Monday

I'm starting off this post with something I forgot happened yesterday that was quite funny. Some guy came up to Kyle and told him he looked like he had a "little Italian" in him. But when he retold the story, i took it as the guy called him "a little Italian". So now Kyle is the "Little Italian". Then some guy, not sure if it was the same one, asked him where he was from, Kyle said the US, and then the guy replied, "From Kentucky?" We laughed a good couple of minutes at that one. Honestly, what better state for some random Italian to know than Kentucky?!?

Anyways, MONDAY started out with poor Erin jumping out of bed and exclaiming, "I've been awake for 5 hours. This sucks." Apparently, the non-arrival of her bags is causing some insomnia issues. (And yes, currently at 10.30pm, she is still awaiting a phone call saying her bags are here. Every time the phone rings, "OH MY GOD MY BAGS ARE HERE! Oh Aly, it's your mom.") So we got up and headed down to breakfast and had some delicious pastries, again, and apparently a little more than we bargained for. As soon as we got to the rink, Aly was doubled over in pain from stomach pangs. Colby is pretty sure its the live cultured milk. Again, more than we asked for. So the rest of us jogged and warmed up, well attempted to get warm. Erin still not having her skates did a awesome band workout, while the boys and I did our ice workout. Aly was still in a ball in the locker room. So we started out doing a warm up relay, then the boys did a fast relay and I did 2 2 lap accels. All of us are looking better, even though the ice was still breaking out pretty bad. the boys then did 3x7 laps and I did 2x7, again, all by myself. Yay for 7 lap time trials. We ended practice with a cool down relay and concluded an overal good practice. We all looked good and nobody fell! Well, ok, Tricia did, but we wont talk about that. Lol.

We were excited to eat some yummy lunch but found out we had to wait til 12, so most of the guys and girls got flush massages via Colby, but I declined and took a nap. Lunch was served and a lot of us passed up the spaghetti for the ricotta, only to figure out it was pretty much rice. But pleasantly it was some pretty good sauce on top making it very yummy. We enjoyed it, and we also enjoyed the chicken or omelets that we had as the second choice.

After lunch we hurried off to get packed and ready to leave. After everything was out of the rooms, I was extremely tired and took a nap, again, in the lobby, but I'm told that the other guys and Aly went into town and got some extremely delicious pizza. Luckys. Well as soon as 2 rolled around, we began to load up the bus and started our 4 hour drive to Bolzano. The drive was very scenic and we at first were driving through the mountains via tunnels (the Italians like their dynamite) but after a while, and a few Zzzzzzs, we found our selves on twisty, narrow, fall-off-into-oblivion roads that climbed the mountains. It was gorgeous and at one point we were above tree line at a ski resort. Simply amazing.

About 7 o'clock we all work up to the front of our amazing looking hotel, the Sheraton. We clambered off the bus, most of us with only one eye open, checked into our gorgeous rooms (extremely spacious for Europe) and got ready for dinner. Which was kind of disappointing. We've been used to your 3 course meals, and here, at the nicer hotel, we got salad and a snack size pasta bowl. But it may not have been filling, but man was it goooooood. Leaving the table a little heavier than when we sat down, we decided the hotel and its amenities make up for the change in food. By far. And we're hoping breakfast tomorrow will be much more stellar.

Now I'm winding down in my room. Erin and Aly are asleep, and I'm soon to be as well. We've all talked to the parents and the boyfriends, so we are good to go, not too homesick. Tomorrow we wake up at 7.52 (random, thanks Aly. Lol.) to have breakfast at 8 and a light jog at 10. Then we have ice from 4.00-5.50pm. Hopefully we will finally exchange money tomorrow and maybe even go shopping! Til tomorrow!

Ciao di Cielo!