Only at the Olympics

Well I have no more event tickets.... could try to get one for today but I think it will be too expensive. I might be headed to Whistler - Julia's friend has a place up there and they didn't rent it out so we will stay there.

Yesterday was a pretty weird day/night. I went shopping for a bit in the morning and then I found a nice restaurant called Earl's and sat at the bar for a few drinks. They had TV's and projector screens all playing the Olympics so I figured it was a good choice!

I ended up meeting a woman and her boyfriend and his brother at the bar while they were waiting for a table. They started talking to me about pin trading... yes pin trading. People buy Olympic pins and then trade them for other ones.... it's actually a HUGE thing at the Olympics! People have pins from other Olympics they have gone to and it's just insane.

Anyways, they invited me to sit with them at their table, so I did. We got some appetizers and shared them all and then 2 more of their friends came and joined - one was a thai masseuse and I was really tempted to ask her for a massage!

We were there for a few hours - we had the best seat in the house! Right at the corner of the restaurant which is at the corner of the street and you could see all the people walking buy. We ended up wracking up a pretty big bill... I'm pretty sure it came to a couple hundred dollars - at least over a hundred for sure - and they only made me pay $20! Because I'm a student and they didn't want me to be spending all my money!

One of the girls had a friend who was having a few ppl over at an apartment downtown... and at this point Julia was driving around trying to find parking so I decided to stay with my new friends and walk with them rather than walk alone until I found Julia. They were really nice and made sure that I got a hold of her and that I knew where I was going and everything. Somewhat of a sketchy situation normally, but at the Olympics its just what everyone is doing! You walk around and meet people and hang out with them for several hours... then you will never see them or talk to them again! It's crazy when you think about it.

I took a cab to the Shangri La - where Julia was meeting her friends. And I had to go to the concierge and say I was going to the 61st floor. They were like "Oh yes, mister michelsons, right this way..." - I felt so important! They open the elevator for you and push the button for you and everything! lol

Anyways I found Julia and her friends... and then we went to walk down Robson street - the main street - and wow... I'm glad I did not walk that alone! Drunk people everywhere... the streets actually looked like a giant mess, it was so dirty! Cops walking in groups of 5 or 6.. and they were all about a block apart... walking up and down the streets. By this point it didn't seem like the Olympics anymore - just a massive party. But it was actually very dirty! This is the part of the Olympics they DON'T show on tv!

We only stayed for a bit and then walked back and got Julia's car and came home. A crazy weird night.... only at the Olympics! haha

How could I forget!

Wow... I don't know how I forgot to tell you this part......

After the skating was over I walked around to close to the CTV booth.... David Pelletier was there, Elizabeth Manley, Marie-France Dubreil and Patrice Lauzon. Everyone was talking pictures and asking for Davids autograph... I took a picture from afar. But Elizabeth Manley came out and was talking to some people and then they started talking about the performances and how it all went down... and all of a sudden I'm in there, talking to Elizabeth Manley...asking if she thought that, coming into the Olympics, if Plushenko was going to win it all. She said she did and then I told her I didn't think he was going to or that he should... and I was talking to her about the new system and how he is old system!! Then she told me about the marks and that Lysacek actually got the same scores as Plushenko for the components score and he beat him in the technical.... I was shocked and I was talking to her about it and she was talking to me about it...and I think I was even arguing a bit with Elizabeth Manley! hahaha.... after I got a picture with her and I told her that not in a million years did I think that I would be arguing with Elizabeth Manley! She said oh we aren't arguing! I agree with you!

Then I walked over and found Scott Hamilton and a journalist was interviewing him... then after I asked him if he thought that Plushenko was going to win... and he starting talking to me about what he thought!

What a day...and night!

Wow.... well I tried to get on here and write last night but I fell asleep doing so hahaha. Yesterday was such a packed day!!

I had curling in the morning with my friend Julia - It was the round robin #4 and Canada was playing Sweden. Three other games were also going on including the USA vs. Denmark. Canada's game was over first... and we won of course! The atmosphere in there was crazy though - not what you would expect at a curling game!!! People were cheering, chanting, doing the wave! The place isn't very big, so although our seats were right at the back we were really close and could see everything!

