July 10, 2014
Emily Wilson and Whitney Little are touring Europe with USA Volleyball.
Reporting to you live from Slovenia, it's Whitney Little and Emily Wilson. Here in Slovenia it is almost 11:30 pm, while at home it is about 4:30 in the afternoon. Clearly the time change is silly, just like the bidet in our bathroom!
So far Europe has treated us well! After a nine-hour plane ride, we met up with our teammates and coaches (who are awesome!) and got into vans and skedaddled on to sightsee in Slovenia. We went to see the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, where we had pizza and were asked if we wanted mayo on it...so we quickly realized Americans eat their food a little differently.
After eating and seeing a bridge with a dragon on it, we loaded back up and headed to Maribor, Slovenia, where we currently reside on the southern side of the Alps. When we first arrived, we checked into our hotel, which is actually a ski resort, and got ready to go to practice. After practicing in the city, we went on a gondola outside of our hotel that took us up the mountain to eat lunch. We had a traditional Slovenian lunch, which is filled with different types of meat, potatoes and beans. It was delicious.
At first it was weird to practice with other girls from different college teams, but after getting to know everyone and making a gelato trip together, we have quickly bonded with the little time we were given. We had our first game today against the Croatian national team, and got first hand experience on how the game is played on a professional level. Although we only won 1 of the 5 sets, we got the chance to play against some of the best and a chance to learn about ourselves as a team.
Tomorrow we are waking up to go to practice in the morning and then we are taking the day to sightsee! We can't wait to get to know our team better and are so happy that we get to enjoy this experience with one another!
MIZ-USA!!
Xoxo