Germany‑bound: Blog #1

Dal's women's basketball team is on the road in Germany on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to take on some of the country's club teams. Ainsley MacIntyre (third year, Science) and Diedre Alexander (first year, Arts) will document the Tigers experience during their trip.  

After a long day of traveling, the team was quite pleased to have finally landed on German soil. Turns out long flights aren't always easy for basketball players... between the long legs and the constant need to stay hydrated, things can get a little rough. So as excited as we all were to have the experience begin, we were almost more excited to stretch and find the bathrooms!

Our arrival was at approximately 2:30 a.m. Canadian time and 7:30 a.m. German time. It had been a night of attempted sleep and successful sore necks. As we sat at the airport waiting to catch the train, the conflicted mood of the group was perfectly illustrated by Shalyn Field: "I'm exhausted.... but I can't wait to go sight seeing." However, the ridiculous behaviour was better represented by Christina and Abby, who quickly began recruiting random strangers as fans of the Dalhousie Tigers. And to top if all off, Coach kept us all amused through the seven-hour plane ride and the three-hour train ride with her constant selfies to be used as an update for her new twitter account (@CoachAStamm if you're interested). 

As the 200km/h train sped past cities and country side, I regret to say the team hardly saw a glance; instead, the train ride was used to catch up on some shut eye. And besides a few air born suitcases (no injuries were sustained), the train was a success. Upon exiting the train, only a short 15 minute bus ride and a casual sprint through the pouring rain stood between us and our destination. We finally arrived in Wolfenbuettel, exhausted, but anticipating the week ahead. The evening was then spent unwinding, walking around the beautiful town of Wolfenbuettel that had not been destroyed in the wars, having a team supper, team building activities, and finally, enjoying some much needed sleep.