Journal #12 Elizabeth Cruso

The Trip Home :(

This past day was very bittersweet in all of our eyes.  Excited to go home because we miss our families, we are sad leaving such a beautiful place and our newly made friends, Tamara (the tour guide) and Fabio/Corrado (our bus driver).  We spent last night using all of our strength to stuff our luggage to the brim and pray it doesn't exceed 50 pounds.  We woke up for our last breakfast at Hotel Como and boarded the bus.  Last minute pictures were taken with Fabio and Tamara before we were on our way.  We said our last CIAO to Italia and made our way to the Milan Airport. 

When we reached Milan airport we learned of how the Europeans do their baggage check.   It is quite unorganized and there were no lines what so ever.  Although, on a positive note it gave us all a great chance to do some last bonding and laughing.  The flight from Milan to Dublin was a hectic one for those who didn't sleep (me).  It was a party flight for a large group of old Italian people.  They walked around a lot and were very loud.  I found it somewhat entertaining.  As short as this flight was I was disappointed they didn't even offer a small bag of pretzels.  We all made up for it by visiting Burger King when we got to the Dublin Airport.  Since our first flight was late our layover in Dublin was not as long as we thought it was going to be.  We boarded the Aer Lingus plane and took off for our 6 hour flight to JFK.  It didn't seem as though many people slept as much on this flight either.  We seemed to all utilize our ability to watch movies, read or play games.  There were a few accidents during this trip, such as Coach Smith spilling tea all over her pants and Paul spilling soda all over Kema's Bible.  It seemed to go by fairly quick and we were finally at JFK. 

Arriving at JFK we went to baggage claim and said our goodbyes to those who were going home from New York.  Overall this was a great trip and a successful travel home.  Now we will all depart for summer and look forward to a fresh new year in the fall.

Elizabeth Cruso
#14

Journal #11 Nikita Reddy

Getting on the bus at 8:30 in the morning felt like a hassle after getting in at 12:30 am the night before. Everyone fell asleep almost immediately. Fabio's bus seemed to cast a spell on us every time! Upon reaching Milan, everyone noticed how much it seemed to resemble New York City. Everyone was so excited to go shopping and buy authentic italian products. They soon found that most of the stores were designer stores because Milan is known for its fashion. Most of the girls decided they wanted to go back to Como and look at the boutiques to do last minute shopping.

The best part of Milan was being able to go into the room where Leonardo da Vinci created his famous piece of art; a visual of the Last Supper. It was hard to grasp the thought that we were standing in the actual room where da Vinci created this historical and famous depiction. It took him a few years to complete it because the material he used was tempera, a plaster that dried quickly. Therefore, he needed to plan out his master piece very carefully before putting it together. Because of the material used, the painting is a very delicate piece that has been restored a few times. The detail and facial expressions seen in all the disciples demonstrates how much da Vinci really thought this through. It was the first visual of the last supper that showed emotion and expression. It was unfortunate that we were not allowed to take pictures but it is a scene that I won't ever forget.

The rest of Milan was fun but everyone was ready to go back to Lake Como and enjoy the beautiful weather we had been hoping for. The rest of the time was spent enjoying our last day in Italy and soaking up the sun. By night everyone began to pack and dread the long flight back home. One last late night trip to the lake and ordering pizza by the water side with my teammate Amber Martinez put a perfect end to my Italy tour of 2012!

Nikita Reddy

#15

Journal #10 Ayana Duncanson

After arriving in Como last night and spending the evening visiting the shore of the lake, today we will finally get to experience this beautiful body of water by traveling to the gem of the lake a town called Bellagio. Bellagio is said to be the pearl of this lake and a lovely tourist attraction. After repeatedly checking the weather the night before I was convinced it was going to be 81 degrees and sunny. 

