July 9

Day 1 –  

Rhyann woke me up to breakfast being served on the plane. I enjoyed a chocolate croissant while I watched as we flew over the Alps. 

We finally arrived in Milan at around 12:30 p.m. and hopped on a bus and traveled to Bologna. Once we arrived in Bologna, we dropped our bags off in our hotel and went to the pool. The weather was perfect and the water felt so good. 

Later that night, we had a welcome dinner where we enjoyed some delicious pasta, pork chops with potatoes, and tiramisu for dessert. Most of the dinners here are two or three courses, it’s awesome! We then enjoyed some much needed sleep after a full day of traveling.

July 10

Day 2 - 

I woke up 21! It is a super cool experience to have my birthday here in Italy. 

To start off the day, we had some breakfast and then headed off to practice. It was extremely hot but fun to get after it with our new teammates. After practice, we cleaned up and then went on a bike tour through Bologna. 

We learned about the history and what makes the city so special. All of the buildings are made out of beautiful brick that dates back to nearly 3,000 years ago. After the bike tour, we had some gelato and then went back to the hotel for dinner. On the bus, our tour guide Antonio sang happy birthday to me in Italian. At dinner, the servers surprised me and brought out cake while everyone sang happy birthday to me. It was definitely something I’ll never forget!

July 11

Day 3 - 

We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and then departed for Bologna city center. I’ve had watermelon and a chocolate croissant for breakfast almost every morning. The fruit here is amazing. 

After arriving in the center of Bologna, we walked around the city, shopped, and had some lunch. For lunch, I had delicious tortellini. We were told that Bologna is known especially for its food which proved to be true. This was our last day in Bologna so we made sure to soak it all in. 

We then drove to Milan and played our first game against the Czech National Team. This was an awesome experience playing girls from another country.  After our game, the locals cooked us dinner and we ate ice cream for dessert.