Busy week!

Since my last post, I have been pretty busy. Here are some highlights from the past week or so:

• We lost our first league game 3-2. The game was on Wednesday (we got back from Germany on Monday night) and I think we were all a little bit tired. However, we still should have won because we are definitely a better team. 
• We had two more matches (one Saturday and one Sunday) over the weekend. These were against the two Estonia teams that joined our league this year for the first half of league play. Both times we were victorious, winning 3-0. Neither team was very good, but it helped our team regain confidence and get back in the winning column.
• Saturday was Marina's birthday. My mom had sent a funfetti mix in my birthday package, so I made it for Marina's birthday. She was pleasantly surprised, and the entire team loved the cake. I didn't have any icing or decorations so it wasn't my normal birthday cakes, but it still tasted delicious. One of my teammates asked me yesterday if I could make another one soon! haha
• Each game, a player from each team earns Player of the Game and wins a prize. I guess I played pretty good on Saturday and ended up winning the award. After having my teammates translate the gift, I learned that I had won a free cruise from Helsinki to Stockholm for 2-4 people. I don't know the details about the trip, but it is valid from December to mid-February. Marina won the same prize on Sunday, so now we can take a total of 8 people on this cruise! Hopefully, we will be able to find some time to go and visit Stockholm.
• We had a girl from Cuba come for a try-out a few days ago and her English was very poor. My coaches knew that I spoke Spanish, so I was designated as the translator for her time here. I did not realize how much I had forgotten in these past 3 years or so of not speaking Spanish. Of course I managed the easy stuff, but it was much more difficult than I expected. Turns out the girl is not staying, so I will not be perfecting my Spanish this year. We have another girl from Serbia who actually played at South Carolina coming for a try-out today. Thankfully she speaks great English! :)
• I received a second package from my parents today which is so much fun. While packing to come here, I did not include enough cold-weather (and water-proof) gear. Everything is so much more expensive here, so my mom picked up some new stuff and picked through the items at the house. I think I will definitely be warmer and dry now! They also included some caramel apple lollipops (yum!) and Swedish fish. Thanks mom and dad!

I think that's about it. We have another game tomorrow. I want to give everyone the two websites that you can use to follow my team and our results. The first is the website of my team. It has some information, but the second website (the one for the league) is much better. Of course, both are in Finnish so just plug them into the Google search box and when your options come up, click on translate to the right side of the option. The name of my team is HPK. Enjoy!

http://www.hpk-naiset.fi/

http://www.mestaruusliiga.fi/

Wiesbaden, Germany

This past weekend, my team competed in a tournament in Wiesbaden, Germany. This was my first time spending any time in Germany besides a stop at the Munich airport. Everyone was excited to leave on Friday and head to warmer weather (It was supposed to be in the 20's in Germany, more than double the temperature in Finland!). We took a bus to the Tampere airport (the smallest airport I have ever seen), and boarded our RyanAir flight. For such a small airport, the plane was surprisingly large. Unfortunately, RyanAir does not provide any food or drinks during their flights, so by the end of the 2.5 hour flight, we were all starving. Once in Germany, some of the people from the host club (VCW) picked us up at the airport. We traveled for about an hour to the hotel, then finally went to grab a bite to eat. After dinner at a traditional German restaurant and once back at the hotel, Marina and I passed out because we were so tired from traveling, it was pretty late at night, and we had an early start in the morning. 

Saturday was filled with volleyball! We started with a one hour practice from 9-10. Then we had opening ceremonies for the tournament, followed by 2 games. In all we played 8 sets in a row on Saturday. The first game was against a team from France, and we split sets with them (2-2). The next game was against another French team who we ended up beating 3-1. When we first left for Germany, we only had 9 players healthy enough to play. Once in Germany, one of girls got a stomach bug of some sort and ended up not being able to really play. This dropped our total to 8 healthy players, 2 of them being setters and 1 libero. This meant that everyone else had to play all the sets. Also, because of the positions of everyone still healthy enough to play, I had to play right side. Although I have experience playing this position and the fact that I like it because I get to defend, it was difficult at times because I have been training in the middle for the most part. At the end of the day we were exhausted, so we ate some dinner at the hall and went back to the hotel to go to sleep.

