From Rome with love...

The Roman Colosseum 

In St Peter's Square

We started off our very last day of sight seeing with a visit to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum! It was cool to walk through all the ancient ruins and try to imagine what it looked like during the Roman Empire.Our tour guide, Claudia, the sharp lady that she is, spotted three gypsy women and told us to watch our purses, as they are good at picking pocketing. Shortly after, Coach Kelly actually saw the gypsies steal a wallet right out of a man's bag! Thank goodness we have Claudia as our watch guard to keep us safe! 
We then spent the rest of the afternoon touring Vatican City. Our Vatican tour guide, Mario, took us to see the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. Michelangelo's paintings were MIND BLOWING, as well as the rest of the artwork throughout the buildings. 
Needless to say, we cannot believe we are already to the end of our trip. We are sad to be leaving beautiful Italy tomorrow morning, but are looking forward to seeing our families. We are so grateful to have had the chance to experience such an amazing place with such fun people! 
Until next time, Italy! 
CIAO CIAO! 
Britta, Jubee & Rachelle 
(The best Seniors!!)

The Gusties tackle Rome

Team in front of the Pantheon

We started our day with an early breakfast, checked out of the Michelangelo hotel, and began our three hour drive south to the city of Rome! As soon as we arrived we were fortunate to have a wonderful tour guide, Lizza waiting to show us some of the most important monuments, buildings, and fountains of Rome. She gave us lots of interesting background and history of each one. We started with a panoramic bus tour in which we were able to see the outside of the colosseum,  the Caracalla (which was a large public bath place open to all the towns people thousands of years ago) the Circus Massimo ,which was used for chariot races, and the Palatino remains,which is where the first palace built in Rome where the first king of Rome lived.

At the Trevi Fountain

After about a 45 minute bus tour we got off the bus and went straight to the Trevi fountain to throw a coin over our shoulder and make a wish! Next we walked to some other amazing buildings including the huge Pantheon church. We ended our first day in Rome sitting by a beautiful fountain while eating some gelato to cool off. We boarded our bus and arrived at Melia, our new 4 star hotel around 5:30.  The team took a refreshing dip in the pool before eating a 3 course meal for dinner. It was a wonderful day and we are excited to see more of Rome and The Vstican on our last day in Italy!
-written by Karina Shroeder and Hannah Howard

In front of the Court of Justice

Spending a day under the Tuscan Sun!

The wall surrounding Lucca

After a good night's sleep, we got up and ate breakfast before heading to Lucca. Lucca is a  wonderful town which is one of  a few cities in Italy that is surrounded  completely by a stone wall. The streets are narrow and like a maze. Our guide Claudia encouraged us to stay on the main streets as it is easy to get lost. The main form of transportation  in Lucca is by bicycles. You definitely need to watch out or you can get run down! We spent two hours walking the streets, going to shops, seeing the duomo of Luca in the town square, admiring the scenery, and enjoying more gelato. After a nice morning in Lucca we loaded the bus and headed to a traditional Tuscany winery named Fattoria Il Poggio.

At the Farmhouse Winery

Upon arrival, we were greeted by a very enthusiastic tour guide named Helen. She described to us the process of making the wines and then took us up into the vineyard to show us the grapes and olive trees. We toured the olive press and learned about olive oil and how it is made. Helen led us to an elegant outdoor seating area where we were treated to a traditional Tuscan lunch. We were served bruschetta, olives, pasta, salami, and fresh bread. We tasted a number of different wines as well as their olive oil and balsamic vinegar. We finished up at the winery and discovered that our bus had an oil leak. After waiting for over an hour, our new bus arrived and we were finally on our way to Pisa. In Pisa, we all quickly got our pictures taken at the Leaning Tower of Pisa and headed back to the bus. It was another HOT day so the air conditioning on the bus was a welcomed relief. We then headed to Montecatini Alto. Also known as "the Old Town". It is located high in the hills and overlooks the city. The bus ride there was very curvy and steep. When we arrived, we were surrounded by gorgeous views of the valleys and rolling hills of Tuscany! We captured some great photos and headed back to the hotel for dinner. It was a long, hot, fun-filled, adventurous day. A good night sleep is ahead and then we are up early tomorrow and off to Rome.
-written by Anna Lundquist and Emmaline Crawford

Exploring Florence

Gusties by the Piazza del Duomo

After a good night's sleep in our new hotel, we departed this morning at 9am for an hour long bus ride to the city of Florence.  Upon arriving we were greeted by our city tour guide, Antonella. Over the next hour and half we got a more personal and historical tour of this beautiful city. We started at the Piazza San Marco, which is the square in the center of town. We then walked to the Piazza del Duomo to see the fourth largest duomo in the world. It is hard to describe the size, beauty, and detail of this incredible church. There is a 500 stair climb to the top of the building, but an incredible view of Florence. Outside the duomo is the babtistry, which was built in the 7th century. It is hard to even comprehend how old the things we are seeing are. We then walked to Piazza Della Signori and saw some original sculptures. We even saw the replica of Michaelangelo's Statue of David.

