Alexandropolis

Lately I have been getting to travel to away games with Rusty, which has been great! The one downside to Rusty playing volleyball- traveling- has been eliminated!... Well not completely, but at least for now. A couple weeks ago the team played in Alexandropolis, which is right near the border of Turkey. It's about 8 hours from us and we took a bus there, so needless to say, we got good use out of our iPads. We got caught up on some of our TV shows- Modern Family, The Mindy Project, and followed that by watching a couple movies. We arrived at the Thraki Palace Hotel late at night, but they had prepared salad, pasta, and chicken for us, which was set up in a large dining room. I wasn't planning to eat meals with the team because it would cost 70 euro, but luckily for me, the meals at the hotel were included. After we finished dinner, Rusty and I walked down to the beach. It was chilly and I forgot to pack a coat, but that didn't stop me from enjoying being by the beach!

I'm pretty sure Rusty doesn't love it when I travel with him to games
and I'm not sure why...

I roomed with Vicki, the team statistician. I'm glad I got to know Vickie better on this trip. I now consider her my best girl friend here in Greece. Not that I have very many haha. We stayed up chatting then woke up to go eat breakfast. We went to the same dining room we had dinner in the previous night, but it wasn't until I walked in for breakfast that I noticed windows made up the entire left side of the room, providing a great view of the ocean. After breakfast, I met up with Rusty. He had just come from practice and he had a few hours off, so we walked around outside. The hotel had an infinity pool, which overlooked the ocean...if only it was warm out! I would have spent my entire day lounging by the pool! Although it was too cold out for swimming, we did have the place to ourselves- not one person was outside or down at the beach. Rusty had to go watch video, so I decided to spend my time wisely by doing some Pinteresting and painting my nails ;) When Rusty was done we ate lunch and then went back to my room. We chatted with Vickie and watched Top Gear, Rusty's latest show addiction...I actually like it too. If you haven't heard of it, it's a British show about cars. I think I just like it for their accents. If they didn't have English accents, it wouldn't be nearly as entertaining. 

Soon it was game time! We packed up, and hopped on the bus. The gym was really small, like the size of a high school gym. The stands slowly filled up. I noticed that people would yell specifically at Rebo, Lamia's outside hitter. A few fans would stand up, lean over the railing in front of the stands, point and yell cuss words right at him. Vickie told me they were yelling at him because he played for Alexandropolis five years ago and the team wasn't paying him, so he left in the middle of the season. I can't believe the fans would yell at him about that, especially after five years! But at the same time, it doesn't surprise me with the crazy fans here. Alexandropolis is ranked number one and unfortunately we weren't able to beat them...maybe next time, when we play them at home! We did however, beat them in appearance...they had ads placed across the backside and the front side of their shorts, awkward!

When Rusty asked his coach, George, if I could come on this trip, he not only said yes, but he told us on our way back, the bus would stop in Thessaloniki (since George, Vickie and about half of the guys on the team are from there) and we could stay at his apartment because he would be staying with his girlfriend. He also told us that Vickie could be our tour guide the following day. How nice is that?! I feel so lucky that Rusty ended up on a team that is so accommodating. I get excited about any chance we get to visit new places and Thessaloniki is a big city, so there would be lots to do! Plus one of the two LDS churches in Greece is in Thessaloniki, so we would finally be able to attend church!

The bus finally made it to Thessaloniki. We got off at the second stop with George and Nikitas, the libero. Nikitas' dad picked us all up and dropped George, Rusty and I off at George's car, which was parked about 10 minutes away from his home. George brought us to his apartment, showed us around, gave us the key, and left to his girlfriends. It was about 3am by the time we got  there, so we got ready for bed and prepared for church, which was at 11am the next morning!...