< -- That's me. You know, looking all excited to be holding a snowboard in the Alps. If I had an after picture there would be less of a smile, more of a grimace. Not that I was necessarily attempting to grimace, just that my face froze that way after falling several times down a bunny slope. I often didn't even make it out of the starting gate. Pathetic.
My ski trip was overall...interesting. I can't really think of another word for it. It was fun for the most part. We all went ice skating one night and we had this huge ice rink to ourselves so we just goofed off in the snow for a bit. The hotel provided dinner for us each night we stayed there and the first night (brace yourselves) I tried salmon. Now for the anticipated reaction - didn't love it. Fish tastes fishy, and I understand that's often the appeal of eating fish but that's what generally turns me off it. But I at least gave it an honest shot. Our hotel room was freezing though, and Amy and I had to bundle up and steal extra blankets from the spare bed in our room just to keep from getting frost bite during the night.
Second day was ski/snowboard day. I opted for snowboarding for several reasons.
1- It's way cooler.
2- I felt more hardcore holding a snowboard than skis
3- I've never skied before, but I have been on a snowboard
4- I still just wanted to be cool
So, I made it (sort of) down the bunny slope a few times. They had one of those ski lifts that you just hold on to and it lifts you up the slope which is easier for skis, but difficult for a snowboard. I had to turn sideways, balance myself, get out of the way quickly when I fell... Moving on, I made it down a few times and then my gloves, which were weather inappropriate, froze and my hands froze with them. So I sat out for a little bit while my dear friends made their way down the slope.
Amy's collision story through Ashton's eyes - I'm standing at the bottom of the hill, right? And I finally spot Amy, my roommate, about halfway down. She's on the ground and I think "oh, she fell, poor thing" it happens to the best of us. But then I see Ron try and help her up and her fall back down on the ground. So something's wrong and I know it, but I'm like this helpless little thing at the bottom of the slope. Long story short, I ended up pulling my French resources and asking (in French) to get Amy help because she was injured. The snowmobile took her down the hill and then an ambulance came and picked her up. I rode with her to the little hospital thing and went to get her things as they took a look at her. Nothing was broken, but her meniscus was messed up and the poor thing is on crutches for 2 weeks. Crutches aren't easy, especially in ice and snow.
So that night was a pretty chill night. We ate some raclette (which is basically a French version of fondue...sort of. It's hard to explain) and then went upstairs. I had my first stand up shower since I've been in France and let me say - don't ever take showers for granted. After that I went to a little pub with some friends and hung out there for a bit. It was an old man's pub.
The next day I stuck with Amy and took care of some of her outrageous expenses (future reference - buy the ski insurance or France will charge you 350 euro to take you about 50 feet in a snowmobile.) and then we played rummy the rest of the day while we (or I, rather) watched the Davis Cup Tennis Tournament on the television in the hotel lobby.
So that was my ski trip in a nutshell and now for other news -
I realize I don't discuss my classes much. Basically I just have classes 4 days a week where they teach me French grammar. It's tough and sometimes I feel like the dumbest person in there because I still can't understand basic French phrases when they're directed at me (stage fright, I think), but something I have noticed is that I AM getting better. I learned that this weekend when I had to speak French to help Amy out and I learned that today when I actually spoke French more in class. I still struggle with it, but I think it will only get better, especially when I really have no choice but to speak French next semester.
Happy holidays, friends. I'll report back. This was probably longer than anyone wanted to read.
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