Junior forward Jarryd Cole

What's good Iowa City! This is your junior forward Jarryd Cole reporting live from Rome, Italy! Man, talking about vacation. The only word that comes to my mind when thinking of Rome is B-E-A-UTIFUL. As you are all aware, there are plenty of historic sites, statues, and great shopping. But on top of that, there is the 80-degree weather, wonderful people, delicious food, and good basketball.

We've been in Italy for two full days now and working on our third. I can't begin to tell you all how exciting it has been. If you have never been to Italy, I would highly recommend that you put it on your "to-do" list. There is a lot of sightseeing and entertainment for all ages. For all the young ones, there is a zoo located in the city right behind a city park filled with jungle gyms and plenty of green grass. For the older kids, there are historical sites that you may have learned about in your history classes. Even if you're not a big fan of history (I NEVER was) it is still a great opportunity to see the buildings and statues first hand. For the young adults, there is a great nightlife. Although we are here to play basketball, we do get a little taste of what goes on. Most of the locals don't even think about going out until at least 11:00 - 11:30 p.m. Iowa City may have its nights, but Rome's night is EVERY night. For the adults, you all are definitely spoiled in Rome. If there is anything you can think of to do, you can do it here. I could go into detail, but there's no need. I mean, use your imagination, you're adults...

Today, we went to the Vatican. The Vatican is within the walls of Rome, but it is also a completely different country. It has its own rules and laws that are separate from the rest of the city, and it is where the Pope lives. We had the opportunity to see St. Peter's Basilica, which is the biggest church in the world, and even go into the Sistine Chapel. I think the coolest part of the Vatican is inside the Vatican museum. There is a giant woven cloth hanging on the wall in one of the hallways that has a picture of Jesus walking out of His tomb. The detail and color in the artwork is amazing, but what's even more amazing about it is it seems like His eyes are always on you and He is always walking towards you as you walk past the picture. The artist put that unique twist on the artwork and it just makes it that much more worth seeing.

Yesterday was the first game of our foreign trip. We had to drive nearly an hour and a half just to get to the gym. Nonetheless, we got the "W"! The competition was good and very physical. I thought the Big Ten was physical, but that's nothing compared to the physicality of European basketball. Good thing we started early on strength and conditioning or we may have never made it through. The two biggest changes between European basketball and NCAA basketball is the shot clock being 24 seconds instead of 35 seconds and the lane being the shape of a trapezoid. With less time on the shot clock, it allowed us to get up and down the floor a little more which also allowed us to score more points. With the lane being shaped like a trapezoid, as the shape reaches its base, it widens out, which forces us to play further away from the rim. I think we adapted to these changes fairly well, considering that during our off-season workouts we were preparing to play under these conditions. It feels really good to have that first game out of the way. With this win, we are looking forward to bringing home three more! I'm sure you all know about the food already or have at least heard about it, but I can't help it and I'm going to have to tell you about it anyway. The restaurants are phenomenal. And let me tell you, the fact that I can't read the menu doesn't change ANYTHING. It's almost impossible to order bad food in Italy. Everything taste like a delicacy from the gourmet tomatoes, to the authentic pizzas, to the ice cream that they call "gelato". The most popular drinks they have are Coke, Orange Fanta, Sprite, and water. Water is given to you with every meal but you can order any of the above. I recommend the Fanta, or ask for their orange juice. It's the freshest, just squeezed orange juice ever. Florida's oranges couldn't even compete. Well, it would be really close.

All right folks, I'm about to sign off, but before I do I just want to thank every last one of you for following us as we continue our journey. I hope you keep following us into and throughout the season. Oh, and make sure you check out the site each day and look for new pictures as the site is updated. Thanks again.

GO HAWKS!

Jarryd

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