Hello all. Sorry for the extended hiatus but I have been busy beyond measure...I can't even tell you what exactly but it all revolves around constant traveling and school. I have been gone every weekend this month so far and am gone this upcoming weekend as well! Anyways, I have some blogging to make up and some adventures to share with you all.
Three weeks ago exactly, this being the first weekend of February I went on a program sponsored trip to the French Alpes. It consisted of any and everyone from my study abroad group that wanted to pay the 190 euros for an all inclusive ski trip...pretty cheap eh? This should have been a sign! None the less, I pennied out the money and went on the trip...before departure I did not know much of anything about where we were going, the resort, or anything...but I went with the flow, I was just excited about going skiing and staying in a "nice hotel"(as the program staff put it). Friday early evening we all boarded a charter bus headed for the mountains and embarked on our 5 hour journey east. None of the staff from the study abroad program came along, it was just the tour guides and the students. Besides the fact that the bus seats were as uncomfortable as could be and my knees were pressed against the seat in front of me the entire trip...we could NOT eat or drink on the bus and there was a constant flow of hot air coming from the floor heaters contrasting with the make shift air vents spewing out cold air from the vents in the roof. This I did not understand but I kept shifting from constant sweats to cool breezes the entire trip...numerous complaints to the bus driver went unanswered. Once we got into the mountains it was about 10pm or so and we were winding up through the mountains and on two lane roads looking over deep valleys and cliffs from the confines of the bus. I was trying to figure out where we could be as the women around me were constantly screaming out in fear of the bus going off the cliff or the bus slipping all the way back down the mountain due to the ice and snow falling. Arriving in the town it was very evident that this was an extremely secluded and small town...and when we pulled up in front of the hotel around 12am it became evident as soon as we walked in that this was NOT a hotel...but rather a hostel. By the way this hostel included no towels or amenities in the form of soap or shampoo, none of which we were told to bring...as this was supposedly all inclusive. Each room had 4 beds and I being one of the last to get up to my room found myself stuck with the top bunk of a rickety bunk bed...awesome!(see previous blogs cover photo) this bed was entirely too small and sounded like it was going to fall apart with every movement I made in it. The girl under me was fearing for her life with the image of the bunk bed scene from the Will Ferrel movie "Step Brothers" running through her mind.
The next day we started early with breakfast that consisted of generic brand corn flakes, more bread than I have ever seen before in my life, a bowl of sugar for the flakes, milk, watered down orange juice, butter and jelly, and a bowl of some sort of chocolate powder in which this french female student(extremely nice by the way) who accompanied us used to dip her buttered bread into after mixing the powder with milk...I'll let you all figure this one out. After getting my rented ski equipment we headed out to the slopes only to find out that our specific resort consisted of ONE chair lift and a handful of runs(oh and there was a few of these things called T-bars, but fellas these are not very kind to your balls. Def made by a woman.)...not a problem for the rest of the group who had never skied before for the most part...but a huge problem for me as I had completed all, yes ALL of the runs within the first three hours of skiing. Oh and before I forget the name of the resort is Pelvoux-Vallouise. None the less I made the best of my time(the powder was amazing...as high as my waist!) and got a lot of runs in while supplementing my time by watching the others on the bunny runs and falling on their asses. We were done skiing by 5pm and went into the town that night for a couple hours to look around...we did not need 2 hours, 30 minutes would have been sufficient. That night there was a small party in the main lobby of the hostel. the hostel manager and make shift bartender(who handed out condoms to us the first night...very nice) tended to the bar in between taking shots of his own and hitting the dance floor. I also swear that he was smoking weed the entire weekend but that is neither here nor there. But his disregard for the bar and suggestion to have kids start setting up their own tabs allowed for us all to take drinks at our leisure without pay...what else would you expect? This IS college. I had to retire from the events early however as the dinner we were served earlier was having serious effects on my bowel movements...to put it simply, I have discovered that Raclet cheese does not sit well with me at all...no matter how good it may have tasted the after effect was NOT enjoyable!! Sunday afternoon, after skiing in the morning for a bit and packing up our bags and gathering our sheets together to wash(by the way we had to make our own beds and I swear something was killed in mine), I made sure to leave all of my trash from food that I had eaten the night before, IN the room, all over the floor for the people to see...who honestly is forbidden to eat food in their hostel bedroom? I disagree emphatically.
Anyways, the ride back home was as bad as the ride up to the mountains...minus the screams of terror from the peanut gallery. All in all, I enjoyed the trip a great deal and the hostel really wasn't all that bad...I just like to complain for comedic effect. More to come!
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