hawayek baker

Bonjour from Montreal, Kaitlin here! I’m super excited to start sharing a monthly blog with U.S. Figure Skating on the new Fan Zone, and give you all a glimpse into my life as an athlete!

This summer marked a lot exciting changes for my partner Jean-Luc and me! We moved from our training location of six years in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, to train with the amazing coaching team of Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and Romain Haguenauer in Montreal, Canada.

Often times, change comes hand-in-hand with new challenges as you get accustomed to a new way of living, but for us, I can truly say that this move was as easy as can be. We instantly fell in love with the team and family environment that the coaches have built for the skaters here, and I love being in a city filled with such culture and life.

As a skater, we are fortunate enough to travel the world and see a lot of different places. Personally, I am a huge fan of the Western European countries I’ve visited, and living in Montreal is a unique blend between North American and European culture. The Old Port area in Montreal is reminiscent of the historical old towns I’ve visited in Europe, while downtown Montreal is more similar to cities I’ve visited in the U.S. like NYC. French is the official language of Quebec, but fortunately, most people are bilingual and speak both French and English. My French is a bit rusty, for sure, but I’m excited to see if I can pick up a bit more of the language over the next several years…….. read more here