We Made It!!! --- Emily Mueller and Sarah Milligan

After several neckpillows, two airplane meals, and 8 hours of watching Julie Mooney contort her body in every possible position to get comfortable, we arrived in Milan at 7:30 am. We were completely exhausted, but started to get excited when we met our tour guide, Flavio (aka Flava Flave!). We loaded all the luggage onto our Mercedes Benz tour bus where Sergio (the Lion of Como) took us to our hotel in the heart of Como. On the way, we asked important questions like, "Are there squirrels in Italy?" ~ Erin Hollinger.

We dropped off our luggage at Hotel Plinius and set off on a tour of Como. The views were amazing, from the Alps in the background to the architecture in the streets. Flavio directed us through the town to the Saturday Flea Market. We were left on our own to shop and Lauren Elkin taught us all how to barter. All that shopping made us hungry, so we stopped by an outdoor cafe where we ate the greatest sandwich we've ever had. The fresh mozzarella and the tasty cappuccinos definitely helped us re-energize for more shopping.

Jet lag started taking its toll right around the time we were leaving for practice, so to wake us all up we practiced outside on a turf basketball court with the Alps in view (a very European way to start our basketball "training sessions"). After practice, we came back to the hotel, got dressed and went to dinner. We were served pasta, veal, and coffee ice cream. It was fantastico!! Despite having had dessert at the restaurant, we stopped for some gelato (our second time that day). We walked around Como for a little while longer before we returned to our hotel and slept like we've never slept before. So far, our trip to Italy has been great!

Spartans hit Boston & The Big Apple--By Emily Mueller

This past weekend we reached the halfway point of UAA play, but don’t ask me how the time went by so quickly. We traveled to Boston and New York City to face Brandeis University and New York University. Sadly, we were missing one of our teammates. Chelsea Peck couldn’t make it due to shoulder surgery. She was definitely missed, but we felt like she was there because she sent inspiring texts to us throughout the weekend. I’m also happy to say that her surgery went well.

Our basketball weekend started a little early. On Thursday morning, a very lucky six of us who didn’t have class got to practice before we finished up our packing and prepared ourselves for the trek to the RTA station. During our ride, a few of us were privileged to meet some very interesting characters. We all made it to the airport and onto the airplane. As we were situating ourselves in our seats, we found out the flight was delayed, so we all made our way back to the gate where everyone got a lot of (cough) homework (cough) done. Eventually, we got back on the plane and had a safe trip to Boston.


Directly after the flight, we went to the famous Hard Rock Café for dinner (thank you Mrs. Henry!!!). After dinner we were let loose to explore all Boston had to offer. Due to the cold, we weren’t outside exploring for very long, but we did find Cheers (where everybody knows your name). Around 10 pm, we made it to the Double Tree Inn, and I ate one of the best cookies I’ve ever eaten in my life.

Friday morning we woke up early for our shoot around. Because we took the earlier time slot, we were left a lot of time in between the shoot around and our pre-game meal to do more homework! Erica, Evy, and Nikki were lucky enough to get to take a chem. test (proctored by none other than Professor Reimer) during this time…I’m sure they all aced it.

After eating at a nice little Italian restaurant, we bussed to the Brandeis gym, where we unfortunately lost. It was a tough loss to handle, but through it we gained the tools to learn how to be a better team and how to play together.

Saturday morning we woke up early again for a lovely 4 hour bus ride to New York City. We got to our hotel (Radio City Apartments) with enough time to drop off our luggage and then go out and find somewhere to eat before practice. After practice, we got to our hotel and we had about 45 minutes to get ready for our Alumni dinner. For most of us that would be plenty of time, however there were three or four girls to most rooms and only one bathroom to a room. We were also having some issues with the elevator. Let’s just say it’s not a good idea to try and squeeze 12 people into an elevator only meant for about 6 (you’ll end up going down…not up).

By some miracle, we all made it down to the lobby very close to being on time. We then walked through streets of New York City to the pizzeria where our Alumni dinner was being held. This was the first time I had ever experienced NYC and I’m sure people could tell. I was walking around with my jaw permanently dropped pointing and oohing at everything I saw (most notably a very large Borders that Chelsea Lasky and I would very much like to visit sometime…what can I say, we go to Case). After the dinner, we were once again set loose upon the city. I still can’t believe how exciting everything was. There was an advertisement on every wall, bright lights everywhere, and taxis racing through the streets (I’m sure of this because I was nearly run over by a taxi…twice).

Sunday morning we were pumped and ready to play. We left for the gym at 11:30 so we could watch the guys’ team play. About 3 minutes into the game, an alarm started going off. At first everyone was annoyed, but didn’t think anything of it…until the announcer told us to evacuate the building. We made it outside and watched as the fire trucks made their way to the gym. After a few minutes of waiting, we were allowed to go back in.

Before we started our game, Evy lead us in a new pregame ritual. We put our arms around each other’s shoulders, swayed side to side and made some NOISE. It was a great way to get us all pumped for the game. Despite a lead in the first half, we ended up losing to NYU, but the effort was definitely there. Next week, we get the chance for revenge as we face NYU and Brandeis again in our House.

Meet our First Year Spartans--Emily Mueller

Hello! My name is Emily Mueller (I’m on the left next to my friend Maggie at my graduation). I’m from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and yes, I’m a HUGE Steelers/Penguins/Pirates fan (I hope that doesn’t upset anyone too much). And even though I’ll be in the same city as my sworn enemies, the Cleveland Browns, I’m so excited and happy about my decision to come to Case Western Reserve University.

I chose Case for a number of reasons. There’s no getting around how great of a school it is and that drew me in at first. I plan on majoring in civil engineering, and Case is a fantastic school for that major. Then, I took a tour of the campus of few summers back, and I really liked it. What sealed the deal was coming last fall and meeting everyone. All of the players were so nice and made me feel comfortable even though they didn’t know me. And of course, the coaches were great and made my decision very easy. What really pleased me (and my parents), was on the day I visited, I sat in on a practice and was told that one of the players was unable to attend practice because she had a lab. A lot of girls I know who play in college would be forced to skip their class for practice, and that showed me how much the coaches want us to be successful students as well as successful basketball players.

My summer has been kind of crazy. It began with my brother graduating from the Naval Academy. We saw the Blue Angels fly over us, and President Obama was the commencement speaker. It was a beautiful (extremely hot) day in Annapolis, Maryland, and a truly memorable experience. After my brother’s graduation came my own in June and then my graduation party which was a blast. The biggest event of my summer came on July 18 when my brother got married. I was a bridesmaid and the wedding was beautiful! I love my new sister-in-law and I’m so happy for her and my brother.

Now I’m starting to get everything together for my move in next week and I can’t wait to be a Spartan!!!