on the long flight from Atlanta, Georgia we landed in Marco Polo airport in Venice, Italy. Then we crossed our fingers and hoped all the luggage got there. After receiving all of our bags, we piled on the clothes to endure the cold weather of Europe. When we walked what seemed like a mile to the exit of the airport, we were pleasantly surprised by the air-conditioned weather. Some thought they could handle the cold with just a sweatshirt, but soon regretted it. We walked to a Mercedes charter bus and placed all of our belongings in claimed seats. We exited, and headed towards the city bus armed with digital cameras and Euros. We crammed onto the seemingly small bus and resembled a can of sardines. We traveled this way into Venice for 30 minutes, getting our first taste of Italy. Stepping off of the crowded bus, we were blasted with crisp, frostbitten air, and many of us wished we had layered up more. We marched into the city with eager minds, ready for cultural Italy. Separated into many groups, we meandered around the town enamored by all the city life. We experienced our first bite of Italian food at the “Pizza e Kebab”. Constant shoving, pushing, and being asphyxiated by the many careless Italian smokers, we made it back to Saint Mark’s square by 1 o’clock for pigeon feeding and team pictures. We arrived a bit earlier than expected, and walked into Saint Mark’s Basilica, with its exquisite mosaic ceilings. As Kendahl put it, “This is impossible to take in, let me sit and look for a minute.” After viewing this beautiful church, we walked outside and were handed bits of corn. We sprinkled it here and there, and soon the pigeons were surrounding us. The daring birds flew onto our arms, shoulders and occasionally our heads, for the bits of corn scattered in our palms. After going through a few bags of corn, we took our team picture, and split into smaller groups for shopping.

Our group members are Kamryn (Nease/JJVA), Jennifer (Stanton Prep/JJVA), Cheyenne (Nease/SAVA) and Big Daddy (Bill). We somehow ended up at the Rialto bridge where we took countless photos. To Cheyenne’s dismay, we did not end up in any of the many Prada, Gucci, Versace, or Louis Vuitton stores (You’re welcome Mr. Doug!). We got to the Plaza Roma about 2 hours too early, and just walked around a little more, got gelato with the leftover lunch money and waited until the bus came. Once there, we met up with Rachel (St Johns Country Day/JJVA) and Mom. Nancy, Natasha (Nease/SAVA), Chelsea (Nease/JJVA), Brittany (SuperFan), Nikki (Winter Park/Champions VBC), Kirsten (Trinity Prep/Champions) and Mom Chadwick. Day one in Venice was beautiful, and we had a blast. We both cannot wait until tomorrow, where we play together for the first time. Ciao!

Team Jax 14’s


Team Jax 16’s


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