By Junior April Traylor

The morning started out with the traditional yogurt, hard bread, slimy eggs and pulpy orange juice. After our delightful breakfast we had yet another tour, this one was to the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere. In English, a very big and pretty church. We were not able to go inside because a Mass was going on, but we took pictures outside and saw a dynamic view of Lyon.

We then headed to an outdoor court for practice. The backboards were small and they didn't have nets, but worst of all was the broken glass all over the court. Despite the distractions, we did our best to get a few shots and drills in. We then went back to the hotel to rest and eat pregame meal. The meal was simple. We had salad, broccoli and cheese, hard rolls and spaghetti. We had some time to rest before we had to leave for the game against A.L.G.M.

I think I speak for everyone when I say the rest was very much needed! My expectations were high as we left for the gym. I really didn't know what to expect the gym to look like, considering how our practice went. The gym was very small, dark and warm with no ventilation. But we were still excited to play and we put our shoes on and took the court. It felt good to be back in the swing of things and actually get to play some ball. (After all we did come to play right?)

We actually had some "French fans" in the stands and some of our support staff taught them the war chant. It was great. Before we left home, we went over some of the international rules and regulations we thought we were going to need to know, like using a men's ball, having a jump ball after each tie up, the backcourt 10-second violation, just to name a few.

To start things off, we played with a worn out women's ball that didn't have any grip. It may have taken us a little while to adjust back to the women's ball, but it didn't take us long to put points on the scoreboard! We found out quickly that we were going to get pushed around and when we pushed back it was not allowed. And I can't remember how many times they called traveling on us while letting the other team take three steps with a jump stop before shooting the ball.

At first, we got a little upset, but as the game went on we adjusted and just laughed it off. Good thing these stats didn't count against us! Before I knew it, we were winning 42-22 at the half.

The second half we allowed them to score only 18 points while we ran our score up to 86. After the game, we headed back to our hotel for another light meal. This meal was the best meal yet and it was just lunch meat sandwiches. I think it was the first time Angela (Sutton) had eaten since we'd been here. Of course, she ate enough for the rest of the trip.

The whole time she was eating, in between breaths, she would tell us over and over how good it was.

It was getting late, so we headed up to bed so we can do it all again tomorrow in Switzerland.

I want to wish Mike at home a very special birthday. I miss you!