Volleyball Visits Milano on First Stop on European Trip

Due to some internet issues, your Volleyblogger has not been able to get online. With those issues resolved, we will catch up with the first two days of the Volleyball Eurotrip 2016!

TRAVEL DAY
Our travel itinerary took us from Louisville to Atlanta, where we had a three-hour layover that was highlighted by a visit from the UofL baseball team, which was headed for Wake Forest. There was much rejoicing and exchanging of many selfies and good luck. The Cards then got on a brand new Boeing 777, which had two aisles between three rows of three seats not to mention extra leg room which is always a bonus for our long-legged Volleycards. Sadly, that plane only took us from the ATL to JFK airport in New York. Our pilot was almost 45 minutes late because of (huge surprise) Atlanta traffic. He more than made up for it by "making up time in the air." We left 30 minutes late and arrived 10 minutes early. Sadly, this option is not available for Louisville daily commutes as local law enforcement frowns on "making it up on the ground." We had a very tight connection for our overseas flight, so we left our gate, walked very briskly to our international gate and immediately boarded. We were highly skeptical that our luggage made that quick turnaround judging by the general lack of anything even remotely resembling hustle by the JFK crew.

DAY ONE
We landed in Milano after seven and a half hours in the air and our bags were there waiting for us and we felt bad about dissing the baggage handlers. We went through customs and I believe we were profiled as harmless/annoying judging by the level of scrutiny paid our passports. My agent was arguing on his cell phone and didn't even look at me as he stamped my passport. Several of the girls were braced for questions and were nervous they would be of a math word problem or a civics test or something out of a Jason Bourne movie. They took one look at us and gave us a terror level assessment of -27 on the defcon scale, if I were to guess. Our bus driver delivered us to the Pallovollo Federation headquarters.

After a short but brisk practice and a tasty lunch, the Cards had their first opportunity to sightsee. We took a streetcar downtown from the Federation Training Facility, which is set up like a mini-Olympic Training Center with accommodations not unlike an old-school dorm meets IKEA vibe.

As far as sightseeing goes, Il Duomo Milano sets the bar ridiculously high. The second largest church in Italy after the Vatican, Il Duomo is an active Catholic Church under Cardinal Angelo Scola. (No goofing off in Mass or *boom* right to the Cardinal and I assume a letter from a Cardinal in your "permanent file" would hold some weight!)

The cathedral took 600 years to build (that's only slightly longer than our bridges.) It was completed in 1386. UofL was founded a mere 412 years later in 1798. The church is gorgeous and stuns the senses. Cardinal Scola could school us on fundraising as there is a $15 elevator fee and a $1.50 to go potty. Talk about wasted opportunities at a Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. We could endow every scholarship with a bathroom fee at every football game.

So finally after 33 hours with no sleep, the Louisville Cardinals were tucked in to bed.

JANELLE JENKINS TAKES OVER THE BLOG
"Ciao from Milan! Our travel was very smooth, so shout out to Delta Airlines. To start of this day, my teammate Kali Eaken and I got Starbucks before heading to the airport. Everyone was dancing and snap-chatting during our travels to the airport. Some of our excitement was quickly over when the majority of our luggage was overweight. This was a nightmare for some, but luckily Eleni Georgiafandis and Sarah Kasprow's bags were only 33 pounds. They are the travel pros. As we were getting on our last flight leg to Milan everyone was Facetiming family and friends so we would not have too many phone charges overseas. When we got to Milan, we went straight to the gym and got in some drills to keep our blood flowing because we needed to stay awake to make a better transition to this time zone (six hours ahead of Louisville). The volleyballs are actually much different. They are smaller and harder, so it was good to get used to them. Then we went to see Il Duomo, which is beautiful and historic. Our tour guide took us to a restaurant for excellent pizza and obviously we topped it off with gelato. What a long but enjoyable day!"

DAY TWO
The Cards spent the day at beautiful Lake Como.

Sadly, George Clooney was not in residence, although we did see his $80 million home. We bravely carried on without him and everything was so beautiful that we barely missed him! We took the ferry over to Bellagio where we shopped and ate. Gelato was had by all. The weather was perfect! Coach Kordes set an annoyingly good example by spending part of her time on a run, while the rest of us unapologetically ate fabulous food and invaded the quaint shops.

We had a bit of excitement as there was an accident at the Ferry pier to Bellagio when a car struck an officer of the ferry, pinning him between the car and the guardrail. He fell over the railing into Lake Como and injured his head, arm and broke his leg. Our trainer, Sarah Kasprow was over the rail and into the lake immediately, as was our guide, Federica, and John Kordes. They helped the ferry guys pull him up as we waited for the ambulance. The ferry captain was very grateful.

Giuseppi, our intrepid bus driver, was wheeling our tour bus on (basically) a one-lane road as we exited Lake Como. We are talking centimeters to spare! All with colorful and pointed comments yelled out the window to other drivers with very specific hand gestures. (Check our Facebook page for primitie but gripping video.) Federica, our tour guide, had to jump out and coordinate people backing down the mountain at one point. I didn't have a translator, but I can tell you the gist of the dialogue consisted of "move your bus, no you move YOUR bus" followed by some anatomically infeasible suggestions as to where a bus could be … parked.

We were late to our match, but Club Italia was very patient with us, allowing us to warm up before they beat us 5-0. There were five players taller than our tallest player, Tess Clark, and they have a phenomenal setter who runs the show. We were experimenting with various lineups and positions and we could tell when something worked because they exploited every weakness and every tiny opening in a block immediately. The Cards got better every single set, with the scores being 25-14, 25-18, 25-23, 25-20 and 15-6. Coach Kordes was very happy with the hustle and grit against a formidable opponent.

After the match, we had postgame meal before the girls headed out to the best gelato place in Milan according to both the internet and our opponents. Janelle Jenkins asked Club Italia if they wanted to go but they declined.

Next up will be more touring of Milan and another match against Club Italia.

University of Louisville Athletics

Volleyball Visits Milano on First Stop on European Trip

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Tess Clark

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Eleni Georgiafandis

Janelle Jenkins

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