May 8, 2012
Day Four
Today was our first full day in Slovenia! We got to sleep in a little later today which was much needed after traveling last night. We started off the day with a huge breakfast at 10 a.m., complete with lots of eggs, different types of bread, and chocolate filled croissants which were my personal favorite.
From there we went to practice, but it wasn’t a very long trip to the gym at all since the gym was right in our hotel! It was so cool how we could just walk right on over from breakfast to the gym for practice without having to drive anywhere. After we had a short practice, we had some free time before our next activity. I personally chose to take a nap, but a lot of people roamed the hotel and sat outside in the beautiful 60 degree weather and enjoyed a cup of coffee.
Around 2 p.m. we all piled in the vans and headed to our first sight seeing adventure in Slovenia. We drove about an hour and a half into the mountains to Logar Valley National Park. The view was absolutely stunning. On the drive through the mountains to the park there were tree covered mountains all around us. Quinn said that it reminded her of the hills in “The Sound of Music” so of course, we all started singing songs from the movie to pass the time.
We also passed a herd of Yaks on the side of the road which was an odd sight to see. When we got to the valley, the view was breathtaking. There were huge snow capped mountains all around us. It made the perfect backdrop for a bunch of team pictures! We got to eat a delicious four course meal on the patio of a hotel while gazing at the scenery. It was a great experience, and extremely beautiful.
After we went to the park, we drove straight to our first match in Slovenia. We played an all Slovenian team, and the girls were about our age. The match was super intense, and the game kept going back and forth and was extremely competitive. We went to five games and won 18-16! Go Jackets!!!
After the game, we exchanged gifts with the other team and took a big group picture with our team and theirs. I stood in between two Slovenian players, and when I looked to my right, the setter for the other team was standing next to me. Barely knowing any English, she looked at me, smiled, and said, “Setters together!” and put her arm around me for the picture. It was a great moment and one that I will never forget. It was definitely the highlight of my day, and probably will be one of my big highlights from this awesome tour of Europe that we are taking.
After our match we came back to the hotel and had a quick little dinner before heading off to bed after a long day.
So far Slovenia is super fun! It’s a lot different than Croatia since its more in the mountains and not on the sea shore, but it is definitely equally as beautiful! Tomorrow we have a full day of activities planned which will be great! But I’ll let one of my teammates tell y’all more about that after tomorrow. That is all for now!
