NAPOLI!

This morning we woke up super early and caught a train to Napoli! The first train we got on, from Fondi to Formia, was like any other train I had been on in Italy, each grouping of seats is in a group of 4, 2 and 2 facing each other with the isle right down the middle of the train. You may ask what other kind of train is there? WELL, the next train we got on, from Formia to Napoli, made we think of the trains in Harry Potter! With the separate cabins with 4 to 6 seats in them, with the sliding doors to enter the cabins, and the walk way through each car was on the left side!

When we arrived at the Napoli station, I was pleasantly surprised with a station similar to the one in Rome, I wasn't expecting such a big station, I was picturing it more like the Fondi station, just 2 platforms and a building, no huge central station with a metro and stores, etc. After we got off the train, we bought a metro ticket and followed Maria to where ever she was taking us. After we got off at our stop we walked through several levels of escalators and moving sidewalks then we come to these metro police who were checking peoples tickets. We give them our tickets, and they seemed to have some sort of problem with them. Thank God we had Maria, otherwise it would have been a horrible experience. Apparently we have to get the metro tickets stamped, for the date that you use them, I guess when you buy them that isn't enough, and Maria and I did not know that because in Rome the Metro tickets do not have to be verified, so we didn't think anything of it. Well, the metro police did, they weren't going to let us pass, and Maria was very upset, we had to show our forms of ID (our passports) and pay a fine. I guess the typical fine is 40 euro, WHAT! But Maria was able to talk to them (and when Italians have serious discussions with each other they also sound like they are fighting) and she got the fine reduced, so we got a metro ticket for 10 euro, which I am pretty sure those metro police just pocket.

The packed street

After that, we exited the station and there we were in the middle of Napoli, again, I was surprised at how big of a city it was! I was picturing it all wrong, it was very similar to Rome, and not at all similar to the smaller towns around Fondi. Through several different changes in weather, from hail to rain to sunshine, we walked down the streets, popping in and out of little stores; we had no clue where we were going, but I guess Maria did. At one point, she turned to us and told us we were going to see the "principe" (which I have determined in something to do with baby Jesus). So we turned down this street and on both sides were shop after shop of nativity scenes, Santa's and Befana's (see previous post for explanation of Befana) some famous icon of Napoli, and several other shops filled with little pointless items that were not being purchased. Again, not at all what I expected.

All of the wax figures 

We came up to this one shop, where she told me I was going to want to take a picture of it, and there were tons of people crowded around video taping what was happening in this store. As we get up to the store, it is filled with wax models of world famous people, from singers to soccer players, the Pope, our Presidents, etc. It was crazy, so I took a picture.

Found Michael Jackson

Pizzeria da Michele - In Eat, Pray Love

Pizzeria Trianon! AMAZING! 

And of course since I have read Eat, Pray, Love and so have several other people, I had to find the little pizza place that she talks about! So as we were walking to the pizzeria we stopped and walked through some shopping area that was elaborately built and decorated, and into this beautiful square similar to the ones in Rome. There were several brides getting their pictures done and even one wedding happening, and I saw the doves released, it was awesome! Then we hopped on a very very very very crowded bus and got off right buy the pizzeria. It was PACKED, just like described in the book and by several Italian people that have been there. But no worries, one of our friends told us that if it was too busy, there was another pizzeria across the street with wonderful pizza as well. So we turned around, and headed over there, and that place was packed too, but it was only about a 10 min wait and they were right, THE PIZZA IN NAPOLI IS THE BEST!

Piazza del Plebiscito

Us in the Galleria Umberto

After that we headed back to the train station, along the way we stopped at a couple more stores to purchase gifts. When we got the the train station, things went more smoothly then before, no tickets, and we headed back to Fondi!

Italian/word or phrase of the day: regalo  "gift"

SNOW!

Today Lynnea and I woke up early and rode to Terracina with our coach Seba to go Christmas shopping for our families! We walked around the main streets of Terracina looking at the different shops and the items they had to offer. It was super super cold, similar weather to what we have in Michigan. We had very simple conversations with the people in the stores, successfully purchasing the items that we wanted! It is also so fun and rewarding to communicate with the store owners and be able to purchase items! I feel that it gets easier and easier for me every day! We headed back to Fondi at about 1 and as we were leaving Terracina we noticed that it started to rain, then by the time we got to Fondi (about 20 min) it was SNOW! According to Seba, they haven't had snow for 25 years! But one of our teammates said 10 years. Either way, that is still a long time. It was enough to stick a little to the cars, but nothing more then that.

Tonight at practice it was crazy cold, I guess the heater in the gym is broken, and it isn't a priority of theirs to have it fixed, because we knew it was broken on Wednesday. It was so cold in the gym that we could see our breath; I warmed up in a long sleeve, a hoodie, a jacket, a scarf, and pants, and I couldn't feel my toes or my hands. We have a game their Sunday, this should be fun seeing as we have sleeveless jerseys! 

