Travel Day #2

This hotel had the best breakfast of them all! After swiping a couple of Nutellas, saying my final goodbyes, and loading my bags into the shuttle, Rachel and I were on our way to the airport for the ride home.

We got a few more things at the airport in Venice, then boarded our flight for Philly. It was another long flight, but I watched a lot of good movies (Admission, The Descendants, What's Your Number?) and the Italian lady next to me was super nice. 

My impatience hit a new high while going through Customs once we landed in Philly. Getting my bag, rechecking my bag, going through actual Customs, going through security....it all took forever. By the time I got to my next gate, it was almost time to board for Roanoke! This plane was way smaller...only 9 rows and propellers on the wings. 

The man next to me on this flight was the cutest man ever, scoring bonus points by knowing that Stetson was the Hatters before I even finished telling him where I go to school. Soon enough, I learned that I had a whole family sitting around me with a daughter that plays volleyball in Roanoke. Through the whole hour and a half flight, we talked about volleyball, college, and Florida itself. Once I landed and got my bags, my parents took me to a steak dinner and I couldn't have been more thankful. Shortly after, I was passed out asleep in my bed. Time to adjust back to Eastern Standard Time....here we go.

This experience will never be matched, and I was so blessed to meet such a great group of girls, both American and otherwise. I met some friends I will cherish and learned so much. I wish I could do this all the time! If you're reading this and you ever have the opportunity to do something like this, don't think twice! No matter what, you won't regret it. 

Go BIP CON!

Day 11

IT'S FINALLY TIME FOR VENICE! After a five hour bus trip/nap, we finally arrived! After settling in, we quickly boarded the tram to the city! It kind of reminded me of arriving into New York City for the first time, except a thousand times better (sorry Stacey).

Right away, I was amazed by the scenery. Little parts of the sea that have creeped into the city lined the buildings, as bridge after bridge after bridge connected all of the shops and restaurants. We made our way through the city towards the Bridge of Rialto and Piazza San Marco. The sides of buildings all had signs that directed you towards the main spots in Venice. It was awesome...we never had to use a map as we wound our way through the narrow alleys. The bridge had an amazing view (but super crowded) and the Piazza was so beautiful, especially the San Marco Basilica.

Bridge of Rialto

View from the bridge

San Marco Basilica

Piazza San Marco, public square in Venice

Next, we hit the shops for a couple of hours. We took a break to have none other than pizza for dinner. So good! Some more shopping left us exhausted but happy. I wish we had had more time in Venice. I didn't get to go on a gondola ride, so that means I have to go back sometime! 

Awkward solo~~

Sunset in Venice <3

Once we got back to the hotel, we began to say our goodbyes and repack our bags. Now it's time for showers and bed! Ciao!

Day 10

Another early morning...but not the usual. For the first time in a while, we weren't waking up to go play volleyball. Today, it was time for another European adventure to downtown Pula. The walk there was over 30 minutes and terribly hot, but the scenery made it so worth it. Plus, we had Alex showing us around, so we weren't completely at a loss! I thought we'd never get there! We stopped by Gilda's gate to go into the underground tunnels they used during the war, only to find out they were closed :( We next headed to the coliseum/amphitheater/arena, one of only 5 ancient coliseums left in the world! They have movies and concerts inside of it sometimes, and it has its own underground part to it. It was so cool to me, even for someone who doesn't like history.

The team inside the coliseum

This is where they will have the concerts and movies displayed

Classic selfie in the coliseum

I'm pretty sure this could be on a postcard

Next up, shopping! We split into groups to make shopping a bit easier and were told to meet back for lunch at the hotel at 12. Around 11:30, my group went in search of the bus stop. After running around and getting lost and running some more and confusing ourselves and running one more time, we finally made it to the bus stop....at 12. Then, we had to wait for the right bus that would get us to Hotel Pula (2a in case you're ever in this bind). Once we settled on the bus, we suddenly realized that we had no idea which stop we were to get off at since we knew there wasn't one that went directly to the hotel. Layne asked the driver and he told her the next one! Thank goodness she asked when she did or it could've been a much much longer ride for us. But don't worry, it still wasn't over. We got off and had no idea which way to go. Luckily, just before he drove off, the driver got my attention and pointed which way to go. We started walking, uncertain of where we were headed. We passed a random man and Genna asked him if he spoke English to which he responded with a blank stare...perfect. Once she said "Hotel Pula", his face lit up. He began firing off Serbian to us and pointing every which way. We tried to follow what he was saying with his hand motions, thanked him, and FINALLY found the hotel...now that it was past 12:30. 

We quickly ate lunch, changed into our swimsuits, and boarded the bus to head to another city of Croatia, Robinj. There were so many cute shops and restaurants lined up around the city and along the shoreline. Most of this city was built in the early 1700s. Our first stop was the big cathedral, St. Eupharina Basilica. We climbed the super narrow staircase that stretched on forever. At the top, you could have a complete view of the beautiful city. Next, we spent some time shopping and swimming in the Adriatic Sea before we boarded the bus again to head back to the hotel for dinner.

Arriving at Rovinj

Too. Many. Stairs.

We made it!

View of Rovinj from the top of the tower

Some of the team went to the beach after dinner to take some pictures and enjoy being by the sea one last night. It was so peaceful and beautiful! I'm going to miss Pula.

The sunset was beautiful! 

I love this team!

Can't wait for Venice tomorrow! Unbelievable that it is our last day :(

Day 9

Today was our last day playing together :( I can’t believe it has gone by so fast. Today, you could really tell how tired everyone was. We played a team from Northern California and definitely should have won, but didn’t quite play our best. This afternoon, we were determined to make sure we had fun and play our hearts out, no matter the outcome. 

