A Quickie

The title of the post is clearly referring to the length of this entry, people. It's friday in beautiful Austria and we have one practice and a "game" before the end of training camp. I can't wait to be out of here and start living our real lives in the big city, bright lights. I'm currently bored...it's 4:00 pm and we don't have anything until dinner at 5:30 and practice number two of the day at 8:15. I also took a short trip to the Billa, which is the equivalent of Safeway/Vons in the States. Except much smaller. And with different food products.
Anyways, I was looking to fulfill my CRAVING for some form of high fructose corn syrup, naturally in the soda aisle. I thought about getting a Red Bull...in fact, I thought this out loud. I was then informed that the creator of Red Bull lives in Austria...which makes sense considering the ridiculous price here. When you fools over in the good ol' U.S of A are spending over $3.00 on a Red Bull after tax, we are paying a silly 1,50 euro for that same caffeinated goodness. And a 6 pack of them is less than 6 euro.
But that isn't even the most exciting part of the story. My purchase ended up being a Red Bull COLA. I was stoked, since this drink was even cheaper than the normal Red Bull. When I cracked the top on the can and took the first sip, I was pleasantly greeted with a perfectly created mixture of Coke and Red Bull. Who would have thought? Someone, apparently. Lastly, it's interesting that Red Bull is the sponsor for everything over here. They may even sponsor this blog post if I was to ask. There ya go...took me less that 5 minutes to write. Just wanted to share my new addiction to Red Bull Cola.

*I used "Red Bull" 8 times in this post. 9 if you include the foot note.

After Hours, Salzburg, and Week 2

So the first week of training camp is done, and we are through the weekend and onto the second week. Here are some of the highlights of the past few days. Our trip to Salzburg included myself, Osier, Julia, Katrin, Gaby, and Bodo. Important things to Note: I will be mainly be reffering to the Sound of Music as "the movie" since the Austrians aren't fans, I took all the pictures in this post, and almost everything is surrounded by mountains, so forgive me for telling you that over and over.

Extra-curricular Activities: The Austrian kids enjoy their tv, but all their shows play in German, and even though I have seen each episode of "Friends" 10 times, I still have no idea what is happening. So we resort to card games and outdoor sports. First, the card games. Take every card game you know. Then add a bunch of rules that will make each round of that game last 20 minutes longer, and somtimes to the point where they just won't end. Examples: Presidents and B.S. In Presidents, if you end up with a 2 AND a 3 you pretty much have no chance to win. I have found every way to cheat at the game, just so I can have a few minutes break before the next round. Did I mention we play with 2 or 3 decks and like 12 people...from 10PM - Midnight? Wirklich? And I have definitely won some hearts with my expert card castle buliding skills.

Then we move onto sand volleyball. We did the old fashioned picking teams thing and my team ended up winning in 5 games. We played in the rain and everybody was fairly decent at the game, which is impressive considering I think it's one of the hardest games to play recreationally. We also had some pretty awesome uniforms. :) (left)

Our Trip to Salzburg: Sound of Music anyone? No, we didn't go on the tour, but I had the most amazing day trip to Salzburg and the surrounding lakes and cities. We left Sunday afternoon around 10 AM and drove to Mattsee, the first of our 3 lake stops. The family told me they had taken my former coach George Libbon here, so we took some pictures and were on our way to Salzburg. An hour later, we pulled into the city, which is incredibly scenic considering the whole city is surrounded by gourgeous mountains. We parked in a parking structure inside a mountain and made our way through the tunnel on our way down to the city. We came out of the tunnel in front of, what else, but the theatre in the end of the movie where they sing at the festival. I was under the impression we would be going in, so I didn't take any pictures. We ended up passing the theatre and heading up towards the INCREDIBLE Festung Hohensalzburg. This castle sits on the top of one of the mountains and has an incredible view of the whole city. I ended up with about 100 pictures of the city because I had no idea that the view would keep getting better! We went through the fortress, which also has a museum and other stuff...most of the type in the Museum was German though, so Osier and I pretty much just looked at the items and pictures, which was still mildly entertaining.