In the morning the weather reflected nothing of that sort. All of us, excited to finally get to some water and frustrated with the downpour from the previous day in Venice were decked out in shorts, tanks, maxi dresses and rompers, only to wake up to clouds, no sign of sun, and some drizzle. Amber and I sought refuge from the rain by putting my mothers shawl over our heads, everyone joked and said we looked like two nuns. Once we got on the boat and got going things started to finally take a turn for the better. The sun started to come out and our group rushed from the inside seating where they sat to avoid the wind and cold weather onto the deck for tons of jokes, laughs and pictures! The day that I was most excited for was finally starting to take form! The scenery was absolutely amazing! The scenery of the homes on the coast, the mountains and even the snow-capped Alps was an unforgettable sight. (We even saw George Clooney's house). We even got to take pictures with the crew members and I got to meet the captain!

After almost two hours of traveling on the boat we finally arrived at Bellagio, the sun was shining and the weather was great. Bellagio was as amazing as I thought it was and more! The town was full of the cutest shops! Seeing as the lake is very famous for its silk manufacturing it was no surprise that there was a ridiculous amount of silk ties and scarfs for sale all over the place! After a beautiful lunch at a restaurant on the coast and a bunch of shopping we were on our way back to Como to head over to the gym for our game! 

Before our game we put on a basketball clinic for a group of young girls. The language barrier was a bit difficult to get through at first but we got the job done. The Chargers put on a great performance in their third game, leaving Italy with a 2-1 record. After the game both teams headed out for a friendly dinner at a local pizzareia. Although we were all really exhausted both teams had a bunch of fun. They taught us some Italian, exchanged Facebooks and talked about everything from music to school. The pizza was great and the dessert was even better! It was a wonderful experience meeting new people and even with the difference in languages and country of residents we all could find things in common and learn a lot about different cultures. After dinner it was back on the bus for everyone and finally headed to bed after a full day of sightseeing shopping and of course basketball!

Ayana Duncanson

#23

Journal #9 Rykema Stone

Day seven of the tour we went to Saint Anthony's church in Padua. It took 20 minutes to get there from our hotel. Saint Anthony's church is beautifully filled with old sculptures and clothing that Anthony once wore. A priest in the church toured us around and the team was blessed in the church by another priest. Their were people confessing their sins in the confession booths as well. We couldn't record videos or take pictures in the church because it is copy written and flashes can damage the art.

After that we went to Verona where their was an arena, Lamberti Tower, medieval walls and a statue of Giulietta at her house (the famous tower from Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet). The statue of Giulietta was a symbol of  "new love." It's a vary famous statue and many people took pictures around the statue. Some even paid to enter her home.

Tamara, our tour guide, gave us free time for two hours in Verona to shop and eat. Most of us had pizza. Later we went to our hotel that was two and a half hours away from Verona in Lake Como. At the dinner, we met Margarita, the lady who put together our entire trip. As always, we had an entree with pork, but since I don't eat pork I had veal instead. The hardest part about adjusting during this trip is not being able to eat pork. Everything on the menu seems to contain pork which is frustrating. Next, we're off enjoy Lake Como and our third game of the trip.

Rykema Stone

#42

Journal #8 Ashley LeBlanc

Today our group ventured to the beautiful island of Venice, Italy. Sadly the weather was nothing short of awful! We hoped that the sun might make it out for our very anticipated trip to this famous island. We departed from our hotel in Montecatini this morning and headed towards Venice.   Unfortunately, on the bus ride we stopped dead in traffic due to an accident on the highway.  The accident prolonged the trip but it barely affected anyone because everyone slept the whole time.  Half way through the ride we stopped at a pit stop to use the toilets and get cappacinnos and snacks.  I got italian white chocolate and a Toberlone bar, which is Swiss chocolate.  
 
When we arrived in Venice we had to travel over a 3 kilometer bridge that connected the main land to the island.  When Fabio stopped the bus we boarded the ferry boat that would bring us to Venice.  After a bumpy ride to Venice we finally arrived.  We were given free time to find lunch and shop.  Venice is known to be very expensive in not only its meals but also when purchasing souviners.  It is also known for its creation of beautiful and very famous glass. Kita, Audrey and I experienced the delicious tiramisu Venice has to offer while venturing through the streets during our free time.  