After the Canada game was over I thought most people would leave but almost everyone stayed. By the end, it was only the USA vs. Denmark game left and of course there were a lot of people from the states there so they were cheering pretty loudly for them - which meant that all of a sudden all the Canadians - us included - were cheering for Denmark! We were yelling Go Denmark - chanting Denmark!, Denmark! .... it was insane! Never did I ever think that I would be cheering for Denmark! And throughout all the games - people would cheer if there was a good shot.... it would go silent if it was a big important shot... and as the curling stone moved down the ice, people would start to stand up and watch it go down - it almost created a wave effect.... just crazy! And so cool!

After the curling was over we headed back to Julia's to get some food - I finally didn't have to buy my food!!! (Although I got the most AMAZING crepe the other day... expensive but wow... nutella, banana and strawberries!).

After we ate, Julia walked me to the bus stop and I got on the bus that would take me downtown so I could get on another bus that would take me to the skating! Of course I had my sign with me (Chan's Turn for Victory!) - everyone loved my sign!

I got to the rink and got to my seat.... pretty close to the middle and not too far up. It was a good view! I had my sign sitting beside me and a woman came and asked if she could take a picture with me and my sign (this has been happening a lot lately - I am quite famous at that rink! Even the volunteers remember me from Tuesday!). Anyways.... this woman starts talking to me and tells me that she is friends with Patrick Chan's mom - plays tennis with her! So I tell her that I trained with Patrick for a few summers and she got all excited that I "know" him and she got her husband to take a video on his camera of us saying hi to patrick and good luck - and they were going to show it to him after!

After the first flight of men, I started to make my trek down to the lower bowl to get a better seat in hopes of my sign being seen on tv. I got moved around a few times because people came to sit there.... but then while I was walking around the woman found me again and had just been visiting Patrick's mom so she took me over there because there were some extra seats! Well it turns out that people showed up for the last 2 groups (I hate when people do that - they are so rich that they just buy close seats and then just show up for the last 2 groups of skaters - they don't even know anything about figure skating!). Anyways... I moved just a section over and started talking to a couple sitting there. They said that the people sitting where I was weren't going to come back and I could stay there.

They started asking me if I knew about the scoring and everything.... that's when I became the commentator for the 6 people sitting around me! They started asking me questions about everything and asking what I thought about each performance and if the people were judged fairly, etc. They loved me! hahaha

And then it was time for Plushenko to skate... and I had already ranted a bit to them about my thoughts of Plushenko... they laughed... and throughout his performance I was getting more and more frustrated because he was being so cocky. Well I told the people around me that if he won I wasn't going to watch figure skating ever again!

AND THEN EVAN LYSACEK WON!!!!! It was the greatest moment ever!!! Everyone was cheering and clapping - except the russians of course. There was a section of other russian athletes and coaches (I think - they were all wearing the uniforms and had official looking tags). They were pissssssed! And so was Plushenko!

They did a bit of an awards ceremony after... and I don't know if they showed it on TV but Plushenko went to shake the hand of the third place skater and then instead of walking around to get to the second place spot on the podium... he stepped over the first place spot on the podium - completely acting as if he should be there! In the video of it you can hear me getting so mad!

Anyways... that was amazing... and then I headed back downtown - met up with Julia and her friends at the Irish house! So fun in there! And they have tv's all set up showing the Olympics stuff from the day.

After that... we took a cab with one of Julia's friends to see her apartment... well her families apartment... aka the PENTHOUSE of the SHANGRI LA! aka the tallest place in Vancouver! The view was AMAAAAZIIINNNGG! I took video of it.... wow... just incredible. You can see part of the torch and you can see the Olympic rings... wow... amazing!

All this in one day - it explains why I passed out so fast last night! But wow.. amazing!

I can't believe it's already Friday!

Today we will be walking around - well I will be. It's Julia's mom's birthday so she is going to stay around the house and I'm going to go downtown and wander. I want to find a place to sit and have a drink and watch some of the Olympics!

I will let you know what happensss!!! :)

Day Two!

Wow... yesterday was a full day!

