ATHENS, GREECE – Hey! Have you ever seen that teenybopper movie "Euro Trip" with the kids that backpack across Europe hitting all of the hotspots, getting in trouble, having bad luck, and a lot of nude people? Well that's sort of like the Greek softball team's two-week preOlympic tour of Europe.
Europe had its ups and down, but really who cares! I was in Europe. I had a very intricate journal entry that took me forever to write. I was ready to send it but now that we are at the Olympic Village in Athens, there is no wireless Internet connection in the village. So I improvised. I thought to sum up the team's warm-up trip for the Olympics, I would give you some highlights and lowlights. I had to leave out a lot because the computer lab lady won't let me stay on any longer, so here goes.
Most preferred eating spot
The best restaurant where we ate was a place called "hot". It was this hip restaurant in downtown Prague on a busy street. The place was designed in reds, shiny chrome, and very modern with a silver staircase and lights dangling with silver sequins. We sat in red plush seats that were almost like couches and felt like VIP's for our big meal. The service was great and when I mean great, let me explain. Our waiter – he also happened to be hot! – came by every five minutes with hot bread. We ate a lot of hot bread.
Favorite city
Amsterdam was by far was the coolest city we visited in Europe. Where else can you walk down the street and get a contact high from all the marijuana smoke in the air? And it's legal!
Favorite shopping place
Germany and Prague had good shopping and I managed to do damage in both places. There were cool little shops with clothes you would never find in the U.S. I purchased my first pair of shoes in Germany. I can't wear them right now, but every night I take them out of my bag and look at them. They are so cute! After looking at all my receipts, I realized I had spent a lot. It's not hard to spend money in Europe when the exchange rate is weird and it feels like you're spending monopoly money.
Favorite hotel
Germany had the coolest hotel I had ever stayed in, however, I forgot the name. Sorry. The hotel was very new. Each room had modern abstract paintings in bright colors and simple clean furniture. It looked like they staged rooms right out of IKEA. In the lobby was this magic coffee machine. There was every type of coffee imaginable at the press of a button. In Germany I lived off a coffee high – it was awesome! I had maybe four cups a day. The one downside of the hotel: THE SHOWER. First of all it was a tiny box; I couldn't move. Second, there was a gap in the glass shower door where all the water would spill out. When I would finish there would be a lake in the bathroom so I would use all of the towels to make a dam to stop the water from going into our room. The maids were not happy.
Most eye-opening experience
On our way to Amsterdam we were sitting in the train and I noticed some suspicious activity going on in the seats in front of us. There were a bunch of teenagers being pretty loud. So being the nosy person I am, I wanted to see what was going on. I stuck my head in between the seats where I wouldn't be seen and I couldn't believe what was going on. The kids were taking lines of cocaine. That was a nice "welcome to Amsterdam."
Best cookie
The "Hit" cookie was the best cookie I had while I was in Europe. They come in a roll and they are sort of like oreos but much better. They are about a dollar a roll, so it made it hard to pass up. I would eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was out of control. I'm now in cookie rehab.
Best and worst chicken risotto
All my teammates were raving about this chicken dish at our hotel in Prague, so I had to try it. They were right – it was sooo good, I loved it! Later that night in the middle of my game my stomach started to hurt. After the game we were sitting in a restaurant and my stomach was really beginning to give me trouble. At first I thought the effect of my eating all those cookies over the past weeks had made me gain weight and was causing my shorts to get so tight they were creating stomach problems. Thankfully, I was wrong. My shorts were not choking me – the chicken risotto was choking me. I finally made it back to the hotel and laid in bed. I felt real funny. The room was spinning like I was drunk. I sat up in my bed and realized it was all over for me. I ran to the bathroom and got sick. I repeated this fun little action all through the night. Food poisoning! The one good thing about my sickness was that I got to spend the whole next day in bed watching Czech television. Excellent!
Best place to get a neck or body cramp
Charter buses are supposed to be luxurious, and I guess they are if you only spend a short time in them. After spending hours and hours on buses this summer I have mastered the most pretzel-like sleeping positions you could imagine. Bus rides of 4-5 hours seemed like cake until we had the Holland-to-Germany trip. We got into a dead-stop traffic jam on a freeway and the ride ended up taking 12 hours. The results were team delirium and a stiff neck for two days.
Best sunset
Germany had the best sunsets. I would be standing in left field (of course paying attention to the game) looking over the cornfields at the sun melting away. It was beautiful and when that sun disappeared under the corn, we were done playing for the night because the playing field did not have lights.
Best bus driver
Our bus driver in Europe was a guy named Brian. He was this tall young guy from the Netherlands. He could whip our big bus around like it was nothing. Not only was he cute but he sounded just like our governor, Arnold. Sexy.
Best unisex steam rooms
While we were in Prague, there was a huge men's lacrosse tourney going on with men from every country. My teammates worked out in the gym after which they were relaxing in the steam room when three men walked in. As soon as they walked in, the men dropped their towels, and began fanning the coals. The guys were just walking around naked laughing at my teammates because they were wrapped in towels. Where was I? Taking a nap. Yeah, great time to take a nap Lindsay!
Longest night
Our trip to Athens from Prague was the longest night of my life. We left Prague at 11 in the morning and had lunch. We went to the airport where we waited for hours, killing time by doing some last minute shopping. We got shuffled around. We switched planes. We had lost bags. We finally got to Athens at six in the morning and checked into the Olympic Village as the sun was coming up. Ahhhhh ...
Our trip in Europe was very successful and a lot of fun. I saw things that were unbelievable and I am so grateful for my experience thus far. And it seems like things are only getting better. My team concludes the tour undefeated at 22-0. Our record is spotless but it means nothing going into the Olympic Games. It's a different level in Athens that none of us have experienced, but that we are willing to embrace. I miss home but I am in my other home, Athens. I'm starting to feel the Olympic spirit.
— Lindsay James