Spring Break; the recap

Wow.

Spring break left me absolutely breathless. It was one of the most fun, intense, exciting weeks of my life. I already blogged about Monday & Tuesday, so I'll recap the rest of the week :]

Sorry it's kind of long... keep in mind that I'm going over Wednesday through Sunday!

Wednesday - Men's short
I was completely excited because it was my first time seeing Jeremy compete in person. Unfortunately, he didn't skate clean, but I was still excited to see him skate. Jumps or not, he has such beautiful style. Of course Evan brought the house down and skated a perfect short. Brian Joubert didn't skate clean, and I thought Patrick Chan was cheated! He should have won short! And the unexpected star of the night... Samuel Contesti! His program was amazingly entertaining and no one expected him to do so well.

I watched men's short with my mom, then Sarah came to meet us at Staples for the pairs long that evening. Right before she called me to tell me she was parking, my mom and I ran into Brian Joubert. He looked tired, but he was SO nice. I ran into a friend after that and sort of hung around outside Staples, while Brian made his way over to LA Live (the plaza across the street). Right then, Sarah told me she was in the same plaza. SARAH, BRIAN IS IN FRONT OF ESPN ZONE. GO SAY HI! GET YOUR PICTURE! But of course Sarah's too shy, so I marched over with my mom and Sarah got her picture with Brian!

Pairs long was phenomenal. The Germans own :]

Thursday - Men's long
Boy, was I nervewrecked. I could NOT wait until men's long... original dance was first. Ben & Tanith were amazing - I thought they deserved first. Anyway, that evening was the event that I was waiting for. I was proud of Jeremy and Brandon, though I felt they both could have skated better. Of the course the tension was incredibly intense for that last group. For once, I thought Evan completely deserved the gold that he got, and I'm soooooo happy that Patrick got the silver.

Afterwards, we ran into our friend Claire. It was pretty late and we just walked with her and her daughter out of Staples. We walked a bit, then I saw a small crowd and some camera flashes. Oh, there must be some skater there, I said. Um, IT WAS JEREMY. I flipped out. I wanted a chance to redeem myself and take the crazy pictures I wanted! And I totally did :]

In the kiss and cry, Jeremy always does these little hand signals... so I asked him if we could take pictures that way. They came out really cute and I was so excited! I also finally got a hug :]

Friday - Ladies short
Sarah and I had been waiting for Friday because we knew that most of the skaters would be wandering around and we had a great chance of meeting some of them.

We had to leave my house at like, 7:45, wayyy early for me... I had gotten home at midnight the night before. We were WAY excited and still kind of delirious. We got there and frankly, we got super bored with some of the ladies lol. After a few groups, I suggested that we go to the Grammy Museum, grab a snack, then go to the mens' public medal ceremony. This plan definitely paid off!

The Grammy Museum was bleh, but the medal ceremony was awesome. Sarah had never been that close to Evan, so she was pretty much shaking with excitement. I really REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to meet Patrick Chan, since we'd run into Brian several times and I used to train with Evan.

Finally we got up to the front of the crowd, and there was Patrick! I asked him to sign something, then asked for a picture. Sure! he said. SCORE, JOLENE. Just let me sign a few more things. *signs a few more things* I haven't forgotten your picture! Meanwhile, I'm just really excited he's in front of me. A few seconds later, a man from NBC walked up to Patrick and asked if he could 'steal him for 10 seconds.' Um, actually I need to take a picture with her first *points to me* AMAZING. He was the sweetest, and I can't believe he blew off NBC just to take a picture with me!

We then went back inside for the "big guns," as Sarah calls them, and had a blast. We ran into Brian Joubert like 4 more times within the following half hour, and met Nobunari Oda! It was just overall fun. I'm glad I got to know Sarah better - I've only known her for a couple months because we work at Starbucks together. We're the same when it comes to beautiful skater boys ;D

Next funny story...

We went to dinner in between the ladies short and the free dance. Lucky Strike! Then we walked back and I saw another small crowd around where the medal ceremonies take place, and also where a lot of interviews take place. Oh, I bet it's Jeremy, I said. We both cracked up. Our inside joke the whole week was me asking "WHERE'S JEREMY?" Well, it WAS Jeremy! I flipped. Then we realized there was someone else there... JOHNNY WEIR. Double whammy. We got pictures with them, and of course I went all gaga over Jeremy. Oh, and Johnny said my hair was cool :]

We waited around afterwards and got to meet Ben Agosto, as well as the other medaling dance teams<3

We went home SO SO SO happy and excited. We got to meet some of our favorite people and see some fierce ladies competition.

Saturday - Ladies long
I was sad that this was the last event. To be completely honest, I thought it was a bit anti-climatic, since I was living for the men's freeskate. Yes, the last group was amazing, but it just wasn't the same to me. I did however get to talk to Frank and Evan at a signing they did during the intermission... since Sarah wanted to meet him so badly, I took a picture of him holding a sign that said "Sarah Benjamin is amazing!" It came out really cute :]

I also got to hug Ben during the public medal ceremony, and finally got my picture with Tanith!

Afterwards, we hung around with my friend Gen, who I hadn't seen in forever, to see if we could meet the top ladies. Long story short, it was NUTS and we were unsuccessful. We did see Brian Joubert again, which was kind of hilarious haha

Sunday - Exhibitions
I was excited about seeing the exhibition programs, since they're usually more of a reflection of the skaters' personalities. Brandon Mroz blew me away with his program, mostly because it had so much personality... I just didn't expect it! The other program that stood out to me was Brian Joubert's. He skated to "Hallelujah" by Rufus Wainwright, and it was BEAUTIFUL.

Afterwards, the skaters were throwing stuff into the audience... I was lucky and got something signed by Evan :]

Anyway, got to meet Samuel Contesti, Patrick and Brian again. Brian gives fabulous hugs btw... it was amazing. He's such a sweetie!

But in all honesty, the highlight of my day was meeting Mitchel Musso. We went to the public medal ceremony for the ladies before the exhibitions. I saw Alissa Czisny, but I had met her the night before so I didn't bother her. I noticed there was some guy talking to Alissa (he wasn't facing us) and the photographers kept taking pictures of him. When he turned around... I SAW IT WAS MITCHEL MUSSO. For those of you who don't know, Mitchel plays Miley's best friend Oliver on Hannah Montana. He was SO sweet and apparently kind of interested. hahahaha :]

But yeah.

That might be it.

It was overall an AMAZING week and I'm glad I went. I'm so incredibly thankful that my mom got the tickets and let me have such a magnificent spring break!

xoxo