Northwestern University Athletics
2010 Italian Tour Player Blog
8/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
August 27, 2010
Hello NU fans,
First of all, I would like to thank you for all your support. My teammates and I really appreciate it, and you guys are a big part of our success.
Training camp has been great so far. The team came prepared, and you can tell that everybody was working out on their own during summer. Camp started last Monday, and from day one everybody was excited about it. We all came to work hard because we realize that the Italy trip is a great way for us to get a head start before the season kicks off. We have been lifting three times a week and practicing every weekday.
As the trip to Italy is getting closer, the whole team is getting more and more anxious to hit the road. Personally, I always wanted to visit Italy because it's a country with an amazing history and culture. When we land in Rome, the first place we are going to visit is the Colosseum and I cannot wait. While in Florence I would like to see Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. In Venice I would like to see Basilica di San Marco. Also I cannot wait to see Lake Como, which is widely considered as one of the most beautiful lakes in Italy. Finally, I always wanted to try authentic Italian food and I am especially excited about that.
Nobody on the team, besides Davide, speaks Italian. That is why Coach Carmody organized for us a two-hour session of Italian language on Wednesday. We learned a few useful phrases that are going to help us interact with the Italians. We learned different ways of greeting people such as "buongiorno," "buona sera," "buona notte" or simply "ciao!" We also learned how to order something while in a restaurant or a café; for example, "aqua" is water or "caffe" is coffee. We also learned phrases such as "senta scusi" which means "excuse me," "per favore" which means "please" and "grazie" which means "thank you." According to Christina, our Italian teacher, women in Italy are very pretty. That is why she taught us how to compliment young Italian women by greeting them with "ciao bella!" Guys on the team who are single will find this phrase especially useful.
We are all very excited for this trip. This is going to be a wonderful opportunity for us to compete against good teams, eat good food, see beautiful places and end this summer on a good note!
Go Wildcats,
