The Alps

Italy

After the quick stop in Prague, we climbed back in the car and headed for Italy! It was another long car ride, but we got a nice view. Most of the way we were driving through the mountains in Germany, Austria and Italy. Coming from the Green Mountain State, I've seen my fair share of mountains but I was in awe with the size of the alps.

Seeing how large the Alps were, I was nervous about the difficulty of the trails. I thought I might have forgotten how to ski! Of course, as soon as I popped into my skis, my ski legs were ready! 

We stayed in a small ski town called Pellizzano. There were a handful of different ski areas surrounding us. Every day we went to a different area, the first day we went to one of the more family friendly ones. We got a late start, but stated on the mountain until 4:00. Marek, Sebak, and I skied together while Jola went with her sister and nephew.

The rest of the week we explored the other hills, awed by the size and beauty of them, my host brother and I cruised down the trails. It was hard for me to not dip into the woods to get the untouched powder, but because of my insurance I couldn't. I some good turns in though!

Austria 

Sunday we packed up the car and headed, me to Austria and the rest of my family back to Olsztyn. It was a much shorter drive for me and we were still in the mountains so the time flew. We had to wait for the rest of the Rotary group, so we got dinner and looked around the little town while we waited. I was not as close to the ski hill, but there was still a nice view from the hotel. 

Finally the bus pulled into the hotel! The 50 exchange students rushed off the bus (after a two day trip!) It was so fun to see some of my people, I ended up rooming with (fellow Canadian) Fiona. We made the wonderful discovery of BEN AND JERRY'S ICE CREAM!!!!!!! I had not had it since coming to Poland, and boy was I glad :)

My ski legs were ready to hit the slopes after a week of warming up. We had to start slow because they were still putting us into the right groups, but after the first day, we were cruising! It was a lot of fun to see the other kids ski, there were a handful of us that had experience skiing and we stayed together just kind of skiing where we wanted. 

On our last full day at the mountain, we had a slalom race, something I've never done! Unfortunately the visibility was not great, we went ahead with it anyway and it was so fun! I was very exited to get one of my luckiest numbers as my bib...

I had a fabulous two weeks in the Alps, we had beautiful weather the whole time and I got to spend it with fabulous people! I do miss going to the mountain every weekend but it was an amazing experience, I feel so lucky to have been in such an amazing place!