Italian Figure Skating Essay

During my first three years of learning Italian, I unfortunately did not get a chance to use my Italian outside of the classroom. Although both my grandfather and father are Italian, since my grandfather had immigrated to the United States as a child, he only knew bits and pieces - not enough to have a conversation - so although I have Italian blood, I never knew any of the language until I entered high school.
This past year, I finally got my chance. I am a competitive figure skater. Unlike much of the figure skating shown on tv, I compete on a synchronized figure skating team, where 16 skaters compete together. In a sense, it is like synchronized swimming. For 7 years I had only completed within the United States. However, in 2017, I joined an internationally competitive team. This team, the Lexettes, being one of the strongest junior teams in the country, get the honor of competing at Junior World Championships. …show more content…
However, during my first practice only hours after landing in Croatia, I noticed the Italian flag up on the wall, along with a banner that read: Team Hot Shivers. I barely saw this team around the competition rink, but at the end of major competitions there is a competitors party to celebrate our hard work during the season. This is where I got to meet members from Team Hot Shivers. My first interaction with them was confusing as the music at the party was extremely loud, but as the night went on and the party died down, we were able to actually have a conversation. This was when we were able to chat about our teams and our sport together. Since we had recently reviewed the conditional conjugation in class, I was able to ask “would it be okay if we took a picture”. Although I had trusted that I had learned a significant amount of Italian in the last four years, this moment was a good example as to how much I had truly learned. I could speak to native Italians without