After practice, we came home and had dinner, Valentina was talking to me about our Christmas shopping in Terracina, and she asked me when we give our gifts in America, I told her on Christmas the 25th. Then she told me that in Italy some people give their gifts on Jan. 6th, I asked her why and this is where the confusion started. She told me it was because of Befana. Of course not knowing what it was I asked her, this is the response I got, in a mix of broken English and Italian of course (my responses in yellow):

"So the Re Magi, what?, on cammelli, Re Magi go to see Gesu bambino, Oh the 3 Wise men, with gifts for Jesus? yes,  yes wise men... so Befana is woman who fly in sky on ginestra, shh shhh, (making sweeping action), a broom? yes shh shhh, witch,witch? broom.. she's a witch? No, yes, like witch. And kids have socks, and she gives chocolate in them, socks? hanging? she fills them, and bad kids get coal? yes coke, no no coal, coooke, coooaal, cooooke, no coaLL like you light to grill, yes carbone, so like stockings that we hang and she stuffs them, yes, stockings on camino..., fireplace, yes! So like Santa? yes, no not like babbo natale, re magi go to see baby, why the 3 wise men? why, why, I don't know why...Befana, Befaaana! WHAT, Befana, broom, I don't understand, I know, Befana, at night she fly on broom, around, umm, kids watch for her, its celebration at castle but the kids at the castle wait for her to come, (laughing really hard at this point) and she doesn't (laughing really hard), cause people don't fly on brooms, yeah (we are both laughing by now) and she take light from one room (laughing) to the other in castle, WHAT? Befana!

But by this time we were both laughing hysterically trying to figure out what she was talking about and every time she attempted to continue she would start over at the Wise Men. I think that is why I was so confused, because she didn't fully explain what it had to do with the Wise Men. And then she started telling me about the Epiphany, and that in the Bible it never says what day Jesus was born, and that Santa is not linked to Christianity, which I agreed, and had a hard time figuring out how Befana was... it was a big mess and we were getting nowhere. Maria was explaining, in very fast Italian, something about santa claus, and it didn't seem to help either of our understandings of Befana. So I told her I would google it, this is what I got: Le Befana   go read it, enlighten yourselves, its necessary!

Anyways, I guess there is a big celebration of Befana in the cities, that is when she started talking about the castle, and kids wait to see someone fly in the sky, or something; when she said that, all I could think about what watching tinker bell fly from the castle at Disney World. Who knows! But I do know that we are going to Napoli (Naples) tomorrow with Maria and she said there is a huge nativity celebration with the baby prince, and the wise men, and it sounded like people dress as them, again for some reason when she said that, I thought of that scene from Home Alone were he hides in the life size nativity scene. I don't know, but I will find out tomorrow! 

Italian word/phrase of the day: gelare "freeze"

The New Age Heating Pad...

Today was a typical Tuesday, I wasn't feeling so well last night and again this morning so I slept in, a little more then I usually do. At about 3:30 Adriana, Lynnea and I walked to the palestra (the gym we do weights at), today is our leg day, so squats, leg press, lunges, calf raises, etc. We did a little warm up on the bike, stretched and then headed over to the squat bar. We were doing our normal squat routine and as we were getting done with our reps, one of the men's team members came over and asked us if he could jump in with us (yes thats right, we are squatting the same weight as a men's team member, hhmmm lets think about that one....and I've squatted more in my life then what we were doing).

After squats we went over to the leg press, and thats when it all happened, I was doing my second repetition when my back locked up....yay. This happens every once in awhile because my legs are uneven, but it is usually when I am playing volleyball and hit awkwardly, I have never had that problem lifiting weights, and we weren't doing anything heavy or out of the ordinary. It can usually be fixed by a simple back re-alignment. So I called Guiseppe, our team doctor and he quickly scheduled an appointment. Mean while, when I was waiting for others to get done in the gym, I was asked if I "blocked my back," ummmm. I attempted to explain, in the simple Italian I know, that I un aligned it because my legs are uneven, etc etc. Then when I came home before going to see Guiseppe, Maria told me that Adri told her I hurt my back and that I needed to rest. I told her what happened, and she said the same thing, "oh you blocked the back." Again, ummmm?

So I walked to Guiseppe's office, and told him what happened, he also asked me if I "blocked my back," so at this point, I just said YES. And he did all the tests, cracked my back a couple times, re-alinged it a little, and I did some treatment on it. And he used google translate to tell me what happened, but apparently what he typed in translated in to "blocked the back" so again, not really helpful.

