The following blog is written by Joanie Miller, a Senior on the Women’s Team from Lancaster, PA

Day 1: We all arrived to Rome and even though we were all tired from flying all night, we went into the Vatican and were instantly amazed by the beauty. We went back to the hotel for dinner (the highlight was tiramisu) and rested up for day 2.

Day 2: We woke up in Rome and had breakfast (tons of pastries!) and had practice which was our first time on clay courts! Basically think of a tennis court with baseball/softball dirt. Definitely changed the game up a bit, but was really fun to learn a new aspect of our game! Next was a city tour of Rome. We saw the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and so much of the amazing historical city of Rome. We had some free time so we split up to explore but the best part was running into all our teammates while walking the streets in such a big crowded city. It made it feel like home and was so fun to explore abroad with our best friends! Next stop was dinner which of course was pasta. Carbonara and yet again tiramisu which we weren’t upset about. Those who wanted to got tickets for a pro soccer game in the massive stadium where they cheered on team Roma as they played.

Day 3: We woke up, had breakfast at the hotel with our teammates and took our bus to the Colosseum for a guided tour. Lots of team pics here! Then we went to 3T Tennis Academy for our first match of the trip. Our match was in a small town near Assisi. The courts were still clay but enclosed in a big dome to protect us from the cold weather. Even though we don’t know Italian and it was hard to communicate, they were all very nice and their coaches even wanted to go through some drills with us. One of the town grandmas made us dinner and we ate at their tennis club and then headed back to the bus to transfer to Florence.

Day 4: Now in Florence, our hotel manager was a fluffy black cat named Florence who lives in the hotel lobby which some of us enjoyed (maybe more than others haha). We had breakfast together at our hotel and headed to our second match of the trip! Fun fact: in Italy they pretty much only drink cappuccinos so if you want boring old black coffee like in the US, you have to ask for it special! The club we played our second match in was called Match Ball Firenze Country Club S.S.D.ar.I and it was gorgeous. We played on clay courts, but they had also had grass courts! We played matches, trained with amazing Italian coaches and made new friends. We then freshened up at the hotel and headed to Florence city center where we had free time to grab lunch. We ended up choosing to all have lunch together at an authentic Italian restaurant that Paul (our awesome delegation manager for our trip in Italy) recommended. The best food of our trip so far was followed up by a guided tour of the city including a stop at the Galleria Accademia where we learned about the famous statue of Michelangelo’s David! Dinner was at a Osteria in Florence and then back to the hotel to rest up for day 5.

Day 5: We woke up in Florence, had breakfast at our hotel and then split up. Some of us opted to take a bus into Florence city center to do more exploring since there is so much to see! Most of the team went to tour the Florence pro soccer stadium. We got to walk on the field, see the VIP suites and see the locker rooms! Then we picked up lunch and headed to Pisa to see the famous leaning tower. We learned that the tower was designed to be straight but started to tilt during its construction in the medieval times. We then had some time to shop in the town square and headed to our next stop: Civitavecchia which is a coastal town outside Rome. We had dinner together and then settled in to our hotel. 

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