Aug. 21, 2001

By Pete Ritzema, Freshman

I awoke from my sleep at the David Palace Hotel to our wake-up phone call, and wandered down to breakfast. Everything that the hotel had prepared was fine until they tried to serve us half-cooked bacon. Everyone tried to communicate with the waiter, but no one could get through to him that we needed well-cooked bacon. Then Mrs. Massimino came to save the day. She talked to the waiter and somehow got through to him.

After breakfast, we had a few hours to relax and do what we wanted. Most of the team stayed around the hotel. I went off to walk at the beach. It was a beautiful day. There was just a slight breeze coming off the water and to my surprise, there were just as many people on the beach on a Tuesday that there were on a Sunday. On the beach, I faced one of the most challenging things I ever had to do. People were asking me all the "tall" questions in Italian--Who are you? How tall are you? Do you play basketball? I did not know how to respond in Italian. I would try to tell them 218cm or 2 m 18 cm, but they could not understand. Finally, I had to show them on my hands.

Halfway back on my walk, Bill Buck and Joe Rogers joined me. We walked back to the hotel where the coaches were talking to players about our strengths and weaknesses. A little while after that, we had some more free time and most everyone just hung around the pool. After checking out, we left the hotel on our bus to Fabriano. We drove about an hour through the mountains on our way there. If I had to choose one thing that is the most amazing to me so far on this trip, it would have to be the mountains. They are just so big. It is hard to place yourself in a picture with them because they seem too big to be real.

After the scenic bus ride, we arrived at the gym in Fabriano. It reminded me of my old high school gym. We suited up, played and did not do so well, but it was not a total loss. I feel that we learned a lot from this experience. After the game ended, we went out to eat at a local restaurant. We had our choice of ravioli or spaghetti, and then a pizza. At the end of the dinner, I received a little cake with one candle in it, while the team and the coaches sang Happy Birthday to me.

To wrap up the day, we took the bus from Fabriano to Rimini where we found out that this town does not sleep. There were just as many people on the street at 1 a.m. as there would be during the day. Overall, we had a good day. Although we lost our game, the day was filled with many other exciting events.