UMW Abroad

Today was our last day we were able to explore Europe. It was more of a relaxing day because we didn’t have any 2-hour tours. We first went to Bellagio and were able to walk around for about an hour and a half. It was a cute, little town with a lot of small shops. Our tour guide showed us a beautiful view on the corner of town where you could view the Swiss Alps. We then took a ferry to Como and spent the next three hours having free time, walking around and shopping. A lot of the team went up in a cable car to the top of a mountain to get a better view of the whole town. Others shopped around and spent the last day relaxing before our game. After dinner and a little down time at the hotel, we were off to our game to play our third friendly match against another Italian team. We ended up winning 6-2, although UMW scored all 8 goals, accidently having 2 own-goals (Carter, Oehm (2), Radar, Cook, Reynolds.) All of the fans and other team seemed very grateful to have us there. We met up with the Italian team afterwards to hang out. Needless to say, everyone was exhausted when we got back to the hotel, but was a great way to end the trip!

See you all in the US!

Jenny, Michelle, Taylor

Today we traveled to Milan, one of the biggest fashion capitals of the world. But our first stop before we reached the city was the famous San Siro Stadium, about 10 minutes outside of the center. San Siro is the home stadium for professional soccer teams AC Milan and Inter Milan. We got a tour of the stadium and got to sit in each of the home team locker rooms, which was an incredible experience!

Next, we went to the center of Milan and had two hours of free time. We did some shopping at the local spots, had lunch and gelato. Some chose to eat lunch on top of the local department store, which had an amazing view of the cathedral. We then had a two hour guided walking tour with a local guide. We explored the history of Milan, the Duomo Cathedral and Square, and visited the palace. We concluded our day with another two hours of free time for additional shopping or sightseeing before returning to our hotel for dinner for that night.

Lauren, Sarah, and Turko

Today we had an early start leaving Monte Catini at 6:30 am making our way to our next stop, Como Italy.  A long 4.5 hours later, we finally arrived to the beautiful city of Como.  Excited and anxious we unloaded the bus and enjoyed a classic Italian lunch with a view of the lake and surrounding cityscape and then explored Como’s renowned silk shops. We then had a walking tour of the city visiting historical monuments such s the city’s Cathedral and ruins dating back to Ancient Rome.  Unfortunately our scenic trip was cut short by thunderstorms and we made our way to our new hotel just outside of the city.  A plate of pasta later we enjoyed a relaxing night after a busy day.

Leah, Angela, Rader

Today was spectacular. The views, structures and culture contiues to amaze us every day. We got off to an early start with breakfast in Montecotini Terme, where we have been staying the past two nights. Shortly after, we loaded up and headed to Florence. Our first stop, Piazzale Michelangelo,,showed us the city from afar and was a great preview to what we would be experiencing once we got into the center of Florence. Next, we visited Il Duomo, the Cathedral, Baptistery, and bell tower on our second stop. These buildings, constructed of marble are pieces of artwork. We have yet to see buildings this detailed and immaculate on our trip. We were able to walk through the cathedral where we saw gothic arches and a beautifully painted dome ceiling. After our tour, a few brave members of the group climbed the 487 steps to the top of the dome and a few others climbed another 400some steps of the bell tower to get a great view of Florence. Next on our tour, we were led to the main piazza where we saw many statues: a replica of The David, Hercules, Percius and Medusa, and several statues of prominent figures from Italy. Some included Michelangelo, Amerigo Vespucci, and Galileo. We were able to see three palaces where the famous Medici family lived. The Medici’s were a powerful banking family that ruled Florence in the 15th Century and were dukes of Tuscany. Next, we walked to Ponte Vecchio, a famous bridge with a spectacular view. There, you can find couples who have secured locks onto the fences and tossed the keys into the river to symbolize eternal love. Little do the realize, they could be find a couple hundred Euros if caught by the police. As our tour ended, we were able to explore on our own. Florence is known for its fine leather production and many of us got to work on our bargaining skills in the markets to get our leather items. If you ever need lessons in bargaining, Coach will have you covered. For most of us, our day in Florence ended at a well-known gelateria. It’s all been delicious thus far, but today’s gelato was a perfect end to our day in Florence. After walking all over the city, we headed off to play our second friendly match against a very talented Italian team. They gave us a great game, and ended up tying 4-4. We are at dinner now and it’s been quite a long day. I’m sure most of us are going to crash quickly tonight because we have to breakfast at 6am to get ready for our next European adnventure in MILAN!!!!!!