We then took the tram down the side of the mountain into the town, where we found a brewery and had an amazing lunch. We then continued onto the Dom, which it the huge church in the center of the town with the green cathedral tops. We walked through the church, which was flooded with people and into the Residenplatz, which is surrounded by baroque style buildings. Continuing through the square, we reached the Alter Markt (Old Market) and the legendary Getreidgasse, where we had the opportunity to see the buliding where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. This concluded our visit to Salzburg, and we were on our way to visit the surrounding lakes at about 3 PM. left: the fortress from the end of Getreidgasse

Wolfgansee and Mondsee: Our next stop was the first of our lake town visits, and was the town of St.Wolfgang on the north side of the Wolfgangsee. The place we stopped we very touristy, but had an incredible view of the lake and the surrounding mountains. We planned to take a boat tour around the lake, but were too late to catch the last ride, so we settled for some coffee, soda, and ice cream. We then took a brief stroll around the town then hopped in the car for our trip to Mondsee.

Mondsee was literally over the mountain from Wolfgangsee, so it took us less than 20 minutes to get there. We parked outside the city and walked in. We went straight to the huge church...which looked oddly familiar once I was inside. Had the lighting been better, I would have immediately realized that it was indeed the church where they are married in the movie. As we were leaving, I grabbed a brochure and across the front there was a line regarding the movie. From there, we walked about 3 blocks to the lake itself, which it surrounded by mountains, naturally. The water was super nice, and if it hadn't been so late, we may have considered swimming. We then headed back to town and had a nice dinner, which included the largest Wiener Schnitzel I have ever seen! That was the end of our day trip, as we headed back to Mattighofen. The ride back included an exchange of American slang for smart-ass German phrases, which we shared with all the boys when we got back to the camp.

Week 2 of Camp: We now have our entire team at camp for the week. I have learned the names of almost everyone, which is a task considering I have never heard over half the names before. Our first team meeting lasted about an hour and was held in German, naturally. I sat next to Osier the whole time, pretending to listen while picking the nail polish off my fingers. The first two practices were a learning process in terms of playing with a whole new group of players who play a different style of basketball, but the one we had this morning was a lot better after a night of sleep. There are 5 players our age and the rest range from ages 18-20, with a total of 14 players. We practice twice a day and have a "fitness" workout in the evening. That's about all I can say about the week so far.

That's It: I got nothing else. These days are very monotonous and we never really do anything THAT interesting, but I have no doubt I will be filled with experiences as soon as we get into Vienna next Monday. Check out our team website: http://www.uk-flames.org/. Finally, there is a lot of love flowing at camp since I learned the phrase"ich liebe dich".

Fun Fact: The diet coke equivalent here is called Coke light and tastes EXACTLY the same as regular coke. And the internet runs on Gbytes and you have to buy the amount of internet you want per month.

Training Camp

The past three days of my life have been some of the longest ever. It's so strange not having a cell phone or very convenient internet access. I have been trying to use the internet twice a day (facebook, email,etc...) since it really is my only form of communication at this point. I swear sometimes I can feel my cell phone vibrating in my pocket. Then I realize that I have had my cell phone off since I got here AND that I have no pockets to begin with.

The camp is amazing. It's located in a small town called Mattighofen in Upper Austria (Oberösterreich), not even an hour from the German border. Everyone has been very nice and understanding to the fact that Michelle and I do not speak much (any) German and we have been having multiple practices a day, sometimes with the boys team. Right now, the camp is very small and consists of 4 players from our team, 5 players from the boys U18 team, and a number of U13 players. Next Monday we will be joined by the rest of our team. There will be 15 players total.

The practices are interesting...the coach will say something in German, Michelle and I will look around frantically, and one of the players will translate quickly as we are running to our positions. The level of basketball is pretty decent from what I have seen. I enjoy practicing with the guys. It's great being back in the full swing of things. We basically live basketball here at the camp. When we aren't actually practicing we are thinking about the next practice that day, or we are doing some other sort of exercising. The program has a well rounded staff and we have done things I have never experienced before in terms of working out.

