Aug. 16, 2001

FRANKFURT, Germany - Terrapin senior defender Debbie Lieberman (Commack, N.Y.) is writing a journal covering the Maryland women's soccer team's trip to Europe to kick off the 2001 season. Here is her recap of the first four days in Germany.

Day 1-2 (Aug. 15-16):

Another year, another fall semester, another preseason?

Not quite.

A friend of mine asked me what its like to go through another year of training. "Is it the same old stuff, since its senior year?"

Over the past couple of days, I've definitely answered that question.

Absolutely not. Every year the team is different, the chemistry is different and most notable this year, the location is different.

Preseason in Europe!

We've spoken about going to Europe since my freshman year and finally we are here.

Team On The Fly

On Wednesday, August 15, after our first full squad scrimmage, we, the Maryland women's soccer team took a bus to BWI Airport to embark on what would NOT be the "same old preseason." In fact, it probably would be the most memorable preseason.

Our trip from BWI to Germany didn't exactly run as smoothly as we hoped it would. In short, we went from having a delayed flight to a cancelled flight and being almost being forced to take a bus to Newark, where we were to have a connecting flight from BWI. But, the bus ride would have taken forever because we would have had to drive in the middle of rush hour though New Jersey. Ultimately another plane came into BWI and was able to fly us to Newark, ending a four-hour delay.

Even though every preseason is different, you can't say the same about the airlines.

But, we forgot all our prior mishaps with the airlines once we were on board the plane. We had incredibly friendly stewardesses, who served us several servings of peanuts, pretzels and biscuits, which was a new food for a flight. They were kind of a cross between gingerbread cookies and crackers. With all the smiles going around it made for a cheerful attitude on the bus ride.

Entering into Newark Airport was exciting. For some players it was the first time seeing the Statute of Liberty in New York City. For others, they were just happy to be out of BWI!

The Flight To Europe

The six-hour flight into Frankfurt, Germany was long but doable. Most of us slept or tried to sleep. The plane had these neat individualized television screens and remote controls to go with them for each seat on the Continental flight. With this futuristic contraption one could chose to do at leas four things: listen to music, watch TV or a movie, play a video game or watch the airplane travel over a map on the screen.

This kept most of us occupied for a while.

The Arrival Abroad

We arrived at 9:15 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 16, at the Frankfurt Airport. After going through the airport, we took a bus ride to our hotel in The Ibis Hotel in Heidelberg. Exhausted as we all were, we knew that in order to beat jet lag, we had to stay awake as long as possible.

Coach Shannon Higgins-Cirovski was nice enough to fill our time -- much to our joy -- with a stretch to work out the kinks in our legs.

That night we had dinner at a nearby restaurant. Chicken, potatoes and vegetables were served as the main course. Mostly everyone enjoyed their meals. In our dining experience, we also learned that it is okay to drink the water. Germany and Holland have some of the cleanest water supplies in the world.

It was finally the end to our first -- really two days -- of our trip.