Day One: Airports are great! At the Las Vegas airport, there was a group of honor flight vets! I shook almost everyone's hands and said thank you! It was the best part of my day. We took a charter bus to the hotel It's really green and flat here. It's not quite Seattle green, but it's green. And the humidity is not awesome.
The room has a microwave, a fridge, and a kuerig coffee maker. It's awesome!
Day Two: Our "bus" (the three SUV's our school district rented) didn't leave until 10, so I got to sleep in a bit, which was nice.
I had my contest orientation, and then we took the test for the competition (CPR-First Aid) then I walked around techspo. I got lots of stickers and free fun stuff. I still need to pick up some postcards.
The "dance" was less fun. The band only played covers and the grass was infested with large bugs. We left an hour early, and headed back to the hotel. Then we swam in the pool at the hotel. That was really fun.
Day Three: Today I bummed around Techspo. I picked up some more free swag and I went to the army medic seminar. Except it wasn't about army medics. It was about nursing. I was really disappointed. The description said that it was going to be about the army's cutting edge medical technology and combat medics. It was not. The speaker couldn't answer any questions about medics, because she was "only the head nurse."
After the seminar, I did the Army obstacle course. I manged to do 11 pushups, solve the chemical plant attack scenario, crashed the helicopter 4 times, and tried a peach-berry tart. It's too bad that there were no other branches of the military represented (read: The Marine Corps).
Shark guy Chris Fisher came and talked to us at opening ceremonies, and a girl from my school won first in the safety video contest.
Day four: competition day! I got up at 5:40 and was out the door by 6:40. Scrubs are terrible. Everyone keeps saying "aren't they like pajamas?". They are. That's the problem. They don't have a real waistband, they have no shape, and I hate them. I feel exposed. The criminal justice kids get utility belts. I would like a utility belt, and pants with belt loops.
I sat in the holding area for 5 hours, and we weren't allowed to have any reading materials, which was fine, but everyone got pretty bored pretty fast.
My actual competition did not go so well. The scenarios were not well put together, and the live dummies didn't seem to know what was going on.
In order to escape drama, I rode the rides at the amusement park by myself. It was really fun. I got to ride what I wanted and I had a swell time.
Day Five: Today was a bum around day until opening ceremonies, so I got up at 8:30, packed my stuff back up (all three items that weren't already in my luggage) and then we went for lunch. We went to Jack Stacks for BBQ, and it was the first time I have been full all week. I had some brisket and chicken. And some really yummy fries. Then we headed to the mall. I wanted to go to the one with the lego store, but the other girls didn't so we went to the plaza mall. I went into Tiffany's, and did not buy anything. Then I went to Kate Spade, and there of all places, found postcards. They were free because I bought something (a cute to do/remember notepad). Then I went to Vera Bradley and bought a headband for myself and one for my sister. Everything came with fancy bags. The kind with tissue paper! Also- in Kansas City, the pedestrian does not have right of way. I had to tell myself that anytime I needed to cross the street. People here drive like maniacs. Then we went to a Wendy's in the sketchy part of town so we could change. Closing ceremonies at Nationals were long, and not very well organized. I did not place top three. I'm okay with that. I'm hoping top five. It will be up on the website later.
Day Six: I placed 21st. So, that was not as great as I was hoping, but it's better than 4th. The kids who got 4th were really upset. Today was mostly spent at airports and on airplanes. We made a sketchy friend at the San Diego airport who was drunk off his rear. Harbor police also made friends with him. Thankfully he was not on our flight.
"All voluntary travel is characterized by longing for some elusive element that lies out of reach in daily life." - Lucy Lippard
-D.
Day Six: I placed 21st. So, that was not as great as I was hoping, but it's better than 4th. The kids who got 4th were really upset. Today was mostly spent at airports and on airplanes. We made a sketchy friend at the San Diego airport who was drunk off his rear. Harbor police also made friends with him. Thankfully he was not on our flight.
"All voluntary travel is characterized by longing for some elusive element that lies out of reach in daily life." - Lucy Lippard
-D.
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