During the break, some of the team went to the beach to relax, but I stayed in the room to rest my back. Layne brought me back some rocks though, so I was excited! Our last match of the tournament was against the host team from Croatia, OK Pula. We were cut short and only played two matches, but we definitely pulled through with our goal and had lots of fun at the end. We were just playing and not worrying over the score. It was a great ending to the tournament. Even better, Genna got "attacked" by her backpack on the walk home, which resulted in this: 

Typical

After resting, showering, and eating dinner, we were on our way to watch the finals of the tournament: BIP SE (the team older than us) vs. the Italian team. Based on the way they played last night, I was convinced that BIP SE had this game in the bag. Unfortunately, the Italians proved too much and took the match. Nevertheless, we were so proud of them! During and after the match, we were able to trade some more tshirts with teams. I came home with a Slovenian, Czech, and Montenegrin shirt, as well as a pair Montenegrin shorts! I brought a volleyball from home with me on the trip. At the end of the week, I had all of our team and coaches sign it and give it to the Montenegrin team (thanks Madison). I then bought a ball with the Croatian flag on it and had the team sign for me to keep as a souvenir.

Montenegrin team with the ball!

That night, we all went out to celebrate the end of the tournament. We got to hang out with the girls from BIP SE and get to know them better. They are so funny! It was karaoke night, so you can bet a lot of girls were up there singing. Shelly and Genna even sang We Can’t Stop (typical).

I can't believe the volleyball portion of the trip is over. It went by so fast! Now it’s time to rest up for our long day of sightseeing in Croatia tomorrow, before leaving for Venice Saturday! So excited!

My uniform from the week!

BIP CON with OK GALEB at the closing ceremonies

Day 8

Just like the past two days, we woke up ready to get a win under our belt. Filling up on the same breakfast buffet (eggs, bread, bananas, bread, yogurt, bread, croissants, cereal, bread), we headed out for our first match of the day against Hungary. We went 1-2 with this team earlier in the week and were ready for some revenge. After falling a bit behind near the end of the first, we battled back and took the set from them 26-24 after two key aces from Genna. This was the first time we, as a team, had figured out how to finish and pull out the win during crunch time, a huge development on the week. Unfortunately, we lost the second set 20-25, and the third 25-27 after some bad timing of mistakes and a few questionable calls. Nevertheless, it was overall a good match for us, with excellent passing and hitting from everyone.

BIP CON against Hungary

After the match, we headed straight to the pool where we relaxed and cooled off our bodies and muscles. Our Croatian version of an ice bath! We all pretty much relaxed, rested, and took it easy during the break to be ready for our next match at four against Czech Republic. Despite a couple good runs and some key plays, we did not perform as well as the morning, or as well as we had hoped we would against this team. Still, it was a terrific learning experience of playing tired and sore, both physically and mentally. And we are still having fun! It is amazing enough just to be able to take the court across from Junior National Teams from all over Europe. An experience I will remember for a lifetime.

We stayed after our match to do a little scouting of our competition for tomorrow and then headed back for showers and dinner. After dinner, we walked back down to the gym to watch the other BIP team, BIP SE, play in the semi-finals against the A2 USA Junior National Team. Despite over half the gym seemingly cheering for A2, BIP SE played their hearts out and took the match in 4. It was absolutely amazing to watch! Such great volleyball! We look forward to cheering them on the finals against Italy.

By the time we got back to the hotel, we started to settle down and get ready for bed, as we had an early match the next morning. Layne and I hung out for a while and were able to talk about a lot of things, including college. She is so adorable and I'm so glad we had a chance to get even closer! So sad to know that we only have one day left to play together as a team! This week has certainly gone by way too fast. Go BIP CON!

Beautiful sunset outside my hotel

Day 7

We faced two more matches today: Czech Republic Junior National Team and the Flacorara from Italy – one of the best teams there. (UPDATE: Italy went on to win the entire tournament)

We started off strong against the Czech team and welcomed our new friend, the Croatian setter Alex, to our team. We won the game 2-1 and it was so exciting! Everyone played so well and it was so great to see the wonderful volleyball the team was playing. I really truly love this whole experience. I wish I could do this all the time.

BIP CON with the Czech team

Next up was Italy, and we were ready to take some games off of them. We were determined and played so well. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough for this resilient team. Since we had only been playing together for a few days, and most of these teams have been playing together for years, it was extremely hard for us to get past some of these amazing teams. But that didn’t mean we stopped fighting! We came up short 14-25, 20-25, 21-25, clearly getting better every time. We never gave up and that’s what I love most about this team. Always fighting. We came back for a cool down in the pool and to find out our schedule for tomorrow.

Action shot during the game against the Italians.

Us with the teams we've played. (The middle is actually Czech)

Tomorrow is a new day of play! They now split up the teams into two groups. The top three teams from America got to continue on for a chance at the championship. We just missed the cut off, so we were placed into the bottom group that would compete in a round robin the next two days. We were a bit disappointed but still determined to play each game better than the last.

That night I was able to spend some time with some of the Slovenians who were staying across the hall from me. They are so cute and funny and nice! They know so much about American culture and I felt bad because I didn’t know anything about theirs! They love Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus, and we bonded over our favorite American things. I asked them what a good movie was from Slovenia that I could check out when I got home, and they said there weren’t any! Haha. Some of us traded shirts with one another and I got a Team Slovenia shirt, which was exciting!

Welcome to Team Slovenia!