TicketsJuly 24, 2006
From June 29-July 11, the University of Cincinnati volleyball team toured Italy, while also playing in a tournament against club teams from across the world. Throughout the trip, members of the team shared their thoughts on the experience through journal entries and photos.
Day 1
by senior Myanna Hellsten
Our first day in Rome! While it was rather long with the travelling and time change, it was quite exciting. We landed in Rome and proceeded to the hotel. The rooms were so cute and small. We have tiny cots to sleep on and a mini TV. The bathroom has a sink, toilet and shower all in a five by two space. We then went off to lunch where we had great caprice and pasta. Then the real fun started as we explored the city. We took the metra to the Spanish Steps, and then stopped to see the Fountain di Trevi, the Pantheon, and finally the Piazza di Navona. We also stopped at little shops and street vendors along the way. The Fountain di Trevi was absolutely amazing with its intricate forms. I am always amazed with how much movement can be created with stone. We all threw coins in for good luck and watched as some guy jumped in and started stealing the coins. Some of us also stopped at some bascillicas and just like the pantheon, they were breath taking. They were all so detailed and ornaite. After so many years the colors still are vibrant, and along with the gold work, they make the figures glow. We had a wonderful dinner that included salad, pizza, and pasta. The best part, however, was the gelato (Italian ice cream) afterwards. Everyone was beginning to get tired so we jumped on the bus, got off too early, went the wrong way, got back on the bus, got off at the correct stop, went the wrong way, found our way back, and FINALLY found the hotel. We were absolutely exhausted, but it has been amazing.
Day 2
by senior Noel Olson
Today we woke up at the lovely hour of 6am to get in line early to see the Sistine Chapel. We all met in the lobby with our skirts on and our cameras ready to see one of the most beautiful structures in the world. Luckily, the metra station is close to our quaint, un-air conditioned hotel which we took to the Chapel. As we approached the Chapel, we were glad to see there was no line. But we were disappointed to find out it was closed for the day. A little bummed out, we decided to go into the Vatican City to see St. Peter's Church. It was just gorgeous. The church, the square, everything. We got in a large line so that we could see the inside of the massive church. We waited about 25 minutes and noticed that everyone in line was holding a ticket. We were assured, however, that we did not need one to get in to see the church. Once inside, we realized what the tickets were for - the POPE was giving mass today and we got seats! It was incredible. Cameras and flashes we're going off every second. People were cheering, clapping, and standing on their seats. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I am so excited and blessed to have had it. After Mass, we had time to eat lunch, shop, and rest on our own. At 3pm we left for the gym to scrimmage one of Italy's professional teams. We played three games, and unfortunately did not get a victory. But don't worry - it was just a warm up for our tournament. After the match, we swam at the pool next to the gym and ate dinner with the two other teams. After we ate, we headed back to get some rest for a full day of sight seeing tomorrow! Ciao!
Day 3
by junior Jenny Custer
Today began bright and early. We woke up at 6 am and had some fruit and croissants for breakfast. We then headed to the Vatican Museum to visit the Sistine Chapel. The museum didn't open until 8:45 so we ended up waiting in line for about an hour and a half. (Hundreds of people were lined up for blocks, to get into the Vatican Square.) While waiting in line Doss, Jami, and Elley decided to use the video camera to film interviews with other people waiting in line. We even ended up making friends with some boys from Utah who are in Europe to travel and play volleyball also! Finally we got to go into the museum and the Sistine Chapel, both of which were breathtaking. After the viewing the Chapel we split and had several hours to spend on our own.
My group ended up going to a Pizzeria for lunch, where we had sandwiches, of course. About the only food they serve in Italy is pizza, sandwiches and pasta. After lunch we headed to Spagna to do some bartering with the locals. We all wanted to buy cheap knock-off purses. We then headed back to the hotel to take a nap before embarking on the rest of the day's activities. At about 3:30 pm we met up and headed to the Colosseum. We spent a good deal of time walking around and taking pictures. After leaving the Colosseum we made a short visit to the Forum.
