Editor’s note: Anna Heise of the University of Maine has agreed to write a blog during the Black Bear women’s basketball team’s trip to Italy. The senior center from Halle, Germany, will provide readers with a student-athlete’s perspective on the experience as the team enjoys the history and culture of Italy while playing a handful of games.
MONTREAL, Quebec — The first day of our trip is in the books. We spent the seven-hour bus ride watching several movies, enjoying the beautiful nature and some sleeping. It is amazing how fast some of my teammates fall asleep on the bus. Most of the times we are on the road for about five minutes and they are already deep asleep, drooling all over their pillows. It is even more amazing how they wake up exactly when we are about to get food. Our pregame meal took place at Extreme Pita and was delicious. The first meal in Canada was definitely a success.
The game was competitive and a lot of fun. We were able to try out things we worked on in the practices before and could see where we need to improve and what is already working well for us. We won the game, led by Sheraton Jones with a double-double.
After the game we went straight to dinner, which took place in the Vieux Port Steakhouse. We started off dinner with a spinach soup, followed by steak, mashed potatoes and beans and a delicious cake for dessert. It was the perfect way to end our first day in Montreal.
Sunday is going to be quite busy. We are playing McGill again at 9:30 a.m. and head to a buffet lunch before we begin a bus tour of Montreal. We already saw a little bit of the city on Friday and it is truly beautiful and reminds me a lot of European cities. After the bus tour we are going straight to the airport to fly to Italy. It is going to be a seven-hour flight and we’ll probably be there at 11:40 a.m. (Italy time). My next blog is going to be from Italy and I can’t wait to tell you everything about our first moments in Europe.
Until then, stay tuned!
About the author: Anna Heise is majoring in Journalism at UMaine with a double minor in Child Development and Family Relations and Creative Writing. She enjoys hanging out with her teammates, traveling, reading and watching movies.