Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Photo Gallery

Day 8 - August 15, 2025

Hello UCFH friends, I am Amy Vytopilova, a rising junior on the team.  Today was our last day in Paris, and it was the best way to close this chapter of our trip. After a busy week of sightseeing and adventures, we had the day to ourselves to wander and savor its charm.

I began the morning by taking the metro into the heart of Paris to meet up with my friends for a day of exploring. We spent the morning wandering the streets and enjoying some shopping along the way.

After some successful shopping (and a little damage to our wallets), we headed to a local pizzeria for lunch. Although I'm not usually the biggest fan of pizza, this was genuinely the best Margherita I've ever had. We sat together, sharing stories and reflecting on the wonderful memories we'd created so far.

No trip to Paris would be complete without gelato, so that was our next stop. We wandered through central Paris, exploring the streets and discovering beautiful churches and historic buildings—sights that are unique to the city.

As the day drew to a close, I felt very grateful to share this experience with my favorite people. I've always believed that immersing yourself in other cultures is one of life's most meaningful experiences. Paris, my favorite city in the world, has given us laughter, wonder, and memories that will linger long after we return. Even with long travel days, sore field hockey muscles, and the occasional confusion navigating the city, we embraced every moment—and now carry a piece of Paris with us forever.

Thanks for following along on the trip. Now it's time to focus on the 2025 season—go U!

Day 7 - August 14, 2025

Hiii UCFH Family! Rising sophomore Rowan Dapson here, checking in from Paris! Today was an incredibly busy day, but it was packed with fun and memorable experiences.

We started the morning with a team run around the beautiful park next to our hotel, followed by a visit to a local café together. Some of you may have seen our day unfold through my Instagram takeover, where I shared play-by-play updates from start to finish.

Around noon, we took the metro to the stunning Palace of Versailles. It was truly breathtaking. We enjoyed a few hours to explore the grounds and palace at our own pace, which was so amazing. After returning to the metro, we had a bit of free time before our evening reservation at the Eiffel Tower. During that break, we grabbed dinner and took some time to relax.

We were fortunate enough to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle three separate times during the evening! Once we reached the top, I'll admit I felt a bit nervous—heights are not my favorite—but the view was absolutely worth it. After taking photos and gathering for a group picture we caught the metro back to the hotel to wrap up an unforgettable day.

I hope you enjoyed this little "day in the life" as we explored the wonders of Paris!

Day 6 - August 13, 2025

Bonjour! My name is Marion Stuntz and I am a rising junior. Today was our first full day in Paris so it was packed with sightseeing, great food, and exploring. 

To start the busy day we ate breakfast in the hotel with the whole team. Then we walked down the street to the train station to hop on a train to the center of Paris. After getting off the metro we walked through the city to the Seine River for a boat tour. We got to see the Eiffel Tower, Place du Trocadéro, Musée D'Orsay, and other palaces and gardens along the Seine. 

After the boat cruise, we had a few hours to explore and get lunch. We shopped a little bit and wandered around the streets of Paris. Lastly, for lunch, we stopped at a bakery called Le Pain for sandwiches, salads, and coffees. 

Next on the agenda was a tour of the Louvre so we made our way back and walked through Jardin du Palaus Royal. At the Louvre we explored the Greek, Roman, and Italian portraits, sculptures, and other various artworks. Of course we had to stop to see the Mona Lisa! It was very crowded with all the tourists but it was a beautiful museum nonetheless.

After the Louvre, we walked to the Notre Dame cathedral. There was a mass service coinciding with our walking and we got to observe the beginning of the mass. After the cathedral, we once again got on the metro to get to the Arc de Triomphe, which was the final stop for the sightseeing tour. 

After the day full of exploring and checking out the Paris monuments, we split up for dinner. Some families are in Paris as well, so a few people joined their families for dinner and others went off to enjoy the amazing restaurants nearby. 

Finally, after dinner and another hour to explore central Paris, we all met up again to take the metro back to the hotel. 

Thanks for joining us on our first full day in Paris and stay tuned for tomorrow when we make our way to Versailles!  

Day 5 - August 12, 2025

Hello I'm Rowan Dapson, a rising sophomore back on the UCFH team! We are definitely going to miss the view from our Breda hotel rooms, but we are looking forward to our adventures to come in Paris!

