Today was one of those days where it's difficult to believe that what I was experiencing was my life. There's a lot of those days here in Europe, but this was a particularly profound one! I kept thinking how lucky I was all day. The Swiss Alps are a beautiful, beautiful thing to see and the weather was just gorgeous for being up there. A little warm for skiing, yes, but since I was just learning, it didn't really matter to me!
We left at about 7:30AM, but by the time we suited up and actually got up to the top of the mountain, it was 10AM! There, we met our instructor. Alex had more plans to ski on his own today (he's a veteran skier). I was going to be skiing with our two friends who are also beginners. While I waited for them to get ready I had to opt for a photo:
I look tiny in this picture! We have tall friends.
Due to unseasonal temperatures and melting, our full-day ski lesson was cancelled and instead we got a deal: a private lesson in a different part of the mountain, which would last for the morning. To be honest, when this was all being arranged I had been indifferent because this wasn't my ski trip and I was just going to be happy to be in Switzerland! In the end I thought it was good it was only a half-day, but would've been happy to try some harder things with an instructor.
We started out on a baby hill (after learning how to turn and break on our skis). After the first go or two, I got the feel for it and was able to turn and stop sharply and by the end of the lesson I felt quite comfortable! Going too fast was still scary to me because I don't have a lot of control yet but I felt like I could control my speed for the most part. One of the last thing our instructor had us do was go under a short, very narrow "bridge" built from 3 ski poles. I ended up tearing through it (and may or may not have had a mini wipe-out after making it through). My instructor got very excited - I didn't know why. At the bottom, another instructor came over to me and said "WOW. This is your first day? That was great! You have talent." I'm not sure that I've got "talent," and I'm not exactly sure what they were excited about but I was very flattered (I fell 2 more times that morning - don't worry).
After the lesson we had lunch, and then we did some more skiing on our own for about an hour. After that, our little hill was getting a little bit too populated and we were a bit worn out. I really wanted to try another hill besides the baby one, which was getting boring, but I didn't know where to go and we weren't all up to it! In the end, I realized that I was ready to take those heavy ski boots off!
Conclusion: I really enjoy(ed?) skiing. I would definitely do it again, if the opportunity ever arises! I like the feeling and the motion - and the speed. I think having learned how to waterski last summer really helped me be prepared for what the feeling would be like :)
Looking through my pictures, I couldn't believe that I'd been the one to take these.
Have I mentioned how grateful/lucky I am?
We dropped off our rental gear before returning to the hotel to wait for Alex. At the rental shop, we were asking one of the guides where to go to dinner, and got into a conversation with him. We found out that he was originally from Australia and just works here. On his days off, he snowboards and mountain bikes. Being outside and exercising and enjoying nature is a huge part of the life and culture here. I could totally get used to it. I really feel "at home" here, and like I could stay. I really enjoy all of our trips, but so far the only places that I've felt I could make a home in Europe have been Scotland/England and here in Interlaken. I just get good vibes from it here. I like the culture - or what I know from it so far! This is a definite "would come back to."
For dinner, everyone thought it would be good to embrace the local cuisine and try fondue. Normally, I couldn't have been more on board with that notion, but Swiss fondue consists of the two foods that don't go well for me...cheese and bread. So I had a spring herb soup and salad - classic Katie food. Alex actually ended up having a white fish; I guess he doesn't like cheese! The others seemed to like the fondue though.
My buddies of the day - they served me well.
Looking forward to a fun morning and then we'll be headed back to Luxembourg mid-afternoon!
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