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Day 8, January 15, 2006
By Alexis Kollias (Cal Berkeley) and Nikki Esposito (Puget Sound)
Yet another day waking up at the crack of dawn. The alarm clock rang at 7:30am after only an hour and a half of sleep. At least this was the case for most of the girls who had been out to the local Hip-Hop club while I was in bed alternating between profuse sweating episodes and chills (I was sick). We loaded the bus and began our journey towards Innsbruck, Austria. Nobody wanted to sit by me. En route we stopped and grabbed truly authentic Austrian food, they call it McDonald’s here. After pigging out on Big Mac’s and oh-so-natural fries, we eventually arrived 8 long hours later. The Youth Sports Hostel (“Volkshaus”) was most definitely a downgrade from the Hotel Arena we were staying at prior. There was a musty smell in our room, we had to make our own beds, and the two sets of bunk beds took up majority of the room’s space. Make sure to room with girls who enjoy your company, these are very tight quarters.
We departed for the Euro match at 6pm to watch VC Tirol versus Salzburg. Everyone was excited as it was the only official pro match we would see on the tour. If anything, watching the match confused me a bit. Cory and Tim had tried to explain European divisions and their relative caliber of volleyball and I suppose I expected volleyball of much less quality. The teams were good, much better than I expected them to be. American players Bonita Wise and Rashinda Reed played on VC Tirol while Laren Westendorf and Michelle Pianadosi played for Salzburg.
“Bo” and “Shin” with TK
Lauren and Michelle
It was interesting to witness the different relationships between American and European players, and American players and their European coaches. They all looked quite comfortable with their situations. I think I most closely identified with Lauren on Salzburg just because both of us played in the Pac-10 conference. Both teams reminded me of play similar to Oregon and Oregon State. I expected the European teams to be more lazy, but these teams were defined by hustle. Apart from the actual volleyball play, things are very different than the Pac-10. The fan base was very minimal. I remember there being around 20 or 30 fans at most other than all of us girls on the tour. To get more of a feel for European volleyball we were also able to ask ex-European players who had joined us on the tour what their experiences have been like. They were a great resource. We heard the good, the bad, and the ugly, but the honesty only helped us be more confident in our decisions whether or not to come back and play here.
Pause. After watching a few games, I began feeling more and more uneasy. My throat had unbearable pain and Cory paid for my bud and I to go to the Emergency Room. I can’t say I wasn’t scared, who wants to trust a non-hygienic European doctor? It was the most efficient doctor visit ever. Within 2 minutes I had been diagnosed with strep throat and written a prescription. Since they couldn’t take credit cards as payment for the visit, they ended up letting me go for free. It was a really positive experience and I made sure to thank them with hugs galore. I feel sooo much better with the antibiotics!
We concluded the night with going to dinner at a bar/restaurant by the name of Yellowstone. A great day!
Random Thoughts/Reminders for future Tour-goers:
-Get used to being in smoky bars and restaurants.
-Bring more than one pair of sweatshirts and sweatpants. By the end of the trip you tend to live in them.
-Bring cold medicine just in case… We have a few coughs on this trip.
-Prepare yourself for a CRAZY trip!
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