Since it was my day to bring "pasties" or sweets because it was my birthday the other day, I stopped at a little place called "dolce notte" and I bought their signature treat a bon bon with chocolate, or custard-y cream, or both on the inside. I bought 15 for my teammates, coaches, and whoever else hangs around our practices.
I explained to my coaches what happened in the palestra and that my back is really bad, and they told me to not practice, so I laid on the sidelines, yes, laid, because sitting in the chairs was too painful. When anyone new asked them what I was doing they would say "oh she blocked da back," but in Italian, which pretty much sounds the same, but a different word for back. And they would come over to me and say, oh so you "blocked da back," and I would answer yes, but in my head I'm thinking "I don't know what that is, but if it is what this feels like, then YES, I blocked the back."
So after practice, my coach Davide told me to sit against our furnace we have in our rooms to heat the back, so I was thinking oh like a heating pad, good thing Lynnea has one, and we explained to him that we had a heating pad, and we talked about how it was the same thing, and probably safer and he didn't seem to believe it, and just kept telling me to sit against the furnace. So Lynnea and I looked at each other, then looked at him and said Ok I'll sit against the furnace.

the new age heating pad...notice the broken heating pad on the window ledge behind me

So I get home, plug in the heating pad, and it doesn't work, of course, so what am I doing as I am typing this, SITTING AGAINST THE FURNACE, YES, for an hour. Yup its the new age heating pad! Dead serious. 

yup, 10 minutes and counting, "blocked backs" are no fun

Italian word/phrase of the day:  vecchia  "old woman" what I have been called since I turned 23...

23!

So yesterday, we had an away game, in Terracina. I guess they are our rivals so this was a very very big game. So I woke up, had a nice lunch, then got in the car and we rode to Terracina, which we discovered has an awesome little town, with tons of stores and a lot more things to look at compared to Fondi. There were a lot of fans, they had music blasting, there were television cameras and an announcer, it was very interesting. Well, we gave those fans a great game to watch! Terracina is the first team to take us to 5 matches, but we were able to pull it out, it was a very close fifth game.
Afterwards we weren't really sure what we were doing because no one hinted that they were doing anything, but it was my birthday so Lynnea and I wanted to do something to celebrate. So we figured we would be going back to Fondi, so we showered and put on our sweats and went to leave when our roommate, and ride, said, "oh I'm not going back to Fondi, you get a ride with someone else." Well turns out, those others (our presidents and managers) weren't really going back to Fondi either, they were going out to eat at a little pub in Terracina. They invited us, so, knowing that we wouldn't do anything in Fondi, went with them, in our sweats. A lot of people ended up going, even our roommate ended up going, so Lynnea and I sat there, deciding what we were going to order, when tons and tons of anti pastas came to the table, and I mean plate after plate of meats, cheeses, bruschetta, seafood salad, etc. Then afterwards we ordered a meal, needless to say, we ate a lot, as usual! After we got done eating we sat there waiting for everyone to finish and then out rolled a cake, with a 2 and 3 in candles on top! The president and Antonio went out and bought the cake and candles once we got to the restaurant and surprised me with it! That was awesome! Then afterwards, we went with Maria and her friends to a little bar and had one drink, then came home.
Tomorrow begins my adventure to make a cake or something that I can take to practice. Here on your birthday, YOU have to bring the cake or something to practice to celebrate, apparently YOU are expected to pay for the dinner you have too, AND you get to miss practice, NONE of those did I do. So tomorrow I have to attempt to bring something, and since I don't know where to buy anything, and no one will tell me, I will attempt to make it!

before the surprise cake, celebrating my birthday, just us 2

the surprise cake! 

random dinner turned into birthday celebration

Italian word/phrase of the day: buon compleanno, tanti auguri  "happy birthday"

What Holiday is that?

Roommates at UNICO

The holiday season is approaching, this past Tuesday we had our "society" party. Right, well, the best way I can explain "society" is the whole club that I play for; meaning all the teams that are under the club name, the owners, and everyone who is involved. We were being reminded about this party for about 3 weeks now, so we were assuming it was a HUGE deal. From what we were able to interpret, they rented a section of this club out for our "society." I also saw several signs around Fondi, advertising the night and the DJ, apparently he was a DJ from one of New York's clubs. So after practice on Tuesday we came home, got ready and headed to club UNICO (the one that has a pub, bowling and a club all in one). When we got there, it wasn't very crowded and there was some sort of make-up and hair session going on up near the house DJ, yeah I'm still confused about that.  We were lead to our area that was saved for our "society." We got ourseleves settled, then they introduced, DJ Kenny Carpenter, the DJ from New York. He played pretty typical house music, but also mixed in some newer songs, and even some American songs!

Friends!

Dorotea, Rossella, Lynnea and me

At one point, Lynnea and I were like, you know what, if he is American, we should go talk to him. So we did, we told him we were American, and he was like "yeah I thought so." So we talked for a couple minutes, finding out that he USED to DJ in New York but has been living in Rome for 10 years now, and is 50 something years old; he knows very little Italian. Apparently he is a big name around here, because Maria really wanted a picture with him, so since we were friends and everything, I asked! She was super happy!

