USA Youth Team Journal
Sunday, December 31, 2006 and Monday, January 1, 2007
By Michelle Bartsch

Yesterday was the first of the two days of break in Maribor.  All of the girls were pretty much on their own.  We arrived at about midnight at the ski resort.  Breakfast was the next day, but it was optional.  Lunch was at one o’clock which was when most of the girls got up for the first time that day.  After lunch a couple of girls rented skis or snowboards and headed for the slopes.  The rest of the girls went into town, walked around and took some crazy pictures.  Skiing and snowboarding was a ton of fun, but I am not too sure about the town, because I was one of the skiers.  Dinner was at 9:30 for everyone.  At 11:00 we met at the bottom of the Pohorje, which is probably the biggest ski slope I have ever seen.  We walked up the slope which took 30 minutes for some and a little more for others.  At the top of the mountain, we watched the fireworks from different cities and even some countries (Austria is only ~7 miles away); it was the coolest New Year’s celebration I have ever been to.  Here they set off fireworks like crazy; they were literally setting them off 50 feet from us.  The fireworks lasted for almost 40 minutes in the city.  After the celebration we slid down the slope, because it too slippery to walk down.  We all shot down the hill going just as fast as we did on the skis.  It was so much fun!  A couple girls went about half way up the slope and slid back down many times.  We tried pizza boxes as sleds, but they weren’t too affected.  Curfew was 1:30, but I am sure most girls were in way before that. 
           
Today was a busy day for most.  The girls who went skiing and snowboarding were up early and on the slopes by 10:00.  Some girls went skiing for the first time today, including one Hawaiian.  It was a lot of fun again.  We skied for about 2 hours then went back to the hotel for lunch.  After lunch we had a meeting to talk about volleyball for the first time in a day.  We discussed how we can improve our individual skills as well as coming together as a team to continue to improve.  We also discussed how we can tune up our team defense and offense.  Beating Croatia was also a part of the meeting as we leave Maribor to go play them in Zagreb tomorrow.  Near the end we talked about our schedule for the rest of the trip.  Dinner tonight was a change, we road the gondola up to the top of the mountain and ate a delicious dinner.  The gondola ride was new and exciting for some, but scary for others.  After dinner we could either ride the gondola back down or hang out at the top for awhile.  A lot of the girls went back down because it was pouring down rain.  Now everyone is hanging out in the hotel and packing, which is where I am off to right now.

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