After all of the sight seeing we were starving, so we headed into town where we found a quiet little cafe and ate dinner. After dinner we did a little more shopping, got some gelato (yum!), and then took the metro back to our hotel. At the hotel we laied around, wrote in our journals and then went to bed to get a good night's sleep before our bus ride to the next town on our tour!
Day 4
by sophomore Lindsey Peterson
Today we finally we got to sleep in until 7:15am. We left Rome at 8am and arrived in Falconara at 12:15pm. It was about a three-hour drive, we slept the whole time with a bathroom break after two hours. Once we got to our hotel, we changed into our bathing suits and went to the beach (some just went to the pool). This hotel is much nicer compared to our last hotel, outlets, air conditioning and all, with a more American style setup. Jessie Nevitt has an ocean front balcony. We went to a secluded, private beach and lounged around for about an hour and a half. The ocean was gorgeous with a perfect temperature and the weather was amazing. At around 3:45pm, we left for practice at an indoor facility. We practiced for two hours and it was very intense. After that we showered and got dressed up within an hour to meet everyone for dinner at 7:30pm. It was a very cute restaurant on the beach called "Da Rita." They served pasta, various types of pizza, and chocolate pizza for desert. It was delicious! The chocolate pizza was definitely the best, made out of nutella (hazelnut). After that, some girls walked around the main strip and some just hung out at the hotel. It was a really fun day with lots of competition and excitement.
Day 5
by redshirt sophomore Jessie Nevitt
Happy Birthday Doss!! There was no need for an alarm clock today, we woke up on our own and headed downstairs for breakfast in the hotel. We decided to spend the day at the pool to avoid walking up the hill back to the hotel from the beach. While swimming in the pool, Reed decided it was a perfect time for a team water workout. We left Falconara at noon for Comunanza and it didn't take us long until we took advantage of the two hour bus ride by sleeping. We woke to scenery of mountains all around us, welcome to Comunanza!! We stopped at a small cafeteria where we sang Happy Birthday to Doss before heading straight to practice. We are staying at a monastery with all the other teams in the tournament; the drive from the gym to the monastery was straight up a huge hill, which our bus had difficulty getting up. We settled into our rooms then left for dinner at the same cafeteria that we ate lunch in. After dinner we left for the opening ceremony parade...yes, we were in a parade. All the countries marched down the street with music playing and people cheering. Team by team and player by player we were announced. It was amusing listening to how they pronounced our names. We loaded the bus after the opening ceremony celebration and headed back up the mountain to our home for the next six days. The tournament starts tomorrow, so we need a good nights sleep. Wish us luck!
Day 6
by student manager Hannah May
After our first night in the Monastery, we had an 8:30am wake up call and headed to breakfast with all the other teams where we were served bread and hot milk. After breakfast we got on the bus and drove to practice. The court was an outdoor court that was surrounded by buildings. We had to get used to playing outside while taking the wind and sun into account. Playing in sunglasses is a weird feeling when you aren't used to it. After an hour and a half practice in the scorching heat we went to lunch at the cafeteria down the road. We ate penne pasta with a meat sauce, pork and salad. After devouring our lunch we went on a hike to Sibillini Mountain National Park. The Sibillini Mountains are absolutely gorgeous. We hiked up and down the land side following a river. Tim Kelly (our tour guide) fell into the river! But don't worry because by the end of our hike he wasn't the only one that got wet. After our two and a half hour hike everyone took a powernap before heading to dinner and preparing for the upcoming match. We arrived to the court early and watched the game before us. It was interesting to see the game of volleyball played in a foreign setting. Some of the girls looked very young. By the time our game started the stands were full and the whole town had come to watch. We came out playing strong and communicating well. We had to really concentrate as there was a language barrier between the two teams. We ended up dominating the first two games, 25-12, 25-11. The third game we started out kind of shaky but ended up pulling out the game 25-18. What a great end to our first day of the tournament. We joked about going on a hike every game day. To celebrate Doss' belated birthday and our win we all ate gelato, a new favorite dessert for most of the girls. After an exciting first day of the Sibillini Tournament we headed back to the monastery to rest for the next big day ahead of us.