Maria super happy to meet DJ Kenny Carpenter

Since Wednesday was apparently a Holiday, everything was closed, apparently there was  a parade and some festivities around the town, we weren't advised of these, and we had practice at 5:30! So I was super confused on exactly what holiday it was, I asked and the answer I got was "you know MARY!"....and I wasn't really sure. So, I looked it up....apparently it is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, yeah, so then I looked that up too, it is a Catholic holiday, reason for me not knowing about it.


Italian word/phrase of the day:  Ho bisogno di ricaricare il mio telefono "i need to recharge my telephone"

Sunday Market Experience

Sunday we had another home game, but before the game Lynnea and I decided to venture out to the Sunday market that everyone was telling us we had to go to. Every time we see something we like on someone they say they got it from the Sunday market...SO, we had to see what it was all about.  As we left our apartment and started walking down the main street we noticed that they lined the main sidewalks with red carpet, had lights and christmas decorations on the street lamps and outside of stores, and they had speakers on the lamp posts playing music! It was super cute, and at one point it felt like a small town you see in christmas movies! Like a christmas movie that has santa in it, like Elf, or Fred Claus or Santa Claus 1, 2 and 3; where they show the small towns that the elves live in and how the streets are always so christmas-y and bustling with people, just minus the snow. It was awesome, I will have to figure out a way to document it and share it with everyone next Sunday!

We got to the market, and we rounded the corner expecting to see a little flea market type thing, but no we were wrong....there, in front of us were a ton of tents packed next to each other. In one section there were vendors selling all types of clothing, shoes, coats, purses, jewelry etc. There were even tents that looked like little portable drug CVS's, selling shampoo, nail polish, cotton balls, etc. All for very cheap, and most of the items were actually pretty well made and some brand name Italian items as well;  not what you would think of for the price offered. Then on the other end of the market there was the food, we didn't get to that side this time because we didn't leave enough time for that, but next Sunday I hope to be able to walk around there and see what they have to offer, I bet there are some awesome Italian specialties!

Our game probably wasn't the prettiest thing ever, but hey we won, 3 games to 1, making our record 8-0!  Last night on our way to dinner, we stopped in this little store that had just opened, and we looked around, asking how much, paying for our stuff, and then telling them that we were going to eat now and didn't want anything from their grand opening food selection, ALL IN ITALIAN. I'm sure they knew that we weren't Italian and didn't know a lot, but they sure didn't act like it!!! That was fun!

Today, we had the day off, which I like better because personally the day after a game I am just worn out. Apparently there is some Italian festa or something happening on Wednesday because people are telling us that everything will be closed etc, which we are thinking, well that is nothing new, because nothing seems to be open at "normal hours" anyways. Ha but we are trying to figure out exactly what type of holiday or celebration this is. I know that tomorrow we have our whole "society" or club party at one of the local discos. I swear I have been told about it probably 100 times. Apparently there is some big international DJ from New York who is going to be there, we will see....we will see....


Italian word/phrase of the day:  ho bisogno  "I need"

Another team photo! Just having some fun! 

I think every photo at UNC of me was like this too....great! I need a new celebration face....haha 

Just a funny game moment, I believe this ball actually went over too! 

Eat, Pray, Love....Well Eat

So I have been reading Eat, Pray, Love because many people have told me to read it, at least the Italian section. I have read the Eat part, and thank you for being first because i'm not sure if i would have read the rest to get to it. I don't know I just didn't find the rest of it interesting. But I did enjoy the story of when she was living in Rome, everything she talked about I was able to relate to! And when she wrote in Italian, I knew what she said before she translated it! The part about the public display of affection had me laughing so hard, because I think that is one of the first things Lynnea and I noticed when we got here, haha so so true. I like that section, but reading the rest of it for me is just not high on my list, and I am usually never someone to start a book and not finish it, but this time, I just can't bring myself to read it. 

I rented the movie on itunes, and after watching the whole thing, I am happy I didn't read the rest of the book, I didn't find the movie that great either, and I KNOW the movies are nothing like the book, BUT the storyline is usually along the same lines, and as of right now, I'm not going to finish the book, maybe later. 

Anyways, back to my days, lets see, these last couple of days have been pretty uneventful, it has been raining A TON, good thing I bought a new umbrella (ombrello) and good thing it broke. ha. 

Christmas lights!

They have put up the christmas lights around our little town! It is really pretty at night! In the center of the town they have put up a big tree and have put lights on the trees lining the walk way, very pretty! But otherwise, there really hasn't been that much for me to do around here because it has been down pouring. Tuesday and Wednesday we went to the weight room to work out, we have finally split up our workouts! One day is legs, then the next is arms. 

Yesterday was picture day for our team!! Not sure when or where they will be showing up, but I'm sure they will end up on facebook and this blog, so don't worry, when I get them, you will get them! 

Today is a day off, looks like i'll be studying more italian. I find that I have been able to speak in full sentences more often, and when something in the sentence is wrong, they kindly correct me and we go on our conversation. The other day, it was easier for me to understand what they were saying to me in Italian then when they tried to say it to me in English! 

