FORT COLLINS — Every four years, a college basketball team has the opportunity to take a foreign trip during the summer. With the Colorado State women due for one this year, choosing where to go was easy considering nearly half the team is from Denmark, Norway or Sweden.

The team begins its two-week trek to Scandinavia on Sunday, embarking on a long-awaited trip that carries more significance than most of its kind.

“We’re really excited about the trip. It’s great for our players,” coach Ryun Williams said about the tour, his first abroad with the program. “I know our international kids are really excited to share their hometown and their country with us. And we’re excited to be part of it.”

A small group of players is already overseas and will meet with the rest of the team Monday in Bergen, Norway, home of guard Stine Austgulen. The team will also make its way to Lulea, Sweden, home of guard Ellen Nystrom. Both families will welcome players and coaches into their homes for dinner.

The trip concludes with stops in Stockholm and Copenhagen before returning to the States on Aug. 14.

There is of course plenty of basketball on tap, including a youth clinic in Denmark. But as much as anything, the Scandinavian-born players are looking forward to showing off their culture first-hand — a reversal of roles from the season.

“I’m super excited because it’s like we’re here and we’re always saying, ‘We don’t have that at home, we don’t do this, we don’t eat this, we wear clothes like this,'” said forward Elin Gustavsson, a native of Angelholm, Sweden. “Now we can finally show our teammates what we’re talking about, because before it was just words and now they’ll be able to actually see what we’re talking about.”

Gustavsson said she’s discussed with her teammates how different the game is in Europe, but that much of the talk has been about cultural things like Swedish candy.

“We’re proud of our countries and of course it’s going to be fun to show where we’re from,” said Gustavsson, whose family plans to watch her and the Rams play in Denmark.

Team chemistry hasn’t appeared to be an issue for the two-time regular season conference champions the past couple seasons. But strengthening those bonds never hurts, which is something Gustavsson thinks the trip will accomplish.

“I feel like the whole trip, going to three different countries, is going to help the team, because it’s not like we’re traveling and it’s not going to be super serious,” the junior said. “We’re going to see the city, see the country and play some games and practice, but we’re still doing it to bond and just get to know each other and get to know each other’s backgrounds.”

While half the team will feel right at home (or close to it), the other half is in for an experience of a lifetime, says assistant coach Tim Moser, who travels to Europe every summer to recruit.

“What an experience for our kids. For (some), it’ll be the first time they ever go and maybe the last — what a life experience for those kids,” he said. “It’ll be fun to live a different culture that some of their teammates have lived.

“We’re going to Norway, and Stine’s excited to go to her home country. We’re going up to Ellen’s hometown and her family is trying to throw a party for us when we go up there and show us everything. It’ll be fun.”