The oldest bridge in Florence

We ended our tour at the Piazza Santa Croce. It is another church as well as a museum. It is also the place where Michaelangelo was laid to rest in a tomb that is on display. From there we had a couple of hours to travel around the city ourselves and explore some more on our own. Florence is known for their leather, so many people purchased purses, bags and wallets. It was another warm day (94 degrees)and we all couldn't wait to get our bathing suits on and hit the outdoor pool to cool off! Dinner was another 4 course meal of traditional Italian dishes including pasta and veal. After dinner we strolled down to the square in Montacatini to enjoy some music and night life. Tomorrow we will travel to the city of Lucca,as well as a small Tuscan farm for a wine and olive oil tasting. Then we will head to Pisa to see the famous tower. So much to still see...Off to bed!

--Morgan Iverson and Annie Odegard

Venice

 

Gustie group in St. Mark's Square

 After an early wake-up call, we left the Leonardo DaVinci hotel in Erba and arrived in Venice three hours later. We took a 25 minute ferry to the island city. It is so unique as there are no vehicles or bicycles in Venice. All transportation is by foot or boat. The weather was very warm today reaching 92 degrees and there were large crowds of tourists.We explored St. Mark's Square and ventured around the many alleys, stopping at shops along the way to look at the beautiful Murano glass that Venice is famous for. We were fortunate enough to be able to take gondolas through the canals that wind through the city. (In our opinion, the "$ophomore $wagdela" was the party gondola). After a fun day complete with a dance party on the afternoon ferry, we left Venice for another long (4 hour) bus ride to Montecatini in Tuscany. We were happy to arrive at our new hotel - the Michelangelo - where we enjoyed a delicious four course meal. After a very long day filled with lots of travel, we're all ready to get a good night's sleep before our adventure to Florence tomorrow!

(written by Julie Sohre and Lindsey Johnson)

Picture taken on our gondola ride. Beautiful!!

Team with Claudia, our guide, on ferry to Venice

Switzerland and Game #2

At 9:30 this morning, we boarded our bus and traveled the great hills of Northern Italy until we reached the beautiful Lake Lugano of Switzerland. When we arrived, there were a variety of options for us to experience the Swiss culture. We walked the streets of Lugano where there was an abundance of boutiques selling knives, watches, and delicious chocolates. The Swiss Alps surround the resort town and the lake. It was simply beautiful! Some of us went on paddle boat rides on the lake, while others shopped at the small street venders. Afterwards we boarded the bus and ventured back to Italy and stopped at a supermarket to buy snacks for after our game. It was a unique experience to see how the Italians shop. There was an abundance of fresh produce and meats, including a large variety of seafood. There were plenty of different breads and bakery goods with very little processed foods... very different than an American grocery store. 

  Tonight we played the Usmate basketball Women's Basketball Club for our final game in Italy. They played the National Anthem, introduced each player, and then presented us all with a team shirt. They had many fans and at half time the Mayor of the city came to speak with Coach Kelly and welcome our team to Usmate. In our seniors last game, we won 61-43. It was a pleasure to meet and play another Italian team and sing the Gustie rouser one last time with our amazing seniors! You will be missed!
  Tomorrow we are excited to travel to Venice and then south to Montecatini. It was another Gucci day and we look forward to many more!

-Written by Cara Christianson and Taylor Ebnet

Lake Como and Game #1

Today we started off our day with an authentic Italian cafe style breakfast at our hotel in Erba. At 9:30 we loaded onto our tour bus and headed to the town of Como to start our adventure. When arriving in Como we roamed the streets where we saw a beautiful duomo and the amazing scenery around Lago di Como (Lake Como). After about an hour we were able to hop on to the water taxi that would bring us across Lake Como and to the small town of Bellagio. We had some free time to walk around the cute, cobblestone streets, get some lunch and gelato, and do some shopping! I almost forgot to mention that on our boat ride we saw GEORGE CLOONEY'S  

house! Unfortunately he wasn't there to show us around the city, but we had a good time anyways. After a well spent day in Como and Bellegio, we came back to the hotel where we were served a nice meal to prep us for our first game over here! The trip to the game was full of laughs and excitement for being able to play the sport we love... IN ITALY! As we warmed up, we did our normal routine to get back into the swing of things. Before the game began they were kind enough to play our National Anthem with the Italian anthem to follow. Very cool gesture! Learning the new rules was pretty interesting, but a fun and different experience. Apparently in Italy the lanes are wider, players need to call timeouts (only when the ball is not in play I might add), they play 10 minute quarters with a 24 second shot clock and 8 second back court, and you get 5 seconds in the lane. These changes didn't stop coach from yelling at the refs that the girl was 3 seconds in the lane. Luckily for her, they didn't understand much of what she said and kindly clarified when they could. Keeping all these rules in mind was a struggle at times but it didn't stop the Gusties from shining! We beat the ASD Basketball Costa Women's team 64-61!!! It was a close game and a great win. The players lived the Gustavus gear we provided them and were great sports to take a picture with us to document the experience. You can bet the Gustie rouser was sang tonight and after our game tomorrow we hope to sing it again! Definitely a day to remember!
-written by Heather Hohenstein