UT Women’s Soccer European Trip Blog
The University of Tampa women's soccer team is currently on a trip to Europe. Student-athletes Lauren Moore and Cici Gonzalez have provided the following blogs of the trip.
March 7, 2014 (Lauren Moore)
Eighteen players, nine hours and one layover later, UTWS wandered
wide eyed on to German land for the first time. The Deutschland is
definitely a livelier place since our arrival (after naps on our
three hour bus ride to the town of Friedrichshafen. Once we were
there, we were nearly attacked by the swans, but we left Paige
(Smith) as an offering. Then we had the best food Germany had to
offer: Schnitzel, maultaschen, flammkuchen, käsespätzle,
weißwurst, pfannkuchensuppe, wienerwürstchen, curry
wurst (See google translator). In the midst of our feast, we were
interrupted by a guilty looking Scott (Brickett) holding half his
chair in utter shame. No more schnitzel for you Scott. We then took
our stuffed (voll!) selves to the oldest castle (Meersburg) in
Germany and made sure Gabby (Russo) didn't touch anything. It was
mind-blowing to imagine people living in the halls in which we were
touring. Finally we boarded the bus one last time for the day and
made our way to the hotel were we rejoiced in wondrous water
pressure and more schnitzel (this seems to be a theme so far).
March 8, 2014 (Cici Gonzalez)
Today UTWS took our talents to France, but we had to put work
before play and get in an early morning practice on the soccer
facilities outside our hotel. After an amazing German breakfast
that greatly surpassed the breakfasts typically found in American
hotels, we headed out into the chilly morning air for our practice.
After practice we had to get ready quickly and headed off for
Strasbourg, France where we spent time getting lunch, exploring,
and touring the beautiful city. With its colorful buildings,
cobblestone streets, and restaurants overlooking the city there was
plenty to see and eat...from pastries to macaroons to crepes! After
Strasbourg we took a trip to Colman where we did a bit more
exploring and had dinner. It was a tiring but well spent day in
France that is definitely one to be remembered!
March 9, 2014 (Lauren Moore)
Day three in Europe started with a wonderful hotel breakfast of
delicious eggs, fresh fruit, and most importantly for us, fresh,
right out-of-the-oven croissants topped with Nutella. After our
feast, UTWS made our way into downtown Freiburg. Here we roamed the
cobblestone streets, admiring the beauty of the village style
apartments atop the city's businesses on ground level. We were
lucky enough to have a tour guide that went to university in
Freiburg, so he showed us the ins and outs of the very young and
vibrant city. He then took us on a hike up to an old castle ruin
that had more recently been made into a restaurant, overlooking the
gorgeous city. When our time downtown came to a close, we made our
way back to the hotel to get ready for our first professional men's
soccer game, SC Freiburg vs Borussia Dortmund. At the game we were
able to mingle with the local home team supporters, pick up a few
team chants (Aufgates Freiburg Aufgates!), and munch on traditional
german soft pretzels. The atmosphere was unreal as we watched
Dortmund clinch the game as the final whistle blew.
March 10, 2014 (Alyson Gregorowicz)
We began the day with another wonderful hotel breakfast then walked
over to a nearby field for practice. After the hour and a half
practice, we had about 30 minutes to get showered and ready to head
to Basel, Switzerland, which was an hour bus ride from our hotel in
Freiburg. It wasn't until we got to Basel that we learned there
was a carnival going on that day, called Basel Karneval, or Fast
Nacht. We were given a short history of the city and the carnival
by our tour guide for the day, Petra, then we were given free time
to roam. The whole city was alive with people drinking, playing,
celebrating, and taking part in the festivities of the carnival.
There were marching bands playing music while wearing crazy
costumes and huge masks, followed by a matching float with people
who were handing out treats such as chocolate, candy, and flowers,
and strange munchies such as carrots, oranges, and hard-boiled
eggs, after which they would salt your head (for the egg). The
ground was completely covered with confetti that was being thrown
by anyone and everyone at anyone and everyone. At first it was
weird being hit with confetti while walking through the crowd, but
it quickly become fun and enjoyable. You would go from being hit
with confetti by the six-year-old next to you, to reaching up for
candy from a person on a float and instead receive a face full of
confetti. We wandered around, enjoying the parade and Basel for a
couple hours, then headed back to Freiburg for dinner. We went to
a restaurant/college bar called Tachele's and got Schnitzels all
around. After a fun packed day we headed home for our curfew of
11pm to pass out in our twin beds while watching the Notebook in
German.
March 11, 2014 (Lauren Moore)
After an early breakfast, the team packed on the layers in
preparation for today's venture to the Black Forest. As we took our
team bus higher up and around the mountain, the snow began to
become more and more prominent. Us Tampa kids, in our leggings and
converse, had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. When we
got to what we thought was the top, we got off the bus and
immediately ran to play with the giant piles of snow that covered
everything in sight. This is when we looked up and saw the huge ski
mountain peppered with ant-sized specks of skiers and snowboarders
flying down the slopes. We started our journey here thinking that
we would be taking the ski-lift like the rest of the
mountain-goers, but to our surprise we started hiking up the side
of the mountain in ankle deep snow. As we trudged through the snow,
we had multiple team snow ball fights and photo-ops. The higher we
got up the mountain the more beautiful the scenery became. It
seemed like a postcard with the perfectly green trees and the paper
white snow, all accenting the Swiss Alps that were, luckily for us,
visible through the fog. As we reached the top we took a few more
team photos, admired the
better-than-I-or-any-picture-could-ever-describe views. Then it was
time for the fun part, the way down. We opted out of going the same
way down as we came up, and instead went down the skiers slope.
Many girls on the team had durable jackets on, so we were all
sliding down the slope on our backs, knees, and feet. Skiers and
snowboarders weaved their way through our crazy looking
sliding/falling down the mountain, until gravity carried us all to
the bottom on the pillowy snow. We brushed ourselves off, found our
way into a cafe, and bought ourselves some well deserved cups of
hot cocoa all around.