Sibillini 2007
Journal Entry #1 – Rome
June 28 and 29
By Aquila Orr, Western Kentucky

After arriving in Rome around 10:45 in the morning, I was pumped to get out and see the city.  My fellow teammates who happened to be on the same flight quickly found each other and we maneuvered our way through broken English and jet lag to find our hotel.  Once there we discovered we had the day to roam about wherever we chose and decided to take the time to just walk aimlessly.  We found a little cafe to eat at where we discovered the very different eating portions and styles of the Italians.  Some of the girls returned to the hotel and others found an internet café to email home.  Dinner that evening was right outside the hotel at a quaint little restaurant that served up some excellent Italian food.  Full and still energized, we decided to do a little night-time sightseeing and made our way to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain, which were absolutely breath taking and romantic!  At the end of the day everyone was so exhausted we had no trouble going to sleep in a new country.

The next morning we woke up early to attempt seeing all of Rome in one day.  We started at the Basilica of San Pietro (Saint Peter’s Basilica) where we actually got to see the Pope give a Mass!  We then tried to see the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel but it was closed for a holiday.  Not to be deterred, we continued to sightsee and made it to the Castel San Angelo, the Pantheon, and the Coliseum and Roman Forum, which was the absolute highlight of the day for me.  Around a hundred pictures and “Oh WOW’s!” later, we were ready to return back to the hotel to clean up and get ready for practice, which was a short coach bus ride away. 

At practice, we did some quick hitting lines and four on four and in no time we were scrimmaging our first Italian team, AS Fidia Roma from Cesano, a small suburb outside of Rome’s center.  The coaches for each team are awesome and really seem willing to help us adjust to each other and their own personal volleyball style.  We have two teams from the USA this year, and the Red team went first, defeating the Italians once out of three sets.  The Blue team then took their shot, but fell to the Italians all three sets.  The Italians definitely have a different way of playing that was difficult to get used to, including some wicked serves!  Afterwards, we ate dinner with our scrimmaging partners and headed back to the hotel, with everyone chatting and finding out more about their new teammates.  Its obvious we needed to play together more to mesh and find our team chemistry, but we all get along great, so it should be a smooth process, not to mention a ton of fun!

For more information, and some great photos, please see the past years journals: