Today most of us woke up early, had breakfast at the hotel and started our drive to Bratislava. It started of as an interesting trip as we had to stop at several gas stations looking for a border tag for our bus. It was a good trip and we got to watch a couple movies, but we arrived in Bratislava two hours later than expected. We quickly dropped our bags at the "boatel" (yes, we stayed in a floating boat hotel) and headed to the gym for our matches.
We met Quincy, an American who played for Long Beach State and had been playing for another team in Slovenia that had just gone broke, at the gym. We played against VK Doprastav Bratislava; a good Slovakian team. Our group was split into two teams, the red and blue teams. Each team played three games. Even though we only had a short time to recover from the drive, it was a good match. We dropped the first set 23-25. After some adjustments in the second game, we won the second set 25-23. We played hard, but lost the last set 25-23. During the third game Savannah played middle for the Slovak team.
After our games, we headed back to the hotel while the blue team played their games. We got a nice break to shower and rest until dinner at 8:30. We had dinner on the boatel and heard that Savannah and Quincy had received offers to play for the Slovak team. After dinner most of our group headed out to the city center in Bratislava for a night out on the town. (Editor's note: Quincy and Savannah have both since signed with VK Doprastav Bratislava.
Congrats ladies!)
like Milk - but with an E! Time to get some zzzzzz¹s. We have a bus/van ride ahead of us.
"As for feelings and experiences, I would say that I was a little nervous at first when talking about getting signed, but was more comfortable once I got to go and meet the team and get a little more acquainted with the city. If someone doesn't feel absolutely comfortable with the situation then they can always get on a train to get back to the tour, and that's a nice option to have. I think my situation is a little different because there is another American on the team, so I always have someone to talk to and get lost with. But the girls on the team have been great and are able to speak some English or at least try and they can help you find your way..."
Eight of us left this morning from Bialska Biala, Poland and started heading towards Melk, Austria in Tim's van. On our way we were able to stop in Vienna where we stayed for lunch and were able to walk around. We squeezed into a parking spot by the Parliament building. We walked through and past the Hofsburg Palace where there were old time horse and carriages waiting for passengers out front. The buildings were beautiful as well as the architecture and statues on our main walk into the center of the city. We passed some Roman ruins that were covered in snow as well. We stopped and got pizza for lunch at this authentic Italian pizzeria and then split off into smaller groups to tour the city how we wanted. Some girls went shopping, some looked for souvenirs, and others like myself and Justine just walked around the city wandering and taking pictures. We ended up getting lost because wanted to see another walking street (which we weren't able to find) but got ourselves on the right track somehow. We went into the Stephans Dom Church last minute where the architecture was beautiful and very detailed. The steeples were high and inside they were trimmed with gold. Some of the windows were stained glass and there were a lot of candles that you could come in and light to say a prayer which really gave it a serene atmosphere. Justine and I had lost ourselves in the serenity of the church and missed the meeting place so we headed directly to the vans so that the rest of the group didn¹t leave us.
The drive to Melk was only about an hour and we were excited to look around. We arrive at the hostel that we were staying at which really wasn¹t that bad and went to the train station in attempt to pick up the "lost girl". We got to the train station and found out that her train came in later than we had thought so we drove around exploring the town. In 10 minutes we saw pretty much the whole city, but it was really pretty and very cool. While looking around we went up to the Monastery/Abbey that sits on a hill, overlooking the town. The monastery was very beautiful with baroquian styles. We went back to the train station and Lauren Duquette finally joined us on Day 4 of the tour.
We dropped off her bags and picked up our volleyball stuff and headed to the gym that actually was inside the Monastery/Abbey. Before we hit the court the other team offered us coffee and cake (which we thought they were kidding about but then thought that was what the Melk team does before matches). When we asked the team if they normally had coffee and cake they said no, only after matches sometimes. They even set up tables and were able to interact and mingle with the team making the experience even better.
We played a few sets and then the Melk coach wanted to see how some of us played with his team so then we played some more wash games and did some drills. Brynn Murphy met us in the gym from her train ride back from Germany and was even able to play some games. Afterwards we took a picture with the team and they made us a very good spaghetti dinner. They were a very hospitable team which made us all very comfortable. Once we got back to the hostel, we wanted to go out and experience Melk. However, realizing that it was a Sunday night, not many places were open so we had to go out and make our own fun and we sure found a way to do that. "Click click, closet!"
This morning a group of us got up early (we had to be ready to go at 7:00am) and headed out towards Bielsko-Biala. We rode in one of the vans for about an hour and a half and then arrived at the gym. The gym was a really nice facility. It is used only for volleyball so the floor was only marked for volleyball and was made with special material (Taraflex). This was the first team experience for all of us so far on the tour, so it was nice after the training sessions to finally play in a competitive match. The team we played was one of the best teams in Poland and a top-level team in Europe. They are currently competing in Champions League as well. The women¹s ages seemed to range from our age up to 39. Some of them had kids who were hanging out in the gym while mom was at work (just a little different from college ball).
After a short run and stretch warm-up we did about ten minutes of hitting lines, two minutes of serving (apparently this short preparation is a normal warm-up for them) and began the match. They were good competition and they unfortunately took all four sets from us. We gave them a run for their money and made them play hard in the second and third sets so it appears we just had to get the nerves out.
It was really nice to play in a competitive, match-like setting for the first time in Europe, and it was helpful to see what a gym could look like, as well as the age range of a team, in Europe. It was the first completely European team many of us had even seen or played against, so it was a new, informative experience.
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