After our free time we began our guided tour with Alessandra.  Unfortunately the tour was cut short because of the crummy weather.  We were able to tour the St. Marks Square which is very famous for the thousands of pigeons that usually cover the pavement.  The famous pigeons of the square were trying to stay dry and hiding in the roofs of the buildings, but we managed to see a few. Alessandra also showed us the famous belltower and the 24 hour clock.  Above the 24 hour clock is a golden lion reading a book.  This represents the symbol of protection over Venice.  Due to the rain we were unable to experience a gondola ride.  Surprisingly in some of the homes, if the residents were to step out their front door they might fall into the water.  The streets in Venice are canals with water and the cars are boats.  This was an amazing experience because it was like nothing I had ever seen before.  

They say this is the sinking city which is why I am more than grateful I was able to experience this with my own eyes.  In the future I hope to return to Venice when the weather is better to have experiences I was unable to have today because of the rain. 


Ashley LeBlanc
#31

Journal #7 Audrey Cunningham

I woke up this morning to a bunch of chatter about their beds shaking at 4 a.m. I slept just fine, come to find out, there was a large earthquake in Northern Italy. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those effected. Our next stop on our expedition was Siena and the San Gimignano winery. Before we could experience the wonderful site, everyone was pretty excited to squeeze in a quick nap on the bus as Tamara, our humorous tour guide, gave us a little history lesson.

We arrived in Siena around 10 a.m. and headed straight for the campo square where the tower of Mangia peered above the rest of the medieval buildings. Tamara also told us that horse races take place in the square during the months of July and August and thousands of spectators gather in the middle as the horses race around the outer ring. We then had some free time to go our separate ways and explore the city. Some of the group went to mass at the basilica of San Dominico, which was given in Italian, some went to try and get some bargains from the street vendors and some went to see the duomo that toured over the city.

After our stroll through the streets of Siena, our wonderful driver Corrado (aka Fabio or Lugie) drove us to the San Gimignano winery. Though we had some difficulty pronouncing it, we were definitely excited about the opportunity to try some real Italian wine (don't worry parents, it's legal here). When we arrived at the winery we were greeted by the owner named Pierre Lugie who pointed out the miles of endless fields that he and his family has owned for over three centuries. Before we could start our first course, Pierre explained the precise dimensions of the wine glasses and also how the same type of wine can taste different if it's even a couple of miles away because of the sand, soil, and rain.

Our first course consisted of cheese, salami, bread with extra virgin olive oil, and a salad with balsamic dressing that was over 50 years old with both a white wine and a red wine called Chianti. Carlo, Pierre's cousin, explained each wine that we tried and told us to try the different combinations of foods with the different wines. Lighter food went with a lighter wine and heavier food, like the grandma's lasagna we ate, went with a heavier wine. We also had a soup that included seven different vegetables and wines that included Baldassarre, Bartolomeo, Cavaliere, Brunello de Montalcino, Chianti Classico Riserva and a desert wine. After what seemed like hours of fun, we departed on our bus back to the hotel for dinner.

Sadly tonight  is our last night in the quaint little town of Montecatini and tomorrow we leave at 7 a.m. for Venice so from the beautiful country of Italy, buonanotte.

Audrey Cunningham

#33

Journal #6 Bria Moore

Day four in Italy we visited the Duomo which is located in Florence. Florence is a beautiful city with a lot of shops where you can find a plethora of nice clothing and shoes for cheap. My teammates definitely were around for that one! The tour guide showed us the tower that was beside the duomo. These buildings were made of pink, purple, and  green marbles. Also at almost every corner of these buildings where statues. One resembled the statue of David, unfortunately we didn't have enough time to go into the duomo and see the real statue of David. 

After we toured around Florence and had some free time to ourselves, we then had lunch with the vice president of the University of New Haven in Italy. His name is Kevin Murphy and is married with two beautiful kids. The lunch was great, we all enjoyed it especially me. It was another awesome four course meal that filled us all up. After we shared a few laughs, he escorted us to the location of the new campus. It's coming along pretty well. The school should be open in August holding about forty people. He showed us where the classrooms and offices would be. I must say its going to be quite an experience for the students coming from America to study here abroad. 

