#euromavs Blog: A Few of Our Favorites in Italy
Aug 20, 2015 | Men's Basketball
#euromavs Italy Blog: Post #7
by Daniel Meyer and Zach Jackson
Part 1 - DANIEL MEYER
Ciao! It's my turn to contribute to the blog and keep all of you back in the States informed on our trip to Italy. As a major history buff, I am doubly interested in the past of this land. My craving of knowledge has certainly been satiated by this trip and all that we have seen. In this blog I will talk about my two favorite things that I have done so far on our excursion to Italy.
First was our trip to Lake Como. Nestled in the Italian Alps, it is one of the biggest lakes in Italy. It is surrounded on both sides by villas and small towns of exceptional beauty and grandeur. The villas were constructed by the ancient Italian aristocracy as summer homes. Nowadays they are owned by the super affluent, from actor George Clooney to Russian billionaires looking to show off their wealth. During our trip around Lake Como, we visited the town of Bellagio, the namesake for the famous hotel in Las Vegas. Bellagio was an incredible town with many amazing buildings and views of the lake, along with some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted.
My second favorite experience was very different from the first: Segway-ing around Florence and Rome. For those of you who don't know, a Segway is a mode of motorized bi-wheeled transportation. Segways allow you to cover significantly more ground than you could on foot. They are also a lot of fun to ride around on with teammates while seeing the sights. Yesterday, four of us covered roughly 14 miles in one hour through the back streets of Rome, down to the Vatican and back to the Spanish Steps. It is a great way to see the city while having a blast at the same time.
For our fans, I would like to say thank you for reading my blog and showing your support for our team. I look forward to seeing you all in Baxter Arena when we kick off our first season of full Division I competition in search of a Summit League title and a trip to the big dance.
#32
Part 2 - ZACH JACKSON
For me, this trip has been my first time out of the country. Being a freshman, I am very thankful for such an opportunity at the start of my career. I've been blessed with the chance to experience a different culture. Among the differences I've seen are the food, the architecture and the landscape, but that was to be expected, as this land has been inhabited longer than that of North America.
A similarity I've noticed between the Italy and the U.S. is that both are blanketed in shopping areas -- at least in the big cities. Rome, Florence and Milan have all had major areas where tons of people come to just walk around and shop. It's been a good place to people watch, as these cities are not filled with just Italian natives, but many people from around the world.
The most fascinating thing so far though has to be the churches. They are so much bigger and more detailed than the churches I've seen in America. Some of the biggest churches in the world are in Italy, and we've seen some tremendous ones in Milan, Florence and Rome. The churches are covered in decorations and paintings, and they also use a lot of gold. It just shows how big religion is within the Italian culture.
Overall this has been a great and memorable experience so far. I'm extremely thankful the opportunity to play basketball in a different country while being able to see a different culture firsthand. Thanks for reading!
Check out previous entries from the #euromavs blog below:
#1 -- Benvenuti a Milano! (Aug. 13)
#2 -- Lake Como and Gameday #1 (Aug. 14)
#3 -- More Exploring in Milan (Aug. 15)
#4 -- Next Up, Florence (Aug. 16)
#5 -- A Free Day in Florence (Aug. 17)
#6 -- Ciao, Roma! (Aug. 18)
Browse our ongoing trip photo gallery from our Facebook page: #euromavs photo album.
