2015 JGP USA Blog #5: Signing off!
Hello!
My day started out well, as I got ready for the day while listening to music with Joy Weinberg. After breakfast, we drove over to the World Arena. On the way, we saw at least 20 hot air balloons! One was shaped like Darth Vader, one had wings and it was all very pretty and cute. We had a good practice in the main rink, and then had a relaxing hour break to clear our heads before we needed to warm back up. It was such a beautiful day again, and we were feeling so ready for the free dance! We competed our free, and dropped to 5th place as it wasn’t our best skate with a wonky spin that lowered our score by 3 points. Although disappointed, we turned our frustration into motivation to train super hard to not leave anything on the table next time.
The rest of the day was extremely fun. Back at the OTC, I facetimed with my dog and friends who both miss me a lot– ;)– before going back to the rink. We cheered on the U.S. ladies and then went out to the concourse level to see tons of friends we hadn’t seen in forever. The many Team USA medalists had to sort out some paperwork, so I went for a quick ice cream stop with some Norwegian and Russian friends. After all of Team USA was finished for the day, we went back to the OTC for some pizza and a scavenger hunt! I can honestly say that it was one of the most tiring things ever. We had to sprint at top speed around the OTC campus finding things to take pictures with that were hinted on a list made by our awesome team leader Lindsey Weber. Lorraine and I were on a team together with about 5 others, and we are both very competitive and intense about everything, so our team ended up winning! After that was over, our extra large team hung out in a main area of the OTC. We were joined by Ingrid and Chandler, and we played ‘Ninja’ until things got really intense, then we played some charades. We don’t play charades like normal people. The things that Lindsey had us acting out were so ridiculous that we were all crying of laughter. Some were a banana that’s been run over by a truck, an ant doing ballet on a tightrope, and Jason Brown doing Riverdance (which I did perfectly).
After those shenanigans were all over Logan, Lorraine, Quinn, and myself went to the Athlete Connections room in our dorm building and played cards for hours, laughing so hard that we were legitimately rolling on the floor. Overall, this JGP has been the most awesome, wonderful, hilarious, warm, and beautiful one yet. Staying at the OTC was so inspiring and special, skating in front of so many friends and family members was unforgettable, and finally our team was endless fun and support.
Thank you to all of my teammates who made this trip so truly special, and thank you so much to Julia and Lindsey for being a magical Team Leading pair who always had what we needed, ran around to make sure everyone was doing the right thing, and most of all motivated us to be the best we could be. It sounds cheesy, but it’s really true and I am so grateful for that! We love you guys!
Okay, it’s time for brunch at the Broadmoor! Goodbye everyone, hopefully I’ll write again soon:)
~ Chloe