Game Stats vs. Opus Via (Hungary) (Day 6)
Elley 9 kills, 10 digs
Nevitt 8 kills
Hellsten 11 kills
Team 8 blocks
Olson 41 assists, 9 digs
Custer 9 digs
Dossman 9 digs
Day 7
by sophomore Jessica Elley
This morning we woke up at 8:00am and left the room by 8:10 to head down to our normal breakfast....a hard roll with either honey, nutella, or jam. We left the monastery at 8:30 and headed to the Lido di Fermo beach. We were supposed to play our first beach volleyball game but we got a bye so a few of us girls thought that we would venture over to the slides we saw earlier. One of the slides went straight down and the other was a spiral. Both were tons of fun. After we went down a few times we went back over to play a sand volleyball game. It was only one game to 15. We won 15-11. After we played we ate lunch consisting of pizza and salad. The tomatoes in the salad are amazing everywhere we go! Then we went back to the hotel and rested for about an hour before we played. We played an Italian team and the court was on a hill over-looking a bunch of mountains. It had castle ruins on two sides. Before our game they played our national anthem in honor of the 4th of July. We won that match in three games. When it was over we went to dinner in the town where we played with the Italian team. We ate and watched the World Cup soccer game, Italy vs. Germany. For dinner we had pasta, cantaloupe and prociutto, and a 4th of July cake for dessert.
Game Stats vs. Spes Matera (Italy) (Day 7)
Custer 6 kills, 2 aces
Hellsten 6 kills, 2 aces
Team 7 blocks
Olson 24 assists
Elley 14 Digs
Dossman 17 Digs
Day 8
by junior Erin Maldo
We woke up today at 7:50 am to eat our breakfast which was bread with some kind of spread and hot chocolate or tea. After that we left at 8:30 to go to the beach again. We laid out for awhile before we had to play. It was the semi final game on the beach against Nova KBM (Slovenia). We did pretty good and won 15-12, and then the finals were 15 minutes later against Serbia. We won that game too, but it got pretty intense with both teams cheering loudly and with a tied score. We finally came back from behind to win 17-15. After we won the whole thing some people played football on the beach, went down the water slides, and lay out. Around 1:30 we ate lunch and had cheese pizza and procciuto and melon pizza along with salad and tomato mozzarella. We left after lunch to go on our hour bus ride back to the monastery. We got a nice break of two and a half hours to do nothing which was nice. During this time I tried to take a shower but there is no warm water so I had to wash my hair in the sink and quickly wash off in the shower. We left at 6:30 for dinner and had a good one at Futura. There were mashed potatoes, baked chicken, watermelon and pasta of course was pretty good. We then went to Monte Fortino to play, the site was ok not as good as the other ones but we still won in three games. We then got gelato to celebrate and called it a night.
Game Stats vs. Nova Gorica (Slovenia)
Nevitt 13 kills
Elley 11 kills, 11 digs
Olson 36 assists, 3 aces
11 Team blocks
Dossman 12 digs
Day 9
by redshirt freshman Jami Torok
The day started off with a wakeup call at 8:15. The team met for the usual breakfast that consisted of a hard roll that most of us had become accustomed to. We loaded the bus for a fun day of shopping in the town of Ascoli Piceno. Due to siesta all of the stores in Italy close at 1 in the afternoon. We shopped in cute boutiques and designer stores from 10 am to 1 pm. We weren't due on the bus until 2 pm, so we had a full hour to stop and grab a bite to eat on our own.
Elley and I decided to venture into this small restaurant down a random alley for lunch. No one in this town spoke any English- so trying to order authentic Italian food was rather humorous. Since Elley and I are very fluent in Italian, we just told the waitress to order us the best dish the restaurant had to offer. I'm glad we trusted her because the plate of pasta she brought out was amazing. It consisted of penne pasta, pieces of tuna, various types of peppers all mixed with a red sauce. We boarded the bus promptly at two so we could head back to the monastery and rest for a few hours before our big match. We loaded the bus at 6:30 pm so we could make it to our pregame meal on time. Dinner consisted of penne pasta with a red sauce, salad and turkey. We had the choice of an apple, peach or nectarine for dessert.
