June 5, 2006
Illini sophomore-to-be Lori Bjork wrote a diary of her experiences in Italy that was printed in the Champaign News-Gazette. Here are all of her entries from the trip.
May 23
The trip began with a real bang as our flight out of Chicago was delayed almost an hour. This gave us the prefect workout opportunity at the Newark Airpot where we now had 15 minutes to catch our flight to Rome. Not only were we trying to get 30 running, half-crazed people through the airport, we had the added fun of having to leave the terminal and go through security again before getting to our next gate. Thankfully, the good people at Continental Airlines decided they would hold our flight. I would like to think they did this out of kindness, but in reality, it probably was just their desire to avoid having to find 30 seats on different flights to Rome.. I have never seen so many firendly smiles from our fellow passengers when we finally boarded the 8-hour flight that was now an hour late.
Today gave me new perspective on the phrase "Rome wasnt build in a day." I now realize that the catchy line should also be read as a warning to those who think touring the ruins is a one day endeavor. We started at the Colosseum, where we were immediately surrounded by street vendors (apparently they thought 20-year-old, American girls were big spenders) and ample photo opportunities as soon as we stepped off the bus. The only problem was that it was 80 degrees and sunny, and no emperor ever invested in air conditioning for the ancient stadium, so we all suffered a little in our matching Illinois sweatsuits. However, the outfits proved their worth when an old man in a wheel chair serenaded us with the Illinois fight song as we walked past. There is nothing better than Illini pride.
May 25
We just finished with our first game of the trip, and it was a bit ragged. We looked like a team that hadn't played for five days. Let's just say if the game was in Champaign, my parents might never again make the six hour trip to see us play. But I'm not trying to play Dr. Doom; there were some bright spots. Everyone was looking to push the ball, and
Erin McCarthy had her strongest, most powerful post move any of us had ever seen out of her. Needless to say, it brought all of us on the bench and the tens of fans in the stands to their feet. One area we all need to improve on is utilizing the 3 and sometimes 4 steps they seem to allow before they call a traveling violation in international ball. People accuse NBA players of taking "extra steps," but the basketball purist might have cardiac arrest if he saw all of the traveling going on over here across the pond.
This is our last night in Rome, as tomorrow we head up the boot to Florence. We will have a long bus ride in the morning (I really have no concept of how long it is since I never properly learned the metric system), so we will see if the scenery is breathtaking enough to keep everyone awake.
Each day brings new things to see and learn, and we have visited everything from the Trevi Fountain to the Spanish Steps to St. Peter's Basilica. I even was able to enjoy a meal at McDonald's yesterday, but had to douse my chicken nuggets in a fruity sauce in place of my usual honey.
Writing for the undefeated Illini, Lori Bjork #20
May 27
Tonight's game showed the Illini are feeling more and more at home in Italy. I think we had only one instance where the over-inflated, one might say "juiced," ball that seems to be standard in Italy bounded over someone's head as she tried to dribble down the court. The competition was much stiffer in tonight's game, but we still pulled out victory number two.
For the last two days we have enjoyed ourselves in Florence, home to numerous famous pieces of art. Our team does not have an abundance of art-lovers, so the genius of many of the works was probably lost on us. I will just have to trust the tour guide's word that Michaelangelo's statue of David truly is the "greatest sculpture in the world." While listening to the guide's 15 minute dissertation on its brilliance, I had ample time during which I did my best (albeit with limited ability) to fully appreciate the masterpiece. I increased my art knowledge tenfold, and the visit was made even better because we had group tickets which reserved our time to enter the museum. I could only chuckle sympathetically at the real art enthusiasts who were forced to wait in a long line beneath the blistering sun as the Fighting Illini marched in ahead of them.
The real downer of Europe for those of us who try to be fiscally responsible or frugal (okay, some call it cheap) is the continent's proclivity to do the Euro equivalent of "nickel and diming" you. You have to pay for water at every restaurant, there is no such thing as a "free" refill (even at McDonald's - believe me, I tried), and perhaps most disheartening of all, you even have to pay to use public bathrooms. There is a certain indignity to having to tip somebody after you finish doing such an essential human act.
