I learned how to ski in the Austrian Alps. Even though I say it, and even though it happened, I'm still not quite sure that it has sunk in. And yes, I fell a lot, but all beginners do! Right?
Since the ski trip was sponsored by the program, everything was planned by IES Abroad, leaving me with the responsibility of packing an overnight bag of ski clothes and doing what they instructed me to do—a nice change from having to figure out the transportation, housing, meals, etc. like we do when we plan our own trips. Our trip fee covered most of our expenses for the trip as well, including our ski passes and ski gear rentals (except ski goggles!).
As a beginner who had never skied before, my trip fee also covered two days of beginner ski lessons. I was actually quite surprised that I was not the only one who hadn't skied before. We had a group of about 20 beginners doing the lessons together and it was fun to cheer each other on as we slowly got the hang of “pizza” and “french fry'' (mostly “pizza,” though!)
The second day, we were ready for the real deal—the black diamond. Just kidding, not really. But we were ready to ski down a real slope. Our instructors took us down the easiest blue slope and we paused a lot along the way to make sure our whole group made it down together. Remember how at the beginning I said that I fell a lot? I may have been the biggest culprit of keeping the group waiting, but our ski instructors were awesome in helping us back up!
The mountain was also stunningly gorgeous and it was amazing to ride the ski lifts higher and higher to enjoy the view. On the second day, we ate lunch at the very top of the mountain and the view was amazing. After we ate, we went up to the lookout deck to see the mountain from outside. The view of the Alps from on top of the mountain was unbeatable.
By the end of the ski trip I had made it down the blue hill three times—quite an accomplishment for someone who had never put on a pair of ski boots before! I’m not sure that I’ll be doing a lot more skiing in the near future, but I had a blast and hope to be able to go skiing again one day.
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Carissa Corrigan
Hallo! Ich heiße Carissa. I’m a Westmont College senior who is double majoring in Music Education and History. I am an enthusiastic musician and play the oboe and English horn. In my not-so-free time, you can usually find me baking cupcakes or cookies, painting, or planting seeds in my garden.
