![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Event day! I got back from Torino at 7 am Monday morning. I was so dead, I don't know how I made it through class. This whole trip was a hassle to plan, but it was way more than worth it.
Got into Torino at about 10:30. Checked my bag again (they don’t allow them in events, plus its just easier not to lug one around) and got train ticket out to Pinerolo (like 3 euro), where curling was being held. My email said I needed to pick up my tickets by noon. I hopped a bus that was supposed to get close to the train station that I needed to get on at (different one than my train from Milan came in at). Apparently I got off at the wrong stop. Tried to get directions from people that only spoke Italian, walked in the general direction, but still was totally lost. An olympic bus driver picked me up and got me most of the way there. Once I hopped off, I was still unsure which way to go, so I just headed in the direction he’d pointed me in. That’s how I ended up by Olympic Village, where the athletes live. It hadn’t even been on the map I had. So in that sense, I was glad I got lost.
I was able to get on the noon train out to Pinerolo, where curling was being held. I was a little worried that I would not be able to pick up my ticket, since my email had said 2 hours before. So was the girl I was sitting by- she was from Virginia and was studying in Rome. But I had no problems getting it once I got there. The email had said that you needed 2 hours to go through the gates and find your seat- yea, I needed about 10 minutes.
When I got there, I hadn’t eaten lunch yet, and there was a little restaurant tupe thing inside a tent just outside the arena, so I decided to grab something to eat. While I was grabbing my food, I bumped into the guy in front of me- who happened to be a member of the US men’s curling team. I think this is him here, I didn’t catch his name. I talked a little bit with him though. I still had like an hour before curling started, so I just sat in there, talked with a couple americans that were associated with the curling team (trainers or something), and chilled for a bit.
I’ve got to say curling is like soccer- boring to watch on tv, but it’s way better live. First of all, there’s actually 4 matches going on at once. Secondly, it’s non-stop action. And it gets pretty loud because all the teams are shouting at each other. I think I understand it a little better after seeing it live, but I’m still not sure how the scoring works. The matches that were going on were US/Switzerland, Italy/Canada, Japan/England, and Russia/Denmark. I had great seats- second row. I was only about 20 feet from the ice, and the US team was in the first lane so I had the best view of my home team. Most of the people in the stadium were Italian. But the Swiss had a large constituency there. Let me tell you, Swiss people are crazy fans. They get all decked out in red, and going around rather loudly. Every time Switzerland came up they shouted “ob swiss!” and rang cowbells. Good fun, man.
I watched 3 rounds of curling before I had to leave to catch the train back to Torino so I could get to speed skating on time. USA was losing 4-2. The best match going on was Italy/Canada- they were using a different strategy (as many rocks on the board as they could, instead of knocking the other team’s rocks off), and that was only at the end of the second round when I left. That and since most of the stadium was Italian, the crowd went nuts when Italy made a good play. Italy was in last place before, and yet they seemed to be doing really well against Canada. US was right above Italy, so it doesn’t look like they’ll make it to the semi-finals. There’s a max of 10 rounds, but it’s timed- each team has 70 minutes to make all their plays through as many rounds as they can get through.
K so then I get back to Lingotto train station at like 4:15. When I was waiting for the train in Pinerolo it was raining. When I got to Pinerolo too, but it had gotten worse. The day before it had been sunny. It was a weird feeling, being at the Winter Olympics without any snow. But by the time I got to Lingotto, it was snowing. I was happy to see the snow. At the train stations there were actually signs pointing the way to the stadium, so I didn’t get lost this time. Short walk there, did the whole security check thing once more. There I bought a shirt and an American flag that I could wave around. I had wanted to get one at curling, but they didn’t sell American flags there- not popular enough a sport for the US I guess. So I got into the stadium, grabbed something for dinner, since I was going to be on a train for the rest of the night after skating, and got some hot chocolate to warm me up (I was still really wet). Found my seat- 13th row up, halfway between the first curve and the finish line. I could see everything really well. Whereas the curling stadium was Italian, this one was Dutch. I think like half the population of the Netherlands was there. Seriously, it was just one big sea of orange.
Curling? Cool. Speed skating? Way cooler. I am sooo glad I decided to buy tickets to this as the lasty minute. Worth every single cent I paid. I had to leave early to catch a train back to Germany, but I really only missed 3 pairs of skaters. I saw the gold and silver medalists skate. I left right after Jennifer Rodriguez, so I saw all the Americans. We didn’t do so well, I think our top placed somewhere between 8th and 10th. It was great- the first 2 american skaters raced against someone dutch, so here I am waving my American flag around while everyone around me is cheering for the opponent. It’s exhilirating to watch speed skating. Obviously they go rather fast- up to 60 km/h I heard. I was at the 1000m, so it was 2 ½ laps around. Most races had a large margin of separation, but one was really close. There was one Chinese skater who wiped out on the first lap. I’ve never seen anyone wipe out in long track, usually that only happens in short track. And you can’t finish if you wipe out, unlike in short track. The skaters were seated by their personal best times, but most people finished under their personal best. One person who was in the third race ended up in 6th place. Just so awesome to watch.
