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| Photo by Jake Belford |
By Sophomore Brian Sullivan
As the alarms sounded early Monday morning, we packed our bags, stuffed croissants into our faces and boarded for what we were told was a 5 hour trip to Bormio. After two hours or so of napping and no air conditioning, the shirtless team disembarked the bus for lunch at Sirmoinn. Sirmoinn was a beautiful island, surrounded by a lake and the Alps from a distance. The brave ones went for a quick swim before we entered the sauna on wheels for the much longer leg of the trip. Sirmoinn to Bormio was a long trip, but filled with sights many of us had never seen before. The Alps were an unbelievable sight and made me question my fear the mountains that line I-77 on the route from Columbus, Ohio to Davidson. We arrived in Bormio around 7 or so, and were immediately hit by the cool air as most of us were still in beach attire.
While the bus ride was treacherous and tested our character, I speak for the team when I say it was worth it partially because of the breathtaking views, but mostly because of the food. Dinner was a 4-6 course meal, depending on how hungry you were, that no one wanted to end. I will tell my kids about the tiramisu we had for dessert. Tiramisu joined pizza, pasta, bread, and gelato for foods that won't ever quite taste the same after this trip. After recovering from dinner the team toured around the small, but neat town of Bormio, and it's shops restaurants before heading to bed pretty early (mostly so breakfast would come faster).
Tuesday morning started with another delicious meal at the hotel and from there we headed to the mountains. We took a gondola to Bormio 2000, which was an adventure in itself (ask the noticeably shook Will Thoni) and unfortunately the Gondola to Bormio 3000 was under repair, but after many, many pictures and talk of Instagram selections, we started a hike to Bormio 3000. By my calculations we got to about Bormio 2100 and called it a day before fatigue and the idea of playing a game made us postpone the hike to 3000 until Thursday.
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| Team photo at Bornio 2000 |
Some down time and another 4 course meal later, we were back on the bus (with air conditioning this time) on our way to Malnate for our fourth game of the trip. Malnate had a small gym, but had by far the biggest crowd of any team we've played. Their fans were definitely excited about playing an American team. A few minutes into the first quarter, once the tiramisu was shed off and we were in a rhythm we extended our lead en route to a large margin of victory. We played a very fast paced game and really excelled at running the break. While the score was not very close, it remained a rather passionate game. Unfortunately after the game we parted ways with the freshman, Andrew, Jack and Joe, who have fit it in seamlessly both on and off the court. This trip has definitely helped speed up the learning process and their familiarity with the Davidson program.
It has been an incredible experience for all of us and we look forward to seeing how it carries us into the year!
Sent from my iPhone [Editor's note: Impressed that there were no autocorrect issues in this. Well done, Brian.]