Technically we have been to Vienna, but only because that is where the airport is. From there we were picked up by Bodo and driven about an hour to his alternate home. We then spent the next day trying to compensate for our jet lag, and finally left for camp Monday at 8 am. The ride was incredible. We drove past Linz, one of the larger cities in Austria. We worked out twice the first day. The first workout was with the coach of the U13 boys team, who is pretty awesome. The second was with Bodo and the blder boys team.

Today we also went swimming. Each town in Austria has a community pool...and everyone goes there in the summer. PLUS they all have waterslides. Yes, slides, plural. I took the opportunity to behave like a 12 year old and push all the little kids out of the way to have my turn...or eight. The club today also had a whirlpool and two diving boards...not to mention multiple levels of grass noles and a hell of a snack bar. We walked there from the school through the town about a mile so we also had the opportunity to see some stores.
After we returned, we attempted to use the magicjack, which is SUCKING right now and then went to possibly one of the most epic bbqs ever. We had some of the best veggies and sausages I have ever had and there was a sour cream based sauce for the baked potatoes which was amazing. Following another 2 hours of attempted magicjack use and fifa on the playstation, the five of us girls went on a 45 minute jog through the countryside. I was tempted to bring my camera, but figured I have over a week to compile some pictures. During our jog we had a miniature German lesson in which I learned how to be a sarcastic a-hole in a second language. All in all, today was fabulous and I can't wait for our weekend off and a promised trip to Salzburg. Sound of Music, anyone?
Lastly, Michelle and I spent our first Euros yesterday. I purchased some hair products and candy, and of course, a large package of Manner treats, or wafers with chocolate. Gut!

New Beginnings and Awesome keyboards ß

We finally made it here to Austria after a looooong plane ride. I feel like I need to provide a little bit of an update, although we have been here a whopping 24 hours. We got into town last night around 7 pm. The airline lost one of my bags...OK maybe not lost, but apparently it didn't make it on the plane. My bag arrived at the house this morning, though, so I only had to suffer through one night without half my stuff. Not that I would have noticed...I fell asleep last night with the light on I was so tired.
So we left San Francisco at 6:50 pm on Friday evening. The flight length was about 10 hours. I fell asleep, woke up for a meal, watched a movie, listened to some music, slept again, watched another movie while eating the second meal, then we landed. We each received a care package at the beginning of the flight with a toothbrush, toothpaste, socks, and a sleeping mask. I thought it was funny that the British were offering dental care...
Our plane flew into London/Heathrow airport, where we hopped a shuttle to terminal 3. We were so tired, we barely noticed the shuttle driving on the opposite side of the road. I was a little freaked out when we rounded a corner and a car was coming straight at us on the right side...the Heathrow airport is exteremly large. Our shuttle ride in between British Airways terminals was 10 minutes alone. The second flight was much more interesting. We flew lower to the ground and were able to see the countryside of 5 different countries on the way to Vienna. We flew over London, which you can't see from the airport, the Northern part of France, Luxemborg, Germany, and a bit of Switzerland...maybe not in that order. We landed in Vienna about 2 hours later. Customs was so much easier than I imagined. We then proceeded to collect our bags, one of which we left without, and were greeted by our host family, the Pöcksteiners.
The Pöcksteiner family is made up of Bodo, Gaby, Julia, and Flo. Bodo is the coach of our team, and Julia, who is considered the best young player in the country at 15, is a member of our team. We then boarded their very European VW van and were off to their country home. The drive was about an hour East of Vienna on the A1 highway. We stopped in Melk on the way to eat at a little restaurant on the Danube river. I had Weinerschnitzel, which was not a hot dog at all, but a fried piece of pork. We then continued down the road a bit to the house. I took a shower and fell asleep in no time.
We woke up this morning at 9. We had a bit of breakfast and then took a bike ride through the town and along the Danube. Bodo gave us a tour of the town he grew up in and we cruised around for about an hour and a half. I took some pictures, but have no internet on my computer, so was not able to post them yet. I will soon hopefully. We then play some basketball on the outdoor court at the house before going to the big community swimming pool, fully equiped with multiple water slides and high dives. Oh, did I mention the weather is AMAZING and I think I may have even gotten a sunburn from the abnormal amount of outdoor activity today.
Once we got back from swimming, we had proscuito and cantalope...one of my absolute favorites, and we attempted to figure out MajicJack. The first few tries were unsuccessful, but we were able to receive a call from Michelle's mom. The time difference is 9 hours.
Later tonight we will Barbeque. I am very excited to be here and to have the chance to let you all know how things are going.
Tomorrow we leave for training camp, which will be 2 weeks at an amazing sports camp in the mountains. I can't wait to get started playing and to have more of a basketball aspect to write about next time. I haven't actually been to the city of Vienna yet, minus the airport, but we will be able to move in two weeks from tomorrow. I'm not sure if we will have internet access at camp, so it may be a few weeks before another update. My email address is AGspencer24@aol.com. If you want my address, we would love to get some packages from the states so feel free to email me and I will send that to you. The next post will also contain a season schedule, hopefully.
Auf Wiedersehen!

