May 14, 2012
Day Nine
Hi everyone!!
It is coming down to our last few days in Europe and I can’t believe our journey here is almost over. We are in the beautiful city of Milan, aka the FASHION CAPITOL OF THE WORLD, and having a blast.
Today was a more relaxed day, not so jam packed with site seeing and exploring, but resting and most of us getting deeply into whatever book we are reading at the moment, most of us on our second one of the trip. In the afternoon, we played the Junior National team. Although we didn’t come out with a win, we had a good fight and have one more chance tomorrow to take down some Italians.
Before we played, we ate lunch at the Olympic Training Center in Italy, and comparing it to a normal American training table, this was 5-star. It was not at all your typical buffet style cafeteria, but a 3 course meal. It began with bread, which was amazing as it has been this entire trip, followed by some pesto pasta, with a stuffed bell pepper and fruit for dessert. Once we finished the match, we sat down for dinner, which was nothing short of the first meal we had earlier that day. It began with gnocchi (a new team obsession), salad and steak, and desert was a yummy strawberry cream mousse.
Since today has been rather uneventful compared to the previous days, I have included a European Trip Survival Guide with all the lessons we have learned this far.
• KUNAS (Croatian currency) is the best currency on the face of the earth. {1 dollar= 5 kunas}
• Exchange cash for local currency ASAP. You miss out on a lot of cool purchases if you only have a credit card in some areas.
• LEAVE ROOM FOR GELATO.
• Getting lost in a city is a good thing. Never use a map. You will discover much more.
• Understand local currency conversions before spending it like it doesn’t really count. Euros are worth more than American dollars; therefore it costs more than it says.
• LOCAL CURRENCY IS NOT MONOPOLY MONEY.
• Speak in accent everywhere you go, it makes everything funnier- even if it’s Russian.
• Be aware of the fake purses you buy, they might say “Louvista” on it instead of Louis Vuitton. (Jen Percy)
• On tram in Milan, do not stamp tram pass- save it and use over and over again, save EUROS!
• When in Milan, wear sunglasses inside. It’s the local thing to do.
• Don’t sleep in, use every second of everyday.
• The coffee comes in baby cups. Bring your own normal sized mug, or bring a thermos.
• Be prepared for no air conditioning and no cold drinks.
• Be prepared for twin beds.
• Whenever making a bad dietary decision, you can make yourself feel better by saying “When in Europe,” or “You only live once” commonly said as YOLO.
Tomorrow will be a day to explore the city and bargain with street vendors on fake purses. It will be an interesting and full day so today’s rest was very necessary!
Shout out to all the MAMAS out there. Happy Mother’s Day!
-Nicki
