Day 5 – Berlin - Friday July 14, 2006
By Stephanie Brown

Well…this morning we got up and ate breakfast. We had to say Auf Wiedersehen to the Finland boys. From there we hopped on the bus and went straight to Berlin for a fun day of shopping!! 

When we split up my group went to Starbucks because it was very cold out. It rained the night before and left the morning very cool.  

Then it was off to H&M where Sam and Brook found matching yellow and white sweaters. They are very cute!  

After a while we got hungry and found a Pizza Hut! Shhh but don’t tell Curt or Adam, we’re supposed to eat European foods, but we couldn’t resist. 

Surprisingly there aren’t a lot of German shirts. Everything is in English. We finally found a place that had German merchandise. Many of us bought our souvenirs there.  

When we finished our shopping around 1 we went to go see Checkpoint Charley. It was a very historical place. We didn’t have much time to spend there because we had to go back to the sports center to get ready to play. 

First we played the Czech team and we won in 3. Adam got really upset at the Czech coach because all he did was complain that we were using too many substitutions. Then we got to play the German team and they beat us in 2. In the 2nd match when we switched sides the sun thought it would be helpful to us by shinning right on our side of the court. Our blockers lost the ball mid air when they set outside and our defense only had a chance to see it after it was on the floor. It’s okay though because we played our best and the Germans were a very good team. It was a great day of playing.

After all that playing the German team held a BBQ for all the teams. There was chicken, pork, bratwurst, German potato salad, and really good bread. After we all ate the Front Range team and our team got all the girls from the Czech team and German team together to show them how Americans party. We all got in a big circle and danced. It was fun because they knew some dances like the chicken dance, the Macarena, and the electric slide. The BBQ ended with lots of photos, talking, and exchanging of emails. I think everyone had a blast. 

To finish off the night we went back to our rooms to pack and go to bed because the next morning we had to be up and ready to leave for Innsbruck, Austria by 6:30. :(