Thursday, March 27, 2014

Countdown begins...

Hi!!

Yesterday concluded our last trip to another country.  We traveled to Belarus and played our last regular season Baltic League game.  We were in Minsk and the city itself was very pretty.  The one thing I love about the cities in Europe that I have visited is the size.  They are large cities but they are not crowded.  You do not feel like buildings are on top of one another, and that goes for the people as well.  In Minsk we lost our first Baltic League game but we still finished first in the regular season. Finals start in about two weeks. 

We drove three hours from Lithuania to Belarus and on our way to and from we had to cross the border.  When we first reached the border one of the officers entered our bus and checked all of our passports.  Truthfully, it was very intimidating.  I wish I could have taken a picture of the man and woman who came on our bus with their uniform, hat and boots.  On our way back crossing the border one of the girls told me we had to get off the bus to clean our shoes because of wild pigs that are currently roaming Belarus.  I laughed assuming it was a joke, but then a officer came on and instructed us to step off the bus, and sure enough we had to clean our shoes due to wild pigs.  Honestly, you can't make this stuff up. 

Last week we also traveled to Latvia, Estonia, and Sweden where we played two games.  We won both games on our trip.  Sweden is one of my favorite countries that I have visited simply because of how friendly the people were.  At Drexel I had a teammate from Sweden, Jen Stjarnstrom, and now I know why she is so nice!! The people in Sweden make you feel welcomed.  After we won the game the coach and the fans came up to us and thanked us for giving them such a good game. That’s what EuroLeague teams are all about.  I found it funny, but that is the nature of their culture.

I have officially visited 10 countries during my seven-month stay in Lithuania.  I have been to Poland, Spain, Turkey, Russia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Sweden, and Belarus.  If you count the countries of the airports I have been in, it's probably around 20 countries.  Each country was unique in their own way. I have learned something from each country that I will be able to carry with me for the rest of my life.  I'll write more about that in the last blog I write in approximately three weeks which is when I will be coming home!

Next week starts our playoffs for Lithuanian league.  We finished first in that league for regular season as well but the two teams we are facing in the semis and finals will be tough.  The semis start next week and its best-of-three and the finals are best-of-five.  But I believe we have the best and strongest team.  Regardless of the team I am on I always think we are the best and strongest haha.  But we are! And I plan to win two championships with this team before I leave. 

I cannot believe it will be a little less than four weeks until I am home.  I have finally gotten comfortable living in Lithuania and have made friendships.  Eventually things come to an end though, I just can't believe I made it this far.  If you would have asked the Hollie five years ago if she was going to live in Europe for half a year she would have said HECK NO!!! But that's the best part, your life is capable of taking you to places you never thought you would have gone five years ago.  My life is forever changed because of this experience and I am so thankful every day for it!!

Well, four weeks left and one more blog post to go!!!!

:)

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