June 6, 2008

After a sweaty night of sleep (Hotel Osijekc's AC system was down) we awoke to a fabulous breakfast spread. As it is the most important meal of the day, we at TUVB really do appreciate a good breakfast buffet, and this morning's was second to none other than Tulane's own Bruff Commons dining hall (sorry Croatia but you just can't beat cheesy eggs and grits).

After grubbing, we headed to the gym for one of Coach Kritza's famous "short and intense" practices. (We need to talk to the makers of Catch Phrase about adding that one in) to get a good warm up for tonight's competition.

Unfortunately, the weather here in Osijek has not been great (i.e. - constant rain) so it kept most of us from exploring the quaint downtown area. A few of us did brave the storm to hit up the Big K, Konzum, a Croatian supermarket, to pick up some candies and chocolates for themselves - err, I mean their friends and families. Croatia seriously has some of the best goodies in Europe...not that we have been eating any of them or anything like that. However, most of us are down to our last few kuna (has anyone mentioned how they bear a shocking resemblance to Monopoly money?) and are determined to ride out the rest of the trip without another trip to the ATM (a US NINE dollar withdrawal fee! Not so fun!!).

Tonight's match was our last volleyball related activity of our trip. After thirteen days training, practicing and competing here in Croatia, it was a bittersweet feeling hitting the hardwood for the last time in Europe. We switched up the lineups throughout all the games and really tried to empty our tanks (another one of Coach K's famous lines, seriously Catch Phrase, are you listening?) for TUVB's last appearance on the European volleyball scene. We played the same club as yesterday and came out victorious with a 4-0 sweep over Club Osijek.

We returned to our five-star digs (shoutout to Coach Momic, who absolutely insisted on staying at Hotel O) to spend the rest of the evening relaxing and recovering together. You would think that we have had enough of volleyball after playing our last match, but no no no. Hotel Osijek's extended channel options offered the European Volleyball Championships and OF COURSE you know that TUVB couldn't pass that up. We spent the rest of the night cheering on Ksenija's home country of Serbia, as they took on Italy, before passing out in our high thread-count sheets (once again, thanks Coach Momic!!)

Dobro....Bok!!!

Steph

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