Friday  July 9, 2010

Day 3 –Amsterdam to Papendal

By Abby Wolpern

Northern Lights 16-1

Hello! This morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, and then we took a bus from Amsterdam to a small town in Holland, where Papendal, the Dutch Olympic Training Center, is located.

When we got to the hotel, we quickly noticed that there was no A/C. L We had lunch right away, most of us had chicken nuggets J, and then walked to the gym to practice. Practice was pretty basic, serve/pass and a little 4 on 4. This was also our first meeting with the Dutch team. They were very nice and liked our accents as much as we liked theirs.

After practice, everyone dripping in sweat (no A/C in the gym either), we headed back to the hotel for some rest. We played the Dutch team that night and went 1-4 with them, didn’t play our best.

After the match, we had supper with them at their cafeteria. We didn’t sit together so it was a little awkward, but we still got to talk to the girls in line and after supper. The girl Claire, Ashley, and I talked to was telling us what she knew about Americans and American high schools: We all have the newest cell phones, our high schools have “groups” (cliques), and new music in Holland are the hits from one year ago in the U.S.

After supper, we wasted no time getting back to the hotel to go to bed. Everyone was pretty tired! We’re having lots of fun and heading to Germany tomorrow!

Abby