Italian word/phrase of the day:   stai mal?  "you're ill?" (used basically to say to someone, what happened, are you hurt?)

My umbrella, broken

broken, in several ways

one team pic, ha i just wanted one of Dorotea and I but then the team stepped in...LOVE IT! 

Feeling Good

On Friday, we had so many leftovers that we were able to basically have another Thanksgiving meal with Valentina, our teammate who comes from Rome, she was excited to share the meal with us and again I was super happy I could share with them Thanksgiving!

On Saturday, we had an away game, in Albano, which is really close to Rome. I didn't quite understand why, but we didn't have all of our players coming to the game, but we made it work. Valentina told us that there is a city close to there that has the BEST meats ever, so of course we went there afterwards with Davide, Fiorella, Valentina and her boyfriend, and Maria. They ordered a selection of meats and cheeses and what they said the BEST wine ever, and we feasted on tons of food. The wine was pretty good, it was very very sweet compared to the other wines I have had. After that, we headed into Rome to a disco that is said to be one of the most popular discos in all of Rome! And I would believe it, even though it was pouring rain, there was a line outside to get it, and it was super crowded. They had two rooms, with two DJ's, both playing nothing but house music. And let me tell you, there was a lot of two stepping and fist pumping going on! These Italians LOVE their house music.  We headed back to Fondi early this morning (Sunday) to enjoy our day off, which is rainy of course.


Italian word/phrase of the day: dimenticare "to forget"

THE GREEN MACHINE-as Lynnea and I call it

The wine we drank, they thought I needed a picture with the bottles....no clue why

The dinner crew! 

Thanksgiving in Italy

First of all, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
I can't say this was my first Thanksgiving away from home, because I actually had every Thanksgiving in college at UNC, but, I can say this was my first Thanksgiving away from my friends and family.

I wanted to try and have as close to a tradition Thanksgiving as possible, so Lynnea and I decided that we would cook dinner for our roommates, who have never had a meal like this. So this morning we got up and went to the store to get some last minute items that we forgot to get the other day.  But unlike at home, we started cooking later in the evening.

We sat in the kitchen, chopped several different vegetables, I dried bread in the over for stuffing, first time I can say I've done that, it was amazing! And we listened to music and just chatted about who knows what. We cooked several different dishes and have tons of food left over. On the menu for tonight was:
Mashed potatoes, green beans with bacon, stuffing, chicken breast, turkey wings, and potato salad! It was a ton of work and we had to start eating while the turkey was still cooking, and by the time the turkey was done all four of us were stuffed. That is fine, we have plenty of food left over for the next couple of days, seriously.

our Thanksgiving meal!! 

We sat at the table and explained to them what type of holiday this is in America and that people eat big turkey's not chicken and we talked and laughed the whole night! They loved the meal and it was so much fun to share with them our Thanksgiving! I was smiling the whole night! And I couldn't help but think how happy I was that I was able to share Thanksgiving with my new family! And even though we don't speak the same language we are able to communicate and have fun together!

I am Thankful for all of my friends and family at home and for all of the new friends I am making here in Italy.  Tonight was just amazing and I can't get over the feelings I had sitting at the table watching everyone enjoy Thanksgiving!

Italian word/phrase of the day: Sono molto felice! "I am very happy!"

Friendly Match...SAY WHAT?

Today we went grocery shopping because tomorrow we are going to attempt to cook some sort of Thanksgiving meal. We went to 3 different stores looking for sweet potatoes, no luck. Although I did come across potatoes called "patate dolci" which literally meals potato sweet, they were not orange and I didn't want to attempt to make candied yams with non-orange sweet potatoes, so I guess I will just have to do without those this year. BUT I expect them for Christmas!
Anyways, we got picked up at 10:50ish, knowing that we would be in a rush because Antonio had a meeting at 12. Well after going to two stores, it was noon, and Antonio had to go change the lights in the gym or something, so we rode along with him, so he could take us to another store after that. So as we go to the gym we see this type of company maintenance van outside of it with a ladder on the van, and we are thinking that Antonio just has to tell them what lights need to be changed. But no, I guess they just drop of the equipment for you to change the light, but you actually have to do it yourself, then they pick it back up, because the van drove away and Antonio had to change the light bulbs himself, then the van came back and got the ladder. Yeah, still kind of confused about that.
So after that we went to another store, called Oggi and Domani (today and tomorrow), where we met Maria and Adri, our other roommates, and we found TURKEY, well not a whole turkey, but they had turkey legs and turkey wings, I was told, so we got some chicken and then the turkey wings to cook! And we got the rest of the items we needed for dinner along with just some regular day to day grocery items.
Then we got in the car thinking we were done grocery shopping, but he didn't head home, and we pulled into the parking lot of the home store, there we got much needed laundry baskets, little rugs, and just little house hold items that we needed! The store had tons of Christmas decorating items and I kind of wanted to buy them and decorate my room and the house, since thats usually what you do the weekend of Thanksgiving...But we did find these awesome masks, and as you can see, we were definitely paying attention to the discussion that was happening about the items we needed for the house. ha

Lynnea

Me

The two of us! 

