On My Own (cue Les Mis soundtrack)

My mom left really early this morning.  I dropped her at the airport as the sun was about to come up (5:30am)...  Before she left, we went to dinner last night at The Melting Pot.  It was amazing!  I'd never been there and I ate WAY too much but last night will definitely not be my last time :)

Our dessert course, the Flaming Turtle, changed my life!

After I dropped my mom at the airport I went back to our hotel to try and get some sleep.  Long story short, I couldn't sleep so I got up watched some TV and lounged for the morning.  I got all my stuff together and headed over to my new home, the OTC.  I still don't have a roommate, but I talked to my boss and she's thinking that I am among the first to move in so I still might get someone to share my abode with.  I took some pictures of my room...

This is my half of the room, from the door

My half from the other half

The sad empty other half, with the sink and fridge

My bed, that I have to high jump to get on...  hey, this is the USOC right, we're all about trying new sports in everyday life

After I got done packing I thought it would be fun to attend a local festival, Territory Days was going on in Old Colorado City.  When I was in Colorado Springs for Synchro Skating Worlds, my friends and I ate twice in Old Colorado City because its so cute!  I would compare it to Main St in Park City, minus the steep incline.  The festival requested that you park at Coronado High School and take the bus so I headed for CHS.  I get there and apparently the parking lot was full so the guy directed me to some ranch, I told him I wasn't from the area so he gave me directions that were really rough.  I thought I had it and the line was really long.  He told me to u-turn and head out so I did just that, meanwhile a school bus is headed right for me!  The guy working the parking lot gave me NO indication that the shuttle was coming this way.  Naturally, I feel a little dumb and then to top it off, some lady in a Black Jeep Cherokee yelled out her window, "What, did you miss the BIG, YELLOW BUS headed right for you". I was so embarrassed and mad!  Who is that lady?  Of course I didn't see the bus, otherwise I wouldn't have accidentally turned right in front of it, DUH!  Anyway, so I try to follow the guy's directions but I couldn't remember what he said, all I could remember was the mean lady and her comments!  So I tried and gave up on finding the parking...   Of course I got lost after that, and drove aimlessly around Colorado Springs for about 45 minutes because I didn't know where I was going :(

Finally, I found a mall!  My mom can speak to this but I need no clothes...  She says I have more clothing here in Colorado Springs than she has all together.  Not sure if that is true but I decided not to go into the mall, instead I headed for Starbucks and Barns and Noble.  It was exactly what I needed!  The Jillian Michaels book that I have been wanting and a grande non fat vanilla latte was just the trick, to erase that mean lady from my life.  I read there for a while and then decided I was tired, since I'd been up for 12 hours already so I headed back to attempt a nap.  Nap, fail.  I haven't been feelings so great, I don't have any energy, and I am thinking its because I am doing a total body cleanse (I just started today) and I also haven't been sleeping that well.  Anyway, I went for a run because I felt like I had not made as much of the day as I could have.  Let me tell you right now, Colorado Springs is 2,000 ft higher in elevation than Salt Lake City.  OH MAN did I ever feel that, my arms got tight within 15 minutes and it wasn't too long after that when my quads started protesting.  I used google maps to give me a route because I wanted to run outside, so I ran/walked about 2 miles, which is pretty good.  I want to do another 5K when I get home so I need to start training for that now while I am at a World Class training facility.

Time to sign off blog-o-sphere, my stomach is telling me that I need to get some dinner!  Off to my first experience in a dining hall since Sophomore year of college!

My New Home

I will post more pictures tomorrow of my actual living arrangements, which is essentially a dorm room (big change for someone with their own apartment).  It's actually bigger than I expected and all of my things fit squarely on "my" side of the room.  I don't have a roommate as of yet, I will keep you updated on when that happens.  I met one girl who sadly I have already forgotten her name who is also an intern, she started in January and is leaving in a month but see seemed really nice so hopefully I can get to know her a little bit and have a friend :)

That's all for now, I need a nap really badly and my mom leaves tomorrow REALLY early, we're talking before 5 am!

Road Trip!

My journey began as I picked up my mom at the airport on Friday morning.  We had lunch and went shopping for some business casual clothes as I have never really had a "real" job and my life as a student doesn't really require any sort of dress code.  We found some great deals at the Tanger Outlets in Park City (Go there if you need really great deals, the Memorial Day Sales are pretty epic).  After a successful outing, we drove back down to my apartment and pre-packed the car so that we could get an early start on Saturday.  I had a hard time sleeping Friday night, I can't tell if it was anticipation, nerves or excitement, but it was definitely not restful.

Saturday morning started early as I haven't been able to sleep past 6:30am in weeks.  We finished packing up the car and my mom made fun of me a few times about the amount of stuff I brought to Colorado Springs, then we were off.  Our first pit stop was in Park City (we made it really far) for some breakfast from Whole Foods and a deposit to my bank account before we left the area where Zions Banks can be found.  Finally, we were actually on the road around 11, so much for that early start!  As we made our way through Wyoming which seems like it will never end, I remembered stories from my skating days.  The exhibition we did in Rock Springs where Danielle gave herself a concussion on a hotel railing...  The LONG ride back from Sectionals in Westminster, CO when the bus heat stopped working...  These stories made me a little nostalgic for the times when the hardest decision we had to make was what kind of glitter we were going to wear for the competition and how hard we were going to protest the glue being applied to our hair.  At the same time it made me so excited and proud of how far we have all come since that day.  I had a little bit of a "this is your life" montage, from the girls on the bus to the girls having dinner at Worlds, talking about job issues, families, and relationships, we've come so far!  I am very happy to have all of these women still in my life to support me and I am proud to support them as well.  Anyway, that was my Wyoming experience :)

As we approached Colorado Springs I got really excited and nervous, which if you were in the car you could tell by the speed and duration of my one-sided conversations.  We made it to our hotel around 6:30 (pretty good time), had some dinner and watched a movie.  My mom drugged me with NyQuil so that I would sleep past 6:30 and it worked!  I slept til 7:45.   Now we are just getting ready to move my stuff into the Olympic Training Center.  I am really excited to get started, only 2 days left!

Let's GO Already...

I finished my last exam THREE weeks ago.  I returned from a vacation at my parents house in Florida TEN days ago.  I still have THREE days until I leave for my Olympic adventure.

I'm trying to pack up my life here in Utah, deciding what I will need (want) over the next 3 months.  I feel like I am just going to take everything!  Most of my clothes are already in suitcases, but I feel like I have so much left to do, most of which can't really be done until the last day.  Basically, I am in limbo!  I have time to get all of these things done but its futile to pack it up now just to unpack it the next day.  I'm also getting nervous about leaving my apartment for so long.  I have friends coming to check on it and get my mail for me but it just makes me anxious (I've probably been watching too much Criminal Minds or something)...

I am so excited to get going on my work too.  I think that is what makes this time drag on, I am really excited about the work that I am going to get to do and the experience that I am going to gain through this summer!  Hopefully the rest of the week will go by quickly!

First Post

I plan on using this blog to post about my summer internship at the United States Olympic Committee.  I hope you find it interesting an enlightening :)