Despite weather in the high 90s, it feels like winter for dozens of campers at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury.
"It was pretty hot outside. I did not want to put on my skating clothes because I had to hang around the dorm for a few minutes. Then, coming here it was like, ‘Oh, thank God -- air conditioning," Julia Croxen, of Arlington, Massachusetts, said.
The skaters come from all over the world to Simsbury with big dreams.
"It's great to learn from international and champions in the Olympics and world champions and national champions, and they're all coaches here," Croxen said.
The skaters put in long days, including Tory Stosse, of Branford, who has skated for 10 years and been a camper at the ice skating center for seven years.
"I get up at about 6:30 a.m. every day. I get here around 7-7:30, and I' m here until like 6:30 at night," Stosse said.
Ken Lapent, of the International Skating Center, said groups come from Mexico, Spain, England and sometimes Russia.
The skaters work hard, but being on an ice skating rink is refreshing when the temperature nears 100 outside.
"This is a good place to be today. This is a good job to have today," Lapent said.