After all of the shopping, we went home, unloaded all of our bags. I decided to change my room around. I just wanted to move the bed up against a wall, so I had a little more space, but that is kind of hard to do since here, they place a light switch and outlet on each side of the bed, so when I moved my bed, one switch is behind the bed, and the other is pretty much unreachable. BUT I am going to make it work because I like the way my room feels now! And I have a cute little rug to put in front of my bed!

This evening, during practice time, we had what they call a "friendly match." We have determined that means scrimmage, but for us, even a scrimmage isn't friendly, and we still want to win. So we have a hard time calling it a friendly match! But we played a team who is still in the same series as us, but in a different division. And they are probably going to win their division. Because it was a "friendly match" we didn't play the normal line up and mixed it up, which is totally fine. It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't easy, but we ended up winning in five games! Even though it didn't count for our record because it was a friendly match I still am happy to have won it, and without one specific line-up!

Thats all for tonight, I will blog tomorrow about the Thanksgiving meal, but I am excited to cook for our Italian roommates, and share this tradition with them!

Italian word/phrase of the day: subito "immediately"  commonly used on the vball court

Sunday Funday

Today was game day, another home game! So I did the usual, rested during the morning, made myself some pasta for lunch, then got ready for the game! We did not really know what type of team to expect on the other side because in our scouting talk, we both interpreted the talk differently. I heard they aren't very tall, they have a couple girls that came from a higher series, and Lynnea heard, they are tall, and those girls who came from the other series are good, so we did not know what to expect, seems to happen a lot.

This team we played was pretty good, they had really good passing, but they only had two or three hitters who were good and they were the outsides, and like what I heard, they were not very tall at all. I was very happy with the way our team played! And this time our crowd got into it (well, more then in the past games) they were cheering and I believe I even heard my name a couple times when I was serving...that was exciting! We won the game in 3 and were done again around 7:20. I love how quick these games are!

After the game, we asked people in the locker room what they were doing that night, and Dorotea, our libero, responded that she was going bowling with her friends, then she invited us to come with her! Since we didn't have any plans (shocking, I know ;-) ) we took her up on the offer. So we went home, showered and changed and got ready to go bowling. Dorotea and her friends picked us up and we headed to a little pub to have some dinner! Then we headed to a place called UNICO, it is bowling, a dance club on saturdays and a pub all in one area. In the bowling ally they had tons of arcade games as well. Dorotea's two friends went and played some arcade games while we bowled. We bowled one game, and then left. It was fun, I bowled a 146 and got a turkey (3 strikes in a row), man guess I should look into bowling for often!

Italian word/phrase of the day: carina "literally nice, but used as cute"

Dorotea

yup, thats me

friends! 

Weekends are Fun!

Thursday we had the day off, and we were supposed to go to Rome, but a couple of my roommates weren't feeling that great so we didn't end up going. So I had another day around the house. Maria cooked a nice meal for our house and the four of us all sat down and had a little "family meal." After the meal, Maria, Lynnea and I got out the poker set and played some poker and drank some wine! It was tons of fun. That was my first time actually playing poker and I had a blast! Maria was hilarious, and when she won she would sing I am the Champion (to the tune of Queens We are the Champions). She provided us with several laughs that night.

Friday I decided to get up and go to school. I wanted to go to the English class that was at 11:30 because that teacher teaches us Italian while the other kids are learning English. Lynnea and I got up and got dressed, walked to the cafe around the corner, got some coffee, then headed to the school. We rang the little buzzer at the gate, and told them we were the American girls (in Italian), then headed up the steps to our classroom, to find that it was empty. The woman in the office pulled us in and was said "hi, do you want to speak to the president?"We told her no, that we had just come to go to class. She got the english teacher to come in and explain to us why there was no one in the class. Still not too sure on why there wasn't any class, but from what I understood from the teacher, that day happened to be the day where they get together and discuss the problems happening in the school, or something along those lines, and the kids have what they call an assembly. So all the kids of the school are in one classroom. So when we heard that, we figured someone would be leading some sort of class or something, so we went down to check it out, WRONG. Apparently when this happens, they put all the kids in one room, with no teacher, and a couple of the older students lead the class. Which we discovered is hardly any type of lesson, all they did was pass around little pieces of paper where the students could write whatever they wanted on it anonymously and then they would put it in a hat, and read it aloud in front of the whole class. Interesting, yes, we didn't quite understand what was happening, we were waiting for a teacher to come walking in any minute, but nope, didn't happen.