We began the morning by packing up our belongings and heading down for one last breakfast. We then headed onto the bus and enjoyed the scenic drive until we arrived at a train station in Brussels. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we had roughly an hour to explore the streets of Belgium while waiting for our train, during which we spent our time exploring the chocolate shops, taking pictures of beautiful scenery, and indulging in some waffles. A quick change of plans sent us back to the train station early where we had to change stations on the fly.

Only one missed train later, we were on the way to Paris! Our high speed train traveling the equivalent of roughly 190mph got us to the city in no time. Arriving at the hotel, we were all ready for a bit of a reset before dinner, and took some time to ourselves. For dinner, I had ordered a Caprese salad followed by a main course of pollock fillet and got my first taste of French bread. Amazing! It was an unanimous decision to end the day with ice cream, so we immediately mapped out the nearest gelato shop.

We enjoyed our cones on the way back to the hotel, ready to call it a night considering our upcoming long day! Stay tuned for more updates, as UCFH takes on Paris! 
 

Day 4 - August 11, 2025

Hi this is Meg Dorsey checking in from Breda, Netherlands! I am a rising senior and midfielder on UCFH. Today was our last day in Breda, Netherlands with a lot of field hockey. 

This morning we indulged in a catered breakfast downstairs from the wonderful Hotel Mastbosch staff. At 10am we walked down the street to the BH & BC Club and were lucky enough to have a clinic with Dutch Coaches Joel and Sam. With Joel, the players learned new skills and some European field hockey technique. We also played different variations of 5v5 play. On the goalkeeper's end, Coach Sam taught a variety of technical skills. 

After the clinic, our team and the Dutch coaches fueled up with some sandwiches and yogurt bowls at the club. We walked along the charming path back to the hotel. Upon arriving, we showered and got ready as we had the afternoon free to explore Breda on our own.

We met up with some of our families that are staying in Breda and did some shopping. After walking around in the heat it was a treat to find a coffee shop with iced lattes! Also found a fresh fruit market with smoothies - another necessary purchase. 

After more exploring, we Ubered back to the hotel and took a quick nap before leaving for our next game at 6pm. We arrived at the hockey club Push and were served with a pasta salad dinner with some fruit and bread. 

After dinner, we went to the locker room and had our pregame dancing ritual. From Cotton Eyed Joe to Calabria, it was safe to say we were thoroughly warmed up. We then had our match against the Push club team. They were young and very skillful players but we stuck with them and held our ground, battling hard on every play. While the final score read in their favor, the game was a chance to push ourselves against some of the best young talent. 

What made the day even more special was the incredible support from our families, with parents and siblings traveling from across the world to cheer us on. After the game, we snapped plenty of pictures with them and capped off the night by celebrating Rachel's birthday with a beautiful waffle cake. Later, we returned to the hotel before going into Breda to celebrate the end of Rachel's birthday with our families. 

Thanks for following along for day 4! Tomorrow we will be traveling by bus and train to Paris to continue our amazing trip! 

Day 3 - August 10, 2025

Welcome back to the Breda Blog! My name is Maggie Monaghan, a rising sophomore on the UCFH team. Today was another beautiful day in Breda, and we got to learn and experience so many aspects of the city. 

We started our day with a nutritious breakfast, catered yet again by the wonderful Hotel Mastbosch staff. We then headed to the field hockey club, which was about a 30 minute bus ride to the next town over. Don't worry, our usual pregame songs were blasting on the bus ride there. 

We were warmly welcomed by our opponents, Rijen Hockey Club. They were a very strong team, ages 20-30, who we learned have all been playing since elementary school. Despite having a few differing rules, we played our game and had a great match! Maddie Greco and Amy Vytopilova scored our two goals, while goalies Tess, Marion, and Sophie kept our composure in the back end.

After the game, we were happy to have lunch with the opposing team, discussing lots over the salad and sandwiches they had prepared for us. We got to know more about each other's cultures, inside and outside of field hockey. We met girls who were becoming police officers, others working in cyber security! Their team practiced twice a week, and had competition from various Netherland teams on Sundays (we were a special occasion). 

Post lunch, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our tour of Breda. This tour, of course, by typical Netherlands culture, was by bike! Some took a country route, while others endeavored in a city tour, but we all got to see and learn about the history of Breda. 

We parked our bikes and explored the downtown area. The square and small streets filled with restaurants and shops, all surrounding a stunning church that dates back to 1269. 

