Sophomore guard Rilee Schmitz took some time out her busy day to give us the inside scoop on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville women's basketball team trip to New York City.
Wednesday, December 26th:
We started off our trip by heading to Chicago's O'Hair Airport at four in the morning to head to New York City! We made it safely and hung out till our flight boarded. After three delays, we got off the ground to head to the big city. The flight was short and sweet. When we arrived to our hotel we unpacked, got ready and had pizza for dinner before we ventured out to all the excitement. Our first trip on the subway was very interesting, but successful. We headed to Times Square, which was the first time for most of us. We also got to enjoy a night light tour on a bus, which took us all around downtown New York. It was cold and rainy, but definitely worth it!
Thursday, December 27th:
Today we had practice to prepare us for our two games against Brooklyn and Baruch on Saturday and Sunday. After practice, we stopped at a fun little café for lunch and headed out for a big day of site seeing. We had the honor of seeing the 9/11 memorial. Ground Zero was so breathtaking and a real experience for us all. We then got to see Grand Central Station. This place was pretty awesome and it was cool for all of us to see where many moves we had seen, were previously filmed. After a full day of stopping at little shops and taking pictures, we ate at Dallas BBQ. As we enjoyed our delicious food, we had fun chatting and reflecting on our day. We then headed to the New York Broadway showing of Mamma Mia. We all definitely enjoyed the show (Dot, Dot, Dot). Many smiles and laughs were shared while we all got to talk about how awesome it was after the show. Another great experience! After the show we made our way back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep! On the Subway ride home, some of us had the pleasure of being sung to. It was some kind of remix of Feliz Navidad with some charming dance movies, or maybe they weren't dance moves. I don't know, the moral of this story is don't do drugs!
Friday, December 28th:
Today we had practice again. On our way we witnessed two taxi cars get in a little fender bender. No one was hurt so we all decided it was kind of neat to witness in NYC. After our practice we got some lunch then headed to the hotel. On our way, we saw something none of us had ever seen before; a lady walking her dog around in a stroller. Anyway, the next three hours were back to our hotel to rest. We came back together at 3pm and headed to Central Park. We walked through the park and couldn't believe how large it really was. Then we went to Rockefeller Center. It was the busiest place we had experienced yet, but by far the most fun! We got many pictures and enjoyed the magic that was all around us. Next, we headed to St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was pretty neat and was such a beautiful place. After, we headed to the backside of Rockefeller and got to see the other side of the big tree. We ate at PJ Bricks, which had a variety of food choices that kept us all happy! Once we got back to the hotel it was an early lights out for us all.
Check back later to read about the final couple days of Schmitz and the rest of the Pioneers trip to the Big Apple.