Rrezart Sadiku: Amsterdam Adventures
AMSTERDAM, NL – The Humber men's volleyball team is headed to Amsterdam over the holiday break for a special educational and volleyball experience for its student-athletes, with a week of learning and games in Amsterdam Dec. 26 - Jan. 2.
Fourth-year outside hitter Rrezart Sadiku will be documenting Humber's activities in a daily blog on humberhawks.ca, along with @hawksinthesix on Instagram.
Join Rrezart and the Hawks daily on their Amsterdam adventures below - beginning Dec. 26.
JAN 2 - COMING HOME
Hello!
Sad to say this will be the last day of my blog as the trip has come to an end :(
I am writing this to you while at the airport waiting for our flight.
We had just been informed that our flight has been deplayed 4 hours due to technical issues with the plane but we had been accommodated food vouchers which helps out because I am sure a lot of us will get hungry again.
This trip has been amazing to say, the volleyball, the city and the people really made this a memorable experience we can take back home.
Everyday was something new and it was nice to experience the holland culture.
Thank you to everyone who kept up with the blog, I really hope you guys enjoyed it! Because I sure did!
I hope you guys countinue to support us through the next semester as we have so much more to show.
Over and out
JAN 1 - NEW YEAR
Just wanted to say Happy New Years from the Mens Volleyball team to you and we appriciate the support all of you give us!
Realizing that today was our last day to explore Amsterdam was a little sad because of how much we enjoyed it here.
We had started our day at noon going to the Anne Frank House.
While on the tour it was very eye opening to see how the Frank family lived for 2 years and the terror they were trying to run from.
If you don't know the Anne Frank House is, it basically a home where a Jewish family had hidden from Nazi's during the 1940s from being prosecuted and taken the concentration camp. Unfortunatly they were caught in 1944 and the only survivior was the father and had published Anne Frank's journal as she documented the whole experience in her journal.
Reflecting on the tour is had really opened my eyes to this little girls life and how much of an impact she had after her passing. It was so interesting that a couple of us had purchased a copy of her diary to read.
We had free time in the city and went out to eat and shop for a couple of hours.
It's our last night in Amsterdam and it has been sich a ride.
See you guys tomorrow morning!
DEC 31 - NEW YEARS EVE
Hallo!
The boys had a long and exciting day full of museum tours and exploring Amsterdam.
We began our day waking up early to visit the Ruks museum, for a couple hours we had interacted with various type of art dating back to as early as the 1300s.
We were very fortunate to be able to see "The Night Watch" (1606-1669) which was also going under resortation.
One of the most interesting sections was the "The Collection" which displayed various types of collectables from weapons to home decor.
It was very interesting to see how things used to be back in the day and how much thigns have advanced to this time of day.
After the museum we had gone out to look for a place to eat lunch and we stopped by Maya's Argentinian Grill Restaurant and it was even better that they could fit all twenty of us!
Our experience at lunch was amazing as we were met with such great enthusiasm from the employees of the restaurant, they were making jokes and creating an amazing envrionment for us and the food was delicious on top of all that.
After our late lunch our bus had taken us back to the hotel for some free time before going to eat dinner and getting ready for new years.
Once dinner time came we had some pizza...... I know, I'm sorry mom. Quickly after we had to get ready for New Years as public transit was shutting down at 8PM.
Now things start to get crazy! Once we were on our train towards downtown we started seeing more and more fireworks and more people started floading the streets.
The wild thing about Amsterdam is that the city itself doesn't take care of the firework show but the people take it into their own hands.
Thinking there was a lot of fog out it was actually smoke because people had been setting off fireworks all day.
I believe it is appropiate now....... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
The fireworks were amazing, everyone was out and celebrating, the noise was unreal and all of us have never seen anything like it before.
Tomorrow we head over to the Anne Frank House.
Cheers,
DEC 30 - EXPLORING AMSTERDAM
Hello Everyone!
Unfortunately today will be the last day I will be able to update you guys with our volleyball adventures :( BUT.... now I can write about the beautiful city of Amsterdam!
The boys this morning woke up at 8AM (Neatherlands) to prepare for out final matches against Dynamo D2 and D3 squads.
After playing eight games in three days with little sleep we were quite tired but that's what we train for in these moments.
We started out first match at 10AM against the Dynamo D3 squad to which we had taken them three straight.
Quickly followed by the match against Dynamo D2 squad where we had fallen 2-1 with great effort.
After a loooonnnnngggggg cool down because our bodies were a little sore to say haha.
We made our way into the city of Amsterdam to explore and get familiar with.
We had taken the city transit to the downtown core to explore all sites but the most beautiful was the Central Station where a large christmas tree and festive lights had been displayed everywhere.
We had started talking to locals about where to go on New Years because obviously we weren't familiar with the city haha.
Tomorrow morning the boys are going on two tours followed by a team dinner and our new years celebration!
Sorry guys, I know we are six hours ahead but we'll be celebrating with you guys in our hearts!!
Cheers,
DEC 29 - IT WAS A GOOD DAY
Hello again, Rrezart back in the house!
So today was the last day of the tournament and we are pumped!
We woke up and ate breakfast to fuel for our day and the breakfast is different here than North America, we've been eating a lot of cold cuts and bread haha
Preparing for our match at 1PM (Neatherlands) vs. Sliedrecht Sport.
