Pictures

I received some pictures from one of the guys in the club that was at our big home match and was taking photos of the team. Here they are!

setting the hitters!

Jump serve, some things get better with age.

Warming up

Today was a good day. We did a little bit of cleaning then I realized I needed to get out of the house and I talked Shelley into it as well. We both got dressed and went for an amazing bike ride. We ventured down to the harbor and then took a path we hadn't seen before and found out that it lead us to the forest. It was so cool!

Practice was good. We have one more on Thursday before our game on Sunday. Time to really start focusing so we can keep this winning streak alive!

SOV GODT

HUGS AND KISSES

BRITT

WOOO HOOOO!

With my box and my clothes that I was trying on

The new jacket, heels and hat that was sent in the box!

This morning, after sleeping about 20 hours yesterday, I woke up feeling better and like this cold I had caught was in its final stages. I put on my work out clothes and headed to the gym where I found the stair-stepper was fixed and I stepped like I had never stepped before. It was bound to be a great day, I was feeling better, stair-stepper worked for some cardio, had a good lift and on my way back from the gym I stopped at the market to pick up some dinner goods such as meat. Having bought everything I think I needed I walked home and that is when my day turned into amazing. I walked in the door and first thing Shelley said was, "I have something in here for you"! Just about knocking down the walls I came storming through the apartment to find my huge package my parents had sent me and I was expecting! My face lit up and I had equivalent feelings to those I get on Christmas. I opened that package and started going through everything with the biggest smile on my face! I now have clothes and a wardrobe, more than just my volleyball stuff and the two pairs of jeans I packed when I was on my way to Slovenia. My mom and dad sent me the best stuff and it literally made my day/week/year/life. Receiving this package from home put tears in my eyes and was just another reminder of how much my family really loves me hahha ;)! After taking everything out of the boxes I then proceeded to try it all on because that is my M.O. I AM SOOOO HAPPY ABOUT THIS PACKAGE!

This is it for now, and I am going to do some gardening in a little while, then after that going to practice. I'll update about those two later, but right now this package is simply all I need hahaha!

Hugs and Kisses

Britt

Hej Hej!

Hej Everbody,
Not too much to update with besides another Win. We had our first league game so that was nice, much easier than Thursday's game. We traveled to the main land of Denmark which was about 2 hours away and played. I didn't play due to being sick and it not being that challenging of a game which was nice. I cheered my teammates on and they played very well. It was nice seeing everybody on the court especially those who did not get in during our game on Thursday. This week we have one game on Sunday, another league game, and that I am looking forward to. I am feeling soooo much better and will update more tomorrow! Miss you all!

Sov Godt,
hugs and kisses
Britt

Big Win!

Looking like I'm doing something!

Getting ready to warm up serving

Backset....see ya later blockers!

We pulled off a huge upset last night against the 4th ranked team in Denmark. They came into our gym expecting to use us as a practice and try different things out but ended up having to change their game plan and play for real volleyball. Little did they know, we can play better and we pulled off a big victory in 5 games. We won the first two, fell asleep for the next two, then came back and rallied for a win in the 5th. It was soooo cool to beat them when we are not even in the same division as them and they are nationally ranked 4th! HELL YA! It was a huge night for a sponsors and fans and we had a lot of people at our game with those blow up sticks that you beat together to make noise and one guy even brought a fog horn! I had so much fun! This was a great start to our season!

Hugs and Kisses

Britt

Game day

Oh Dramamine, you make my eyes heavy! lol

From left to right, Shelley, Susie, Sandi, Maiken, and me.....yes these women can drink. Proud to say, none are mine!

Yes that is me on the back of the motorcycle!

I should be asleep but instead I wanted to give a quick update. We have our first home game today! It is 1am right now and our game is at 8pm so no worries hahaha. I am stoked to play at home and beat this team, everybody is amped and we all have been looking forward to today! Yesterday, I went on a motorcycle ride! Yes, I got on the back of a motorcycle, it was fun but not something I have much desire to do again hahha. Anyways, time for me to go to bed so to make up for the lack of words I attached some pictures!

Sov Godt,
Hugs and Kisses

Britt

Busy B!

