July 10, 2017
Spartan volleyball players Breann Robinson and Nandyala Gama are two of the 12 Mountain West All-Stars that will be competing at the 2017 European Global Challenge July 11-14, in Pula, Croatia.
The team will compete in the u23 division against teams from around the world - Slovenia, Italy, Israel and the Czech Republic. During the pre-tournament tour, the MWC defeated the Hungary U18 team 5-0, and the Hungarian Senior B Team 3-1.
Updated Results - http://bringitusa.com/gc2017/results/
Livestream - http://bringitusa.com/gc2017/livestream/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/bringitusaglobalchallenge
Below is the blog from Breann and Nandyala about the busy second day in Budapest.
Day 2
We woke up early for breakfast, and then had practice at 8 a.m. After practice Henrietta (our amazing tour guide) and her daughter took us out across the river to explore the Pest side of the city and see the most famous and historical buildings and sites of the city. Our first stop was the Parliament, and right when we arrived, we were lucky enough to watch the guards change which only happens every hour. There was music playing and a little performance that they did for the people as they switched duties to guard the building. Henrietta, as we arrived at each location, would give us a brief history which was super interesting to learn.
Our next stop was the Catholic Church. On our way Henrietta bought us gelato which was THE BEST gelato I have ever had, and it was designed in an intricate rose design on top of the cone. After our tasty snack, we got to go inside and see the amazing paintings, stained glass windows, and amazing statues that decorated the church. We were then given some free time to explore the busy streets nearby the church, do some shopping, and get some lunch. At this point, we were all pretty exhausted, but we had some more sites to see!
We then headed to the infamous Buda Castle, across the river on the Buda side. We learned the structure that most people think is the castle, is actually the church at the center of the castle. The "castle" includes all of the village that surrounds it. From the castle we were able to see the Parliament from the other side. We could see almost the entire Pest side from across the river on the Buda side. The Buda Castle is placed on (what seems like) the only mountain in Budapest. From this castle the views were amazing. We also were able to see where the president lives and even saw the aftermath of a wedding taking place at the castle.
After an exhausting day of seeing so many beautiful things, we still had another practice at 6:30 p.m. We were tired from being tourists, but we still practiced hard. There's always more energy for volleyball.