The game is nearly the only thing not foreign to them.
Their classmates’ cell phone obsession is strange. The College Park campus seems like its own city. The sport is much bigger and so are the crowds.
And the food — ugh.
When Maryland basketball opens against Seattle at Comcast Center on Monday, incoming forward Haukur Palsson of Iceland and center Berend Weijs of the Netherlands will finally feel at home on the court. The rest is a learning experience.
“Americans are a lot on their phones. Everybody’s on their phones,” Palsson said. “We don’t do all that texting. We call each other for maybe half a minute.”
Said Weijs: “I saw people texting every second of the day with the phone in their hand. I took that bad habit over. I had to get a new phone contract.”
Both say food was a challenge. They prefer “fresher” home cooking with more fruits and vegetables. Weijs has become a Chipotle fanatic, but really hates cheese fries that American friends favor. Palsson likes lasagna, but not hot dogs or crabs.
Ironically, it’s easy for the Terrapins to assimilate foreign players, especially since the pair speak excellent English. Coach Gary Williams has recruited many foreign players, including last season’s ACC Player of the Year Greivis Vasquez of Venezuela, but one from Iceland?
“I’ve never even met someone from Iceland,” Williams said.
Indeed, Palsson and Weijs often dispel stereotypes of their countries.
“Holland is a little more relaxed, not as rushed as United States,” Weijs said. “People only know about the wooden shoes, tulips, the windmills and cheese.”
Iceland doesn’t produce many basketball players. The country’s top sport is handball; a sport Americans barely notice. Weijs played on a club team in Amsterdam where basketball ranks far below soccer, hockey, baseball and even field hockey.
Now they’re in an arena of 17,950 often as loud as a flight deck. There are more people in one section than Weijs usually saw the last two seasons while playing for a Pennsylvania junior college. Palsson’s high school class was only 150 people. Both are surprised over being noticed around campus.
“All the attention from people I don’t know, I have to get used to that,” Palsson said.
But U.S. life isn’t too much of a transition. They watched American TV shows back home, listened to the music.
“We have everything Americans have,” Palsson said. “TV stations are in English. MTV is in English. We know what’s going on.”
Both hope for NBA careers, but each eventually expects to return home. Weijs plans to take over his father’s door company. Palsson, who sports a “Blood Comes First” tattoo on his shoulder, studies communications because a U.S. criminal justice major wouldn’t apply in his country. Seems the laws are too different.
“I hope I go back,” Palsson said. “You never know. I hope I go back. That’s why I’m taking a major I can use [in Iceland].”
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
