July 27, 2001
Ramblinwreck.com is proud to provide readers with a glimpse into the volleyball team’s 12-day tour of Germany. Various Georgia Tech players will provide online diary entries from Germany describing their experiences, the opponents, and the sights and sounds of Germany. Look for subsequent entries on the right side of Ramblinwreck.com.
Day Three Germany Trip
Amanda Hess #4
After a welcome night of rest, our first full day in Germany began with an early breakfast at the hotel. A typical German breakfast consists of meats, cheeses, bread, fruit, and cereal called “musli”. When everyone was finished eating, we boarded the bus and headed out for a two and a half hour scenic drive to Cuxhaven, a German tourist town on the North Sea. The drive there was amazing and truly showed the beauty of the countryside of Germany with fields and well-kept houses decorated with gardens and flowers.
We were then planning on taking a nice boat ride to a nearby island, however the drive took a little longer than expected and we ended up missing the boat. Lucky for us, we quickly came up with a backup plan and decided to ride a trolley train to the beach and tourist area. Before we boarded the trolley, the tide was very low – so low you could walk about 1/2 mile in mud out to the north sea. Several players wanted to mud wrestle, but that idea was nixed and we got on the trolley as planned. The shore was lined with hundreds of yellow cabanas for Germans to rent as their huts for the day, and we all found them very interesting.
Once we reached our destination, everyone split up for lunch. But, the two Germans on our team, Maja and Alex, went together leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves and deal with the language barrier on our own. After lunch some people walked around the shops on the beachfront while others took advantage of the great weather and worked on their tans (there’s almost no humidity in Germany!!).
About four hours later, and after a tasty Double Magnum (ice cream bar), we packed up the bus and headed back towards Hamburg. We noticed that the tide had changed a great deal and was now nearly to the shore. There were children and families now playing the water and sunbathing, although many of them were naked children, men in speedos, and a couple of topless women.
I’m happy to report that Shelton did nothing crazy like he said he would but I still mentioned him in this synopsis to appease him.
Tomorrow we play our first match here in Hamburg, and we are all looking forward to that.
