Olympic Style

Before coming to Torino I got asked a lot where why the name “Torino” sounded so familiar. In 2006 a pretty big event happened here. An event that is broadcasted all over the world…The Olympics!
I haven’t been to the Olympic village because it is on the outskirts of the city in how shall we say this, sketchy part of town. There’s not much left that is exciting over there but some of the buildings used are still around. There is the lingotto mall which was the FIAT factory and then used during the Olympics and now is a mall. And the Olympic arch can be seen from some of the apartments of my friends and there is the skating rink.
During the holiday season the skating rink is opened and you can go ice skating! Mondays are discount night. So guess what I did Monday night?!? I went Ice skating on the former Olympic ice rink.
Someone has proof that I was there; I just don’t personally have it. When I get it, I’ll let you see. I do have proof in the form of a bruise on my knee. I was doing so well. I hadn’t fallen, not that I hadn’t had a few attempts. Then out of nowhere, bam! On the ground. It wasn’t too bad because it was near the end of the evening.
There is something about ice skating that brings people together. There were so many students from my program there and they were all at different levels. People who don’t normally talk to each other were helping each other skate. My Korean friends were fearless. It was so fun to encourage them to go another round. To tell them that even though I’ve skated before I still can’t stop well. And even listening to them talk about how sore they were. I think my favorite conversation from the night was with Seowon and I told her to bend her knees just a little bit. That it would be easier. She said “I can’t!” and I told her just a little bit. “like this?” “yep!” After the next lap she came up next to me and said “it really works!”
The skates we rented were plastic and there was no difference between male and female style. It was interesting not being in figure skates with a toe pick. The boys adapted better since hockey skates are similar to the ones we used.

I had a lot of fun brining in December with this winter activity! What is your favorite winter activity?