2015 ACI Blog #4: First international medals
Hi everybody! It’s your favorite redhead, writing for the last day of competition and the day of travel! Hope you enjoyed the event!
Yesterday (Thursday) went by really quickly. We didn’t have to wake up quite as early as we did for the short, so at our leisure the US men and dancers ate breakfast together while the ladies and pairs had their warmups. The day began with laughter, begrudgingly staring at all the pastries we couldn’t yet indulge in, and the first of our daily doses of caffeine. It’s been a good few days with these people, I couldn’t have asked for a more enjoyable group to compete alongside.
The beautification process followed breakfast, the practice followed the beautification process. We again had a drama-free practice. Karina mentioned the Canadian hospitality, and she didn’t lie; our Canadian practice-mates were extremely polite to us and our fellow Americans. We love them and want to adopt them. Or for them to adopt us. Citizenship and logistical issues of adults from different countries adopting each other aside, practice was great. We felt more than ready to go for the afternoon, and caught a glimpse of his majesty Hanyu warming up in the area above the rink. Which of course means the practice was blessed.
After the practice, our parents, coach, and us went to lunch. It was a burger joint on the waterfront called The Works, and it was wonderful. We all had our first experience with poutine (though it was limited, as poutine is basically just fries and gravy and we had to compete later) but lunch was still phenomenal. We went back to the hotel, and I watched Spirited Away. Showtime approached, and I had to once again battle the red shrubbery on my head. Once we had both crossed our t’s and dotted our i’s, it was time to go to the rink for the last time.
We arrived at the rink to find Thomas/Eaton in the warmup area. Everyone warmed up to Beyoncé because I forced them to, and before we knew it it was time to suit up, lace up and warm up. Everyone in the event had a pretty strong showing, and those who finished were all supportive of those left to skate. We had a good skate ourselves, and though it wasn’t our best we were still so happy with how we ended up. Medaling at our first international assignment was so exciting, and being presented with our medals by Jeffery Buttle was a huge honor. I should also mention that Andreanne Poulin made pumpkin muffins and Marc-Andre Servant passed them out. Did I mention I especially love them? Because I do.
The rest of the night consisted of supporting the USA men (Alex Johnson was gorgeous and Sean Rabbitt got his first international medal too!), and swooning over the benevolent crown prince of men’s figure skating, Yuzuru. When all was said and done, our group went out to celebrate, during which I ate more peanut butter and jelly cheesecake than I care to mention, and made Tom Dickson lip sync Shania Twain with me. The night wound down fast as Karina and I were both exhausted. When we got up the following morning, a few members of Teams USA and Canada had a last breakfast together before parting. We talked about when we were to go back to training, finally ate those pastries we’d been pining for, and signed some flags for japanese fans, before saying our goodbyes to our new friends. I’m writing to you from home, safe and sound, and I hope you enjoyed keeping up with our experience. It was some of the most fun I’ve had, and I’m glad I got to share it with you all. Thanks for reading, and go Team USA!
Joe