But, not a day goes by that we don't have some fellow tourist calling out to our group, "Go Illinois." We even taught our Italian translator the I-L-L, I-N-I chant, and she led the cheers after tonight's victory. We are doing our best to make new Illini fans the whole world over.
May 29
Today we spent our final day on the islands of Venice, which I would nominate as the tourist capital of the world. I would venture to guess that tourists outnumber the actual residents of Venice by a ratio of at least 100 to 1. In our two days in Venice, we saw the extremes of Italian weather. The first day it was quite hot (although not quite the sauna I hear Champaign has been lately), but today was sweatsuit-worthy, with a strong wind coming off the Adriatic Sea. We had a grand time imagining how a whole community can possibly exist on an island with nothing but boats and gondolas for transportation. There are no cars allowed. We even saw the Venetian version of the fire department when a fireboat, complete with eight men in black and yellow striped rubbers, passed us as we floated back to the mainland. Inevitably this brought us to the conclusion that the fireboat probably just carried empty buckets and utilized the sea water to put out any flames. Coach Frese brought up another question worth pondering: when a person moves, does U'Haul have a fleet of boats available for rent?
This morning in some of our rare downtime at the hotel, I flipped on the television. While engaging in the classic American pastime of channel flipping, I located a rebroadcast of an Italian League basketball game. Even for a basketball nut like me this would not ordinarily be newsworthy. However, gracing the TV set for the Treviso team was a 19-year-old named Bargini. He is projected to be a top five pick in next month's NBA draft, and as evidenced by the presence of Toronto Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell in the crowd, he is even being considered as a possible #1 pick. After watching three quarters of the game, all I can say is any Bulls fan out there better hope the Raptors take him at #1 (staying true to their wretched drafting tradition) so the Bulls can't possibly be tempted by this latest foreign stiff being passed off as the next Dirk Nowitzki. Equipment manager Rick Raven and I were both unimpressed by Bargini's play, particularly when we noticed he was only the third best player on his own team. The two of us may not be Marty Blake, but if you knew how many games Rick and I have collectively seen, you might put more stock in our "expert" evaluation.
May 31
I have thought the landscape of Italy to be quite striking throughout our trip, but this final stop of our journey, the town of Stresa, has outdone itself. Not only does Stresa have a large lake (still blue, unlike the murky waterways of Rome) with the Alps hanging in the background, but the quaint town lacks the crushing crowds of tourists that so violated our personal space in the bustle of Florence and Venice. Today we took a boat out to an island with a palace, shopping area, and an amazing garden complete with a pair of albino peacocks. There was a slight twist, however: the whole island was privately owned. According to the guide, the family that owns the island now resides in Milan, but they do occasionally stop by, which necessitates the closure of the island to the public. Apparently they don't like tourists and school groups dropping in on some family birthday party (maybe the Italians don't subscribe to "the more the merrier" philosophy).
The last two days have brought a pair of interesting visits. The first was in Milan, when a friend I hadn't seen in three years surprised me. I had met her when she was in the U.S. as a foreign exchange student from China, and now she was finishing up an MBA program in Milan. She had gone to great lengths to see me, consulting our online itinerary and calling our hotel in Rome to arrange with others to surprise me. It truly is a small world. The second visit was today before our final game when we had a special invitation to go to the city hall in Ivrea and meet the mayor. Having watched American news stations, I had become convinced that the rest of the world generally disliked Americans, so I wasn't sure of the reception we would receive in Italy. However, as evidenced by tonight's special visit, we have been treated grandly.
Now that our European adventure is coming to a close, I just want to thank the News-Gazette for keeping me awake on our bus rides with this task, and the readers who have continued to follow the Illini despite the ocean between us. For those who have loyally read this entry (okay, so maybe that line doesn't apply to anyone), be aware that this journal has contained just my own arbitrary, and often jaded perception of our travels, so perhaps it is not the most reliable of sources. What I can say authoritatively is that the Illini plan to translate our experiences from this undefeated tour into more victories next season.
