May 25, 2008

Hey everyone! We experienced another exciting day here in Belgium. We started the day a little earlier today since we had about an hour and a half bus ride to where we were going. It was well worth it though. We visited the city of Brugge. It is known for being one of the most visually beautiful cities in Belgium and it definitely lived up to its expectations. Although we experienced our first bit of rainy weather earlier in the morning, the city's canals, gardens, and churches and buildings still looked amazing. We walked around the town square, did a little shopping, and some of us even took horse-and-buggy tour rides before we all met up and got lunch together.

After a few pit stops for our last chance at Belgian waffles, we were back on the road to get to our final game. Today we played one of the highest elite teams in Belgium. We came into the game knowing it was going to be a tough battle, and it sure was. The opposing team had some great players, including candidates for Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in Belgium. After a slow start by us, we battled back and made it a very close, intense game.

Unfortunately, we were given our first and only loss of the trip. Everyone played hard and fought back well, despite the questionable reffing calls being made.

So that was it, the basketball part of our trip is over. It's hard to believe that after all that work we have been putting in over the past few months, our four games are over with. But I will say, we are all very pleased with how it payed off--with our 3-1 record here.

To end the day we had a team dinner provided by the oppposing team, along with a great toast and speech given by Coach Botham that summed up the sincere happiness and appreciation we all have for being given this opportunity to play over here. After that, everyone was in total agreement: it's officially summer time... let's enjoy our last night in Belgium, and then onto Paris!