Four of us met up in Brussels, Belgium and flew to Krakow, Poland together to begin the first day of the Tour. The four of us were fortunate enough to get our luggage, however about 7 did not get theirs until several days into the trip. With all 36 of us (including coaches) everyone managed to get by and have the necessities in our carry ons. Cory and Tim met us at the coffee shop inside the small Krakow airport and we traveled to our hotel by van and train. When we walked outside we were surrounded by snow and had to haul our luggage around in order to find the train tracks. We headed the wrong direction several times, then after asking several people finally found the tracks. For some of the girls I was with it was their second or even first time seeing snow; needless to say quite a first experience for them. The train ride was about 40 minutes into the heart of Krakow. On the train I spoke with a young sweet Polish girl who asked why we came to Poland in the winter. I proceeded to laugh and explain the concept of the European Exposure Tour. I must add that we stood out like sore thumbs as soon as we landed in Poland. Over-packed, a little too loud, looking lost, and speaking English. I find it hard not to start conversation with everyone because I have so many questions and want to educate myself about each culture and country we encounter. However, you must keep in mind that this is very American of me. Europeans tend to keep to themselves and mind their own business. They are not unfriendly, but rather it¹s their culture and the norm in Europe.
Anyways, we arrived in Krakow and navigated to our hotel with a map and each other. We found the hotel fairly easily and got to walk through the city of Krakow briefly. When we got to the hotel we put our bags down and went to get a Polish snack before our first training session. We came across a Polish coffee shop and bought sandwiches, with either chicken salad or varied lunch meat for about 10 zloty (Polish currency = ~3Zl to $1). Next we headed out to training and were told by Tim we were expected to play like crap our first day. Random side note, several girls have still not arrived on Tour and are stuck in transit at this point. Our first session was fairly close to what I expected. The gym reminded me of an old high school gym, in which we split with a curtain with a Polish basketball team. We played for about 2 or 3 hours trying to remind ourselves that we are indeed good players and this was not a good representative of how we play. Jetlagged, confused, stiff, anxious, unsure, and overwhelmed are just some of the emotions or feelings that come to mind during that first practice. However, the first practice does come to an end and life does go on.
After the session we showered and ate dinner in the hotel. Soup, salad, pierogies, beer and water rounded out our first Polish meal. I have had pierogies before and love them; however it was a first for many of the girls. And that was that! The first day came to an end as we all went to bed immediately after dinner. I think many of us were actually falling asleep at the dinner table, so getting a thorough night sleep was easily achieved! |
