Tuesday, May 19 - Modica, Sicily
Justine Stremick - Graduated Senior - Langdon, N.D.

It's been a busy few days. I thought that I would have a lot of free time during senior week and graduation weekend to pack for Europe and move out of my house. Unfortunately I was wrong and I spent my last few days in South Bend running around trying to get everything done. My family was in town so my time was split between them and saying goodbye to the friends I had made during my time at Notre Dame.

Graduation itself was bittersweet. The commencement mass and graduation ceremony were both exciting and eventful. We heard from Bishop Darcy, Fr. Jenkins, our valedictorian Brennan Bolman and of course, President Obama.

After the ceremony my friends and I headed over to the main building for one last picture shoot. I did not get a chance to say goodbye to everyone I would have wanted to but it was almost easier that way. It's hard to believe we won't all be together again and that although we will most likely all return to Notre Dame at some point, it will be for short visits and as alumni.

I spent Sunday night packing up the rest of my room and going over and over my packing list for the next month I would spend in Europe. The first two weeks in Italy with my teammates and the next two weeks with my twin sister, Briana, seeing Austria, Germany, France and Ireland. I managed to squeeze in a few hours of sleep before heading to campus to board the bus.

The one rule about traveling abroad is that nothing will go as planned. The best way to deal with this is to be flexible and just go with it. Our first flight was delayed by an hour and a half but most of us were able to get some sleep on the nine and a half hour flight. After a short layover in Rome we flew to Palermo to meet with our translators. Unfortunately, they were at another airport (the one we were supposed to fly into). After a two hour bus ride where we were not allowed to sleep - because we were just notified that we'd be playing a match later in the evening - and after a short stop for lunch at a gas station (best gas station sandwiches I've ever had!) we finally met up with our translators and guides, Tim and Jo.

After one more hour on the bus we arrived in Modica. They had scheduled a practice to get us moving after the long hours of travel and to help us adjust to the time change, but instead of practice they decided to have us play a match. After 24 hours of travel. Needless to say were a little tired but we played well and won our first match, 3-0. As a celebration we stopped for gelato before heading back to the hotel for a well deserved shower and night of sleep.

We will be staying in Modica for four nights, which should give us plenty of time to explore the area. Tomorrow we head to the beach before playing our second match. Well my converter just exploded and it's time for me to get some sleep.