Nov. 4 - 10 Blog #5 - Trip to Utrecht and Loss to Kortrijk with Visitors

*I added a prompt at the bottom of the home page in which you can subscribe to get weekly notifications when I post a blog! Use it to stay updated!*

Basketball Update:

We had a tough loss to 2nd place, Kortrijk. We lost 108-74. We were only down by eight at the beginning of the fourth quarter. They went on a massive run, and we had a long bus ride home. My cousin, who lives in London, Craig, was there with his wife and kids, Magda, Oscar, and Leon. It was my first time seeing family since I left the States, so it was great to see them and spend a little time with them postgame. My AAU coach from high school, Dan Cahalane, also came to the game. He was here for work, and it was great that he made the effort to come see me. He also came with a few of his work friends, which was fun. I played pretty well in the first half. It always sucks to lose like that when you have people come to watch you, but cool having fans regardless! One more game on Saturday until we have an international break. We need a good win going into our break.

Leadership Lesson:

Maybe the most overused advice that I have gotten in my life from coaches or other adults is to live in the moment. It is human nature to either reminisce or look forward to things that were once better or to what you are looking forward to/worried about. No doubt, it is good advice, and I would not say it is overrated. This is especially difficult to understand while you are young. I feel like I have gotten better at doing this throughout the years, and this is why. Living in the moment is easier to do when you also have a certain perspective of where you are at in your life. Oftentimes, we get caught up in daily ups and downs where we have a bad day at work, are dealing with a lingering ailment, or are stressed about an upcoming event that we are dreading. If we live so much in the moment, the highs will be awesome, but the lows will suck. This is not a sustainable way to have joy and fulfillment in your life in my opinion.

Living your life with a healthy perspective of where you are at in your life's journey helps with this. I will use myself as an example. Sometimes, I get upset if I have a bad game and really let it affect my mood and how I am feeling for a couple of days. However, when I think of my basketball journey (all of my relationships as a result of this game, my passion for the game, all the places it has taken me, the things I have accomplished, the joy basketball has given me, and where hoops has led me to), it gives me a certain perspective and level of gratitude that comes with that perspective. It helps me to live in whatever moment I am in and understand that anything in life has ups and downs. It helps me recognize that I have had bad games before, and I have been able to respond. Living in the moment is as important as people say it is, but I have found that doing so with a healthy perspective is essential to do so in a healthy way.

Top 5 of the Week:

TV Characters

1. Michael Scott (The Office): Comedy gold. People might say this is basic, but I don't care. I genuinely believe that 90% of the things he says in this show are hilarious. Michael Scott humor is my favorite sense of humor. One of my favorite TV shows ever because of him. My favorite episode with him is probably the dinner party episode. Must watch if you haven't.

2. Walter White (Breaking Bad): The Heisenberg transformation is one for the ages. He probably comes in at #1 on many people's lists. A complex character with a great arc. Turns into an awful person, simultaneously being a badass. Even though he does all these awful things to jeopardize his family and the people he cares about, you still find yourself rooting for him the whole show. Great character.

3. Roman Roy (Succession): A bit of a sleeper here, but I am a huge fan of this character. Succession is a great show because of the sibling dynamic between Kendall, Shiv, and Roman. Roman's dry sense of humor and the way he delivers his one-liners are some of the best TV I have seen.

4. Robb Stark (Game of Thrones): Such an awesome character in one of my favorite shows ever. He is that dude. King in the North. Young Wolf. Fell in love with his character at the end of season one. I will not divulge any spoilers, but man, is he awesome.

5. Kramer (Seinfeld): Kramer deserves a spot on this top five. His humor is much different than a Roman Roy or Michael Scott. His is much more simple, but the way he delivers it is better than anyone else I have seen do it. Truly an icon who has had some rough moments off-set, but the Kramer character is legendary.

What Else Did I Do?

As I mentioned, my AAU coach, Dan Cahalane, was at my game Friday. He also made the effort to come see me in Leiden on Thursday, and we went out for a nice lunch. We went to Annie's which is a place in the center right on the water. It was fun to catch up and hear about how his family is doing.

Nikki and I did not do much during the week. Because we played on Friday, we got Saturday and Sunday off. I did not find out my schedule until it was a bit too late to plan to go somewhere further away, but the two days off were very nice. We have been planning on going to Paris at some point because there is a high-speed train that would only take a couple of hours. All the cheap tickets were sold out, and the only ones left were first-class tickets, which were about 160 EU each one-way. Because of this, we went to Utrecht on Saturday. It was amazing. It might be my favorite city in the Netherlands. I think there might have been some kind of celebration going on because in the town center, there was a stage and we saw a couple of dancing shows going on. It was generally just a good vibe with a ton of cool restaurants, canals, etc. Some cool pics below. Before we went into the center, we checked out Castle de Haar, which is the biggest castle in the country. There was not really a cool story behind the castle; it was bought by a rich family around 1900 and underwent a massive renovation to host guests and have parties. I was hoping that it was more historically significant, but there were a couple of interesting guests that had been there. It was massive and really fun to walk through.

We also bought museum passes that give us access to over 500 museums throughout the Netherlands. We went to the National Museum of Ethnology on Sunday in Leiden. It was really cool to learn about different indigenous groups in different areas of the world, along with some of the different religions. I think we will make good use of our passes to check out a bunch of different museums and learn new things. After the museum, we hung out, watched GOT, and made my mom's chili which was unreal! We added a bit too much of something because it was very spicy, but it made me miss home a bit less.

Top Meal of the Week:

My favorite meal this week was Saturday in Utrecht. Nikki and I got ramen from Sanju Ramen. It really hit the spot because the weather here has turned into real fall weather. It has been in the 50s and has been mostly overcast. We had been hanging outside mostly in Utrecht, and the ramen heated us up very nicely. I got the Sancho Spicy Pork, and it was delicious. I need to be better about taking pictures of my favorite meal of the week for you guys, my b.

One Thing I Miss About America:

I miss regular stairways. This is an extremely minor inconvenience, but I feel like I have some room to complain because of my height. A lot of restaurants and other places in the Netherlands have these tiny, winding stairways with pretty steep stairs. Many times, I have to duck due to the risk of hitting my head. Also, I get motion sickness very easily, so if the winding staircase is long, I get a little dizzy. Again, very minor inconvenience, but I thought of it this week. Thanks for reading everyone!