We knew what was on the line today and we were ready to fight.
After playing a great game we came out on top with a 2-0 victory!! Being very excited that we had made the finals in this tournament we travelled over the Atlantic Ocean for.
Having a good 3-4 hour break before out finals match agaisnt Nipissing University (5PM) which is was schduled for, we had the opportunity to eat again and get some therapy done.
The game had been pushed back to 6PM which I believe benefited you guys knowing it was 11AM haha.
While entering the match we had noticed everyone came around to watch us and it was unreal, the place was packed!
After an intense match we came out on top 2-1 to win with 27th Dynamo Tournament.
We were really proud to represent not just Humber College but the country of Canada.
I hope everyone got the opportunity to watch some games with the livestream provided and hope we did everyone proud!
But we are not done yet! We have two games tomorrow against the Team 2 and Team 3 Dynamo squads.
You'll hear from me tomorrow!
DEC 28 - DAY TWO OF PLAY
What's up! It's Rrezart again! The boys have finally caught up with sleep after the previous day full of travel and volleyball.
The day started out great as we got the chance to sleep in and catch up with this jet lag we've been chasing.
Our first match was at 3PM vs. VC Menden Much but we arrived 30 minutes before our match...... there were some delays with the vans bringing us haha.
After our match we had a little break before the next game which gave some guys an opportunity to fuel up for our next two games.
Since splitting our first match we had to win our next one (7PM) if we wanted an opportunity to make top 3 in ur pool, after multiple rallies and big attacks we came out on top with a 2-0 win against Sliedrecht Sport (btw we livestreamed it on @hawksinthesix)
After securing the win which we were pumped about! We prepared for our last match of the day against Nipissing University........ yes, a Canadian match in the Netherlands!
Since we were the last match of the day all the other teams and spectators came our around and the environment was insane!!! So much support it felt like we were at home, truely amazing.
After the long day of playing the beautiful sport of volleyball we headed back to the hotel to eat and sleep.
Tomorrow we play Siliedrecht Sport again for our semi-finals match. We also got good news finding out all the games are livestreamed (link below)
You'll hear from me tomorrow!
Rrezart Out!
Humber Hawks vs. VC Menden Much (1-1)
Humber Hawks vs. Sliedrecht Sport (2-0
Humber Hawks vs. Nipissing Lakers (0-2)
Dec 27 - WE OUT HERE!
We have finally arrived! Shortly after landing we found ourselves on an hour-long bus ride to our hotel, safe to say everything went as planned upon arrival with flight times and baggage check.
While travelling through the Netherlands it had really amazed us how peaceful and beautiful the country really is and the people are so friendly! The experience so far has been unreal and we can't wait to see what's in hold for us these coming days.
After dropping our luggage off at the hotel we headed over to the Omnisport Complex for our first match at 3 PM Amsterdam time (9 AM Toronto) followed by two other matches at 8 PM & 10 PM Amsterdam time.
Soooooooooooooo.............. drumroll, please!!
We won all our matches! The round play consisted of 3 matches and the games were best of 2 sets. *Goal number one checked*
It has been a long 24 hours straight of travelling, volleyball, and naps but we are very thankful for the food vouchers haha
Tomorrow we will be waking up for breakfast and preparing for our power pool matches.
The boys are tired but you'll hear from me tomorrow!
Humber Hawks - Dros Alterno (25-17, 25-18)
Humber Hawks - Lycurgus (25-20, 25-22)
Humber Hawks - Noud Food/volleyball.nl (26-24, 25-17)
Dec. 26 - TAKE OFF!
Hello once again!
Today is a very exciting day to be a Humber Hawk athlete, today is the day we head to the airport and leave for our trip!
I will be leaving my home in the next hour to head over to Pearson Airport where I'll be meeting up with my teammates and coaches to get everyone checked in and ready for the flight.
Wakening up this morning really put into perspective the adventure we are about to partake in and I am really excited about what is to come of this trip.
We had already got all our information for who is roommates with who and what our first day is going to look like.
After our arrival (7:25 AM Amsterdam time) we will be heading over to our hotel to check-in and drop off our luggage and followed by a team brunch. We play our first match at 2:00 PM Amsterdam time.
Check back in with me tomorrow!!
Rrezart!!
Dec 25- One Day Out!
Hallo!.... Yes, that is me speaking Dutch
We are now one day away from departure for our trip to Amsterdam!
As a lot of us haven't travelled to Europe before we are very excited to have this opportunity to not just visit Amsterdam but to play some top programs in the country which is really exciting!
The past couple days have been constant reminders to each other about not forgetting anything we need for the trip and yes as you may expect, a lot of last-minute packing haha.
The plane leaves Toronto tomorrow in the evening and we'll be landing in Amsterdam early morning after a long 7 and a half hour flight (honestly I worry for our 6'8 middles haha).
This trip has been talked about a lot amongst us guys and its crazy to know after a long four months it's finally here and happening.
I'm seeing all the boys and coaches tomorrow as we had our little holiday break but I'll update you tomorrow!
Be sure to follow our Instagram page @hawksinthesix for live updates of the trip!
Tot ziens! (See you later!)
Rrezart!