On Sunday we had a match at noon against the host team and then depending on how everyone finished, we would either play in the Championship game or the 3rd place game. My ill teammate was still sick on Sunday, so I played opposite the entire day. We ended up splitting sets with the German team, but it was good enough to put us in the first place game against the German team! We had to play them again after the 3rd place match. After winning the first two sets in the Championship game, we lost the next two to force a deciding, fifth game. It was back and forth until we switched at 8. From there we went on to win the next points, winning the game 15-8. It was a great feeling to know that all that hard work and effort during the last two days was worth it.

 The team with our trophy and huge bottle of champagne (which we never drank). Not a great picture, but the best I could get!

 As the winners of the tournament, we were each given a rather large book filled with the sights of Wiesbaden and a little cosmetic bag with nail polishes and make-up. The book was really nice because we spent all of our time in the gym which did not allow us any time to see the city

.

I was able to take one picture of the street outside our hotel. There was a little walking street that was really cute with little shops, restaurants, and such but this is the best picture I was able to get.

Overall, we played 17 sets of volleyball in two days! Everyone was tired and ready to get back to Finland in order to play our first league game on Wednesday. Hopefully more people will be healthy and get can get the first W of the season. I am also attaching a website that I found that has lots of action shots from this weekend. The ones that say HPK Naiset are the albums from the games my team played! Enjoy!

http://www.wiesbadenaktuell.de/galerie.html

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

I turned 25 today! A quarter of a century old! I can't believe that I am already 25, but I feel younger which is the important thing! I woke up to a nice surprise of a sunny day! It has been raining for what feels like weeks, so seeing the sun especially on my birthday was great. Unfortunately, the day was spent inside either practicing or taking a nap between practices! In between practices, the mail came and a card from my Aunt Toni and Uncle Dick arrived. Perfect timing!! I couldn't wait until 9 pm here because that was when I was going to FaceTime with my parents. I was also going to get to open the package they sent with gifts from them and my brother's family. This package has been staring at me saying, "Open Me!" since I got it last Friday. Anyways, it was worth the wait. After taking to my parents, I had a mini photo session with my new gifts!

 My lovely friend Layne who I kept me sane while in Montenegro sent me a birthday package too. This one arrived super early because we were used to the snail mail in Montenegro. She totally surprised me with the package by asking my parents and Marina for my address. Thanks Layne!!!! :)

After practice, I went over to Marina's so she could give me my birthday present. She had went to this little bakery and got me a dessert/cake. She put a candle in it, so I got to blow out a candle on my birthday. Marina and Damir got me a headband, some hair clips, and some body lotions. So nice to spend my birthday with one of my best friends!

 Couldn't wait to open my package! So exciting!!!!

 Photo session begins. (I had to take very many pictures just to get the few I posted. My self-timing skills are a little rusty, plus I was trying to get as many things in one picture as possible.) Trying to get a good pose with both my new boots (Thanks Drew and Amanda!!) and my new sweatshirt. Got two goods ones... Thought they were kinda of funny so I posted them both. :)

Still flexible at 25! 

Some of my other gifts: a Nike t-shirt, a pull-over, a new game, some chap stick, Orbitz Sweet Mint Gum (yum!), and two new pairs of earrings.

Happy (early) Halloween! Some Peeps and another Nike t-shirt (in my team's colors!). Can't wait for the Peeps to get a little stale to eat them! May have to share with my teammates because I am sure none of them have ever had them!

Of course the parentals had to put in a few "parent" gifts: a light for my bike so "I don't get hit from behind" as my dad told me and some multivitamins. My parents have been telling me that I need to take these especially with the cold weather coming, and now I have no reason not to take them!

Overall, it was a great first birthday in Europe! My teammates sang to me at practice, and I was able to chat with my parents, brother, sister-in-law, nephews, and niece. A special thanks to everyone who sent me something all the way over here in Finland. I love getting things in the mail...It is so exciting! Here's to another great year! Thanks again!

Scrimmages and Saunas

Let me start this post off with a few minor updates:

1. Preseason is over! This means no more extra workouts after practices. We are still either lifting or practicing in the morning and practicing in the evening, but it is so much better than the first six weeks.

2. I found out we have a TV game on January 2. Dirk unfortunately informed me that I could only come home from December 19-26. This means only a week and no New Year's Eve in America, but I guess any time is better than not being able to come home at all.

