We've Arrived!

Hi Everyone,

As I write this it’s just past midnight on Saturday night. Unfortunately you wont be able to read it until tomorrow because of a few internet teething problems. So we’ve arrived in Wroclaw, well, 22 of us have (myself, my sister, 13 women’s players and 7 open players). They rest are all due to arrive early tomorrow from Dublin and of course Caoimhe and Hogie who will be joining us straight from EUC in Solvenia.

We left Cork this morning on a 9.25am bus to Shannon. With a gaggle of talkative girls having boarded the bus before me the bus driver asked what was going on in Shannon that such an unusually large number of people were going there. I told him that there was nothing going on in Shannon but that the European Ultimate Frisbee Championships were going on in Poland and that was where we were off to. He was suitably bemused.

A two and a half hour journey eventually saw us land in Shannon, meet up with the members of the open team and two of the girls who had travelled from Mayo and Tipp independently. Feeling a bit like Monica from Friends I distributed the boarding passes from within my folder/filing cabinet thing and before we knew it we were on a very packed flight to Wroclaw.

We were, as expected met at the airport by the tournament director Marcin. He and his friends had enough people carriers and cars to transport us all. It was a fantastic gesture and made us feel instantly welcome. He then proceeded to drive us on a tour to show us all the important places we would need to know about for the week. The supermarket, the shopping district, the pitches and our accommodation. He was really careful to make sure we had our bearings and knew where we were going. First impressions were certainly very good.

People sorted out what rooms they wanted to be in and we quickly headed off to the supermarket to organise stock up on food for the morning. There was also a stop made at a McDonald’s drive through on the way home, despite the fact that none of us were driving. I’ve been assured that the healthy eating begins tomorrow.

Everyone seems to have settled in well. The balconies of our dorms are awash with tri-colours, leaving nobody in any doubt as to who’s staying here. I’m looking forward to the rest of the teams getting here tomorrow and the atmosphere really starting to build. We’re one of the first ones here and we’ve been made to feel incredibly welcome. Our accommodation is perfect, only about a 15 minute walk from the pitches. So far so good, if it carries on like this, this tournament may even be better than Cork Open ..............Surely not.