Greece is less than 24 hours away, which means it’s packing day!!! My name is Joy Bergstrom and I’m a freshman here on the South Dakota Women’s Basketball team! My team and I are so grateful to have this opportunity to travel overseas to compete and learn all about the Greek culture! Personally, this will be my first time ever out of the country, so I feel extremely lucky to be able to experience this with such a great community. This trip is allowing me to experience a lot of my “firsts.” I am not only traveling overseas for the first time, but I am also playing in my first collegiate basketball game! I think everyone could guess that I am at least a little nervous to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity. However, I am way more excited! Our team has worked so hard this summer training to be the best we can be and now we are able to make it count!
Overall, I am excited for everything about this trip. Some of the things we get to do and see doesn’t even seem real to me. Specifically, I’m really looking forward to visiting the Parthenon because it is such a central location for Greece. In addition, I’m really excited to check out what the beaches and water is like in Greece. I love the beach and being outside so that is something I am definitely looking forward to. The team and I learned a lot about these specific locations we’re going to be visiting from two students here at USD that came in and talked with us. They had the opportunity to study abroad in Greece, so we were very fortunate to hear about their experiences and give us tips on what to expect! One thing that I really took away from their presentation was to enjoy the time we have together as a team, and to make the best of whatever we are doing in that given moment. They reminded us not to focus on “what’s next,” and to instead value what is presently going on in front of us. Finally, the food! This trip is definitely going to make me, and I’m sure many others, branch out and try new things. I think it’s going to be really cool for us to see what all the different kinds of food is like in Greece, and what makes it so different from the U.S. Prior to leaving for our trip, the team was actually able to share a Greek meal together. We were joined by Tasos, who is from Greece, and plays on the men’s basketball team here at USD. He taught us all about the different kinds of dishes we will see and get to try, and even assured us they will be even better in Greece! I believe this was a great opportunity for our team as well because we were able to ask Tasos questions about Greek words, restaurants, symbols, and just everyday things we don’t get to experience here.
Finally, this trip to Greece is going to allow the entire team, program, and community to grow as one. Many people have worked so hard to make this happen, and we are all so thankful. This being my first year here, I feel like our team is already getting very close despite how different it may feel. I’m so excited for this additional chance to grow even closer with my teammates and really bond over this amazing opportunity. Wish us luck, and we will be thinking of our entire Yote community back home! Please also wish me luck in packing, I am an over packer and it should not be taking me this long…
