Oglethorpe’s men’s basketball team is on a nine-day trip to Europe. They will check in with Division III basketball fans from time to time.

Hello, my name is Wade Weldon. I am a basketball player at Oglethorpe University majoring in business administration. I just finished my sophomore year and my basketball team was given the opportunity to travel to Europe and tour the beautiful countries, France and Italy. I will be posting journal entries periodically throughout our trip.

Yesterday, we arrived at Charles de Gaulle International airport around midday. After being on a plane for 11 hours, we landed and immediately hit the ground running. A Mercedes tour bus picked us up and toured us around the entire city. We stopped at the Eiffel Tower, ate crepes, and admired the great views of the city. After this our tour guide took us to the famous Louvre Museum. The team was fascinated by the museum’s beautiful paintings and historical golden ceilings that give the Louvre its world-renowned reputation. When we returned from the tour, we went back to our hotel and then dined at a great restaurant called Mollard. Here, we enjoyed 10-dollar cokes and three course meals. After being on our feet all day, we immediately crashed after eating dinner.

Today, we woke up and took the metro to the Musee D’Orsay. We spent the morning touring this beautiful museum and enjoyed famous impressionist paintings by Monet, Van Gogh, and Renoir. After touring the museum we took the metro to the famous Champs Elysee and enjoyed shopping and local dining. After lunch, we went to the Arc de Triumph. This historical architecture was built to celebrate one of Napoleon’s victories. The team climbed the arch and admired the great views of the city. Later today, we are scheduled to play our first basketball game in the suburbs of Paris against a local club/semi-pro team. I am very excited about this game because I have been injured for a few months and I’m ready to get back on the court.

I will give an update tomorrow about how our game went after we return from our trip to the D-Day beaches of Normandy.