Tonight's match at 9:30 was the quarterfinals between us and Serbia. The Serbian team brought their "A game" the first two games of the match. We were down two games, and finally decided the pick up our game and win the next two. The match was determined by the fifth game, which did not go our way. The match ended very late, around 12:15 am to be exact, so it was one long night with a bad ending. Everyone was exhausted by the time we got back to the monastery around 1 am, so it was lights out right away.
Day 10
by junior Natalie Dossman
Today we woke up from our pleasantly tiny, yet slightly smelly rooms at the monastery around 8:30 in the morning, which happens to be 2:30 am back home. We headed down to breakfast where we indulged in yet another tasty breakfast of rock hard rolls and some sort of spread. I must admit that I have come quite accustomed to this breakfast; while the rolls are a bit on the rock side for me, I really enjoy having chocolate Nutella every morning. After our breakfast we all headed upstairs and got ready for our day. We decided to head to the beach again, so we boarded the bus anticipating what we thought to be a relaxing and warm day on the beach. Much to our dismay the day turned out to be quite the opposite. We ended up arriving at a cloudy, windy and slightly chilly beach that was nearly deserted. Although Mother Nature had plans that were not similar to ours we did not let that ruin our day. Some of us played soccer, or should I say football, on the beach; however, most of us chose to stay on our beach chairs wrapped in towels, books in hand, and ipods in ears. Myanna and Jami were the only two souls who even dared to face the chilly waters of the Adriatic Sea. Some called them brave, but Noel and I prefer crazy! After a short time on the beach it started to rain so we all headed for cover in a restaurant on the beach. We tried to wait out the weather, but unfortunately our attempts were unsuccessful. Determined to make the best of the day we loaded the bus and let our slightly insane bus driver, Falsto, take us to an Italian shopping mall. Once at the mall we decided to have lunch. While most went for the thick deep dish pizza, Jessie and I opted for the short line with rather delicious pizza. Ordering was quite the task here because our cashier could not understand what kind of pizza we wanted, but after we crossed that barrier it was smooth sailing. Jessie chose the sausage and french fry pizza while I opted for the more plain cheese although the hot dog and corn pizza kept catching my eye. These Italians will put anything on their pizza! After lunch we all shopped a little bit, mostly buying jewelry for ourselves or friends and family members back home. I was super excited to show everyone the Italian soccer jersey I got on sale for 55 euro marked all the way down from 75. What can I say; I'm quite the bargain shopper. After our little shopping adventure we once again loaded the bus and headed back for a little siesta at the monastery. After we rested, our team headed out to Monterubianello where we met up with the Italian team we were going to play that night. We had a pretty typical dinner of hard bread, penne with red sauce, cantaloupe with prosciuto, and some sort of fruit. I still haven't decided if it was a nectarine or an apple, which probably isn't a good sign! Jessie, Pete, and I made friends with some Italians and we talked about the differences in our culture and I learned that some of the girls are quite fond of the WWF Smack Down, which cracked me up. After dinner we headed to the indoor court because it was raining and we played the Italian team from Falconara, which was where we stayed earlier in the trip. We won in three, which was much needed after our disappointing loss yesterday. We won the first game, lost the second which we should have won, and then won the third. We played pretty well for the most part. After the match we headed back to Comunanza. By the time we reached the monastery we were all so exhausted that we took our freezing cold showers, got ready for bed and turned the lights out. We all lay down to dream big dreams. Until tomorrow Goodnight and Ciao!