3. It has been raining non-stop for like the past two weeks. It is not a heavy rain by any means, but enough to be annoying. My parents are getting their moneys worth for my rain coat! :)

4. My second roommate (Martina) comes on Saturday. She is an outside from the Czech Republic who has been training with their national team but was recently cut. It will be nice to finally have our whole team together and another person in the apartment.

5. My birthday is in a week, and I am looking forward to my package from home!

I think that may be it for the updates other than the scrimmages. So far we have played 3 scrimmage games with three more in the next two weeks before we go to Germany. The first game was against Kangasala, who finished last in the league last year. We won all four sets we played pretty easily. We worked through different lineups, and I got to play middle for two sets and right-side for one. Playing back row is always fun, but I really prefer middle.

This past weekend we took a little trip to the town of Orivesi which is about an hour and a half away. On Saturday and Sunday we practiced in the morning and then played against Orpo (the team from Orivesi) in the evening. Orpo came in second last year, so it was good to see what more of the competition will look like. On Saturday, we won three sets and lost one set. I was pretty pleased with the way I played, and our team is starting to come together. I think we are going to be very good this season. On Sunday, we split sets with Orpo, each winning two. There were some questionable calls by the refs at crucial times, and the crowd got pretty into to it the last two sets. I think we were all exhausted from a week straight of practice and training, and it seemed to catch up to us during this scrimmage match. However, we still learned a lot about our team and saw our potential. Dirk was pleased with our play and told us that he knew we were tired from a long week and long preseason. With this in mind, he gave us the next two days off! During these days, we were told to relax, eat well, sleep well, and go to the sauna.

Being the good listener I am, I went for my regenerative run at our workout place. This is the first time I ran on the treadmill instead of around the lakes, and it was so BORING! Anyways, after the run, I did a thorough stretch and then headed to the sauna. Sitting in the sauna, I thought it might be a good blog post because going to the sauna is not very common in America, but very popular in Finland. In addition to sweating out all your impurities, the Finnish use the saunas as almost a social hour. Most are separated into male and female (they provide hours for each sex) because you are supposed to go into the sauna nude. I read a statistic that there are over 2 million saunas for the 5 million people in Finland. That equals out to one per household.

While in Finland, I have been to the sauna three times. The first was after spinning with the team to help our tired muscles. I only stayed for like 5 minutes because it was so hard to breathe. The second time was at our owner's home. Our entire team went to his country house for a team dinner. The women went in the sauna first, and then the men. Some of the girls jumped into the lake and then got back into the sauna. It is typical for one to go into the sauna for some time and then either shower or jump into the lakes. In the winter, they either roll around in the snow or cut a hole in the ice on the lake and take the plunge! (It reminds me of when we would jump in the pool during the winter after sitting in the hot tub.) The person would then go back into the sauna. The third time was today. The workout place was empty, so I had the sauna to myself. This was nice because I could make it has hot as I wanted. I think the Finnish girls on the team can tolerate much hotter temperatures than me. Overall, I am beginning to understand why saunas are so popular here. I bet they feel even better in the winter when it is so cold outside!

Photo Tour of Hameenlinna

Today was a beautiful day outside- sunny and actually hot (I finally wore one of the three pairs of shorts I brought)! I am not sure how many more days like this we will have here, so I tried to spend as much of it outside as possible. The day started with a lovely 5k run around the lake with my team,  followed by coffee for Marina and Damir and ice cream for me in the market square, and lastly a bike ride/photo shoot around Hameenlinna. Since it was sunny out, it was the perfect day to capture some pictures of the different sights around the city for you all to see. Enjoy the tour!

 Had to start the tour with the Hameenlinna castle. Not really sure what it was used for or who lived in it, but it is big and sits along the lake. Marina said it is not too impressive on the inside, but it seems like the castle is an important symbol for Hameenlina. Maybe I will make it inside one day...

 I took a little break in this garden right by one of the bridges and this was my view onto the lake. Everything is super green here now and really pretty. Marina and I were discussing this and she said to enjoy it now because pretty soon it will be gone! :)

 This church sits in front of the market square. I am not sure what denomination it is, but I think it is pretty to look at and reminds me of one of the churches in Belgrade on a much smaller scale.

 The market square. On Saturday mornings this place is hopping. Everyone had gone home by the time I took this picture, but earlier there were lots of different vendors selling fresh produce, flowers, and little knick-knacks. There is also a small coffee and pastry shop and ice cream stand. On one edge of the square is stage where different performers will occasionally play live music. It is also a great place to people watch! The square is about a 2 minute walk from my apartment.

