I just got back a couple of days ago from a ski trip in Austria for Christmas with my new host family, and it was amazing. We stayed in a wohnung (apartment) high on the side of a mountain near the village of Ellmau in the Austrian Tyrol. It was an amazing experience.. both learning how to ski and bonding with my family! :D From Lingen, the drive started at 6 AM on the 23 of December, and lasted until about that evening at 6PM. My host dad and my host brother Alex all drove together to Stuttgart to pick up my host mom (who was there already to visit her family) and I got to meet my host grandma and grandpa! Such nice people! I learned that she is originally from Croatia, and I ended up speaking Polish to her, and her, Croatian to me.. and due to the similarities of the languages, we managed to communicate! It's amazing how similar some languages really are. We got there at around 1 in the afternoon, and she made us food and we all talked until about 3, and then said our good byes and headed out to Ellmau! This time, the ride was about 2 or 2 and half hours long, with much traffic as we were driving through Munich. Nonetheless, we got to Ellmau safely at 6 pm, and decided to go out to eat with everyone! Christopher (Oldest host brother), Sandra (Christopher's girlfriend), Alexander (Younger host brother), Andreas (Host Pop), and Andrea (Host Mom) and me (Host..uh..Me. :D) all made up the table as we sat and enjoyed, not only each other's presence, but the garnished Austrian specialties on our plates. I had, for the first time.. (and I wish I had taken a picture of this..) REAL Austrian Wiener Schnitzel (It's called Wiener because it is from Wien, (Vienna) Austria :O I never even thought of that..for some reason :/)). I kid you not readers, it was as big as my head. The plate could barely hold onto that slab of meat.. *Picture from google ;)*
I enjoyed every minute, and we returned to our apartment and settled in for the night. Our first official night in Austria was over.
DAY 2
Waking in the morning feeling like P. Did... no just kidding. Waking up at around 8 the next morning for breakfast, I finally got to see the Austrian Alps, first hand in the day time....
Needless to say, it took my breath away. There is something about waking up to the fresh clean air of being 800m in the air, that ensures your day to be a beautiful one. After breakfast, Andreas, Christopher, Sandra, and I, all headed down to the ski shop to rent our skis! Now this was my first time touching a pair of ski's in my life, and the first time I wore ski boots as well. I can not even begin to explain the pain that those shoes brought upon me. It was hell. Not only that, due to the way the shoes force you to bend your knees, it looked like I was walking around like a cholo the entire time around Ellmau (Good for me everyone had ski shoes on ;D). SKI's RENTED, 4 DAY SKI COURSE PAID, SHOES, STICKS, SKI'S.. all ready to go, and all ready to start the next day (Christmas) on my ski course.. I forgot to mention, Sandra is also a beginner, so we had Ski Courses together the entire time! We ended the day with the excitement of both the following day being Christmas, and the beginning of our ski adventure to unfold.
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