Today, Saturday, I woke up and decided I was going to figure out what cinema was playing Harry Potter 7 in English. One of our teammates lives in Rome, so she was able to tell me what cinema was playing and at what times. So since no one wanted to go with me, I hopped on a train at 3:00 and ventured off to Rome. When I arrived in Rome, I got to the main train station, Termini. At this station you can do everything, leave, shop, catch the metro, get buses, etc. So I got on the Metro and headed to the stop that went by the Piazza del Popolo. When I got there, I walked through the Piazza and found my way to the Metropolitan cinema, only to find that the movie at 5:15 was sold out, but no worries there was one at 7:15, still leaving me time to see it and make it back to the train station to catch the train back! So I bought the ticket and them headed into some of the shops around the cinema. I went into this H&M which I remembered is the same store that Megan, and Morgan (teammates at UNC) and I went into when we came on our team trip! It was crazy to me that I had found the exact same spot! In some of the stores, I was able to successfully communicate with people, and then they would send over someone who spoke english, without me asking.
After the shopping, it was movie time, I went into the cinema and it was fun to see all the different people there to watch the film in English, there were people from several different countries. It was interesting, for one, at the cinemas here you have assigned seats, and they are super super comfortable seats with plenty of leg room!

After the movie was over, I got back on the metro where I met a nice couple, they were speaking in English, so I decided to ask them where they were from and we had an awesome conversation as we exited at the same stop! They were super nice and fun to talk to! Then I got back on the train and headed back to Fondi, where Maria picked me up!

Italian word/phrase of the day: fa freddo  "its cold"

view on the way to school

Piazza del Popolo 

and again! so pretty! 

Fun Weekend!

So after our game on Saturday, our friend, Layne Brosky, who plays in Montenegro, decided she was going to hop on a plane, a couple of trains, and make her way over to see us! I was super excited! I met Layne on the January Bring It Promotions tour and we have been friends ever since! She was on this last August tour with me as well.

So on Sunday morning, I got up, called Antonio and arranged to pick her up at the train station in Formia! Although we didn't have much to do, it was still fun to show her around, and have her there with us so we could talk about our different experiences! We walked her around our little town center and got some gelato. Valentina, my teammate, told us that we needed to try the Pistachio flavored gelato, so on Sunday night, I did! It was actually ALOT better then it sounds, and is probably one of my new favorite flavors!! The men played a home game on Sunday, so after we got gelato we walked over to the mens game and we introduced her to all of our coaches, teammates and managers. Then afterward we took her to the pub that we went to last week with our teammates, RED's, to get some dinner.

We were thinking we might get invited to do something by our teammates but turned out we didn't, so it was a pretty relaxing night at home again just talking about things that have been going on in our life!

Monday, we woke up early and we had to go to the police station to get everything squared away for our residency and visas, but apparently they made us an appointment not knowing that the person who does the finger printing wasn't working on Monday, oops, so we had to go back on Tuesday.

After that, Layne and I walked around the town again, I was going to take her to some stores here, since they are significantly less expensive then her stores in Montenegro, but I forgot that everything is closed on Mondays, not just from 1-4pm, but for the whole day. So we went to a little cafe, and got some coffee and cappuccino, then I continued to show her around and she took pictures. After a nap it was time for practice, she went with us, and although they wanted her to play, we didn't force her, and she sat in the gym and watched us! Then afterwards we took her to the paninoteca, so she could experience the "american" food that is served here. A couple of our teammates came along with us and we sat there and ate and talked about anything we could.

This morning, we woke up early again, took Layne to the train station, put her on a train to Rome and headed to the police station once again to get everything settled. I had a ton of fun having her visit and hopefully we will be able to make a trip to Montenegro to visit her!


Italian word/phrase of the day:  lei sta fouri "she stays out" (basically meaning, she is out of her mind)

Lynnea, Layne and Myself at the mens game 

Just warming up

Talking about what we need to do

Playing some SICK defense! 

Another WIN!

on the GREEN MACHINE!

Today was an away game, in Rome, like most of our away games. So we got up at 9ish, and our house of 4 walked into the square and got cappuccino and then walked around and went into all the little stores together. It was fun, we chatted in our broken languages, us speaking broken Italian, and them English when necessary.

We loaded the bus (which Lynnea and I have nick named The GREEN machine!) and headed to Rome. The seats are very small, allowing almost no room for anyones legs, let along mine. Not all of us rode the bus for whatever reasons, but all I know is that when everyone does ride the bus, we will have very little room for any type of movement! Can't wait to experience that. Good thing I brought my awesome panda neck pillow, I wrapped that thing around my neck, turned on my ipod, and took a nice little nap on the way to Rome!

Takin a little nap! love the panda pillow

Our game was at 4pm and we arrived with a good 30 min. to warm up! That was new, in college, arriving 30 min before a game would NEVER happen, or even be thought of. Here, we arrive, warm up, play, and leave, no need for any extra time, get there get it done and go home. I like it!
The team we played is last in our division, I think, which always leaves for a dangerous match, because we have everything to lose and they have nothing to lose. And that is exactly how the match went. We won the first two matches, they were very close, but we were able to pull them out. The beginning of the third match wasn't any different, we got ourselves into a hole, but unlike the first two matches, this one we weren't able to get out of. So we went into a fourth game, and again, we were able to pull it out and win, making out record 5-0!
For more updates on the club, check out the link to the clubs facebook page on the side of the blog!

