University of North Texas Athletics
Keeping Up With The Juniors: Rome
8/16/2018 5:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
JJ Murray, DJ Draper Discuss Rome
On Thursday, the team said ciao to Rome after spending three days in the capital city. Here were some of their thoughts on the city that's history spans 28 centuries.
FAVORITE PART ABOUT ROME
JJ: Either the Colosseum or the scavenger hunt we went on the other day. The scavenger hunt around Rome was cool, because we got to see all around the city. We learned about the history behind all the monuments, fountains and churches. And also doing it as a team was great, especially for me being a new guy, getting an opportunity to bond with the guys and the coaches was great.Â
And the Colosseum was great, because my whole life I've seen it in movies, on the internet and in books and in pictures and being able to live through that experience was wild.
DJ: My favorite part about Rome was the Pantheon. It was built during the Roman Empire and is still in great condition and is an amazingly massive building. I think the hole at the top of the dome is awesome too. There are 22 hidden holes in the ground under the opening that collect the water when it rains so you can't even tell it rained. The day we went it rained right before we went and you would have never known inside.Â
And I also thought the scavenger hunt was great, because we got to be competitive and that's always fun.
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES YOU'VE NOTICED
JJ: I would say the biggest and one of the first things I noticed is how people here just go when in traffic. In cars, walking through traffic or while crossing the street, they just go and there's not really a courtesy thing. People might nudge you but just keep going and I noticed that as soon as we touched down at the airport. There isn't really a courtesy to wait. You just got to go.
DJ: I've noticed that it's uncommon and against the cultural norm to order dinner or a meal without a drink. We sat down at a restaurant once and had our water bottles so we didn't want to get anything but the waiter showed us how everyone else was drinking and thought it was weird we didn't want something to drink. But also it's interesting how if you order water at a restaurant its not free.
FAVORITE MEAL IN ROME
JJ: I actually had some wings or what they called "pollo and chips", which were really good. But other than that, I had some pasta with chicken and spinach, which was really good.
DJ: I've had Margherita pizza I think five times in three or four days so it's definitely my favorite so far.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE PLAYING AGAINST INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS?
JJ: That was my first time playing against an international opponent or someone who didn't speak English. It was interesting, because we played two completely different styles. We were up and down in transition where as they wanted to slow it down and run sets. We really had to guard the ball. They used a lot of ball screens. So we had to do a lot of talking and communicating.Â
DJ: It was fun playing them. It was way more physical than I thought it was going to be. But it was also fun, because we got to play against guys who were both younger and older than us but were all trying to make a name for themselves here. And you could tell they were all really involved in the sport.
FAVORITE ITALIAN WORD SO FAR?
JJ: I've heard our coach Jareem Dowling saying this one but I'm not sure what it means. He says "bella" (beautiful) a lot. I like the sound of that word. It's easy to remember, though, I don't know what it means.
DJ: "Ciao" (informal hello and good-bye). It sounds very Italian.Â