Hungry from all the adventure, we had an excellent three-course meal at Bregje downtown. I enjoyed bruschetta, bacon wrapped pork tenderloin, and ended dinner with a sweet and savory affogato. Full from the delicious meal, but not ready to end the night, a few teammates and I decided to walk around and explore a bit more. The streets quickly became filled with people and music, and to our surprise, a local festival started to surround us! We enjoyed the festivities for a bit, but quickly realized how tired we were from our busy day. We had a leisurely bike ride back to the hotel, and all hit our pillows ready for another great day ahead.

Thanks for following along for day 3!!

Day 2 - August 9, 2025

Checking in from Breda! My name is Tess Parker, a rising sophomore and goalkeeper on UCFH. Today was our second day in the Netherlands and was well spent exploring the cities of Delft and Amsterdam. 

My day began bright and early when my teammate Elia and I decided to go on a light jog around our hotel. It was a great way to see more of Breda, where we are staying for the first part of our trip. After returning, I got ready for the day and went downstairs to enjoy a catered breakfast with my team. There were lots of options with a few Dutch originated treats. Delicious!

Following breakfast, we boarded a bus that took us to the train station. A 30 minute ride and we were in the city of Delft, Holland! Delft is a small, canal-filled city in the western Netherlands. They are also known for their signature blue and white pottery! Our first activity on the agenda was a canal cleanup. On cruising boats, we used a claw-like apparatus to grab floating trash in the main canal. As an engineer with a environmental minor, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it felt great to help the local area! 

Once the canals of Delfs were trash-free, we were then allowed to explore and grab lunch. My friends and I visited a handful of charming shops and street vendors. We then grabbed some Greek food and ate in the main plaza under a church tower. How scenic! Then it was back to the train station to go see Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands.

Departing in Amsterdam, we had a brief 20 minute walk to our next event. Like Delft, Amsterdam is full of canals and stunning architecture. 20 minutes flew by! We arrived at the Anne Frank house, for a guided tour. The whole process, from seeing the secret annex all the way to the gift shop, was extremely insightful and thought-provoking. It was an incredible opportunity. 

As our final bit of recreation, we explored Amsterdam and got dinner. There were an abundance of stores with everything from thrifted clothes to World War ll memorabilia. We ate outside at an Italian restaurant, and despite struggling slightly with the pronunciation of our orders, the food was delectable! What a night.

After a combination of traveling by train and bus, we are back at our hotel. Time to rest up before our first game tomorrow!

Day 1 - August 8, 2025

Hallo from The Netherlands! My name is Kat Bruun, I am a rising senior and a captain of our team. Today was our first day in The Netherlands and man did we hit the ground running.

Today technically started yesterday, when we took off from JFK around 7:30 PM and landed in Amsterdam around 9 AM this morning. From there we got through customs, made sure everybody had their things, then immediately got on a bus to go check out the infamous Zaanse Schan windmills. 

These windmills were absolutely gorgeous and completely surrounded by water and the fields where the tulips grow in the spring! We looked around some of the museums and gift shops and found a lot of interesting and beautiful things from how they make their delicious cheese to souvenir clogs. Once we had roamed around for an hour and gotten a bite to eat, we got back on the bus to head towards Breda where we are staying for the next few days. At this point everyone was exhausted from traveling and almost everyone took a nap on the longer than anticipated bus ride, which was much needed before our next item on the itinerary. 

After a quick check in at the hotel we walked down the road about 10 minutes to the BH & BC Club to play some field hockey!! We met a Dutch coach who tried to warn us about the astroturf water jets, but we still got wet… Then we warmed up and got to playing! It was very cool learning from a different coach with different drills and adjustments compared to our lovely UCFH coaches. We worked on passing drills and hitting on the cage, adding in specific skills to focus on and improve. We even played a field hockey version of ping pong which was very fun. We then ended the clinic with a 5v5 scrimmage, rotating 3 teams based on who scored the goal. All in all a great end to a great practice. 

Once we walked back to the hotel, we finally had the chance to settle into our rooms and hang out before heading downstairs to the hotel restaurant to eat dinner, which was delicious! Some people had haddock and vegetables, others had beef tenderloin and vegetables, and the rest had goat cheese honey ravioli. Personally, I was completely exhausted. With the combination of the long travel day, 9 hour time difference, a fun practice, and a food coma from dinner I went straight to my bed. 

This was definitely a good start to a wonderful trip and I can't wait for the rest of the trip with all of the fun and interesting activities we have planned, I just hope I'll be able to stay up past 9:30pm!