Snow...FINALLY!!!

I have been waiting for this day for a lllloooonnnnggg time! According to Marina, last year the snow started in mid-October, so I was prepared for the same thing this year. Well, you can see that is not the case as it is already December. Anyway, I got to wear my new snow boots and throw snowballs at my roommates!!! If the snow stays until tomorrow, Ivana and I are going to build a snowman (we have a game today, so we can't!). 

On a side note, ONLY 7 MORE DAYS UNTIL I COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!

View from my bedroom window!

Trip to Tallinn

Last weekend could have possibly been the longest weekend of my life! Here is how it went down:

I'll start with Friday. We had weights in the morning and then a video meeting followed by practice in the afternoon. Directly after practice (after we showered of course), we boarded a bus with one of the other Finnish teams to go to Helsinki. Luckily they told us that we were not going to be given food, so I had went to the store to buy a sandwich and chips. I devoured that on the bus and listened to music with Marina for the hour and a half bus ride. We got to Helsinki early, so we ended up just sitting in the terminal for a little while before we were able to board the boat. After lugging my heavy bag plus this extra bag for the team to our compartment, we finally got to our "room". It was very small especially with all our bags, but it worked. One bright spot was that we were able to catch the end of X-Factor. We walked around the boat for a little bit before going back to the room to try to get some sleep.

 Ivana and Marina in our cabin.

Saturday started bright and early at 6:00 am after a night of poor sleep. The boat was pretty loud and moved around a lot. Breakfast was served at 6:15, and we had to be out of our room by 6:45. After a quick breakfast, we got our stuff out of the room and got off the boat. Once outside (it was still dark) I thought a bus was going to come pick us up and take us to the hotel. Wrong! We had to walk about 15 minutes to our hotel. This would not have been a problem except my duffel bag seemed extremely heavy, and I was still partially asleep. When we finally arrived at the hotel, we learned that our rooms were not going to be ready until noon and it was only about 7:15! Since I was really tired, I decided (along with a lot of my other teammates) to lay on the couches in the lobby to take a nap. The lady at the receptionist told us we couldn't do this (I was told that it was probably because we were from Finland. Supposedly the Finnish and the Estonians don't like each other too much.). So, I spent the next 4 hours playing UNO, taking a walk around Tallinn, and sitting in the lobby. Around 11, we needed to get on the bus to drive the 2.5 hours to our game. I was hoping to sleep on the bus ride, but it was a smaller bus and we had to share seats. Due to the fact that I could no longer keep my eyes open, I was able to take a little rest. We ate a really good lunch on the way. Before we left the hotel, the other team told us that we couldn't practice before our game because there was a basketball game. When we got to the gym, we found out that basketball game was at 11 and that the gym was open. Although I didn't think I wanted to practice, it was actually really good to move around and loosen up our muscles before the game. Anyways, we won the game fairly easily 3-0. We showered, ate, and drove back to the hotel. Once in the room, I laid down and fell asleep pretty fast.

 This statue was outside of the hall. I already forgot the guy's name, but he was the first Estonia Olympic gold medalist!

Estonia/Finland had their Daylight Savings Time on Sunday morning, so we were able to get an extra hour of sleep! This was fabulous, but none of our phones changed automatically which meant we woke up an hour earlier than necessary. However, I called the front desk who told me the correct time, and I went back to sleep. After another hour of sleep, we woke up and went down to breakfast. The team went for a walk after breakfast. I thought we might get to walk through the old town which is where most of the tourist sites are in Tallinn, but instead we walked somewhere else. I was able to get a few pictures from a distance. I am not sure what any of them are of though!

And then I took this picture to prove that I was actually in Tallinn:

After our 45 minute walk, we had video. It was a little hard to concentrate because I was still tired, but I fought back the yawns. The game on Sunday was only about 45 minutes away which was nice, and we got a bigger bus this time! After losing the first game, we came back to win the next three. I think we were all a little tired and needed some time to get back in the flow of the game. After showering, we boarded the bus to go back to the hotel where we ate dinner and waited for the boat. We played some more UNO and then boarded the bus. This boat ride was only 2 hours, so we did not get cabins. Instead we had to find a place to sit somewhere on the boat. There were not enough tables and chairs or sofas for everyone, so we ended up sitting in this hallway which was perfectly fine. We played some more UNO and ate candies. Around 11:30 pm, we got off the boat and headed back to Hameenlinna. I wasn't in my bed until probably 1:30, but came home to a nice surprise of my manager joining my two beds together. Now I have a big, queen size bed which is so nice. 

Overall, it was a really, really long weekend without much sleep, but we came away with 2 wins and six points (You get 3 points for a 3-0 win and a 3-1 win, 2 points for a 3-2 win, 1 point for a 2-3 loss, and 0 points for a 0-3 or 1-3 loss) which is ultimately the most important thing. Go HPK! :)

Trip to Tampere

Since we had a game on Friday (which we won 3-0) and our next game isn't until next Saturday, we had the entire weekend off! Although the temperature has been getting colder, the weather has actually been a lot nicer lately. There is more sun and less rain! After doing our regeneration on Saturday (I have reduced this from a 5k run to 30 minutes on the elliptical), we boarded a bus to go to Tampere. Tampere is a bigger city about an hour away from Hameenlinna. They have a lot more shopping and things to do and we all needed new winter jackets, so we thought that we should go while we had a few days off. 

The bus to Tampere was quite expensive (11.80 euros= $16.50 each way), but both of the buses were new, clean, and very nice. Luckily the bus station is located close to the center of town and some major shopping areas. We started off at what would be considered a mall. As many of you know, I am drawn to more to summer clothes like shorts, skirts, and tank-tops, so it took a lot of me to just look at the winter gear. I tried on lots of hats, scarves and jackets. I didn't want to buy any accessories until I had a coat just to make sure that everything matched. At one of the last stores in the mall, I found a winter jacket. It was not as expensive as I anticipated and really cute:

The entire hood is removable and so is just the fur portion. I really liked that you can cinch in the sides so I don't look like a big box! It is also long enough which is often a problem for me! (Please ignore the mess on my floor- cleaning day is today! :))

After leaving the shopping center, we just walked around downtown. None of us are familiar with Tampere, so we thought the best plan was to wander around. We stopped in some more stores, but I did not find anything else to buy. And after walking for so long with my new coat, I realized that it is probably going to keep me very warm because it was so heavy! Towards the end of the day, we were all getting hungry, so we stopped at this Italian restaurant to grab a bite to eat. It was really nice to sit down after a day of walking. We headed back to the bus terminal after dinner, not sure of when the next bus for Hameenlinna was leaving. Luckily, there was a bus waiting at the station to leave so we just hopped on it and were back in Hameenlinna by 8 pm. Overall, it was a beautiful day outside and exciting that I found a new winter coat! Here are two pictures taken while walking around Tampere:

 View of part of the city from the bridge right by where we ate dinner. This was one of the fastest moving small rivers I have ever seen!

A pretty little church located near the bus station.

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!