WE WIN!

By the title of this blog, I hope you can tell- we got our first win!!! I'm so excited and happy for our team. Of course there are quite a few games that we should have won before this one, but it's a great feeling to finally get a win.

We played against Aris, who was 1 above us in the rankings. They have an American post player on their team, too. Her name is Monique Oliver and she played at Rutgers, which means that I played against her at least once every year in college since Rutgers was in our league. Monique has been having a great season so far. She's been averaging a lot of points and rebounds and overall has been playing really well. I knew it was personally going to be a tough game going against her and I was hoping that our guards would have solid games. 

Our guards did play a solid overall game, which was key for our win. Our older point guard had 20 points and made some clutch plays at the end of the game. Our younger point guard (she's 16!) had 7 assists! She did a great job of distributing the ball. The rest of our guards played great defense and also contributed on the offensive end by getting offensive rebounds and making big time shots and good passes. I actually had one of my better games , too. I didn't score so many points, but I pulled down a lot of rebounds and played a good defensive game. I was so happy with the win that I could have cared less if I had a good or bad game. All that matters is that we won! It was a happy bus ride home!

When we got home, I got a message from one of the other American players on a different team here in Athens asking if I wanted to meet up with her and go out to one of the clubs. I was exhuasted and really wanted to go to sleep but I thought it would be a lot of fun to see the nightlife scene here so I decided to go! And I'm really glad that I went. I had a great time! We stayed out really late (or really early!) depending on how you look at it but we met some cool people and had a blast. So I spent most of the day yesterday laying in bed recovering haha. 

Today, I came to the downtown/center area to do some Christmas shopping and to get Starbucks! They don't have the same seasonal drinks here (no white peppermint mocha) but I had a pretty good drink- a toffee nut latte. I'm currently sitting in Starbucks, using their free wifi and enjoying my hot coffee while writing this blog.

Our coach just told me the other day that I can go home for Christmas a few days earlier than expected. This was such happy news for me! I'll be home next week and can't wait to see everybody back home! I know I'll have a lot of fun!

We have another game this weekend and again, it's against a team that we should be able to beat. It would be so awesome to head into the Christmas break having won 2 games in a row. Then, we'll come back and gear up for the 2nd half of the season. 

Well, that's all the news I have for now. Thanks for checking in!

December?!?!

Welcome to December! It's hard to believe that Christmas is only a couple of weeks away. With that being said, that means that I'll be home in a couple of weeks!! I'm really excited to come home and see everybody and take a long shower!!!

My mom left a week ago so I've got about 2 weeks left till I get to go home. She made me a sweet little Advent calendar so I have a treat to look forward to every day! So far this week, I've gotten some chocolates and a Starbucks gift card! I'm gonna go to Starbucks on Monday! If I wrote to you guys about everything that my mom and I did, I could fill up 3 blogs so instead I'll give you a couple of quick sentences.

We rented a car and drove to Old Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic Games. The ruins of the buildings there are awesome and the museum was really cool, too. Although we didn't have the best weather, I'm really glad we got to see that. As an athlete, the significance of seeing the birthplace of the greatest sports stage in the world was really amazing. We also went to Sounio, another city with some ruins. Of course we did all of the traditional touristy things in Athens and did some shopping, although not nearly as much as when my sisters were here!

It was awesome to have my mom here to spend Thanksgiving with. If you remember, I wrote about that in my last blog! This week has gone by really fast so hopefully these next 2 weeks will fly by as well! Our team still hasn't won yet (0-6) but we play again tomorrow and I really believe we can win this game and our game next week, too. It would be awesome to go into Christmas with 2 wins.

I cannot wait to get home for Christmas! I have so many people to see and things to do and so much food to eat! I've been making a mental list of all of the fatty American food I want to stuff up on before I come back! I'm looking forward to spending time in both Columbia and Chicago and seeing family and friends in both places. My mom and I are planning on catching the DePaul game on the 29th in Peoria and I'm trying to get some tickets to the Bulls game on the 28th in Chicago. 

Another thing I'm excited for when I get home is to open the packages I have waiting for me at home! I've done quite a bit of online shopping since I've been here. My sisters brought me some of the stuff that I had bought but there will be more when I get home! Sometimes it's nice to treat yourself to things. I'm trying really hard to save up a lot of the money that I'm making because my cousin and I are planning a backpacking trip through Europe for 2 months this spring, but I also like to do nice things for myself and for others. 

That's all I can think of for now. Thanks for checking in!