Overall, my Olympic experience was awesome. Seeing the events live is just an experience I can hardly put into words. It was a total dream come true.
Got into Torino at about 10:30. Checked my bag again (they don’t allow them in events, plus its just easier not to lug one around) and got train ticket out to Pinerolo (like 3 euro), where curling was being held. My email said I needed to pick up my tickets by noon. I hopped a bus that was supposed to get close to the train station that I needed to get on at (different one than my train from Milan came in at). Apparently I got off at the wrong stop. Tried to get directions from people that only spoke Italian, walked in the general direction, but still was totally lost. An olympic bus driver picked me up and got me most of the way there. Once I hopped off, I was still unsure which way to go, so I just headed in the direction he’d pointed me in. That’s how I ended up by Olympic Village, where the athletes live. It hadn’t even been on the map I had. So in that sense, I was glad I got lost.
I was able to get on the noon train out to Pinerolo, where curling was being held. I was a little worried that I would not be able to pick up my ticket, since my email had said 2 hours before. So was the girl I was sitting by- she was from Virginia and was studying in Rome. But I had no problems getting it once I got there. The email had said that you needed 2 hours to go through the gates and find your seat- yea, I needed about 10 minutes.
When I got there, I hadn’t eaten lunch yet, and there was a little restaurant tupe thing inside a tent just outside the arena, so I decided to grab something to eat. While I was grabbing my food, I bumped into the guy in front of me- who happened to be a member of the US men’s curling team. I think this is him here, I didn’t catch his name. I talked a little bit with him though. I still had like an hour before curling started, so I just sat in there, talked with a couple americans that were associated with the curling team (trainers or something), and chilled for a bit.
I’ve got to say curling is like soccer- boring to watch on tv, but it’s way better live. First of all, there’s actually 4 matches going on at once. Secondly, it’s non-stop action. And it gets pretty loud because all the teams are shouting at each other. I think I understand it a little better after seeing it live, but I’m still not sure how the scoring works. The matches that were going on were US/Switzerland, Italy/Canada, Japan/England, and Russia/Denmark. I had great seats- second row. I was only about 20 feet from the ice, and the US team was in the first lane so I had the best view of my home team. Most of the people in the stadium were Italian. But the Swiss had a large constituency there. Let me tell you, Swiss people are crazy fans. They get all decked out in red, and going around rather loudly. Every time Switzerland came up they shouted “ob swiss!” and rang cowbells. Good fun, man.
I watched 3 rounds of curling before I had to leave to catch the train back to Torino so I could get to speed skating on time. USA was losing 4-2. The best match going on was Italy/Canada- they were using a different strategy (as many rocks on the board as they could, instead of knocking the other team’s rocks off), and that was only at the end of the second round when I left. That and since most of the stadium was Italian, the crowd went nuts when Italy made a good play. Italy was in last place before, and yet they seemed to be doing really well against Canada. US was right above Italy, so it doesn’t look like they’ll make it to the semi-finals. There’s a max of 10 rounds, but it’s timed- each team has 70 minutes to make all their plays through as many rounds as they can get through.
K so then I get back to Lingotto train station at like 4:15. When I was waiting for the train in Pinerolo it was raining. When I got to Pinerolo too, but it had gotten worse. The day before it had been sunny. It was a weird feeling, being at the Winter Olympics without any snow. But by the time I got to Lingotto, it was snowing. I was happy to see the snow. At the train stations there were actually signs pointing the way to the stadium, so I didn’t get lost this time. Short walk there, did the whole security check thing once more. There I bought a shirt and an American flag that I could wave around. I had wanted to get one at curling, but they didn’t sell American flags there- not popular enough a sport for the US I guess. So I got into the stadium, grabbed something for dinner, since I was going to be on a train for the rest of the night after skating, and got some hot chocolate to warm me up (I was still really wet). Found my seat- 13th row up, halfway between the first curve and the finish line. I could see everything really well. Whereas the curling stadium was Italian, this one was Dutch. I think like half the population of the Netherlands was there. Seriously, it was just one big sea of orange.
Curling? Cool. Speed skating? Way cooler. I am sooo glad I decided to buy tickets to this as the lasty minute. Worth every single cent I paid. I had to leave early to catch a train back to Germany, but I really only missed 3 pairs of skaters. I saw the gold and silver medalists skate. I left right after Jennifer Rodriguez, so I saw all the Americans. We didn’t do so well, I think our top placed somewhere between 8th and 10th. It was great- the first 2 american skaters raced against someone dutch, so here I am waving my American flag around while everyone around me is cheering for the opponent. It’s exhilirating to watch speed skating. Obviously they go rather fast- up to 60 km/h I heard. I was at the 1000m, so it was 2 ½ laps around. Most races had a large margin of separation, but one was really close. There was one Chinese skater who wiped out on the first lap. I’ve never seen anyone wipe out in long track, usually that only happens in short track. And you can’t finish if you wipe out, unlike in short track. The skaters were seated by their personal best times, but most people finished under their personal best. One person who was in the third race ended up in 6th place. Just so awesome to watch.
Overall, my Olympic experience was awesome. Seeing the events live is just an experience I can hardly put into words. It was a total dream come true.
There are 2 comments on this entry.