Update 1: from Adele Espy

Here is an update from Adele Espy from World Juniors being held in France. See below:

Hi Morgan!

It's a little third worldly here, but i finally got internet connection, for the first time, today! Internet isn't going to last long, the press needs to use the only room in which we can get any internet connection.

Since I have 50 min until dinner, (more like, 50 min until we swarm the dinning room and wait by the tables for 30 min until the servers have the U.S. table set for us), I will walk you through the first part of my trip.

My flight was easy. i met up with Sophie caldwell in the boston air port. The Boston to Amsterdam flight was practically empty; i snatched an empty row of three seats across in the center isle and slept pretty comfortably for about 4 hrs out of the 6. We met up with a handful of juniors in Amsterdam. We were supposed to land in Geneva, but an unexpected storm caused the geneva airport to be closed after 5 planes over shot the runway. We touched down in Zürich, and then an hour later took off again to finally end up in geneva abut 3 hrs late. The geneva airport was mob scene. After walking through customs without even showing my passport we entered the baggage claim area where officers where pulling bags off the conveyer belts and trucking them all over the room. Bags were lost and stolen, and it took us a few hours to find our bags. Matt Whitcomb and Eileen Carey were at the airport to meet us. it was pretty crazy outside of the baggage claim area too; people were wandering back and forth through security without tickets, IDs or plane tickets. No one really seemed to be too worried about anything. We arrived at the hotel after an hour and a half drive up into the mountains. The rooms are pretty spacious, but the beds are tiny and about knee high. There isn't much furniture in the rooms and TV is all in french. Our meals are scheduled at 8 am, 1 pm, and dinner at 7:30, at the hotel, but the cooks are pretty busy with all the teams here, so we usually have to wait a long time to eat. lunch and dinner are 3 or 4 course meals and breakfast is a buffet! The french eat a lot of cheese and yogurt, a little tricky for a lactose intolerant person to avoid, and they like their beef alive (The red meat is VERY red, it sort of tastes like eating tongue).

The skiing is AMAZING! the weather has been warm and sunny for the past 3 days. this afternoon fog settled in to the stadium, making it impossible to see anything. After navigating up the sides of the mountains, on the race trails, i was above the fog and could see everything clearly! The tracks are great and waxing is a dream! I've been skiing in the morning usually, but today i did a double work out with one in the afternoon as well. I've been taking naps every afternoon and getting a little bit of homework done. all the athletes have to where bibs over our ski jackets when skiing on the trails, it's like a trail pass. It's really cool to be living with all these amazing skiers and hearing tones of different languages all at the same venue! I've managed to learn a little French; how to say thank you, sorry, no thank you, i need toilet paper, i need a towel... the essentials. There was some randomized blood testing yesterday; ten people from each team were selected for testing, but i was not one of them. I'm excited to watch some of the U23 races that start tomorrow! i'll probably watch a little and then make myself go back inside to rest for my races coming up soon.

It is pretty spectacular here! I Think MCN should all come train here in Praz de Lys! The hotel couldn't be more convenient- we walk out of the door and onto the race trails! I'm feeling pretty spoiled right now and I'm loving it!

Hope all is well in Maine! Say hi to everyone for me, please! GOOD LUCK TO ALL WHO ARE RACING IN THE SUPER TOUR/ EASTERN CUP RACES!

See you soon!I've gotta go eat some dinner now.
Adele.