Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus UCF on January 31, 2026 , Win , 65, to, 52
Final
Women's Basketball
65
UCF
52
Iowa State University Athletics
Jadda Buckley Recaps ISU's Italian Tour
08.28.2014 | Women's Basketball
Iowa State women's basketball recently capped a 10-day tour of Italy, while going 3-0 on the basketball circuit. Sophomore Jadda Buckley took some time to recap ISU's trip.
Ciao!
After a quick nine-hour flight, 60 of us cyclones arrived in Rome, Italy where we took no time to settle in, we were off on our tour the second the wheels landed. We headed to the Vatican City where we toured the church followed by St. Peter's Basilica. Whether it was the immense focus of detail within the art displayed, to the amazingly preserved architectures and monuments themselves, Vatican City was simply breathtaking. While walking through the churches I couldn't help but be fascinated by the ceilings. The precise detail of the not only the work that lined the walls but ceilings as well was unreal to me.
Following the Vatican City tour, we had our first Italian dinner with everyone on the trip. With limited air conditioning in Italy and full day of walking in the heat of Rome, it was safe to say we all were very happy to arrive at the hotel, clean up, throw our dresses and wedges on and finally sit down to eat. It was a great first meal giving us a taste of the Italian cooking style. After dinner we had the night to ourselves. We grabbed gelato and began roaming, Rome. Lex, Claire, Jordan, and myself happened to get ourselves a bit lost. No worries however, after an hour and a half walking the opposite direction of our hotel we finally managed our way back. On the bright side we saw the streets of Rome and found some very good options of café's that we ate at the following day!
The next day we took a tour of the Roman Colosseum which was one of my favorite activities. When arriving at the Colosseum it felt like I was living in a movie. It's unreal to me that such an ancient building can be standing with such remarkable beauty. After making a gladiator style lap around the Colosseum we then headed back to begin our Cyclone Amazing Race. Kidd, Blaire, and I didn't come in first unfortunately, but we ended up having a complete blast running the streets of Rome, attempting to communicate with Italians (which basically just consisted of us saying Ciao or Gratzia repeatedly) and seeing the sights of Rome such as the Spanish Steps.
Following Rome, we proceeded to Florence, one of my top favorite cities we visited. Known for its markets and shops it's safe to say I hit the exchange ATM one to many times while here. We toured the city yet again seeing more massively beautiful churches. While on the tour we got a quality laugh from Lex. She was picked up by an Italian clown entertaining a large group of people. He carried her, twirled her, and then dropped her in a lap of a stranger. Her shocked face and subtle “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” summed up the experience she was having. Following the tour we then went wine tasting.
That night we went to, Ristorante Buca Mario a restaurant well known for their steak. After eating non-stop pasta, pizza, and bread we needed a break and we couldn't have chosen better, it was one of the best steaks I have eaten. The next day we had a free day before our first game that evening. I was fortunate enough to have my parents along with me on the trip so we spent our day walking up and down the markets and visiting Italian shops. Being known for their leather in Florence it was only appropriate to bargain and get some leather bracelets. We then went on that evening to play our fist Italian team and walk away with a Cyclone victory. Our last night in Florence us girls went out as team to experience what Italian night life is about. We ended up running into the University of Pennsylvania women's team along with Providence Men's team as well. They already went to the cities we were headed to so they filled us in on what they liked as we did the same with the cities they were about to visit next.
Off to Venice we headed the next morning. After a beautiful boat ride through the canals giving us a taste of what Venice had to offer we arrived at our destination for the day. We started with a tour of the Murano glass factory where I was absolutely terrified to move. The glass was gorgeous and very, very pricey as well so I crossed my arms grabbed my bag close to me and steered clear of the walls and ceilings lined with stunning glass. We toured both the streets of Venice on foot along with a taking a gondola ride seeing a different view of Venice through the water filled canals. With a lot of time on our hands in between eating and tours Lex and myself spent most of our day on the Venice wall along the water street away from the hectic rush of the square, where we laid out and enjoyed the cool breeze from the water. We headed out the evening with gelato in hand back to the hotel were in the morning we would then hit the town of Trieste.
Trieste was simply gorgeous. Strolling into the city we drove passed a very busy beach line that had us wanting to grab our suits and hopping in right then and there. We proceeded into the city were we ate our pre-game meal at one of the nicest hotels right across from the gorgeous sea view. A wall where you could dangle your feet was a hot spot for some of us. Yet again we toured through the city amazed by the beautiful architectures, ancient monuments, and Italian men dancing in the streets, it was something you would see out of a movie. That evening we headed to the gym where we grabbed another Cyclone win!
Then came Lake Como, our last stop on our Italian Cyclone Tour. On our way to Lake Como, we stopped in Verona where we visited Romeo and Juliet's balcony. Lex, Jordan, and myself grabbed some blister Band-Aids and joined the wall filled with Band-Aids where you can write you and someone's name to stick on the wall. Of course, I went with my one and only favorite man, Ryan Reynolds and I!
After Verona we arrived in Lake Como where we traveled to Switzerland before our final game that night. Being known for chocolate we found a perfect shop to load ourselves up on. We also visit Santa Maria Degli Angeli Church seeing a version of Jesus' last supper painting as well. That evening we played our last Italian game grabbing yet again another conclusive win over Germany.
Our final day in Italy we took a boat ride to Bellagio passing by George Clooney's place (which, unfortunately he was not there so we didn't catch a glimpse of him) and headed to the other side of the Lake where about six of us found a little place to take a dip in the water. Surprisingly it was not as cold as I expected but the fish swimming around was a little bit nerve racking. Afterwards we headed back to clean up for our last group dinner with everyone. However before dinner Lexi and I had to do a little last-minute Italy shopping. We hit the streets of Lake Como with success.
We ate dinner filled with talk about the trip, memories, laughs, and places we saw. Ending the night with none other than a couple big scoops of Gelato it was time to hit the hay and head back to America the next day.
Its no doubt at all this was an amazing opportunity for us. The trip was more than one could ever imagined and something that our team will be able to cherish for rest of our lives. From the tour guides, to the coaches, to fans that joined making the trip even more memorable, and of course to our athletic director Jamie Pollard for allowing this to happen, it's pretty evident to all that the Cyclone Italy Tour 2014 was nothing but a success!
--Jadda
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's BasketballSaturday, March 21
Friday, March 20
Friday, March 20
Sunday, March 15
