Got home April 7th! Two weeks later, my cousin and I took a road trip out to California for Coachella. We drove along Route 66 part of the way and saw a bunch of really awesome places. Coachella Music Festival happened (possibly best 3 days EVER). My cousin and I drive to Vegas where we meet our moms and continue our road trip back to Missouri. We see the Grand Canyon and a bunch of other landmarks and neat things along the way back.
I moved back to Chicago in early May and had a great spring with all my friends up there. I got to see a lot of friends and family and people from school that I hadn't seen in almost a year! I goof around for a few weeks before finally starting work as a part time bartender at Kelly's Pub, which is basically on DePaul's campus and is one of our favorite watering holes 😉. All summer I worked at Kelly's a couple of days a week and also moonlighted as a babysitter for 2 families! I also worked basketball camps for Coach Bruno and did some other random jobs. I went to the Beyonce and Jay-Z concert with my good friend Mary where I sang my heart out and loved every second of it! I went to Cubs games Chicago Sky games, went to the beach and in general, just spent a lot of time with my friends, especially my best friend Sam!
I got a puppy!! (That's the most exciting part of my summer!) I really wanted to get a dog when I moved back but since I was going to be staying with my aunt and uncle, I couldn't very well bring a new puppy with me. After I moved to the city when I started working at Kelly's, I still really wanted a dog. One day while babysitting, I started looking up puppies in Chicago and the surrounding states. I found a breeder in Northen Indiana that had French Bulldog puppies. The pictures were to die for so I called the guy and set up an appointment for the next day to drive out there and see the pup. My friend Becca went with me and within 2 minutes of holding the little guy, I knew I couldn't leave there without him. I drove home that day with a 5 week old French Bulldog puppy and never looked back!!!
Oh yeah, and I signed another contract to continue by basketball career, this time playing in Italy! I'm currently in my apartment in Trieste, Italy and today marks 3 weeks since my arrival. Trieste is in the Northeastern part of Italy, extremely close to Slovenia and Croatia, actually only 5 and 10 miles respectively. My club is called Societa Ginnastica Triestina and this will be their first year in the A1 league.
If you remember last year, I really struggled with the decision of whether to continue playing basketball or if it was time to hang up the shoes and move on. I didn't make this decision lightly and talked with a lot of family and friends before deciding to play again. I was extremely unhappy last year in Greece due to a number of reasons but didn't want one bad experience to ruin my basketball career. I thought with a new team, in a new country and with a different set of circumstances, this might be an amazing experience.
I'm not going to lie and say it's been easy because it hasn't. It's only been 3 weeks but for the most part, things have been going well. I miss my family and friends SO much. I had plans of bringing my new puppy, Luigi 😁, with me but because he was so young, he wasn't able to get all of his shots in order to travel. My sister and my parents are taking care of him but I miss him so much too!
The team and the people involved are great. We have 13 girls on the team, 3 coaches and a bunch of other staff/team managers/board members. There is another American on my team this year and it's been great to have her to talk with and do things with. I'm so extremely glad I'm not the only one on the team like last year. We also have a men's team here in Trieste and they have 2 American guys on their team as well. I'm sure as the season goes on, we will all hang out and do things together.
That's the update on me for now! I promise I'll do a better job of blogging so check back in for updates on my life and our season! Our first official game is October 5th but we have friendly games almost every week and weekend, including some traveling. Last weekend we went to Malè, which is in the mountains. It's a popular destination for skiers in the winter. It was so beautiful.
Well, I have to get ready for my driving lesson! They are trying to teach me how to drive a stick shift car- it's not going so well right now haha. Hopefully today will be better! Thanks for reading!
Ciao!
PS, here are some pics from this summer and from Italy so far!
My mom dared me to climb on this huge metal elk so of course, I did. The video of my getting on is quite hilarious!
Our road trip home included a stop at the Four Corners.
Cheering on the DePaul softball team in the NCAA tournament in Lexington, KY.
My other American teammate, Donica, and me.
The inside of our arena, also called The Palace.
Walking with the team in Malè.
And finally my handsome little devil of a dog, Luigi!
Just to give you some perspective on his size! And that's my cousin Maggie, we road tripped to Cali.