peace n’ blessins,

Excy, Kelsey and Caitlin

Today was our first full day in Italy! We started our day with breakfast at 8:00am, which is very early for some of us. Shortly after that we got onto the bus to see the leaning tower of Pisa and its city. Our drive we slightly delayed by the traffic of the early morning. Upon arrival, our bus was swarmed by vendors selling from sunglasses to small wooden carvings. We had two hours on our own to explore Pisa, and enjoy a little shopping. Everyone had a lot of fun taking funny pictures that looked like they were pushing the leaning tower of Pisa! After we left Pisa we made our way to Fattoria Il Poggio which was a local farm where they make wine, and serve food. We got to enjoy a local Italian food tasting, which was delicious! Our waiters were great, especially Mario. Lauren claims that Mario is her future Italian husband, and took several pictures with him hoping that he will find her in the near future. He even kissed her cheek! I’m sure that was a memory she will never forget! After we ate the delicious, plethora food the owners took us on a tour of the farm and showed us how they make their wine. It was really interesting, and a great experience for all of us. When we got back to our hotel we had time to ourselves to walk around the city of Montecatini. We found a park where a bunch of girls decided that we were all children again and jumped on the moon bounce for nearly 20 minutes. It was all fun in games until Michelle got a bruise! I promise she is okay though and will be playing in our game tomorrow in Florence (: At 8:30 we went to dinner even though we were all still full from lunch. We got to have a bowl of pesto, some chicken. Ashley finally liked the food for dinner for the first time on this trip so that was wonderful! The dessert was something that not many people have ever eaten but it was very appetizing. It was called panacata, everyone in America needs to try it! All in all, our first day in Italy was a great experience. We are all exhausted and ready to go to sleep because we have to wake up bright and early to go tour the beautiful city Florence!! Nobody is complaining though (:

Ciao!

Sydney, Ashley, and Sam

Today we got off to an early start and grabbed a quick breakfast at our hotel before continuing our journey to Monaco for the day. On the drive into Monaco, we learned that there is no income tax, but is really expensive to own land. It would cost twenty-five thousand Euros for one square meter of land. Another fun fact is that Monaco is an independent state (country) from the rest of France. The view over the harbor shows three different countries: France, Italy, and Monaco. We left France with a new appreciation of their culture, especially their ability to build beautiful structures into the mountains. So far, besides the magnificent scenery, one of the most astonishing things we have witnessed is our bus driver’s ability to drive up and down the narrow winding roads of France’s mountains. If any of us ever had to drive even just a car, it would be a huge failure to say the least. Corrado, our driver, has some skill.  After an exhausting four-hour bus ride to our hotel in Italy, we were all ready for dinner.  Who ever thought a heaping piece of lasagna was a first course meal.  An entire plate of chicken and fresh made fries followed this meal.  We are really excited to explore Italy tomorrow and take the infamous tourist picture of holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

<3

Mayo, Lizzie, and Erin

We finally caught some zzzz’s after a long first day of traveling. Needless to say we all passed out the minute our heads hit the pillow last night. For breakfast, our tables were filled with sweets and coach especially loved the brownies. After breakfast we did our pre-game stretch and jog sesh. Coach exercised his charade skills trying to ask some local coaches to allow us use their field. Luckily for us, Caitlin and Sam speak French and saved the day. After a quick turn around, we headed off to Cannes for our daily adventure. We missed the Cannes film festival, but luckily Justin Timberlake was spotted in the area. Our explorations took us to many different places including a castle and Cathedral high up on a mountain in the historic district, high-end retail (Gucci, Prada, well you get the gist), and enjoying the daily culture of the French cafés. We even got to spend some time relaxing on the beach looking out over the Mediterranean and all it’s sailboats. After a full day of sight seeing, we headed off to play our first international friendly against the Cannes Bocca Olympique. It was a great game which we won 7-2. Goals were scored by Michelle, Kelsey (own goal), Erin, Sydney, Enisa, and Tina Rader. Afterwards, they had a picnic on the field with us complete with food and presents! We were able to enjoy their company and get to know a little about them and their culture. Our new friend Chloe is currently finding our whole team on all social networks. We had dinner after at our hotel, and now we are headed to bed to get ready for another adventure-filled day in Monaco!

<3

Charlotte, Alyssa, and Jess

Hello World!

Today was the beginning of our European adventure! We Left the Dulles Airport around 7:30PM EST and arrived in London-Hethrow about 1:00AM EST. We quickly rushed through security and barely made our flight to Nice which was only two hours long. We arrived in Nice around 4:30AM EST (11:30AM CET). Because of the quick transfer of airplanes, a handful of people’s baggage did not make it on our flight, so we decided to go and eat lunch in the city and walk around while the luggage came in on the next flight and was taken to the hotel. We had a guided walking tour of the old city at 3:30PM CET, which was informative but we were all exhausted. We then took the hour long trek up a mountain to the Hotel du Baou, took a quick shower, and ate dinner. Dinner consisted of three courses: a tomato salad, beef stroganoff, and an apple pie for dessert. After dinner we all crashed in bed after a very exhausting day.

<3

The Team

Hello everyone, we just wanted to let you all know that our training in preparation to leave for France and Italy on Monday afternoon is going well. We only have one more training session until it is time to board the plane to take us to France. We plan on updating this blog every day or so with pictures, videos and other posts to keep everyone that isn’t with us up to date about what we are doing.