And finally the street that I live on. If you look closely, you can see the lake at the end of the street. It is about 2 blocks from my apartment. The apartment sits on the top of a hill which is sometimes a nice thing and sometimes a pain! 

These are major sites of Hameenlinna! Super exciting stuff I know, but I thought you would like to see some of the city where I am living.

Officially Finnish

Well, not really. But I did get one step closer with the purchase of a bike. I know this is not only a Finnish thing, but it seems like EVERYONE has a bike. Although bikes are super expensive here (new ones start at like 200 or 300 Euros) and I won't be able to ride it in the winter (unless I get spiked tires), I still think it was a wise investment. Here is how long it takes to get from my apartment to the places I need to walking: Gym- 10 minutes, Weight Room- 15 minutes, Cafeteria- 15 minutes (These times are all estimated while walking at a decent pace). Not only does the bike save me time, it is also a lot easier than walking! 

Marina took me to the place where she got her used bike last year, and luckily they had one that fit my size and only cost 70 Euros. I considered this a good price since it still works and doesn't look half bad! The man did not speak any English, but was so cute and threw in a lock and tire pump for free! The bike does not have any gears so going uphill can sometimes be tiresome. Luckily there are no huge hills in Hameenlinna. Also, in order to brake, you must push the pedals backwards. I am used to having handle brakes, so this took a little while to get used to. It also came with a cute little bell to warn people to get out of my way! :)

Overall, I am very pleased with my newest purchase. I have used it everyday and it feels great to speed past all those walkers. (Although this is a little mean, it is so true!)

 My bike! Soon there will be a small basket on the front to hold grocery bags or other things!

Been here a week!

Hey guys! So, I have almost been in Finland for one week; one busy week! Here are some of the highlights of the past seven days:

• Had to change my flight leaving from Pittsburgh because the first flight was delayed into Newark, and I would have missed my connection to Amsterdam. Luckily, the nice people at Continental and United switched me to a flight to Chicago first and then to Amsterdam. Plus, they upgraded me to Economy Plus on the over ocean flight, so I got an extra 5 inches of legroom! Yay!
• Once I arrived in Hameenlinna, I watched a little bit of practice and then headed to my new apartment. One of the girls had already moved in, so I got to choose my bedroom from the two remaining. The apartment (as you will see in the video) is really big and very nice. Its about a five minute walk to Marina's apartment. We still need some stuff (biggest thing is a washing machine!), but have most everything we need.
• On Tuesday I started practicing. This is what my days will look like for the next three weeks of preseason:
• Monday: Weights (lower body) @ 9 am. Practice @ 10:30 (can be switched). Practice from 4-6:30. Running Intervals right after practice.
• Tuesday: Weights (upper body) @ 9 am. Practice @ 10:30 (can be switched). Practice from 4-6:30. Spinning class right after practice for 1 hr. 
• Wednesday: Practice at either 9 or 10:30. Practice from 4-7.
• Thursday: Weights (lower body) @ 9 am. Practice @ 10:30 (can be switched). Practice from 4-6:30. Sand workout right after practice. 
• Friday: Weights (upper body) @ 9 am. Practice @ 10:30 (can be switched). Practice from 4-6:30. Running stadiums right after practice. 
• Saturday: 5k run on your own
• Sunday: Off
•  The rest of my time has been spent sleeping. For some reason it was really hard to adjust to the time difference this go around. I would sleep for sometimes 12 hours at night and take naps between practices. Plus, my stomach had been really bothering me since I got here and it would feel a lot better when I was laying or sitting. So, I would solve two problems with one solution: sleep (take care of the tired factor) while laying down (make my stomach feel better).  :)
• I finally got around to unpacking today. Usually I love organizing and putting stuff away (just ask my sister-in law Amanda), but for some reason, I was not into it at all! Anyways, it looks good now and I even have more room for new stuff!
• The weather here has been great. It feels like an American fall. Most days I'll either wear shorts and a long sleeve shirt or pants and a light top. However, it gets pretty cool in the morning and night. Don't think I needed as many warm-weather things as I brought! I guess I'll just bring them home at the Christmas break.

That's enough for now. I will leave you with a lovely tour of my apartment. Unfortunately, I did not have Layne's expertise on the camera (which allowed me to do only one take!), but you still get my witty commentary and a view of my new home for the next 9 months! Until next time...