Now I am just sitting at home, wondering what I am going to do tonight, everyone already seems to have plans, and since we don't have a car, we aren't really able to meet anyone anywhere, and both of our roommates are out of town! We will see what comes of it....

Italian word/phrase of the day: spingiamo uno "we push one" haha my way of trying to explain what we say in the US when we need one point to finish the match....they understood! who says I need whole sentences, simple words are enough!

these pictures were taken from an album on facebook, not sure who, but here is the LINK to the full album

me hitting

team

ready to block

serving

hitting again

Game 2

As most of you probably know, we had our teams 4th total game last sunday (my second). AND WE WON in 3! So we are still in first in our division! I guess the teams we have played the last 2 weeks have been the tougher teams in the division, so it is good that we beat them! I felt that this team we played this past sunday was actually not as good as the team we played our first match, but others seem to think this team was better (or maybe they were supposed to be going into the match) not really sure.

Our game was at 6pm and we got done and back to the house around 7:30. I figured out what was missing in these games, there is no break between the second and third match like in the U.S. You show up, warm up and play how ever many games you need to play to win, with no 10 min breaks in between any of the matches. It is kind of growing on me, I enjoy just playing, and not having to warm back up.

After the match, Lynnea and I got back to our apartment, showered and then went out to find some food and gelato! We ended up at this little restaurant right outside the main square, and I had some awesome Caprese! Then some stracciatella gelato (which is basically chocolate chip), my favorite kind!

I don't have any more pictures from this past match, but here are a couple videos from our september scrimmage, and our match 2 weeks ago.  In the match footage, we are the team that has a player (the libero)with the white jersey. It is hard to tell but we are wearing the blue, white and red jerseys. I am the middle with the white knee pads, not the black...Enjoy!

Italian word/phrase of the day: stasera, che cosa fai  "tonight, what do you do?"

Team Time!

Today was another great day!
This morning when I woke up, Lynnea and I walked to a store that was similar to our Best Buys and bought ourselves phones that will work here, so I can now contact my teammates and coaches! ha, about time.
After that, we ate lunch at our house with all of our teammates. Maria and Valentina prepared a lot of food, and all of our team came over to eat! We had Gnocchi with vegetables, sausage, pork ribs, rabbit, potatoes, and some sweets! It was so much fun to have all of our team members in our house, talking and laughing, it was wonderful!

Then after we had lunch, we drove to Rome with Davide (our coach) to watch a team we will be playing next weekend. Then after that, we went to watch our men's team play as well.

Tomorrow we have a home match against another one of the top teams in our league!


Italian word/phrase of the day: oggi, io compro un telefono  "today, I buy a phone" (since I don't know past tense, I just speak in present and they understand me! past tense will come later)

teammate, Valentina, and me at a rest stop on our way to Rome!

Good Times!

Today was pretty much like any other day I have here in Fondi. I woke up, opened my windows and the shutters to let the wonderful sunlight shine into the room, grabbed my laundry, and walked upstairs to our top floor laundry room and did some laundry; 2 loads, all by myself without asking which setting to put it on!
At practice, we prepared for the team we will play on Sunday. Before the practice we sit down and talk about the other team, scouting report, kinda like watching video in college, but there was no video. Then we get on the court, do a little fundamental passing and serving then go right into playing! Tons of fun, but for some reason my legs were super tired, probably still recovering from lifting, good thing we have tomorrow off before we play on Sunday.
Then after practice, some of the girls invited us to go to a local pub to get something to eat, so we got ready in the locker room, and 6 of us headed out to the pub! We ordered our food and drinks, everyone got beer, but I am in ITALY, so I got a glass of vino (Wine)!

Our food came, and we sat and ate and talked about several different topics, just getting to know one another and how things worked in the different countries. It was tons of fun! And the language barrier didn't seem to be a problem, we were all able to understand what one another was saying.

As we were leaving we saw some of our other teammates and one of the girls asked the table what we were doing tomorrow, and I was so excited because I knew how to say it in Italian, so I told her and she looked at me like, nope, don't understand, not a good answer, and Maria my roommate, who told me it was a good sentence laughed because she knew how excited I was, to try out my new sentence!  But it ended up to be a great sentence and she understood it after we discussed it, I am totally proud of myself, I thought, and spoke a full, comprehensible sentence in Italian!  So here it is:


Italian word/phrase of the day: Domani, Io vado a Roma!  "Tomorrow, I go to Rome"
Because tomorrow we are going to Rome, our coach wants us to go and watch another one of the teams that we play next weekend,

Valentina, Simona, and Maria at the pub

Lynnea, Me and Maddalena

All of us at the pub after practice