Living and Competing Abroad - Pt. 1
Maybe this is something I should have written about my first volleyball season overseas, but better late than never! I was too busy "living my best life" and soaking in all the new changes. Keep in mind that doing ANYTHING abroad requires a certain level of adaptation and compromise.
Here's the truth: No matter how many places you've traveled to, you can never fully prepare yourself for actually living in a different country you've never been to before. In August 2015, I had never been to Europe alone, and I had only briefly visited Italy and Switzerland with my dad. Yes, that's more than some could say, BUT I was still a fresh stranger to the scenario. I was a millennial pioneer traveling across the world in search of something different, new, exciting, and scary.
To keep things organized, here's a little timeline to think about...
May 8, 2015: College graduation in Colorado, USA
August 10-21, 2015: Arrival and stay in Maribor, Slovenia for BIP Bring it USA FIVB volleyball tryout (SFO-Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Ljubljana airport, Ljubljana airport to tryout hotel in Maribor)
August 17, 2015: Signed contract; departure from tryout to Cologne, Germany where 2 new teammates picked me up and drove me to Luxembourg
SLOVENIA
Besides the intense jet lag after landing in Ljubljana, my entire body had this skin-to-bone sensation that I was in a different world. I was literally a "fish out of water". It's hard to explain, but when you travel alone you will understand the feeling. For a moment you want to absorb all your surroundings, breathe it in, look around, observe... but at the same time your survival instincts kick in.
Okay...I don't know the language, I have never been here before, but I have to figure out where I must go
My only immediate task after landing was to find where my GoOpti shuttle would pick me up, and be there on time ;) Luckily Slovenia is not a third-world country, and the basic layout of their airport was ergonomic/easy to understand and navigate.
Once I got to the hotel, I checked in and took my bags into what would be my room for the next 11 days potentially. First impression?
How do normal humans sleep on that thing?
I had 2 other roommates that naturally felt the same way, because, you know, we Americans are just so big compared to everyone else lol... errrr, at least our American standard of living is larger than most places. Regardless, we were able to adapt and make it work. Having 2 trainings a day and sometimes with a full match as well was enough to keep us sedated between sessions. It was pretty humid in Maribor, and our AC unit was not working properly for most of the time. The cherry on top was that this particular hotel did not offer laundry services (ummm... excuse me?). So for 30 athletes training at least twice a day, sweating for at least 5 hours a day, we can wash our stuff.... where?
In the sink. Hand washed. With some random European detergent we bought in Maribor at the grocery store. Air-dry outside.
The main thing I don't understand is that this was a really* nice hotel. It had a complete gymnasium and weight room for our trainings, restaurant/cafe inside, terrace outside, bar and lobby, clean rooms, etc... just no laundry machines. *scratches head* It's possible that the services have changed since summer 2015, but we were shocked to say the least.
The entire program was very cool because we also got to enjoy the hotel's Alpine slide (basically a zig-zag roller coaster/slide that goes down a slope), lunch at the top of the mountain, and dinner at a local winery. These activities were very posh and first class. Some of my best memories of that tryout came from that day :) Not to mention, the North Korean national women's volleyball team also joined us to the winery:
OFF TO LUXEMBOURG
By the morning of the 17th when I left the hotel for my flight to Germany, about 10 girls had already left to their new countries and teams. It was a little sad to say goodbye to these girls... we bonded over the same melancholy feelings of being foreigners, struggles of double/triple-days, and most importantly - the love of the game.
I finished my last evening there on a high note and went out for dinner with 2 of my closest new friends there. We ordered 3 plates of decadent pasta to share, split 2 bottles of wine, and "cheers"ed to some beers with a random group of Irish men at the pub down the street. It was a jolly good time, and the adventure was only beginning...