The Dirty 5-30

So I have been at home now in Chico for 6 days. It has been great seeing all the familiar faces and hanging out with all my old friends. Annnnndddd eating at all the familiar restaurants. I made a bucket list of food I want to eat in Chico, which I have been trying to do in one week. What does it mean when every post is about food? Anyways, here is the list: La Comida, Hula's, Kinder's, Tres Hombres, Sierra Nevada, Aca Taco, Sin of Cortez, Celestino's, Jack's, Pluto's, and Jon & Bons. So far I have crossed out 3...I am definitely slacking.

I did have the opportunity to go to a going away party for a friends little brother where we did the most Chico-ish thing possible. No, not DRINK. Tye Dye! It was super fun and we made sets of towels and I colored a couple basketball shirts. Overall it was a great experience. My goal for the next few days before I leave is to REALLY experience Chico. I have lived here most of my life and I'm sure I take a lot of things for granted, but my life is about to be completely different in less than a week. Last night we went out on a boat on Black Butte Lake. I had never been there and it was extremely beautiful. We were there until about 8:30 when the sun set and it got a bit chilly. Then we ventured into town to have some Casa Ramos. MMMM.

I went shopping to buy some new luggage. I haven't actually bought it yet, but I am excited to have this much space for my stuff! Next on the list is the European outlet adapters, which I have been told to buy at "The Shack". Stupid Radio Shack commercials. I also have a goal to buy a new computer and a new digital camera, but we will see how many purchases I actually make. I am in dire need of a new comp. since my laptop is filled almost completely with music. It's sad that my ipod has more giggage than my computer. Yes, giggage is a word.

Well this may very well be my last American update. I may throw one more super emotional post in there before I leave. Maybe on my new computer. Stay tuned for my first Austrian post. There's a good chance it will be on food and dining.

Orange County: Where life doesn't give you lemons

Alright, so I just wanted to get out some final thoughts out before I make the epic drive up to Chico tomorrow morning. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Irvine and I had the first realization that I was actually leaving today in George's office. He wasn't quite sure how to respond when I started crying after telling him I wasn't staying until Sunday because my DAD wanted me home. I picked up the boss from the airport on Tuesday night, following my goodbye party and a very interesting taco Tuesday. She convinced me at 11:30 PM that I should stay until Sunday and tried to bribe me with a trip to Disneyland. I barely slept that night, subconsciously knowing that I couldn't stay that long, and told her this morning of my plans. So instead, she talked me into staying through the afternoon and taking a trip to Universal Studios and leaving from there. I couldn't turn it down. Anyways, here are my general thoughts of Orange County after 11 months:

Huntington Beach: I spent the first 8 months living in the good ol' HB. I made a 20 mile round trip drive, but it was such an amazing place to live. The people are not super "Orange County-ish" but embrace the surfer/biker attitude, which is awesome. Like the whole wearing-black-tattoo-motorcycle thing will never go out of style here. And the tourist aspect of the actual beach itself is amazing, despite the local love. There are all types of people in HB and I plan on living there again at some point in my life.

