University of Minnesota Athletics
Emily Fox Checks In From Brazil
7/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Bon Dia!
Wow! We finally made it to Brazil! After a long 10-hour flight, we arrived in Rio at about 11:45 yesterday morning. The flight wasn’t too bad; I slept most of the time. It was cool because there were some other American athletes on our flight. The entire women’s synchronized swim team, as well as a few track and field athletes flew in with us. When we got off the plane we were met by USA representatives and went through customs. We then got on a very nice charter bus which drove us about 45 minutes to where we are staying. One thing I must add, and I still can’t believe, is that everywhere we go we are escorted by police on motorcycles. They drive ahead of our bus and stop traffic and move everyone out of the way so we can get through.
Let me tell you a little about where we are staying. It is called the “Athlete Village” and it is where all the athletes live while competing in the Pan Am games. There are about 20 different buildings that house the different countries. The 900 American athletes take up two of these buildings, one of which my team and I are staying in. In my particular suite, there are six of us staying here, two people per room. I am rooming with Alexis Hornbuckle from Tennessee. The rooms are pretty nice, although the beds aren’t very comfortable. We also have to brush our teeth with bottled or purified water (we have a water purifier in our room.) I must also add that I have yet to take a warm shower. Our hot water doesn’t work which means I have already taken two freezing cold showers. There are also bugs everywhere, even flying around our room. I woke up yesterday from a nap and my left eye was swollen because I got bit by some sort of insect. (Don’t worry, the swelling has gone way down and I am fine.) So, other than a few minor issues, it’s a beautiful setup and I’m enjoying living here so far.
As far as eating goes, there is a huge dinning hall that seats 5,000 people. It is open 24 hours a day so we can go eat here whenever we want. The food is...well, I’ll say it’s interesting. I’ve just been eating a lot of fruit and bread, although I had rice, beans and chicken for lunch today and it tasted pretty good. I enjoy going to the dinning hall because there are always many people from all different countries, so it’s been fun to meet other athletes. For instance, today we sat with two guys from Trinidad.
So far we have had two practices. Both practices were at a small gym about 45 minutes away from the village. Yesterday we had to stretch and warm up on the sidewalk in this alleyway because we were only allowed on the court for one hour and another team was practicing before us. I feel like we are very prepared and ready to compete. Tonight we scrimmage Brazil which I am very excited about because we finally get to play against someone other than ourselves. We have been competing against each other for so long now that we know all the plays and defenses. Tonight should be a great warm-up for Friday when we start competition against Columbia.
I am so excited because my family comes tomorrow! My mom, dad and both brothers are coming and I haven’t seen them since the beginning of June. I can’t wait to see them!
All right, well, I hope I was able to give you a little idea of what’s going on here in Rio. I think I am going to take a quick nap before we leave for our scrimmage.
Emmy
Wow! We finally made it to Brazil! After a long 10-hour flight, we arrived in Rio at about 11:45 yesterday morning. The flight wasn’t too bad; I slept most of the time. It was cool because there were some other American athletes on our flight. The entire women’s synchronized swim team, as well as a few track and field athletes flew in with us. When we got off the plane we were met by USA representatives and went through customs. We then got on a very nice charter bus which drove us about 45 minutes to where we are staying. One thing I must add, and I still can’t believe, is that everywhere we go we are escorted by police on motorcycles. They drive ahead of our bus and stop traffic and move everyone out of the way so we can get through.
Let me tell you a little about where we are staying. It is called the “Athlete Village” and it is where all the athletes live while competing in the Pan Am games. There are about 20 different buildings that house the different countries. The 900 American athletes take up two of these buildings, one of which my team and I are staying in. In my particular suite, there are six of us staying here, two people per room. I am rooming with Alexis Hornbuckle from Tennessee. The rooms are pretty nice, although the beds aren’t very comfortable. We also have to brush our teeth with bottled or purified water (we have a water purifier in our room.) I must also add that I have yet to take a warm shower. Our hot water doesn’t work which means I have already taken two freezing cold showers. There are also bugs everywhere, even flying around our room. I woke up yesterday from a nap and my left eye was swollen because I got bit by some sort of insect. (Don’t worry, the swelling has gone way down and I am fine.) So, other than a few minor issues, it’s a beautiful setup and I’m enjoying living here so far.
As far as eating goes, there is a huge dinning hall that seats 5,000 people. It is open 24 hours a day so we can go eat here whenever we want. The food is...well, I’ll say it’s interesting. I’ve just been eating a lot of fruit and bread, although I had rice, beans and chicken for lunch today and it tasted pretty good. I enjoy going to the dinning hall because there are always many people from all different countries, so it’s been fun to meet other athletes. For instance, today we sat with two guys from Trinidad.
So far we have had two practices. Both practices were at a small gym about 45 minutes away from the village. Yesterday we had to stretch and warm up on the sidewalk in this alleyway because we were only allowed on the court for one hour and another team was practicing before us. I feel like we are very prepared and ready to compete. Tonight we scrimmage Brazil which I am very excited about because we finally get to play against someone other than ourselves. We have been competing against each other for so long now that we know all the plays and defenses. Tonight should be a great warm-up for Friday when we start competition against Columbia.
I am so excited because my family comes tomorrow! My mom, dad and both brothers are coming and I haven’t seen them since the beginning of June. I can’t wait to see them!
All right, well, I hope I was able to give you a little idea of what’s going on here in Rio. I think I am going to take a quick nap before we leave for our scrimmage.
Emmy
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