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April 2, 2006

Hey everyone! I just wanted to update you on my latest competition at Jr. Worlds! I had so much fun and it was a great experience for me.

The competition was held in Slovenia and we left on March 2nd. Going into the competition I knew it was going to be an extremely hard competition. I knew that Yu-Na Kim and Mao Asada were going to be there, and in my opinion, either one could have won the Olympics this year. So overall, I wanted to end up in the top ten. We arrived in Ljubljana on March 3rd. I had to compete in my qualifying round on the 6th of March. I placed 2nd in my qualifying to Yu-Na Kim. I had so much fun out there and I could not wait to skate the short program the next day.

On March 7th I took the ice for the short program. I went out on the warm-up and had the most terrible one of my life! Even though it wasn’t going well, I kept a positive attitude and kept telling myself that everything would be ok. I skated second in the warm-up so I got off the ice and kept visualizing myself at the UD doing my short program. When I took the ice I heard everyone from USA and the people who I skated with everyday cheering me on. So when I took my starting position I knew I could do it. After skating the best short program of my life, it placed me currently in 3rd place. I could not believe it! I was ecstatic! Afterwards, I did my first press conference ever! It was so much fun!

We had a day in between the short and long. We had a few practices and everything was going pretty well. My mom and I went to the best restaurant on earth! It was in downtown Ljubljana and it had the best Italian food! I was really happy to go downtown because it was really pretty. We took a lot of pictures and then went back to cheer on the pairs free skate.

It was the day of the long program and I was so excited! I just wanted to go skate and have fun! I skated first in the warm-up and was ready to go! I felt really good out there on the warm-up. After my long program I knew I had left the door opened. I doubled my triple loop and I thought that might be enough room for someone to come from behind. Everyone in the last group was really talented and in skating you never know what’s going to happen. Waiting to see if I would still be on the podium was more nerve racking then skating! I was biting my nails the whole time. When the last skater was finished and my name was still in the third position I started crying. I was so happy that everything came together at the right time. As I was on the podium getting my medal I could not stop smiling. It felt so good to be standing on the podium and representing the USA.

On Friday, Bridget, her mom Maureen, John, my mom, and I went to Venice. I was really excited because when I usually go to competition we never have time to go see anything. I traveled all the way to China and never saw the Great Wall! So we took a taxi to Venice and it was gorgeous. They don’t use cars there so we took a water taxi to the St. Marks church. It was amazing to see all the different buildings and sights along the way. After visiting the St. Marks church, we went to feed the pigeons in the square. There were about five hundred pigeons!! When we got the pigeon food we went to the middle of the square and they started to fly onto us. My mom was video taping as we fed them and it was the funniest thing ever! They were on our head and getting caught in our hair. At one point of the video Bridget walks by screaming with one on her back flapping its wings. It is hysterical!

Overall Jr. Worlds was an amazing experience! I had so much fun and I met so many new people. I would like to thank my coaches, the Michael Weiss Foundation, and my family for all their support throughout this season! Thanks soo much!!

Christine<3