WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University women's soccer team continues its nine-day spring break trip in Europe, which includes stops in France, Belgium, Germany and Holland. Throughout the trip, members of the squad took a break from their action-packed trip to reflect on some exciting moments of the journey. Next up, junior Sarah Trissel (San Diego, Calif. / Torrey Pines) brings GUHoyas up to date on the squad's journey.

Day 3 – Sunday, March 3
 
Bonjour! This morning, your favorite Hoyas (or sunflowers, according to our guide Giancarlo) woke up bright and early and ate breakfast in the hotel. We were exhausted since we're only getting an average of about seven hours of sleep each night, but we were ready to take on the day because YOEO (you only Europe once).
 
We hopped on the bus, which is considered our second bed, and began our tour of the beautiful city of Paris. Our first stop on the adventure was the Eiffel Tower, where the team sprinted off the bus to get pictures for Instagram, Snapchat, and mems (memories) to look back at before we were corralled back. We continued on to see all the historic landmarks: the Cathedral where Napoleon's tomb resides, Concord Square, the Arc de Triumph from a distance and the Louvre. We then meandered through a not-so-historic (but still intriguing) block where the streets contained every famous designer store you could think of: Tory Burch, Gucci, Dior, Louis Vuitton and many more. Turns out we're here during Fashion Week in Paris, so Giancarlo told us to look out for the models by finding young girls in all black who look like they "didn't eat breakfast". We ended our tour with the Notre Dame. We had an hour to go inside the beautiful cathedral during the Sunday morning mass and then grab a quick sandwich or crepe. This was our pre-game meal before we got back on the bus to head to our first game against the leaders of the second division French league: Stade de Reims.
 
It was our first game of 2019 and we were pumped to be back on the field with our best friends. The game began with our captain, Leah McCullough, yelling at the sideline to try to figure out how to say "heads" in French for the coin toss. The whistle blew, and although we'd been on a bus for five hours, everyone was smiling as we stepped out to play. About halfway through the first half, Kelly Ann Livingstone asked Meghan Shaver if she could ask the ref how much time was left. The two quickly realized "oh crêpe!", they knew zero French, so not only could they not ask the time, but they also wouldn't understand the answer. Overall, it wasn't the prettiest game but we had a blast finally playing against someone other than ourselves. We came out on top 2-1 with an early goal from Caitlin Moon in the first half and a penalty kick by Grace Nguyen in the second. After the game, the opponents invited us into their facilities where they had an array of breads, meats, cheeses and fruits for us. We headed back to the hotel for a late dinner where we learned that sometimes it's possible to have too much pancetta in your pasta.
 
After our squishy and delicious chocolate dessert, we were off to go explore the city on our own. As everyone ran upstairs to change, 13 of our players got stuck in the elevator for 10 minutes. Some found it funny and were cracking jokes, like Alyssa Cronin, but others were close to tears. Good thing Maya Fernandez-Powell was one of the 13 and was able to get everyone to safety with her bilingual skills. Finally, everyone headed back to the Latin Quarter, which is near the Notre Dame, and some got gelato for the first time and others went to a cave with live music and bands that featured 65-year-old harmonica players. Around midnight, our 17-hour day came to an end and there was nothing more exciting than our comfy little beds.
 
Day 4 – Monday, March 4
 
Our day began with a trip to the Montparnasse Tower, which is known for its incredible view of Paris. We took an elevator up 56 floors in just 13 seconds. As our ears popped, we stepped off the elevator to the viewing lodge and the entire city was before our eyes. Afterwards, we went to the Arc de Triomphe, where it was sunny and warm as we took our team photo on the perimeter of the traffic circle of death that surrounds it. However, after we walked through the tunnel to get to the actual Arc and emerged on the other side, it was windy and POURING! Charlie Kern deemed it "Hurricane Croissant" and Caitlin Farrell decided that it the tunnel was indeed Narnia and that once we crossed back, it would be sunny (she was wrong). Then we went to our final stop of the morning, Sacré-Coeur Montmatre, where we climbed up the amount of stairs equivalent to "walking up to Shaw Field 10 times", according to Amanda Carolan. Once we made it to the top, we went inside the beautiful Cathedral and admired another amazing view of the city. Then we were free to eat lunch on our own and souvenir shop.
 
Once we were stuffed with pizza and the sophomores bought their berets, we hopped back on the bus to head to our second game against the League One professional team FC Fleury 91 and our very own Rachel Corboz (C'18). We tied 1-1 with an early goal from Amanda Carolan and were excited to get a game against such a tough opponent.
 
After the game, we went back to the hotel for another delicious dinner consisting of salad, lasagna and an apple dessert. Then it was finally time to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. As we walked up, it began sparkling, as it does for five minutes at the top of every hour. It was breathtaking and so was the wind once we made it to the top. Everyone took in the view and took pictures until their storage ran out. When we got to the bottom, we walked back toward the hotel as some went to side streets for more pictures and others went toward crêpes for a midnight snack and a final goodbye to Paris.