The Wolverines Abroad: Player's Perspective, Josh Bartelstein
8/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Aug. 22, 2010
By Sophomore Josh Bartelstein
What's up everyone? We just finished eating dinner after coming back from our game against Gent. It was about a 45-minute drive from Brussels, which doesn't sound too bad, but let's just say no one is sitting comfortably on our bus. Every minute we are on that bus is one minute too many.
I thought we played really well for it being the first time we played a game as a team. We applied a lot of the things we have been working on in practice and were winning most of the game but just couldn't close it out.
The game was just like any game you guys would watch on TV, but I could definitely tell we were in Europe when after the game I went upstairs and everyone on Gent plus their fans were drinking "adult" beverages in the gym restaurant. They wanted to buy a couple for us, but we declined politely.
Away from today's game, I have to say the buildings here don't look real. I keep feeling like I'm on a Hollywood set and not actually walking around Belgium. We some saw buildings today like the City Hall that was built 1,800 years ago. That's almost hard to imagine.
Then you look at the details on these buildings like the windows and sculptures and you understand what all the hype about Europe is. I swore I wouldn't be one of those geeky tourists taking pictures every minute, but I found myself having to take pictures of these buildings. Plus my mom wants an update on what I'm doing every five minutes and I've got to keep her happy.
One of the keys to this trip was obviously going to be the shopping. Stu, Zack, Matt, Blake and I probably spend too much time shopping as it is in Ann Arbor, so you can imagine what is going to happen in Europe. Stu claims he is the best dressed on the team, which is NOT true, and the only reason he dresses well is because he takes mine and Zack's clothes from our rooms.
If you want to know who the best dressed on the team is just ask Coach Jordan. Unfortunately, so far every store has been closed because no one works on Saturday's or Sunday's (imagine that), but Zack did manage to buy a pair of sunglasses that have flashing lights on them; after a long bargaining session. It was one of those purchases that he thinks is cool today, but I'm not sure he will ever wear them again and I hope that's the case. Apparently, he was able to broker a good deal for them and they make him look more "euro," which is a goal of his.
It's 11:30 p.m. now, which means curfew. Will should be around any minute knocking on our door to make sure we are tucked in and ready to get a good night sleep. Thanks to all the fans who keep cheering us on. We have plenty of more games to get better. Something I know we will.
Keep checking back for more diary postings. Go Blue!
