It was not until I pulled up to my house at 11 pm on Wednesday that I began to fully appreciate the amazing, whirlwind of a trip that I experienced over the last ten days in Italy. While in this seemingly magical country, I was too busy digesting the moment to fully realize what was taking place. Whether it was gazing at the façade of San Michele in Lucca, walking through the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, or standing in one of the greatest architectural accomplishments of mankind (The Coliseum), each one of our destinations contained bits of Italian culture/history that are old enough to make America seem like an adolescent child. So much was thrown at us over the course of the trip that I had a tendency to forget that we had basketball games to play. Words cannot begin to fully describe the trip, but I will do my best.
Our first stop was the quaint, Tuscan town in northwest Italy named Lucca. Honestly, while Lucca might not immediately pop into an average tourist’s mind, it really should. Once we entered the massive wall that surrounded the town, it was as if we simply walked into a postcard. Everything in the town was pristine, beautiful and historic. It truly seemed like life moved a slower pace in this town. We even spotted a group of paramedics taking a mid day gelato break, which I quickly joined in on. If I could pick any place in the world to retire and spend my twilight years at, Lucca would definitely make the top 5. It was a great way to start the trip and get us acclimated
to the Italian way of life.
Our second destination, Florence was the city that I looked forward to most. Everywhere you turned in this amazing city, the sites became more beautiful. One of the first times in my life I can legitimately say that I was speechless was when I was standing in front of the massive Cathedral in the town center. It is truly amazing that humans were able to create these majestic buildings without any sort of modern technology. Oh yeah, we also saw this statue of David by Michelangelo… that wasn’t too bad. A guest appearance from recent alumnus, Sam Dworkin, made our stop in Florence all the more enjoyable.
Fittingly, our final stop was Rome. It is impossible to fully do Rome in only 3 days, but we did our best. The ample free time that we enjoyed in Florence and Lucca was replaced which constant tours in order to completely take in all that Rome had to offer. While we might have gotten slightly exhausted from being led around like cattle, it was definitely worth it to see the Coliseum, Roman Forum and the Vatican. After an amazing tour of the Coliseum, we came to an agreement that the trinket vendors would be smart to sell bootleg copies of the movie “Gladiator,” because that is all we could think about! After playing our final game against Roma’s u19 team, we enjoyed one last meal in Rome. The meal truly wrapped up the trip as a whole. Although we had spent the past 11 days in close quarters, the entire team could not stop laughing and carrying on about our amazing experience. It is refreshing to know that entering my senior year at Trinity, our team chemistry is better than I have ever seen it. No doubt that this trip helped us bond on a level beyond basketball. I already cannot wait to start working on another conference championship next year.