As it started to rain, most of us got worried because earlier that day we remembered the tour guide mentioning that they are awaiting a flood and it can come at any time. We quickly gathered and followed Rykema who led the way, back to the bus. Game #2 was next for the agenda. We finished with an 82-52 win over Basket Montecatini. I was really proud of my team because we were finally starting to play basketball again. We played as a team and those rough weeks of defensive work were finally beginning to pay off. We got called for stupid travels since their whole system is different from ours. The rule is you have to dribble the ball before you pick up your feet. We didn't really get the hang of that. Hopefully next game, the travels will be called less. We can't wait to visit Siena and San Gimignano tomorrow!

Bria Moore

#32

Journal #5 Coach Moore

Ciao. We departed the hotel in Rome this morning and are heading to Pisa. The trip was a few hours which was great because we all needed a nap. Tamara told us we will be taking a 'comfort stop' half way so we can use the bathroom.

We arrived in Pisa and had to take a shuttle to the town square. Before we got on the shuttle we went to the water closet and for the first time we had to PAY to use it €.50. For me it was worth it, for some of our players it was not okay!!! After we got off the shuttle there were lots and lots of vendors lined up on the streets leading to the Field of Miracles. The field was gorgeous and we saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa!! We all took pictures using the illusion that we were holding the tower up and the pictures came out great! After that we were on our own for lunch.

Coach Smith, Paul, my friend Melissa and I all headed away from the square to find a place to eat that wasn't for tourists. We had a delicious meal of cheeses, pates, risotto, swordfish, pasta with tomatoes and basil, and a fish pasta dish.

We then headed to check into our new hotel in Monticatini. This hotel is more upscale from the one in Rome. The bathroom was beautiful. The area around the hotel is amazing. There are so many littles stores, shops, restaurants, and of course gelato!!!

To end the night we took a cog rail to the top of a mountain to a little village that looked over Pisa. The view was breath taking!!! I'm excited for what tomorrow brings! 

Ciao ciao ciao!!!

Coach Lauren Moore

Journal #4 Anh-Dao Tran

Good Morning Italy! What a beautiful day. Today I woke up and had breakfast with everyone at 9:30 a.m. Second day trying to get use to the breakfast selection here at the hotel. After breakfast, we left to tour the Vatican city. I am personally excited to tour the Vatican City. Did you know that the Vatican city is separate from Italy? I didn't until our tour guide told us. It has closed walls that completely separates the two. We arrived at the Vatican proceeding inside having to go through security. The tour went to the top and we began outside. Our first view was the dome. We took a team picture and began to learn about the dome and Vatican. We proceeded through and learned all about the paintings of the Sistine chapel prior to going to going into the chapel. The paintings and sculptures heading in to the chapel were amazing. They also had these blankets which were woven in Europe and sent back to Rome. They were amazing and still in great condition. Finally we made it into the Sistine chapel. The paintings throughout were breathe taking. I cant believe Michaelangelo painted this all by hand. That is simply amazing, and you will be able to see pictures on the video journal. 

We all had to be quiet, dress according to regulation, and not take pictures because it is a Chapel and it is respectful to abide by those rules. We finally left after 20 minutes of roaming our eyes on every detail of the paintings that our eyes could possible handle and walked towards St. Peters basilica. Walking in there, I was in awe. This basilica is so big! The altars,  paintings, sculptures, lighting,  and marble floors was like unlike anything I have ever seen. Im so glad I had the opportunity to experience this. Descriptions could never be put into words, but just a must go see! It is an absolutely beautiful place of worship. After observing and taking lots of pictures,  we went outside and where the Pope lives and the tour guide informed us that on Sunday afternoons at 12 noon he comes to the window and waves to the people! Too bad it wasn't sunday. I wish he could have been out there today,  that would have been so great! We took so many pictures outside. Isabella,  our tour guide,  then took us to a store right outside the Vatican where the group of us all bought souvenirs. After a long morning of walking and absorbing a whole lot of information, we finally went to lunch!! Everybody seems to have a second energy whenever food is involved. We were all so hungry. We ended up going to a family owned restaurant where they served delicious pasta made fresh once ordered. We all, for the most part, ordered different pastas. We were nice enough to exchange pieces of pasta for our own with each other which was nice because we had the opportunity to try different pastas. 

