If you're a figure skater in college, then you have most likely been to intercollegiate competitions. No one word can truly describe the difference between intercollegiate and regular competitions, but instead the difference is in the feeling and emotions present. As an intercollegiate skater, you're used to the early-to-rise and late-to-bed weekend regiment at competitions. One day feels like two, a weekend like a week. You're running on Starbucks and Panera, hoping to catch your teammates' programs in between homework and sleep. Despite the hardships, competition weekends are always the best part of college. Here is a day in the life of an intercollegiate figure skater.
5:00 a.m.
Your alarm rings, but you hit snooze a few times. You lay under the white sheets of the hotel bed, counting the minutes until your alarm will ring again. Your roommate that slept next to you is already up and in the shower. Both of you are skating at 7:00 a.m., so you have to get up soon. Your alarm goes off for the third time, and you grudgingly turn it off and roll out of bed.
6:15 a.m.
The oatmeal, coffee and granola bar breakfast at the hotel finally came out, and you and your teammates devour everything you can before it's time to leave for the rink. You're still tired, but the adrenaline is starting to kick in.
7:25 a.m.
The first group in your event has finished skating, and it's time for your warm up. You high-five your coach as you take your guards off and step onto the ice. You perform all your jumps as perfectly as you can, though you feel a little shaky. A few minutes later, you get off the ice and wait for five skaters before it's your turn.
8:00 a.m.
It's finally time for you to skate your program, an hour after the event started. You step on the ice and feel right at home. Your teammates cheer you on as you skate the best you can, landing the jump you were shaky with on warm up. You finish your program with a grin across your face, ready to take on the day.
9:30 a.m.
It's not even 10:00 a.m., and you've already won yourself a bronze medal. You and your teammate, who grabbed the gold, take pictures and laugh together, taking a Snapchat here and there.
10:20 a.m.
You return from Starbucks with a caramel macchiato in one hand and a croissant in the other. You sit and watch your teammates as you sip your coffee, planning out when you're going to get your homework done that day.
11:30 a.m.
You have about two hours before you skate, so you figure it's time to start getting ready. You change into your second dress and touch-up your makeup. Your unfinished homework is in the back of your mind, but you decide to push it back until after you skate.
12:45 p.m.
It feels like 6:00 p.m., yet it's only lunchtime. You're tired, but you need to pull it together. One more program for the day. You head to a quiet area and warm up off the ice. Your stomach growls, signaling the need for food. You push that back as well, trying to focus only on skating.
2:00 p.m.
You stand on the podium with your silver medal, wondering when someone can drive you to Panera. All you can think about as you stand there is mac and cheese. As soon as pictures are done, you hop off the podium and find a way to get to Panera.
4:00 p.m.
With your stomach full of mac and cheese and your eyes drooping from being up all day, you sit in the bleachers and watch your friends skate. Everyone has been skating great, and you don't want to miss a thing. You continue sitting in the stands, clapping and cheering.
6:00 p.m.
Two hours pass, and it finally hits you. You haven't done any homework. You decide at that moment that you're going to do some after this event. One of your friends bought a selfie stick, so you spend too much time taking pictures with it.
7:15 p.m.
You end up going back to Panera with some of your teammates for dinner. Instead of mac and cheese, you opt for a salad. You take it to-go and eat it as you watch more skaters. At that moment, you decide you want to make a video of your skating club. You pull out your laptop and start putting pictures with music in between watching programs.
9:00 p.m.
Day one of the competition has ended, and you're back at the hotel with smudged makeup and bags of food. You and your roommates talk and laugh for awhile, making memories through pictures on Snapchat.
10:45 p.m.
Your head hits the pillow before you can even think about anything else. Another early day tomorrow; you set your alarm for 5:30 a.m. As you shut your eyes, you decide you'll try the homework thing again tomorrow.
