“Rome is incredible! I cannot believe we are actually here! We had a nice and early morning today, down in the lobby at 6:15 where the hotel made us breakfast/snack bags, which were delicious! Then we were walking to the train station by 6:30... Off to the Vatican.”

“We are so grateful and thankful to Leo and Harriet Hopf who bought a private tour for us to tour the Vatican City, including the Sistine Chapel, Saint Peter's Basilica, the contemporary art museum and St. Peter's Square.
We were up early because our tour was before the Vatican was even open. So we beat the typical 2-3 hour line! While we were waiting for it to open our tour guide was telling us all about Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel because you are supposed to be quiet while you are in there.
We walked through the hallways of the Vatican seeing all the crazy beautiful ceilings and paintings on the wall. Our tour guide was awesome and had so much information for us. I definitely learned a lot but it might also be a little mixed up if I tried to repeat it...
Then we made it to the Sistine Chapel. It was absolutely breathtaking! It took Michelangelo 4 years to paint the ceiling and 4 years to paint the Last Judgement on the front wall.
There were no pictures allowed but to some people that was just a challenge to see if they could do it and not get caught since we were told if you got caught the guards could smash your media device, aka your cell phone. All the more reason, right?
After the chapel we continued down the hallways passing painting after painting after ceiling after map after tapestry after artifact. It was incredible. You definitely need more than three hours to take in the whole Vatican but it was so cool!
We kind of meandered through the contemporary art museum on our way to St. Peter's Basilica. The church was amazing! I feel like I'm just repeating my self, I need new synonyms. Apparently, it was commissioned to be the tallest church but it's a meter short, thanks to Michelangelo. However it is the widest. We had an extra 40 min after the tour to wander around the square and get souvenirs or keep looking inside the church. I got a few postcards to save for my journal and then we headed back to the hotel for lunch.
We all tried to get in a nap before we left to play our last match of our Euro Tour! We played the same club team we practiced with yesterday, Volleyró. We played five sets and ended the match taking 2 sets to their 3. They are a very good team, and it was a lot of fun to play them!
After the match we showered at the gym and changed to head to the Trevi fountain. We didn't paint the Sistine Chapel but were super proud that the 12 of us sweaty girls showered and changed in 15 minutes in a small locker room with a communal shower that had 3 shower heads- so grateful for our resources at the U. We found a restaurant near the fountain, had pizza and pasta and then of course gelato... we call that the trifecta Italiano.
After food we got to just wander around the stores but we eventually made it back to the fountain. Getting to just sit here and stare at this fountain is amazing. We honestly get to do so many amazing things as student-athletes, whether home or abroad, though I think it's the simple things like hanging with my teammates while we wait (for the train, the coaches, other teammates) that I'll remember most .”