Skiing in the Austrian Alps

Hello friends and family :) I want to start off this soon to be very long entry with one sentence... I will never see anything more beautiful than what I saw this weekend! For those of you that didnt know, I went skiing in the Austrian alps this weekend in Nassfeld. On our way there we stopped at a restaurant that has an amazing view of the Mond See. We also drove an amazingly scenic route. We arrived Friday around 5:00 after a 6 hour bus ride. At 5:00 we picked up our rentals and had a buffet provided for us. At 7:30 we had speed friending/dating hahah. The reason they had this event planned was because this weekend was ESN (exchange student networks) weekend. So there were about 50 students that came with my from Linz and then also 50 from Vienna, salzburg and Graz. The speed friending was so cool because I met even more people from all over the world!! More counties I've never heard of :) We then went into the basement of the hostel and played pool, sumo wrestling with fat suits on and rode the mechanical bull. After that at 9:00 the ESN leaders hosted a party until 11:00. Thee theme of the party was once upon a time. I did not bring a costume though. I only had a teal dress to wear. One of my roomates happened to find a random gold headband with a huge gem and feather on it. I put it on and decided to be Jasmine. Everyone knew who I was right away! At 11:00 we went to the club in our hotel. The hotel location was great! Just a 30 second walk to the ski lift. Saturday morning we were up early for breakfast and then got on the lift at 9:00. I lost my friends who already knew how to ski so I stuck with my two friends that payed for lessons. I ended up getting free lessons because the instructor never took attendance :) I participated some what in lessons but was a little bored and my ski boots were soooo uncomfortable. They barley latched closed. When I tried them on the night before I though I just had to check if the boot fit... not if it would close. Typical Ashley. I know. Anyways at noon we had a break for lunch and that was one of my favorite parts. It was so warm out, I was laying in a Hammock just enjoying the mountains all around me. It looked really funny because there was no snow anywhere except for on the slopes. After lunch I went by myself down a slope because I was still separated from my friends and the other were too scared to come with me so they stayed at the bottom and took pictures of me when I came down. I rode the t bar up. That was a project in itself. Once I got to the top I made my way down. Got about half way down one slope and made myself fall. I was going so fast I freaked out. I was trying to break to slow down but I couldn't control my speed. So I tumbled down, lost my poles on the way and got back up. After that I was determined to try again a few times. I did the same thing again and again but made it almost to the bottom a few times. After that me and my friend Nikolina decided we wanted to take the gondola the top to check out the view. Oh my goodness. I could not believe my eyes. We were surrounded by amazing mountains. The view was priceless! I wish more than anything that I could take everyone to see it or be able to capture the true beauty in a picture but both are impossible :( after that we took the gondola all the way to the bottom. It was a 20 minute ride from top to bottom! The place was huge. They had a total of 30 lifts! Once we got off the lift we immediately ripped our boots off and walked back in our socks. It was so warm down at the bottom that veryone was in shorts and tshirts and sitting out on the deck. I joined them until dinner. After another buffet dinner it was time for everyone's power nap. At 8:15 me and my roommates were up getting ready for round two. That nights theme was obviously st pattys day :) I had nothing green to bring with so I decided to completely deck out. I wore my friends all sequence dress. I was so fancy :) at the club later that night there was a guest appearance. Mr. Captain Morgan! He was handing out keys to people. I got one :) I took the key to the treasure chest and got a captain Morgan bandanna! Sunday morning I could not walk. I literally fell out of bed because my calf's hurt so badly. I really don't think it was from skiing it was my stupid boots that were sooo right around my calf's. Anyways I decided not to ski but me and three friends still went up just to hang out. It was so foggy! We got off at the second stop of the godola and could barley ski. Some of my other friends are amazing snow boarders and skiers went to the very top to do the whole run (which by the way is 15 minutes long from top to bottom at a very fast speed!!!) ended up coming back down because it was so foggy they could not see a thing infront of them. It was really dangerous. They ended up riding the snow bikes instead. We watched them and it was awesome. I wish I would have worn proper clothes because then I could have done the snow bikes but I was just in jeans :( However, I think its better that I did not because my friends that are awesome skiers and snowboarders said they bikes were so fast and they had no control over the speed. I would have had some serious problems with that. In the afternoon we went back, packed up, returned our stuff and hung out in the lobby. Slowly the lobby became packed and everyone was in there. At 5:00 we hit the road to come home. We stopped for dinner at a restaurant after 2 hours and finally made it home around 10:30. Overall I had an awesome time and made life long memories (especially because of my totally ausgezeignet roommates. they were super funny and I loved them). Now that I've given you a quick run down of my weekend, I'd like to get a little mushy :) our drive there and home really made me do a lot of thinking. Seeing all the beautiful scenery really had me thinking again about how much I take for granted. Yes everyone takes things in life for granted but Im sure you all know I probably take more things for granted than the average person. The amazing mountains, beautiful little creeks and the pure blue sky really made me realize how much beauty and simplicity there is out in the world. Ive learned while here that the American mindset is all based around work. People schedule the rest of their lives around their careers. Yes work is very important and especially in places like America; you wont make it without a career. But it felt so good to just sit back and enjoy the simple things in life. I was thinking about how truly blessed I am to have the supporting, loving and awesome family I have. I was thinking how I could not be happier to have an amazing boyfriend who makes me feel like the most special girl in the world. I was thinking how lucky I am for Kyle's family to be so loving and sweet and to be like my second family. I was thinking of all my friends I've lost touch with and the one's I still have... they have all impacted me in some way and really shaped parts of who I am today. I am so thankful for all the opportunities I have been granted. Being able to be in whatever extra curricular activities I wanted to growing up, having a job that I could always go back to during breaks, being able to go away to college, being able to study abroad and travel all over Europe. Not to brag but I really am one of luckiest people I know :) Its amazing how passing by a tiny creek with beautiful teal water rushing through it and the cool rocks along its edges can make a person think so much about their life but being surrounded by all this nature and pureness really makes you see that no matter what tough things you are going through and ugly things you have faced... there is so much beauty out there and this world has so much to offer each and every single one us. We just have to give it the chance. Hope I havent bored you enough (Im sure Heidi quit reading 38935784 sentences ago) but I just really felt like sharing the thoughts and realizations I had this weekend. Miss you all and I wish you all a fabulous week!

The view from where we ate lunch :)



Our drive there

My Jasmin costume

The view from where I skied. Too bad it was hazy in the distance.

Professional skier :)

Look at me go! Told you mom :)

Ahhh. Relaxing in the sun. My face is so tan!

Taking the godola up to the top!

Getting out at the top!

Amazing!

Captain Morgan and I

Very foggy the second day!

Snow bikes :)