From Europe: Princeton Women's Soccer Team's Spring Trip

The Princeton women's soccer team is in the Netherlands and Germany during spring break week. Here is a blog entry from the freshman class:

Hallo from Holland and Germany! Princeton Women's Soccer is very excited to give you some insights on our trip to Europe starting with our flights from JFK. We were scheduled to leave at 10:15pm, but sat on the tarmac until almost midnight, thus delaying our travel, and we arrived in Amsterdam around 11am.

After we left the airport, we boarded the bus and headed out of the city of Amsterdam into the beautiful countryside. We stopped to have the well known "pannenkoeks", a special Dutch pancake actually ranked as one of the top foods to try in Holland. After grabbing a delicious meal in this quaint town, we got on the bus and headed to our hotel in Aachen, Germany. This was a drive filled with very pretty scenery, green rolling hills and small farmhouses. Arriving in Aachen, we quickly settled into our hotel and began to explore the city. It consists of many authentic German restaurants and shops. Some of our favorite sights were the Aachen town center and the chapel.

On Saturday night, we had our first team dinner at Paparazzi, an Italian restaurant in the center of Aachen! It was so much fun and the food was outstanding. Our group took up the majority of the restaurant and the service was great. The waiters hardly spoke English, but were very nice and took care of our every request. First, we were all served bread (with oil and balsamic vinegar) and delicious tomato soup. Then, we were given our entrees which were preordered. The entrees included: pasta (carbonara, Bolognese, or with vegetables), or pizza (sausage or vegetable). For dessert, we got giant ice cream sundaes, tiramisu, and chocolate cake. The meal was AMAZING and much-needed. We bonded over our long day of travel and played table games such as "would you rather." Our first team dinner was unforgettable and we are looking forward to more bonding experiences together.

We had our first training session on Sunday morning at a sports complex near the hotel and it felt great to get our legs moving again after long days of traveling on Friday and Saturday. Some kids were getting ready for soccer practice and lined up to watch us finish practice which was fun, as well. The hosts were also extremely generous and provided us with tea and waffles following our training session before getting back on the bus.

After returning to the hotel to get changed/shower from the training we had, we all boarded the bus, ready to attend the Bayern Leverkusen vs. SV Werder Bremen in the city of Leverkusen. Many of us slept from the hotel all the way to the stadium; naps on the bus are essential after any event we go to because it allows us to rest up for the next awesome event we will experience. At the game many of us got food to enjoy, and we lined up along all the other fans waiting to order something to eat, most of which were different types of sausage, but also others snacks were available like popcorn, pretzels, nachos, etc. After getting food we found our seats and the view was amazing. We were seated right behind the goalies net, which allowed us to fully experience a goal being scored and made us feel like we were involved in the action — the feeling of being at a live game is much different than watching it on TV! All in all, the game was a big change for us, allowing us to feel involved and apart of the culture that these fans create. After the game, we headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for dinner.

On our second night in Aachen, Germany, the freshman class, some juniors, a few seniors, and the graduated players, went to Elisenbrunnen Restaurant, which specializes in authentic German cuisine. There was a variety of dishes ordered, but among the most delicious was a traditional Weiner Schnitzel dish with fried potatoes and raspberry jam. Lightly breaded and fried, this chop of veal was immensely succulent, and the raspberry jam added a unique change which the tastebuds could not get enough of. This meal was a bonding experience for all involved as each member of the PWS team attempted to pronounce their order correctly in German — unsurprisingly, many failed and resorted to pointing to the menu item and saying "uh, this, please!" Additionally, each member had to identify what they ordered on the check and convert the price in Euros back to USD for the proper Venmo-ing back to the people who paid... but we are GREAT at quick math here at Princeton, so only a few dollars were lost along the way. After dinner, many of us went to get to Gelato as we made our way back to the hotel to sleep off the jet lag and get ready for Day 3!

More to come!

Xoxo,
The First Years

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results