Tag Archives: Case Western Reserve

Case in Brazil: Rio de Janeiro

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The Case Western Reserve men’s basketball team is in Brazil, and blogging about the experience as well. Colin Mulholland writes:

Today began with a 6:40 a.m. wake up call and was followed by a 7 a.m. sprint workout on the beach. As delightful as a beach workout may seem, think twice about running sprints in quick sand. During our workout and in between gasping for air, we witnessed several kids in wet suits riding humongous waves. The locals made the boogie boarding look easy … little did we know.

After the workout, we showered, ate, and made our way to the Christ the Redeemer statue. A brief tour of the city in route to the train stop which all seemed like common procedure; however, if you ask Kevin Carduff, he may tell you otherwise. Kevin spent the majority of the train ride with his head between his legs due to a tremendous fear of heights. He battled and was able to say that he saw one of the modern era seven wonders of the world. From the platforms, we were able to view the entire city. One of the key landmarks was a soccer stadium, which hosted the 1950 World Cup.

After the statue, we were given some time to spend in the hippie market or try our hand at bogey boarding. The cold temperatures and huge waves deterred most of the guys, from the ocean, but Bokan and I had decided to give it a shot. It turns out the other ten guys made the better decision. The current took us a couple hundred yards down the beach in a matter of minutes, and the only waves we caught were not by choice. We were thrown around for about ten minutes until “Scuba Sam,” the Brazilian life guard, in his manly Speedo and flippers decided it would be best if we got out of the water. We agreed.

Later in the afternoon, we were told that we would be in the stadium we saw earlier, amongst 60,000 crazy Brazilian fans watching a tournament game between the fifth seeded Internacionals and the first seeded, host Fluminense. The game ended with the local team from Rio, Fluminense, winning 3-0, but the real excitement was the fans. We were easily picked out in the crowd, but when we found out that screaming and jumping around was encouraged, we were just like everyone else. All in all, it was another incredible day in Brazil. We are headed towards Partay in the morning.

In Brazil: Case’s day off

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The Case Western Reserve men’s basketball team is in Brazil, and blogging about the experience as well. Brian Curth writes:

Our third full day of the Brazil trip provided a long day as we drove from Guaraja to Rio. The drive provided many eye-opening views as we neared Rio and drove through the slums or favelas throughout the city.

As someone who lived internationally before in Tokyo, Japan, I often feel I have a good perspective on foreign places and different cultures. However, what we saw today was like nothing I’d ever seen before and really put things into perspective for me and how fortunate I am to live in the United States and all the rights and privileges I have there. The amount of poverty and poor living conditions that thousands of people have to suffer through everyday really makes you count your blessings.

After we drove through these conditions and got closer to our hotel is when we saw the beach and the waves. The waves here seem significantly bigger and more powerful than those in Guaraja. Pat, our tour guide, warned us that it is extremely dangerous to go further than waist deep as the pull out to sea is quite strong. Once we reached the hotel we had a little bit of time until dinner and were able to walk around a little bit and shop in a market area with small booths aimed at tourists with various T-shirts and souvenirs.

After we finished shopping it was time for dinner, which was one of the best meals I think I’ve ever had. We were fortunate enough to dine in an upscale Brazilian steakhouse, which was all you can eat. As a team, myself included, we indulged to the fullest and tried various different types of steak and meat. We ate for quite a while until we could barely move, because it was so delicious. The different flavors and seasonings on the steak were plentiful and there was never a dull moment as the chefs continued to bring new cuts. As somewhat of a picky eater I decided to get a little bit adventurous and even tried a frog’s heart, which was certainly a different taste, but good nonetheless.

Along with the meats there was also a plethora of different side dishes to complement the different steaks. Fried bananas seemed to be a crowd favorite among our guys. Once we finally finished the chefs invited us back into their kitchen to see all the different steaks and cuts and how they were prepared.

Overall, for mostly a travel day today and no basketball, there was by no means a lack of activities as we arrived in Rio and continue our adventure in Brazil.

Case in Brazil: One day later

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The Case Western Reserve men’s basketball team is in Brazil, and blogging about the experience as well.

A nine hour flight isn’t bad, right? No, not at all. The nice thing going into nine hours on an airplane, was that the flight was overnight. A time where we were supposed to be sleeping, we would be able to sleep on the plane. When we arrive in Brazil, we would have our night’s sleep and the day ahead of us. A pretty good plan, if it had worked out.

Upon our arrival in Washington, D.C. to catch our connecting flight to Sao Paulo, we charged through the airport to make it to the gate in time. We were cutting it close making it to the gate for our 10:30 p.m. connecting flight. Up on the board the time remained 10:30. There was a slight difference nobody noticed as we thought we were racing against the clock. The little a.m. at the end of 10:30. This was no typo. Due to undisclosed reasons, our flight had been canceled for the night. The 10:30 a.m. flight would get us to Brazil at 9:30 p.m. with a one-hour time change as we are traveling to the east. Day one of Brazil, down the drain.

Looking around, while the loss of the day was disappointing, everyone was still content. I mean, here we were, on our way to Brazil, anticipating the amazing experience that lays ahead. Everyone has taken the change of plans in stride. We were put up in a fairly luxurious hotel, given meals, and now, flying 3,000 feet above South America. And, apparently South America is much larger than I have ever realized, for we have six hours left to go until we arrive.

Oh well. That’s all part of the game. Plus, it is quite entertaining to see an entire group of guys, all well over 6 feet tall, squish into their plane seats, and today’s practice was slated!