Today was day 2 of the tournament. We started the day by having a fulfilling breakfast at the hotel and headed to one of the bigger shopping malls in Botswana. It was interesting to see the local shops they had here mixed with the general sportswear. The girls tried some pastries too, and everyone loved them. We found a local clothing brand that drew the attention of each one of us to the store, but we had 10 minutes left before we had to get back to the bus. As good teammates we stuck together until the last person could get their piece of “treasure”, so we also had our warm-up run to the bus to get back in time.

Then we headed to the court. For lunch, we tried Nando’s for the first time, which is one of their fast food options (I have to say it was more well-seasoned and still a healthier version than most of the U.S. options).

Before we got into game mode, we had a little meet-and-greet with all four women's volleyball teams. I am really glad we got this opportunity through this meeting to ask questions and share our experiences with each other, since there are so many cultures meeting and sharing the love of volleyball. We had a representative to ask questions from every country, Zambia, Botswana, USA, and two of us as international players from Portugal and Hungary. It was a heartwarming experience to realize no matter the different languages, cheers, cultural habits, circumstances or style of plays each country have, at the end of the day this meeting opened our eyes that there is one thing common in each of us: THE LOVE AND PASSION FOR VOLLEYBALL! It was so fun to see everyone's cheers, and it was a great way to start day 2 of competition. 

The Morgan State team started the first match against Zambia. I will say today was also a super experience and a chance to showcase the strengths of both teams. Zambia definitely challenged us with their drop serves and their shot selections. However, I am proud of our team of being able to learn from the lost points and keeping our serving pressure and a more aggressive offense, so we were able to take on a lead and win the game.

Before team HBCU started their game against Botswana, we had a little ceremony, where the delegate of the tournament, Ms. Dena, and Cory Solomon welcomed everyone and wished a continuous great competition to all the teams reminding us of the uniqueness and greatness of this tournament.

We stayed to watch the woman’s game while trying their traditional food for dinner, called Seswaa. I have to say it was the best food I have eaten here so far, I would recommend it to everyone who eats beef!
Lastly to top our volleyball experience here, we watched the beginning of the men’s volleyball game, which was a great level of play and super fun to watch and got us ready to play in the finals of this tournament tomorrow.

P.S. Today was also a great day to realize on the bus on our way back to the hotel, how different animals sounds in different languages. So much, that we left a couple of happy tears drop. Get out there and share your culture with others, I promise you won’t have any dull moments at the end of the day.