Lunch passed and next thing you know we are back at the hotel and getting ready for our first game! Walking into the locker room at the gym where we were going to play, I was very nervous for some reason. I'm sure we all were. We put on our jerseys, laced up our sneakers and headed into the gym. The team, College Italia, was sitting closest to the entrance, in the color red. Walking by them, we didn't know what to really expect. They all waved while we walked by, that was a nice feeling. We started the game off with exchanging gifts. We gave them T-shirts, and they gave us italian key chains. They seemed nice and very tall. The game started shortly after the exchanging of gifts. We won the jump ball and begin to play ball, our first game in Italy. What a wonderful opportunity and experience. The game ended with a 70-59 score in favor of College Italia.  

After the game, we had dinner with them! That was really fun, we seemed to get along just fine. It was pretty funny, they were trying to talk in English while we were trying to communicate with them in Italian. We sat all together and our teams sat intermixed with each other. It was so much fun sitting there and listening to my teammates communicate with the other team. We enjoyed a nice dinner together learning about each other and the differences in, for example, dancing in the US and Italy. That was pretty entertaining. It was a great time. Oh yeah! I forgot to mention, the italian team sang Adele - Someone Like You for us. Well, that was our last night in Rome and it was very well spent with the international team. 

Anh-Dao Tran

#25

Journal #3 Amber Martinez

The traveling is finally over! First destination for the day is Rome. It's been a long couple days for the group of us, and after about two days we finally get to sleep in a bed! I can tell you we are all happy about that. This trip is finally a reality for us, and today as we got to see the Coliseum. We felt very accomplished about what the long year of fundraising has done for us.

After settling in at the hotel we had lunch and had time to shower before getting back on the bus. The first stop was the Roman Coliseum! As we drove toward the Coliseum, Isabella who was our tour guide, gave us a quick lesson on the history of the surrounding buildings. One thing I noticed was how tiny the cars were on the roads, and that so many people rode around on scooters within all the city's traffic.

When we get to the Coliseum, all of us were in awe of how huge the building was. The Coliseum stands at 55 meters tall and 47 meters below the ground. This place is huge and our entire team could not believe the size and age of the building. It was completed in 80 AD and took 8 years to build. We also got to see the remains of the roman empire's financial bank and also where Julius Caesar remains was cremated. 

We ended our first day at the Trevey Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Around the fountain were a lot of different restaurants where we ended up sitting down for dinner. We had our first real Italian pizza, cut in huge squares and ready to eat. Most of the team inhaled that pizza, but I don't know if it was because they were starving or because they really enjoyed the pizza. For desert we had gelato - One of many stops at the gelato shop! (even Owen loved it) Most of the team got coconut or mango flavored...Yumm! Now we are off to the Vatican City and getting ready for our first game! Let's go Chargers!!
Amber Martinez
#30

