I went on a Stundenterlauget (student union) skiing trip to Avoriaz in France the first week of February. It was for 9 days - 6 total days of skiing for me, although you had the option of skiing for 8 days. Mind you, I have never really skied before - only once at Hidden Valley in St. Louis, which for any of you who know, is fake skiing with man-made snow. I was about 10 years old, and I SEVERELY bruised my leg after a tumble down the hill. But I know I am athletic, and I have always wanted to ski, so this was my chance.
We took a bus down (20 hour bus ride...yikes!) with a group of about 100 students from ASB. Rachel really only knew of about 2 other people going, although we did not know them extremely well. They also drove down in a car (only 14 hours that way!), so the bus ride was basically just the two of us.
Those crazy Danes :) started drinking beer on the bus on the way down...I guess it helped pass the time for them. Rachel and I slept and tried to do homework, but mainly slept. I can honestly say, neither of us was too excited to go on the ski trip when we left - I know I was nervous about missing a week of classes. In the end it was all worth it.
Avoriaz was a very beautiful town - very quaint and picturesque. What I didn't realize was not only were we going to be skiing in the French Alps, but Avoriaz is right by Switzerland. We were able to ski over to Switzerland one day and ski down the Swiss Alps, too! Once down in Avoriaz and settled, you ski all day, and then there is something called after-ski, which I have never heard of. You basically ski up to a bar, sit and have a few beers in your ski clothes, then go home, eat dinner, shower and change for the night. We only did this one night, but it was pretty fun.
Our roommates were 3 Danish boys: Morten, Nikolaj and Morten. They were pretty fun - we probably couldn't have been paired up with better guys because they were nice and inclusive and always asked us to join them. By mid-week, we ended up hooking up with a different bunch of Danish people...room 804!!! In this room, I knew Victor Klastrup and Camilla Buus Poulsen from class. I also knew of a girl named Anne, though I did not know her directly.
Well, Anne and our story deserve their own paragraph! One day at school, Camilla told me that her friend Anne was on exchange, studying at my school (SLU). I thought that was pretty cool. In emailing with my professor, Dr. Shaner, the one who teaches in Aarhus over the summer and kind of got me over to this school...I realized Anne was in his management class. Small world yet again! At ASB, there is a monthly student magazing called Commerciel - I was at work one day, and Thomas told me that there was an article in their about my school, SLU. I looked at who wrote the article, and of course, it was Anne! It was all in Danish, so Thomas read the article to me. Listening to her perspectives on school and students in America, the culture, more specifically, the culture of St. Louis, was so fun for me. I added Anne as a friend on facebook, and we began writing messages back and forth. Of course Facebook is a legal form of voyeurism, and I checked out her pictures while in St. Louis, and she checked out all of mine. It was so funny to see each others opionons of the other person's life. For example, she had a picture of nachos from the Ballpark at a Cardinal's game, and made some comment about how she had to work out 3 extra hours because she ate like 4 chips. And all I could think of when I saw those nachos was YUM!!!!
I caught Anne online on Facebook one day, and started chatting with her. It was a week or two before she was flying home to Denmark, and she was going to Anheuser Busch that day to go on the brewery tour. We talked about that for a little while. We realized that both of us were going on the ski trip and said we looked forward to having some beers together.
Fast forward through Christmas and my trip home; about a week before we were leaving for the ski trip, I walked out of the Career Centre on my way to class and saw two girls talking right by the doors. I took a second look, at the same time she did, and realized that we had run into each other! It was surreal to 'know' this person, but not physically in real life (only from pictures) and think, hey, I know you. I said hi quickly and went to class.
Anne and her friends are what made the ski trip for Rachel and I. She came down to our room one day and invited us over for a beer. That whole group of Danes had no problem speaking in English to us and including us in everything. We all spent the week together (with the exception of skiing, because they are all MUCH better then Rachel and I). One day, we met them for lunch, and then skied with Victor and Anne. They definitely had to take it easy to go with us, but we ended up learning from them - they would teach us different things to do. I thought it was really awesome that they took an afternoon to go skiing with us.
Since we have been back in Aarhus, we have had dinner with Anne on her birthday, took her out a few days later to celebrate. We have met at school, hung out low key at home...and just gotten to know each other pretty well. I think Anne and Victor are going to be good friends!
Snowmobile at night
Avoriaz at night
Anne and I after lunch and sledding, hanging out with the snowman
Anne and I at lunch - notice the sweatshirt!
View from a balcony at night
View from our balcony
One of our roommates, Morten
Victor and I at the picnic - the picnic was the craziest, coolest thing. You ski to a spot on a mountain where a big spread is laid out on snow made tables and chairs. There is music, lots of beverages, food, snacks....this afternoon was probably my favorite afternoon. We went sledding a lot this day, also!
The group that made our trip: from left, Aspen, Poul, Aksel, Camilla, Victor, and Anne in front
Anne, me, Rachel
Anne and Camilla at the picnic
Some of the beverages at the picnic
The picnic
After ski with the group again
Poul and Camilla
Morten, another roommate. He hurt himself the 2nd day and had to go home...
Anne and I. The first day she came and got us, I was wearing my Missouri tshirt. She ran back to her room and threw hers on over her clothes, came back and showed me!
In the SLU sweatshirt, also.
They made and brought a shot ski, just like Lynda Johnson's! Only, at the end of this one, there is a camera set perfectly to take pictures as you take the shot.
Jumps for snowboarders and skiers
At a little cafe we skied up to after skiing in Switzerland
France to the left. Switzerland to the right.
There was so much snow, and I think it snowed 4 days that we were there.
On the chair lift
On the chair lift
Avoriaz
Rachel and her two French best friends. We really had no idea who these guys were, but I had to take a picture!
Nikolaj, our other roommate
Morten and Nikolaj
Our apartment in Avoriaz
Where the boys slept
Where we slept
This cute kid was passed out on a sled while his parents ate lunch
Horse drawn carriages
I had to include this picture. Her hair looks awful because mom 'accidentally' got crazy with the scissors. she looks like she has a flat top. But Kev took this picture because he said she was out in the snow in mom's backyard, and would com in and stand over the vent for a long time until she warmed up and dried off! Smart girl.
Lincoln and her best friend Sadie. I do feel sad that they aren't together anymore.
Lincoln on my bed in Aarhus.
Lincoln made herself right at home on Rachel's butt the first day she met her.
Lincoln loves Rachel's blanket, and makes a cave out of it!
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