Dreams Do Come True

While in Sochi watching the Olympics I thought a few times about the "tragedy" of a silver, or a bronze medal as I watched some of the athletes disappointment. And I caught myself thinking something similar a couple times when people asked "What other Olympics have you been to?" like going to the Olympics was a normal thing.

But the reality is, I went to the Olympics. I set the goal. I made it happen. And it was AWESOME :)

Entering Olympic Park for the first time early in the morning when it was nearly deserted was such a cool feeling. 

There were a couple Russians walking in at the same time and as they spoke to me in Russian I just smiled along - until they said, "You don't understand what we're saying do you?" and I was forced to admit, no. They followed up with, "From this day on, you need to study the Russian language." To which I smiled and nodded.

Then I noticed the music playing, and they lyrics expressed my sentiments exactly:

"I like the way this feels..."

Indeed I did!

I thought seeing the Olympic rings was awesome, and it was, but then I saw the Olympic flame ringed by the country flags. What an amazing sight - at any time of day.

And all of this in the hush and muted, but growing, light of morning. Words and pictures just can't do it justice.

Over the next few days I went to four events, in the following order:

1. Curling

2. Skeleton

3. Short Track Speed Skating

4. Ski Jumping

Curling

I've been a little obsessed with this sport since high school when the Olympics came to Salt Lake City and we played a mock version on the food floor in our gym. And then someone gave me their curling venue fleece (yes, I wore it to Curling :) and that increased my love for the sport.

Containing my excitement before going into my first Olympic venue just wasn't possible:

While watching, I met a Russian superfan, and asked if he'd take a photo with me:

Skeleton

AMAZING (and a bit scary) to watch, especially when one of the male racers nearly crashed right next to me. As in I was close enough that if I was on my stomach instead of standing up, I would have been able to touch him. But I got some killer shots, and found out that I could wander around more freely than I originally thought - so I went up to the top and watched one of the runs from the push off area at the top of the course.

The icing on the cake was watching Noelle Pikus-Pace take the silver medal - and then running into her at Church a couple days later - say what? I had no idea she was a Mormon, and I had no idea she was the person being interviewed behind me when I took a picture with my new friend Sam...

Short Track Speed Skating

While this was a very tragic/ sad go for Team USA, I did still ultimately have a good time and enjoyed cheering. It was fun because one of the female USA skaters has the same name as my cousin - Jessica Smith. And because the vibe in the venue was so fun.

And while it was tragic, it blows my mind that I watched Emily Scott get pushed by a Korean skater in the semi-final round, get up having lost her glasses, and complete the round. And then minutes later, to watch a male skater from the Netherlands also be pushed by a Korean skater in the semi-final round - it was mind blowing. And I cheered my heart out (ultimately losing my voice) when Mr. Netherlands won the bronze medal!

Surprisingly, one of my favorite parts was watching all the prep work/ behind the scenes things that were done by volunteers that I never would have thought of...

Ski Jumping

On the way up to the Mountain Cluster for this event, I met Lars from Norway and we chatted a bit. He asked me how I, as an American, came to know much about ski jumping - since, as a country, we're not very good at it.

The honest answer? I don't know much about it (even still...). I have always found it very cool to watch, and it is something that I can't imagine doing. Not just from a lack of athletic ability standpoint, but from a "how could you hurl yourself from that high up and land on your feet?" standpoint. I have to say - this crowd was the best one of the four, narrowly beating out short track, but beating it. Which is good, because on my way up, I was a little nervous that my last event might be a let down after such an awesome few days.

I mean, come on - who can beat the space dance?

I was pulling for the 41-year-old Japanese ski jumper, and was a little sad that he got bumped into the silver medal spot. He was still very impressive, and cool to watch. It was so fun to see the different reactions of people when they made it to the bottom, and to watch the celebration of the three medalists.

There are just too many stories! So, I decided to create a Russian Tales post/ page for anyone who wants to read more (and I'll be adding more over time as well...)

I also created a Twitter handle for this trip - you can check it out: @NicoleinRussia