UC Irvine: I could go on all day about the amazing experience I had as an assistant coach, but I will never be able to do the people that made it all possible justice. The staff here has so much pride and are some of the most genuine people you would ever meet. I guess you can't NOT have pride when your mascot is the anteater. The school itself is beautiful...wayyyy to big, but an awesome campus.

Irvine: The city of Irvine itself cannot be grouped with the school. Whoever designed Irvine was clearly looking for the perfect community. Everything is very cookie cutter and WAY too expensive. THE STOPLIGHTS ARE SO INEFFICIENT!!! I have developed a bad habit of running yellow lights because a) the yellow lasts about 6 seconds and b) I know I'll probably be waiting a good 4-5 minutes til that light turns green. Everything is corporate and all the property is owned by the Irvine Company.

The Food: I have to mention the food because it was a great way to bond with people. If I had to choose a top 5 for Orange county it would look like this: 1 - The Beach House in Laguna Beach. I had the BEST piece of Ahi Tuna. And I love my tuna. 2 - Lazy Dog Cafe in Huntington Beach. Everyone who visited got to experience the LDC. Tried half the menu and loved it all. 3 - Pei Wei in Irvine (at the Bluffs). Besides the fact that the manager was funny and awesome, the food was super yummy and the student discount was just the icing on the cake. 4 - Duke's in Huntington Beach. Would be the top of the list if it wasn't so expensive. They DO have a good Taco Tuesday and if you are willing to pay for it, the food is pretty incredible. 5 - Great Mex (or G-Mex for the professionals). BEST taco Tuesday and in a great spot down the Balboa peninsula. The local spot and also has a "taco Friday" since one day to celebrate the goodness of tacos is not enough. Get the shrimp and crispy chicken tacos.

Great Mex - Taco Tuesday AND Friday

Consensus: I love food.

I hope I have the opportunity to experience more of Orange County down the road. My time has been amazing and I have appreciated every moment of it. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go build up my base tan before I move to the Alps.

Random: I just learned that players in Oregon refer to "blocked shots" as "caps". Only in Oregon.

Not So Funny, People

I have officially moved out of the apartment. It was a long two days that consisted of a large amount of red bull and a small amount of sleep. I ended up being able to pawn off a bunch of food to my friends who live down the road in HB. Yes, I have friends. I also took like a 5 hour break on the last night to go to dinner and a movie with my boy Ryan. Pro: Sushi at RA was awesome and I've never enjoyed Sake so much. Con: The movie was wayyyy too long. Funny People: good for about the first hour. Then downhill from there.
I have been absolutely dying for some good new music lately, so I plan on spending a good portion of this evening looking through the itunes store. I don't think anyone actually has found this blog yet, so I enjoy writing at myself. Super fun. I am currently posted up in our head coaches apartment. She DOES have HBO though, so I caught up on all the missed Entourage episodes.
Today for lunch I chose to go to Pei Wei, which is so awesome. The manager there is hilarious and knows me because I go there so often. He asked me if I would be blogging about my travels and playing experience and I informed him of this blog. So let people know about it. Would it be too bold to link it from the Chico State website?? ;) I don't know if anyone will care, but my goal is to just share a little bit about my time in a country that most people would not think about vacationing in. Hopefully I can do it justice. I am so excited to go and to be part of a different culture and to have the opportunity to try new foods. I would be excited about the food. Chico in less that 5 days...until then I am going to enjoy the rest of my time here in the 949/714 and chill with my special ladies.
Random: I learned the secrets as to why Kobe Bryant is the best basketball player in the world. Gave me something to think about. And the title to this post would have been the headline for my review of the movie Funny People. Yes, classy.