The Herd dropped a close game, 70–67 to Illinois Wesleyan University.
In sweltering 40°C conditions, the team battled fatigue from playing and touring daily but still pushed to the final buzzer.
Despite the challenges, the team battled hard and gave their best effort.
Day 7: A Day in Seville
(By Cieran O’Hara)
This morning we woke up in Seville, Spain after a full day of travel yesterday.
Seville has a completely different vibe from Lisbon. From being surrounded by seemingly ancient buildings, to now seeing contemporary artwork within the city’s buildings, it is a complete 180. I think from first glance, I can say that I like it more here.
We were able to sleep in a bit later than normal today, which was needed and then had another great breakfast.
This entire trip, the food has been incredible as everywhere we stay gives us a massive selection of food to eat from, ranging from fruits and vegetables and pastries, to random things that I haven’t seen before.
We made our way to the Royal Alcazar, which was located in the city center.
The first thing I noticed was the blistering heat. They weren’t messing around when they said it was going to be hot here!
We had a Spanish tour guide named Maria take us through a detailed walking tour around the Alcazar. Maria explained how the tiles we were looking at were a thousand years old, explained the process of creating them, went into detail on the history of the city, and showed us ancient air conditioning (definitely enjoyed this part).
The Alcazar was massive and even had its own garden within the inside of it, with a maze made from bushes and peacocks within it. I have been completely astonished by how beautiful everything I seem to see is on this trip.
Everything here is so new to all of us, and I feel like a child by how intrigued I am by the smallest things.
For some free time, I went to Cerveceria Giralda, a restaurant that Maria suggested to me with a couple of the guys.
We sat down outside and all ordered a bunch of tapas. We had oxtail, pork cheek, salmon, artichoke, guspacho, and some other small dishes. This must’ve been one of my favourite meals thus far.
In the afternoon after a quick rest, we travelled to play our final game against Illinois Weseleyan University.
Although we didn’t win today, I think it was still a good experience as all of us got to play and compete in a close game.
I think that losing today helped us realize that we have a long way to go until we’re ready for this season.
One thing for sure is that I know that we have the tools capable to do what we’re aiming for.
This entire experience of travelling across the world to play against other teams has been a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I definitely know that this past week is going to be one that sticks with me for the rest of my life.
I’d like to express my gratitude toward the things that must’ve gone on behind the scenes for myself and my teammates to be where we are today. I can’t imagine how much work must’ve been done to fundraise for us to travel to Europe.
This entire trip has been made possible by my coaches and donors, who wanted to do something that hadn’t been done for the program before.
Sending us here has been a lot of the guys’ first time travelling out of the continent, and I think coming here with their friends and teammates has made this such an amazing experience.
It’s pretty crazy to think what playing basketball has done for me and my life. I’m really excited for these last couple of days, although I don’t know if I want them to end just yet.