Day 11
by junior Natalie Dossman
Well as it turns out I am the best journal writer on this team so you all get the pleasure of hearing my accounts of our trip to Italy two days in a row. Today we woke up, rejoicing that we would only have one more night of sleeping in the tiny, smelly, bug infested quarters of the monastery, around 8:45 in the morning. We ate our last breakfast of hard rolls and chocolate spread and we were all a little sad that we weren't going to be having nutella much longer. We got ready to go into Comunanza and we loaded the bus to head to the market. In Comunanza, on the last day of the tournament, the town holds a market with all kinds of fun stuff to purchase. It was sprinkling some so Jessie and I decided to buy these really cute umbrellas and we were extremely excited to put them to use immediately. These umbrellas were quite cheap but luckily mine has survived the trip back without breaking! After the market we packed the bus full of volleyball players including Italians, Russians, and us. The bus ride was one of the nosiest I have been on; you would have thought there were a bunch of school aged children running around. You see apparently overseas the "it" thing to do is download music onto your phone and play it without headphones. So we had all different music blaring, crazy Italians asking all kinds of questions, and Russians being quiet! We headed out to Montefortino where we had a dinner of penne with red sauce (shocking I know), bread, caprice, and watermelon. To our surprise in the middle of dinner the Italian players stepped outside to smoke cigarettes! They sure do things different overseas! We were all shocked that they were smoking an hour before the match! Anyways after dinner we played our matches and we won in two against the Russians and the Italians. It was a pretty good match day. After the match we all headed back to Comunanza where we showered and got ready to watch the final match of the tournament. We ate dinner at future for the last time, which none of us were sad about and then we headed to the match. We cheered loud and hard as the Serbians, who beat us earlier, lost to the Czech. We would have preferred it the other way though. Jessie and Erin and I sat with our new Italian friends from the night before and we all chatted some more about the differences in culture. After the game we had the closing ceremonies where all the awards were presented. We got our trophy for winning the beach tournament and they handed out some individual awards. At this tournament, every year, they award one of the players with the most beautiful girl award; however, I am convinced it was rigged this year because I did not win! But the girl that did win was from a U.S.A. select team and she was pretty, so I guess I will let her have the award! Every year after the tournament the city of Comunanza holds a "disco" party up in Montemonaco. All that means is that it is a big dance party up in the mountains on one of the courts near the monastery. Jami, Pete, Elley, Myanna, Maldo, and I all headed up there with the coaches afterward. The other girls didn't want to come because it was too late, but they sure missed out. When we got there no one was dancing and by the time we left we had started probably the biggest dance party ever! It was so much fun. We learned some new Italian dances and even taught the Italians how to dance like Americans! Jami got proposed to by an Italian man that was quite possibly shorter than me! We danced all night long and left long before the party was over. We headed back to the monastery and packed our stuff then laid down dreaming of never staying in a tiny monastery room again. Those were some amazing dreams, let me tell you. Ciao!
Day 12
by senior Noel Olson
After a late night of celebration, we were up around 9am to start traveling to Venice. We loaded the bus and stopped at a fruit stand for breakfast. It was a little hut on the side of the road that had every fruit imaginable. After getting our fill, we slept on the bus until we stopped for lunch in a town called Pesaro. We ate at a wonderful hotel with a view of the beach. After lunch we spent a few hours at the Paradise Beach, swimming and soaking up some sun. We next drove to Padova to watch the World Cup final and have dinner. It seemed as if the entire town had gathered in the square to watch the game on a big screen. Just as we arrived, Italy scored its first goal and the place went crazy - hundreds of flags were waving, people were cheering and shouting, and horns were sounding in every direction. It was an amazing sight. We were all able to get our own dinner and finish watching the game. After Italy had won in a shoot out, there were fire works and an explosion of celebration. Every car was honking its horn and people were piling on cars screaming and cheering - it was a really exciting time! After the game we drove a half an hour into Venice and settled into the hotel to get ready for a full day of sight seeing and shopping in Venice!
Day 13
by senior Myanna Hellsten
Our last full day in Italy. We enjoyed a breakfast of meat, cheese, rolls, croissants, granola, and fruit. From there we took the bus into Venice as our hotel was just outside the city. We walked all around the little side streets and over the small bridges that connect Venice. We shopped at the stands and small boutiques while enjoying fruit cups and gelato! We walked the Rialto bridge and of course to the Piazza San Marco with all its pigeons and splendor! The cathedral facade there was breathtaking with its gorgeous paintings and size. We took the water bus back to the hotel which allowed for a wonderful view of Venice.
We spent a few hours at the hotel packing and getting ready for dinner. We all dressed up for our last night there. We looked gorgeous and tall in our heels. We had a great dinner of caprice, salad, pasta, and pizza! On the way back to the hotel we stopped for our last serving of gelato and it was so good. When we returned to the hotel we packed up the rest of our stuff and got ready to come home. It has been such a great trip. We have seen so many amazing and beautiful places and even though we did not do as well as we had hoped in the tournament, we had a ton of fun!!