Journal #2 Aquillin Hayes

Getting on the plane seemed to sit well with everyone. They were all excited to reach their first checkpoint in DUBLIN, Ireland, and of course experience more of the Irish accent. However, for me, it didn't go so well. Coach Smith, with the assistance of two awesome, Irish flight attendants practically had to force me to get on the plane. It was the most daring and the most difficult decision i had to make of my short, yet precious 18 years of life; within the span of 4 minutes. I had to do it. It was a risk i was willing to take because who knew if this opportunity would come again. Gasping for air and trying to go unnoticed by the seated people i finally decided to get on the plane. After boarding the plane we were all politely rushed to sit down in our assigned seats. As if a tall, handsome, and nicely groomed guy appeared on the screen, most of my teammates immediately became attracted to the 10-inch built-in television in front of them and the fancy double-sided remote/video game controller situated at the peak of their waist. However, Ayana Duncanson gave her undivided attention to me. I just couldn't stop crying. She had confidence that her persuasive skills would transform my negative thoughts into positive, fluffy ones. She promised that the flight would land safely and "everything was going to be okay." It was as if my older sister was right by my side. Indeed, that situation gave me a different outlook on her. That was THE moment when i felt this trip was going to be the best 10 days of my life. That moment assured me that "there are no shortcuts to place worth going" said by Beverly Sills and honored by me. Italy was that place. And whatever it took to get there i had to do it. Besides the tilt of our bodies as the plane took off, experiencing the popping of our ears, which caused us to chew gum vigorously and swallow saliva repeatedly, brought the flight into full effect. Had it been for this i would've never gotten the chance to actually feel what it's like.  Although experiencing some minor turbulence, surprisingly the plane ride went fairly smooth. Everyone was tuned in to their mini televisions or their over-the-counter drugs, hoping the guzzled down tablets would cause them to feel drowsy and soon cause them to fall asleep. For me, it was my journal and my continuous thoughts. No matter how bad i wanted to go to sleep, i couldn't. My eyes were in excruciating pain from dramatically crying a few hours ago and I kept getting a nauseating feeling every time i realized i was thousands of feet above the ground. My thoughts are what kept me awake. My curiosity level skyrocketed. I just had to look out the window. And when i did the dark, blue sky was filled with bright stars. Never even imagining being this close to the sky and even the clouds, a pleasant smile appeared on my face. 

Aquillin Hayes

#11

Journal #1 Ana Obella

We are all so excited to get this 2012 Italy tour on the road! The team and I have been getting ready to head overseas and tour Italy for the last year, and in the past five days it’s been crunch time trying to get all the last details ready for our trip.  It’s been a fun filled past few days; we have all spent lots of time together between practices and having pretty much three meals together as a team religiously. It all started on Thursday, a couple of us had some finals to get out the way and finish the school year strong. After that was taken care of, we headed up to Charger Gymnasium to start our first Pre-Italy practice. Practice started with a plyometrics section where we jumped, leaped and hopped our way through obstacles to get ready for some Italian competition. After this, we headed to the court and started practice, it was a very good practice filled with great energy even though we have to play with a men’s basketball. We had six practices all in all, before each practice we would either have weights or plyometrics. Our strength and conditioning coach, Faugy, is Italian, and made our weight packets in Italian to get us ready to speak the language. Most of us had no idea what the packet said and had to ask him about ten times what each exercise was in English.  All in all, our practices were very productive and we are all looking forward to competition against some Italian teams.

Off the court, our team has spent lots of time bonding. For some reason our bonding always revolves around food. Our first meal was at coach’s house, where we had some mouth watering chicken, pasta, salad and bread. The girls on the team who had the best grades last semester got a little something extra; a lobster dinner! Needless to say, Coach Smith can cook. After we all ate, the team decided to have a dance party. It was all laughs when Q decided to bust out her moves, I highly recommend watching the video. The next day we had lunch at Capettas, which was very good. The team dinner at Bria’s house was nothing short of flavorful. Her mom and sister made Jamaican food, from jerk chicken to rice and beans! After we ate the team had a little bonfire and we made s’mores and sang Anh-Dao Happy Birthday!!!! She is 20!!! The next day we had Reno’s for lunch and dinner was at Amber’s house where we had scrumptious Spanish rice, lemon chicken and pasta.

Coach Smith asked us to research cities that we will be visiting in Italy and make a presentation to our teammates to let them know some fun and interesting facts about each one. We gave our presentations which were judged by coach and Amber’s parents. This was tons of fun and Q gave the best presentation of them all.

On Monday we practiced and then back to our dorms to pack for our trip. We are all so excited and can’t even believe that we are going to Italy. We are forever grateful to all the people who donated toward this once in a lifetime trip.  We will keep everyone updated on our blog while we are there with our daily tours and activities. Special thanks to Capetta’s, Reno’s & Roly Poly for the meals during our practice. Thank you all so much again. Ciao!

Ana Obella

#12

To Italy!

The Charger women's basketball team is going to ITALY! Follow blog entries from all the student-athletes throughout the 10-day trip.