Indiana University Athletics
Valentin's Second Adventure Diary III
9/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Sept. 16, 2005
After traveling to Holland and Belgium earlier in the summer with the Big Ten Foreign Tour, Indiana senior Cyndi Valentin has embarked on another trip to play international basketball. This time, the 5-8 guard is headed to the Dominican Republic to compete in the FIBA Americas Championships with the Puerto Rican National Team, which began Sept 14. Below is her third diary entry for IUHOOSIERS.com:
So I've been in the Dominican Republic for a couple days now. We are staying at a hotel called Talanquera. It's a nice hotel, it's actually like a resort. It's all inclusive so we get whatever we want to eat and drink for free. When we first got here our rooms weren't ready though, so we had to wait almost an hour because they had to clean it. So we wandered around a little. They have a huge pool area. It's really nice.
Anyway, they have a huge stage where they have shows and activities at night. Across the street they have a beach club, that at night it turns into a dance club. They have a spa in that same building too. Behind that, they have a pretty beach, and the water is so clear. It's gorgeous. We don't have time to lay out to work on our tans, but it's still nice to go see it. It's rained for the last two days, but when the sun is out it's so hot. Hotter then Puerto Rico, it's crazy.
After we got back from practice we jumped in the water at the beach, but it's warm so it kind of defeats the purpose, but it's still nice. We started playing on Wednesday and we played the Dominican Republic. We ended up winning by a lot. Our whole team shot the ball so well. We shot about 60 percent as a team, which is awesome. There were a lot of people at our game since we played the DR but after halftime a lot of them left.
The games are televised, which is good because my family down here is able to see the games. On Thursday I actually got to go see my family and I went to their house. My aunt cooked me rice with gandules (beans), my favorite. Then amarillos with cheese in the middle. It was so good. We played Brazil later that night. It was a good physical game, close all the way till the end of then fourth quarter and they pulled away with free throws. We play Cuba tonight, which will be another physical game. I have to cut this short because the computer lab is closing. I'll write tomorrow.
