The Robert Morris women's lacrosse team is currently exploring Europe on the program's summer trip. And while they are at it, they're documenting the journey with blogs and photos. This first post is courtesy of  Katelyn McAleer, Emily Van Dyne, and Stacy Wade. The team will keep posting updates throughout the trip!

Day 1- We arrived at Pittsburgh Airport at 11 am on Monday. Each of us conquered the challenging task of keeping our suitcases under 50 lbs, on the way back, however, is still in question. As we were waiting for our flight, it became clear who read the itinerary and who didn't. A teammate who shall remain nameless (Alexis Wilkerson) discovered that Prague was also apart of our trip. ("wait, we're going to Prague?!?"). We boarded our first flight to Atlanta, Georgia at 1, excited and ready. The plane ride was about an hour and a half and pretty uneventful. We arrived in Atlanta and everyone made sure to get our last bites of American food before heading overseas. We headed into this 9 hour flight, ready to tackle Europe and what it has to offer.

Day 2- The ride was long, but everyone tried to get as much sleep as possible because we arrived in Munich at 7:45am, which was 1:45am in the states. We retrieved our luggage and met up with our tour guide, Hendrik, and boarded a bus to Munich. We had a couple of hours to explore this amazing city, in which we all had our first taste of German culture. Some of these included Bratwurst with sauerkraut and Weisswurst. This was also the first we truly experienced the differences between America and Europe and encountered the language barrier. With this challenge, came different responses from people. Some tried to take this barrier head on, while others decided to be more laid back. Instead of using a dictionary or translator, the ones who faced this dilemma just talked louder and slower (which DOES NOT work by the way). After our first meal abroad, we made our way to Mike's Bike Tour to explore Munich how the residents do. This taught us two very important lessons: 1.) Bikes trump pedestrians, but not necessarily buses. 2.) Dominate, don't hesitate! During our tour, we learned another common quality among Europeans: They are not ashamed of their bodies. This was witnessed first hand as we rode through the nudist park. Our day was finished off by a three course meal consisting of soup, pasta, and an apple strudel.

Day 3- We woke up, ate breakfast, and traveled to a field used by the local club team to practice. The weather was nice, but the scenery was even better. The beautiful Alps overlooked our practice field, which was refreshing compared to the scenery we are used to. There were a couple of line changes that were put into effect at practice. Our assistant coach (Kari) relived her glory days and hopped into goal for the first time in 3 years, pushing our goalie (Kaitlin) to field (where she really stood out....as a goalie). After practice, we headed back to our hotel to shower and get ready for the rest of the day spent in Salzburg, Austria. We had free time once we arrived to the city to shop, eat, and sight-see. This was followed by a guided tour of the city on the banks of the Sakzach River. We learned a lot of history about this city and how it became the tourist attraction it is today. The 17th century architecture of the buildings, along with the beautiful mountain backdrop make this city aesthetically pleasing. Not only is Salzburg beautiful, but the culture within it makes it a very prosperous and lively city. After a wonderful tour, we headed to a local restaurant to indulge ourselves in a common authentic dish called Wiener Schnitzel. This pork dish was followed by ice cream. Yum! We are now at the hotel, resting up for tomorrow's game!