This past week has been busy but amazing at the same time. We arrived in Sweden at approximately 8pm after a 4 hr car ride. We ate a little bit of Thai food and then went to the school where we were going to sleep. Yes you read that correctly! We slept in a classroom. It was hysterical, I had so much fun. All 12 of us women, and our 2 coaches sleeping on blow up mattresses and having a great time. I definitely saw the openness of Europeans and embraced it. It was totally fine changing and walking around in your underwear in front of our male coaches and nobody thinks anything of it. It's a lot more relaxed of an atmosphere and I was having a great time. In the morning, Lars, my coach, woke us up by winding the blinds that made a shrieking noise and staring straight at me because he knew I was going to pop up and say a smart and funny comment. Sure enough I did and he died laughing! hahaha, it was his highlight of the day.
We played pretty well while being there but, as always, we could have done better (that is the mentality of an athlete---always looking to be better). The first day was our first time ever playing together and it was a little bit of a up and down until we found our groove. We held our own with the other teams but lost all of our matches (usually the score was 25-21 or around that). There were some men's teams there as well which was nice because it gave me something to look at and watch between our matches hahaha. The second day we played a lot better and ended up winning both of our matches and taking 5th out of 8 teams.
Yesterday, Shelley and I were taken to Tivoli in Copenhagen to see a huge concert (the European equivalent of the USA's Wango Tango). It was awesome! So much fun listening to the music and seeing performers from Denmark and even Kelly Rowland and Aqua. My first concert I had ever seen and it was BOMB! So in all, the past week has been quite eventful and busy. We have our first home match on Thursday which is exciting because we get to play in front of some of our friends and "family" out here.
For now, this is all I am able to update with but tomorrow I will leave you all with more! hahaha.

SOV GODT
hugs and kiss
BRITT

SupAH! happy!

We leave for Sweden today! Heck ya! Woke up this morning, took the pictures of the apartment like I promised to do, went for a run and worked out, and now I am packed and ready to leave in two hours for our first tournament in Sweden! I can't wait to finally play in our first tournament and see how our team does against the Elite level teams from Sweden and Norway. Vordingborg VK is going to represent and everybody is looking forward to good competition. After volleyball games it is normal to shake hands and say "good game" to each player as you are high fiving....here in Denmark we do the same high fiving but say something that sounds like "tak for compin" (thanks for competing). The spelling is probably terribly wrong but it is hooked on phonics version of Danish for me hahaha.
Anyways, I can't wait to hit the road and get into Sweden. I won't have a computer with me so next update will not be till Sunday or Monday. Until then, here are some pictures of the apartment and one of me to show you my excitement! Root for VordingborgVK!


Godt Morgen (good morning)
Hugs and Kisses

Britt


The view from outside...That is our door leading to our apartment.

Closer picture of the entrance

The toilet area...yes dad it is clean!

Our Kitchen! The stove is actually going to be replaced with a new one this weekend. It is nice and roomy and lots of space in there.

My side of the bedroom, cute pink comforter and look at that, my bed was made (kinda) hahhaa

View from the couch to the beds, Shelley and I are divided on our sides by a bookshelf that we turned into a closet

View from my bed in the living room. Huge couch, brand new closet in ther corner, and our very on tele (television)

view from the kitchen into the living room. Pretty cool set up

Me, fresh out of the shower and SUPAH! excited for the weekend!

getting ready for sweden

Our apartment is coming together and we are so excited. It is sooo nice living close to everthing, practice is a maximum 5 minute walk away, the stores are a 5 minute walk the other direction, we can ride our bikes around the town in 20minutes, and the best part is, the military base is at the end of our street so we see the guys! lol. It's been awesome to wake up and be in our new town and know that our lives are getting started here in Denmark! Today we biked to some stores and to the fitness center to get a work out in. Having the whole center to ourselves we blasted the stereo and pumped some iron. I am so fortunate for this opportunity and as I was riding my bike home I realized just how blessed I am.
We had a really good practice tonight and everybody is gearing up for our Sweden Tournament. We leave tomorrow with a 5 hour drive ahead of us and play on Saturday and Sunday. I am stoked on life to finally play some games and I know my teammates are ready to play also! In all, everything is going super duper over here and I am LOVING it! I will try and post some pictures tomorrow of our apartment and then more when I get back from Sweden!

Sov Godt
Hugs and Kisses
Britt

little mermaid much?

Whoa

the world's only thatched roof castle

The main castle portion

Standing on the rocks at Morn

With Sven walking on the beach at his beach house

Too much DRAMAMINE! this is the result

We stopped on a small island while sailing to eat lunch and walk around...this is the inside of the church!

Clearly Sven has not spoken with my dad....he is not intune with my driving record...if he had known i don't think he would've let me drive the boat!

Had to try on my life-vest...I was pointed out as the troublesome new daughter that Sven and Lene adopted...they had to keep their eye on me.

