The Slopes of Exchange: learning how to ski

Since the last time I was at the Chamonix mountains in September, snow covered the trees and roads as we drove up to the ski station. For my winter holiday I spent part of it learning how to ski. I had three skiing lessons and have learned to love it. After the four days we spent in the mountains, I feel like I now understand the whole ski culture that Europe encapsulates. The first day in the mountains I had my debut lesson with an instructor from Germany. She was very kind and calm, even when I made mistakes. At first, we spoke english, but after I requested that we spoke in French. I got very lucky during my stay up in the mountains because all four days were sunshine-filled and only in the minorly low temperatures. I became quite sore after skiing for the first time because I was not used to having so much weight on my legs. My host family are all talented in skiing and go on the uncharted slopes with untouched snow. Even my 12-year-old host brother (has been skiing since he was four) goes on these adventures that I definitely would not have been able to when I was his age. The second day in the mountains we drove about an hour to another ski station to visit my host-aunt's family. I took another lesson with their Italian exchange student, Agnese. By the end of the day, I was skiing on the harder green slopes and using less and less of the "chasse neige," which is the snow plow you make with skis to go slow. I definitely fell a lot more on this day, but I think all in all it made me better. Agnese and I ate our sack lunch on the top of the mountain and could see Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe. It was beautiful and I have never experienced a view quite like it.

On the third day, I felt comfortable enough to go with my little host brother. He told me that we would only go on the green and blue slopes (maybe some red.) He kept telling me to "plant my baton" and turn and was kind of like my coach. We also had the argument if snowboarding is easier than skiing. Personally, I think that snowboarding seems like skateboarding on snow, which I could not do. When I asked my skiing teacher what she prefers she said that skiing is easier to get a hold of quicker, but after three hard days of learning how to snowboard, it is amazing. I might have to try it one day. The picture collage below is the ski station, Sainte Foy, that we stayed at for the holiday. I almost felt like I was in England because the majority of the vacationers there spoke English. It was fun for me to be with a French family and be able to observe from a distance. I did end up speaking with some and learning that Sainte Foy is basically 90% English speaking. Even in the restaurants they speak English to you before they speak French.

On the last night that we were at the ski station we ate at this classic chalet-style restaurant with a cozy ambiance. There were christmas lights and a fire and it was "cocooning," a word that French people like to use to explain a cozy vibe. I shared a

fondue with my host dad and my host mom and brother shared a raclette. This fondue was so delicious and it was amazing after a day out on the slopes. We ended the meal with a blueberry tarte. This is another specialty of the mountains that I now will always order if I am there. I really love the atmosphere of the mountains. I know that I haven't really seen the "true" ski season yet because in reality it has just started, but I am in love with the aspect of it. Skiing is truly a luxury sport and I was really lucky to learn it in such a beautiful place.

The first photo is of my little host brother navigating which slopes he wants to take me on. He knew the station really well and even took me on some wooded paths that were gorgeous. The second photo is my host family on the last day about to go up the ski lift. The last photo on the right is my host brother and I eating lunch on the third day at a cute restaurant with a "snack," which is like a food stand. He got french fries and chicken nuggets and I got a panini.

This is the view after taking three ski lifts from the bottom of the station. I was in awe when I first saw this.

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Rotary Youth Exchange District 1710 Ski Trip 2020

On Saturday morning I woke up at 6:30 a.m. to go to the main square in Lyon and get on a charter bus with about 100 other students. Half of us were inbounds (exchange students) and the other half were outbounds (French students going on exchange next year.) The annual ski trip was finally here. About two months ago I was looking at my calendar thinking "wow that is far away," but it really snuck up on me. I have a feeling that my exchange is about to go by really fast and before I know it i'll be on a plane going back to America.

We drove about two hours right next to Grenoble. It had just snowed the night before so there was fresh snow on the pine trees. We stayed in a chalet-type dorm house. I shared a room with my friend Viviana who is from Montana and two other French girls who are want to go to Norway and Argentina next year. We settled in and ate a lunch of fish

and rice. Then, we got back into the buses and were driven to an indoor ice skating rink. Many of the students had never been ice skating before, so I spent a lot of my time teaching some basics of skating. I hadn't skated for quite some time as well so I had to remind myself. We skated for what it seemed like 4 hours and then ate a snack and watched an informal hockey game between two mountain town teams. I had the chance of sitting next to Samuel who comes from Canada, so he was very interested in comparing the French hockey and Canadian hockey tactics. I have only ever been to one other hockey game when I was little with my dad. It was when I lived in Ohio and I remember the fans screaming "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT" at one of the players.

After returning back to the chalet, we ate dinner and was introduced to the new Australian exchange student who had just arrived the night before. I give her props because I can't imagine how much jet lag she must of had. We ate cake after dinner in her celebration and then it was time for the dance party. After clearing the tables and chairs away, we got some music playing and the colored lights were turned on. It was so fun to dance to all of the different cultures' music that night. There was always a new language for every song while we all wore our home countries flags around our shoulders. At the end of the year we are going to sign each others flags.

The next morning everyone woke up very tired and we had to be downstairs by 8 a.m. to eat breakfast. We were going to go cross country skiing. I have never been cross country skiing, but I was excited to try something new. We drove to a ski shop to get our special ski shoes and equipment and then drove to a large area with many slopes. Then, we were separated into groups and some of us went with instructors and some with Rotarians who already knew how to cross country ski very well. I enjoyed it a lot and I found it easier than skiing with slopes. There wasn't any sun that day, but we tried to stay as warm as possible. Despite having to eat our sack lunches outside in the snow.

Along with cross country skiing, we also did the "biathlon" so we learned about that kind of competition and got to shoot fake wooden rifles with lasers.