Got up early and headed into Vancouver with Julia. We got coffee and some breakfast at Starbucks downtown near Robson Square (which is where all the streets are blocked off so people can just walk around). There was a radio station doing a live broadcast while we were there! It was pretty cool!

Then we walked through Robson Square - there was the ice skating going on and the zipline across downtown. Pretty neat idea...and it's free! (if you want to wait 5 hours to go on it!) We saw some people doing yoga in the middle of all the touristy stuff!

Julia had to work at 11:30 so around 11 she left for work and I walked down to BC place to pick up my tickets for the figure skating at the will call window. When I got there, there was a side of the booth that said purchase tickets here. When I was at the luge people were walking up and just buying tickets to the event while they were there - even though you couldn't buy anything online anymore unless it was a re-sale ticket. So I went to the booth and I asked if they had any tickets left for the men's long program for Thursday....and they did!!!!!! So I got a ticket for thursday! And it's a good seat too!!! Close to the middle! I was so excited - called my mom and Brandon to tell them the news right away! lol Then I picked up my ticket for the men's short and started to head down to where I get on the bus to head out to Pacific Coliseum. On my way I found a dollar store. I got some bristol board and some markers so that I could make my sign for Patrick Chan.

Downtown Vancouver is a very busy place with everything going on and I had no idea where I was going to find a place to make my sign! I found a little mall... walked in the front doors and put my stuff down on the floor.... and that is where I started drawing out my sign! People kept walking buy and looking at what I was writing. Once it was all done I had a sign that read Chan's Turn for Victory (with the C, T, and V, in the colours of the tv station CTV - so I could maybe get on tv!)

Then I went to find my bus. There were a lot of people on the bus also going up to the figure skating - and they all loved my sign! One couple started talking to me because I said I didn't know where to get off the bus! They knew where they were going so I followed them! They were from Quebec - one woman was a fan of figure skating, the other was not so much but came anyways. I ended up walking up to the Coliseum with them... waiting in the line before they opened the doors with them, and walking around the Pacific Coliseum for a few hours with them before the event started. We got a beer together and walked around taking pictures. And my sign became famous at the rink.... tons of people wanted to take pictures of it! Patrick Chan's equipment manager was walking around taking pictures for him and took a picture of me and my two new friends with my sign and their canadian flag! His daughter is friends with Patrick and some of them are making a scrapbook for him!! He took our emails and said he would send us the picture.

Once we got close to the start of the event, we went to our seats. I wasn't sitting too close to the couple I had met - although they were just a few sections over and down. I never found them in between the flights or during the flood :(

But, as I was walking up to my seat - Janice's mom (my skating coaches mom) was sitting there! She was only a few rows ahead of me!!! And a friend from school from the cheerleading team was only a section over! It was crazy.

My seats were right at the back of my section but it was a good spot. The Coliseum isn't that big so I wasn't far back at all! Had such a good view of everything! It was amazing to see everyone skate!!!

The event was 4 hours long and after I walked around to where the CTV section was - although it was all blocked off for media only - I could see Elizabeth Manley and David Pelletier right on the other side of where it was blocked off!!! Then they tried to make us all leave - didn't see Kurt - but when I turned around, Tracy Wilson was walking in! I got a picture with her (and my sign! haha) and then I left!

The line up for the bus was HUGE! And was going to take hours - I walked another block up to where there was another bus stop where no one was going to and I waited for about 10 minutes and got on a bus back to downtown Vancvouver.

Then my troubles began - I tried to find my friends but I had no clue where they were!! And then my phone died! So I walked up to the main street where there were TONS of people in the streets because of the hockey game that had ended and everyone was celebrating! I asked a police officer where a payphone was and he said I could use his cell phone. So I called Julia and we picked a meeting place. SOMEHOW among the thousands of people.. she found me!!! I met some of her friends and then we walked to see the torch!!! It was AMAZING! Although there is a fence in front of it, it was still amazing to see!!

Then we walked to the German House and got a beer. And after that we headed back home!

A long day but wow it was so cool! Just the people you meet here is amazing!! And there is so much going on even just in the streets!!!

I will upload pictures!!

Today I am doing the walking around thing and seeing Olympic Village and stuff. No event tickets so I will find a place to have a beer and watch some stuff!!