When I got invited to compete at the Gardena Spring Trophy I was so excited! I had never been over seas or out of the country before!

I traveled to London, England with my mom, my coach (Mitch Moyer) and his wife. We saw Buckingham Palace, the Big Ben, and rode in the cute taxis. My coach and I both had the flu the entire week!

We stayed in London a day, and then flew to Muchich, Germany and then drove three hours with the team to Ortisei, Italy. The competition was so neat. There were 22 skaters in the competition so that was a new experience.

My short wasn't as good as I would have liked, but I skated a strong long to pull up from 9th to 6th. I found out the rinks in Europe don't have heaters, so we had to compete in five pairs of tights! Joan [Cristobal] (my roommate) and I had tons of fun trying to talk to all the kids in different languages. We stayed in a little village in the middle of the Alps; it was so beautiful. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot!