Euro Blog Day 8: Heather Kisner
May 29, 2009
Hey Y'all, WOW! First of all, I want to start off by saying how beautiful Europe is, not only the different cultures, but the scenery and history behind it is amazing. Waking up on Wednesday (5/27), we had a number of items scheduled for the day. First off, we had breakfast between 9-10 a.m. outside on the deck of the hotel. From there, we hopped into our vans and headed to the gym, which was across the road from the Kastela Marina where we went sailing the day before. The gym we practiced in was very cool. It was a gym the mayor of the city developed to provide kids with a place to play the game. Volleyball there is not offered in school, so the club he created provides a great opportunity. At practice we showed their coaches different drills and some of the Kastela players joined the practice as well. After practice, we had a 30-minute workout with our trainer (DeAnn Koehler) and Brian (Hosfeld) in the gym. We then rushed back to the hotel to shower and pack all our belongings in the vans to head to Split, Croatia Arriving in Split, we were ecstatic to have a few hours to walk around, eat and shop. Walking out of the van, Pao (Lauren Paolini), Ash (Ashley Engle), (Michelle) Kocher and I went to grab some pizza next to the harbor. It was an amazing day, the sun was shining and there was a nice breeze. After lunch we hit our first ATM and withdrew some Kuna so we could do some serious shopping. Five Kuna was equivalent to about one U.S. dollar, so it looked like we were taking out way more money than we actually were. From there we pretty much attacked their market. Ash, Pao and I were on a mission to find everything and anything. The market had items ranging from sunglasses, watche, and purses to any type of clothing or souvenirs. I can't really tell you what I bought because it would ruin my gifts for family and friends, but it was a lot of fun.
Finally, at 6:00 p.m. we met up with the rest of the team for a picture for the Kastela newspapers and then headed off to board an overnight ferry from Split to Italy. If you can picture it, this boat looked like a ship you would take a cruise on, but about ten times smaller. We entered the ship from the very back where the cargo (cars, etc.) boards, we dragged our luggage through those extremely tiny hallways (imagine 19 people with about 28 huge bags of luggage trying to make it through the ship while trying to figure out where our rooms were). We then opened our cabin doors to find these beyond tiny rooms to fit four girls into. It was an experience, but it was so fun now that I think about it. After we threw our luggage into our rooms, we all headed up to the fifth level of the boat to eat dinner and watch the championship soccer game between Barcelona and Manchester United. To cap it all off, we went through a storm that night on the boat, which was far from smooth, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything. Until next time... Hook `Em, Heather |
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