Shelley, myself, and Lene

These past two days have been amazing! I am so exhausted right now (being that it is 12am on Friday and I just got out of the shower from practice and our two day escape with Sven and his wife Lene) so I will keep this one brief and update more tomorrow. Wednesday morning, Sven and his wife Lene picked Shelley and I up and took us to their beach house about an hour away. It is BEAUTIFUL. We were told to pack up our bags with enough stuff because we were going to stay there with them until Thursday and would not return home until after practice. It was soooo nice to be around these fun-loving people who treated us like their own children. Wednesday as soon as we got to Mon (pronounce mourn with an urn like murn) we went grocery shopping and then to the beach house. Needing to take advantage of the weather we decided it would be a great day for sailing so Sven and Lene took us to their sailboat (which was awesome) and we set sail. Being well prepared, I took one dramamine as soon as I got to the beach house! I was a true sailor that day, had an amazing time and no sea-sickness. Only problem was, I took the second dramamine just to be careful and it knocked me out, I slept the whole second half on the bow of the ship lol (between the sunshine, wind, and carefree feeling--plus extra help of DRAMAMINE I was OUT)! What a life, sailing and then the beach house! I will save the rest of the trip for tomorrow's post but just be assured that it was a tremendous amount of fun and I have been adopted as their daughter while here hahaha!

Sov Godt
Hugs and Kisses
Britt

Holler!

Not too much to report, just doing the daily grind these days. The weekend passed and then today we had practice. The team is improving and I can't wait for our first tournament in Sweden not this coming weekend but the next! We have been invited to play in the elite division because word has gotten out that there are two Americans on our team and that we are pretty damn good! BALLIN! Sven has invited Shelley and myself to join he and his wife Wednesday and Thursday at their beach/summer house. We will go there on Wednesday and hang out and then Thursday he is taking us sailing! Don't worry, I have plenty of Dramamine to hopefully curb the sea-sickness hahaha. We got word that the apartment is almost there and we should be moving in on Saturday (HOPEFULLY!). That's it for now from me!

Sov Godt
Hugs and Kisses
Britt

Amongst the Rich and Famous

We were invited by Jens, one of the "money men" in the club, to go out to Copenhagen with him for a big art gallery opening in which several rich and famous people would be attending and more importantly he was promoting it. Eagerly Shelley and I accepted and Jens picked us up at about 4pm today so that we would be in Copenhagen by 5. In true Cali fashion i went in jeans and a halter top only to find myself shivering as I was walking the streets. Jens had to be there early to set everything up which allowed us some time to shop and look around so we right away walked to the indoor shopping center. My mission was to find a jacket....I SUCCEEDED. I bought a nice Espirit down jacket that looks like something you would wear in the snow hahaha. So now here I was going to this Art gallery with very wealthy people (the crowned prince was supposedly there as well) wearing jeans, sandals, black halter top and my down jacket! keeping it classy! hahahha. Don't worry, I fit in perfectly. It was a lot of fun experiencing this new type of party and culture in Copenhagen.
After the gallery, Jacob, his wife Gwen, Magnus, and his wife Shandie invited us to join them all for dinner. It was sooooooo incredible walking around this downtown part of Copenhagen and seeing all the magnificient structures and buildings. I definitely love the city. It's gorgeous. After dinner we walked some more and walked through the courtyard of the queen and saw the guards standing there. I can't describe how amazing everything looked even in the nighttime and I cant' wait to go see it during the day. Today was sooo much fun and I'm loving the experience. I will post pictures in the morning.

Sov Godt
Hugs and Kisses
Britt

Free Day

Being that it is Wednesday and we had no practice..today was a free day meaning I was able to do whatever I wanted in this tiny town of Haslev. Shelley and I decided to go for a bike ride because I desperately needed gum (we all know I have a slight addiction to chewing gum and if I don't have a pack I go crazy!). We ended up exploring and stopping at a gas station on a way home so I could pick up my "fix" hahah. In exploring we found the local FOREST and soccer field. On they way back to the house one of the guys from the club we play for was driving on the street and told us he was about to go play in a soccer game. Needing to see the looks of the local boys we decided it was in our best interest to go to his game! Definitely a disappointment haahha. Not too many good lookin "Fellas" at this game hahaha. In all it was a good day though because we were out of the house majority of the time exploring.
The newspaper came out with our interview in it. Here is the link to the page in Danish but at least there is a picture that you can understand hahahha! http://www.sn.dk/artikel/14800:Sport--Vil-dominere-dansk-volleyball.

Sov Godt,
hugs and kisses
Britt

Professional Athlete!?!?!??!

So today it hit me, I am a professional athlete! We had an official press release meeting with the national radio and a news reporter there. It was so weird being asked questions about what made me pick Denmark as the country to come play volleyball in? Do I miss California? What are my aspirations here in Denmark and for the team? It was such an amazing feeling and made even though I thought it wasn't possible, but I cherish this experience EVEN MORE!