2013 U.S. International Classic Blog: Back to SLC
Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus will be sharing their experience in Salt Lake City at the 2013 U.S. International Classic.
It’s great to be back in Salt Lake City! We are looking forward to kicking off our International season in the US, and we are excited to be a part of such a great dance event.
The trip here went smoothly, much to our surprise! We flew out of BWI, and we had a direct flight into Salt Lake City. We blew through security, took off fairly on-time, got our luggage the second we arrived at baggage claim, and arrived to the hotel by 7:00PM. It was practically a dream! We all have grand travel related horror stories, and I was just waiting for something to go terribly wrong! In one way I was happy, because it was most likely the smoothest trip we have ever taken! Then again, I was bummed because travel nightmares are blogging gold! So, I am still feeling bittersweet about it.
One of the changes since last year is the hotel location. Last year we stayed at a Marriott and it was located about 10 minutes outside of downtown Salt Lake City. While it was a beautiful mountain location, we felt a bit isolated. This year, they put us in the Hilton right in the middle of the city! We took full advantage of that this morning. After breakfast we took a nice stroll with our training mate Clara Peters (Senior Ladies, Ireland) and our good friend Stephen Carrier (Senior Men, USA) and his coach Suna Murray. While our original plan was to make the mild pilgrimage to Whole Foods and LuluLemon (yes we have an obsession) we thought, well…when will we ever be this close to the Mormon Tabernacle again? So instead of spending money we decided to educate ourselves! we are so savvy! Temple Square is only a few blocks away from our hotel. We walked around the grounds for a while. The square was full of beautiful statues and flowers, and some of the most ornate architecture I have ever seen. The temple may have been the closest thing to Hogwarts that I well ever see in my lifetime. I wish we could have seen the inside, because I can only imagine how beautiful it must be. We were all glad we went! Though we missed out on the Lulu/Whole Foods experience today, we will try again tomorrow!
Now, back to the reason why we are really here! We had our first practice this afternoon, and it went really well! That first time out is always a little nerve racking, but we were happy with what we put out and we can’t wait for Short Dance tomorrow! We drew 7th out of 14, but when Stasia drew #7 her finger was partially over the number so it looked A LOT like #1. Needless to say, I had a minor heart attack!!!
We are finishing the day off by cheering for Men and Pairs with our CRAZY USA gear courtesy of assistant team leader Lorrie Parker! That’s all for now!
Until next time!
-Colin