Freshers' Weekend: Ski and Spa!

Raclette Dinner

                 Last weekend was the integration weekend for all of the Erasmus hosted by our fabulous Welcome Team! Friday evening, we all boarded a charter bus and left for the Pyrenees.  After leaving late, getting lost, eating lots of snacks, and playing some interesting games on the bus, we finally arrived.  We stayed at a resort accommodation that was perfect for our large group.  The rooms were like small apartments.  We met that evening in “the great building of stone” as the President of the Welcome Team called it for a raclette dinner!  Raclette is a type of cheese that you can heat up and eat with various meats and vegetables.  It was something new to me and very tasty!

Beautiful Sunrise!

                The next morning, we all woke up bright and early to go skiing.  The first thing I noticed when I walked out of my room was the sun rising above several mountains surrounding our little resort.  It was beautiful, and it had been so dark the night before that none of us had noticed that the terrain was even different from Toulouse!   After breakfast, we headed out to pick up our ski gear and hit the slopes. 

Skiing!

                I had a fantastic day skiing! I had skied once before when I was in the sixth grade, but I was a little rusty.  I started out on the bunny slopes just to get the hang of it again.  Although I fell almost immediately after putting my skis on, I actually got the hang of it pretty quick.  It reminded me a little of ice skating which I think it’s safe to say I have a little bit of experience with!  I spent the rest of the morning on the only hill next to the bunny slopes.  The entire group met for lunch, and afterward I went up the mountain with the rest of the more advanced skiers.

View from the top of the mountain!

                The mountain was sensational! It felt like I was in the middle of a painting. Everywhere you looked was absolutely beautiful.  And the skiing was fun too! I stuck to the blue slopes.  I only managed to fall once; however, falling was definitely not the source of my embarrassment for the day.  After skiing down my first blue slope, I hopped on the next ski lift.  On my way up, I spotted some of my friends below me skiing down a terrifying, extremely steep side of the mountain covered with moguls.   I thought to myself “They are crazy! There is no way I could do that!” When I finally got to the top I was at the peak of the mountain.  All I could see was a sign indicating a black slope, and I panicked.  I was terrified that the only way down the mountain was the way I had seen my friends going down earlier.  I couldn’t move to get off the lift so I stayed on as the bench whipped around the corner to head back down the mountain.  The operator instantly stopped the lift and started yelling to me in French that I had to get off.  I responded in French asking if there was another way down.  He then pointed to the blue sign that I had missed and helped me off the lift and back into my skis.  After apologizing profusely, I went on my way.  Meanwhile, every French person around me was laughing hysterically at the incident.  Needless to say, I was indescribably embarrassed. 

                Despite my incident on top of the mountain, the day was a huge success.  We all returned to our accommodation that evening for dinner and a party.  The next day we went to Ax-Les-Thermes and went to a spa.  It was fantastic! There were hot tubs, saunas, waterfalls, and steam rooms on two floors inside and outside.  It was so nice and relaxing.  After that we ate lunch and headed back to Toulouse.  It was a fantastic weekend!