Hey Everyone!
Thursday was an awesome day. We celebrated three birthdays here in Neuchâtel; our team doctor, Dr. White, Skyliners’ Brooke Abbott, and Team Braemar’s Lily Schroeder. Braemar woke up early for practice, but Skyliners got to sleep in and have a nice relaxing breakfast. Then we headed back into town for more shopping. We explored chocolate shops and clothing stores and enjoyed the scenery of the town. At lunch, we sang and had an amazing chocolate cake for Brooke’s birthday. After lunch we went back to the hotel to prepare for practice.
Our practice was about a half hour bus ride away, in the mountains. The drive was beautiful. When we got to the rink, there was a small debacle over the ice. A Swiss citizen was under the impression that there was a public session, even though we were on the rink’s schedule. He did not take the news well when our teammate Paige explained to him in French that he had to leave the ice and, no, we could not share it. Other than that practice went extremely well and we were confident going into the start of the competition.
The event officially started Thursday night with the draw. We all enjoyed the performance by a local Swiss marching band. To chose skate order, the captains grabbed chocolate bars that were numbered. Originally, 
This morning we woke up nice and early for official practice. Our practice went very well and we were so excited to compete. Walking back from the rink, we took the scenic route by the lake and got a lot of great pictures. We spent the rest of the afternoon resting and preparing for competition.
Going to the rink we felt our normal competition emotions; excitement, nervousness, but most of all, pride. We love hearing “Representing the United States of America. . .” and were anxious to be introduced that way. In the locker room we relished putting on our short program competition dresses for the last time. We have grown to love the bright orange and pink costumes, so getting dressed was a little bitter sweet. On the ice, we performed very well, but technically it was not our best. Team Braemar is currently in fifth place and Skyliners are in sixth. Tomorrow, Skyliners skate thirteenth and Braemar seventeenth. We are looking forward to getting to cheer on Braemar after we skate!
Now, it is bedtime in Neuchâtel.
GO USA!!!
Audrey and Ashley
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