2013 JGP Tallinn Blog: The Luck of the Draw

Today’s adventure began this morning at 3 AM when Max took a plunge in between our beds while sleeping. It was one of the most restless nights ever. The room got really hot and the windows are sealed shut making us feel like caged animals. Well caged animals with a full bathroom and mini fridge 16 stories up.

I finally got into a steady sleep around 5AM and was out cold until 10:23 when Massimo knocked on my door. I didn’t realize that I had almost 7 messages from him. I was slightly disappointed with breakfast when there was only scrambled eggs, bacon and yogurt. Even so, I ate my fill and felt a little more awake. However, I did discover on my way back up to my room that there were two other buffet tables of different foods…. (._.)

The draw was quick and painless. Holly and I drew last so we knew what we were getting into. We ended up with 10th (first in the last warm up group). For some reason, we stayed at the rink in between that and our first practice. Two and a half hours of nothing but sitting in the skaters lounge staring at a wall. It was the most magical experience of my life to this day.

The first practice went over fine. We got our groove thang on and as Ice-dance.com has stated, our sassy freedance was a crowd pleaser (if you can call four people other than coaches and judges a crowd). After that all out battle for right of way with two Russians, we made our way back to the hotel.

Of course no trip would be complete without a trip to H&M with Massimo, so that means this trip is still incomplete. We got to the giant H&M across the street only to find out that it had just been finished on construction and a little part of me died on the inside. But on the bright side there’s an almost as large H&M at the mall next to the rink.

Second practice was no different (aside from the fact we did short dance). We came, we were awesome, we left. And now you’re pretty much caught up on my day unless there’s a part of my day I completely missed which is highly probable. I’m gonna go watch a movie and probably fall asleep half way through, fully dressed, and wake up tomorrow in time for breakfast. Bye!

~ Daniel