One Month in Lithuania: By Hollie Mershon

Labas! So I have official been here in Lithuania for one month!!! I arrived on September 26, which I could never forget because it was my birthday.  Crazy, who would have thought! Everything has been going well so far.  We had our first three official games in the Lithuanian League.   Our first game was against a team that played in dresses…We won, don’t worry.  The day I lose to a team who wears dresses will be the end of my career, haha kidding! The second game we won by about 30 points, and the third game we also won, but we started out the game down by 20 points.  Fortunately we turned things around in the second half and ended up winning by at least that much. We are still in the midst of building chemistry with one another and with each game I think it’s developing more and more so when Euroleague games start we should be ready.  

The Euroleague is going to be very tough.  We actually played a “friendly” game against a team in Russia, and they recently signed Diana Taurasi and Candace Parker to their roster.  They were not on the team when we played them though, yet they were still amazing.  If you do not know who these women are, they are the top players in the WNBA.  So, that is the type of competition we will be going against.  No biggie… I am excited for those games to start though, competitive games are always more exciting.  Some of the teams we play are teams from Russia, Spain, Poland, Croatia, Turkey and Czech Republic. Our first Euroleague game is next week in Poland.  We play on Wednesday, November 6th.  We leave on Monday, and the team we are playing is only four hours away.  If there is a website to watch Euroleague games I will post it on my Facebook, if interested.

 

I have not done a lot of exploring lately.  We usually have two practices a day, or a practice and lift.  We also started to play games and soon we will be playing 2-3 games a week.  Basketball keeps me busy, and when I have time to myself I watch Scandal, haha.  Great show, so I am trying to catch up.  

 

I went to one of the men’s games. They lost to a Russian team, but it was a good game and they are fun to watch. The stadium gets very loud, and here they are allowed to have those loud, very annoying horns.  They actually bring them to our games too, and I am not sure if I’m a fan of it. After the game Sophie and I went to the mall searching for some store to fix my iPad.  On the way I was reading the name of the store off the paper, or attempted to, and some guy turned around that was walking in front of me to see who was speaking.  By the look on his face I obviously was not pronouncing it right and I am pretty sure he thought I was illiterate.  I was tempted to tell him I was American but I couldn’t stop laughing.  I didn’t really care, I was laughing at myself before he could even turn around to look at me. 

My mom is coming to visit on November 10th for about a week and a half! I am very excited for her visit and to take her around the city!  It will be nice to have her here.  But then she has to leave so she can get home to prepare for Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday). 😦

 

I still miss home, but I get a Christmas break and my flight home is December 22nd! The day the Eagles play ‘da’ Bears aka Corey Wootton!! Honestly though, I do not know what I’d do without technology because the constant contact back home helps me so much! Also if anyone is curious about anything, like questions about the country or the basketball I can add them in my next blog!

 

Sudie Pasiilgau! (bye, miss you all)

 

For more from Hollie, follow her on Twitter at @hollieRancher, or visit her blog at holliemershon.blogspot.com/