Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Skiing the Alps!

I can officially say, I have skied the Alps. And not to brag or anything, but I wasn’t completely awful! For those unaware, I started skiing at the tender age of 5, when my parents dropped me off in ski school, where I proceeded to cry through the entire lesson. My skiing career quickly progressed…I stopped crying, but unfortunately the skills remained about the same. So, still scarred from my first experience and after 8 years of giving it a go, I decided to try snowboarding (that and the outfits and men were a lot cuter). Unfortunately my skills proved no better than those of skiing. So again, after 10 years snowboarding (and too much money spent on rentals and lift tickets), I threw in the towel at age 23 noting it was more enjoyable and cost effective for me to spend the day at the spa and sit in the lodge than actually ski.

But since I am in Switzerland, and the only thing to do in the winter is to ski, I decided to emerge from my 4 year (or 12 year depending on how you count it) hiatus and give skiing another shot. I officially enrolled myself in the Zurich International Ski Team/School which consists of lessons every Sunday for a month. And much to my surprise, I am enjoying myself! Even with the early mornings, freezing cold, icy conditions and lack of cute men (they are all in the snowboarding classes), I feel refreshed and accomplished after a day on the mountain.

I am still not sure if it is the lifestyle, lack of oxygen at this altitude or the post slopes happy hours, but I am definitely enjoying the experience!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

I’M BACK!!

Happy New Years!..and my apologies for not updating this website sooner. After three weeks at home and one week of jet lag, I have finally fully recovered from trip home. And what a whirlwind of a trip was it! I know, I know, the blog is about my time in Switzerland, but considering I was in the US for three weeks (or approximately 3/104 of the total rotation) I figured it warranted at least a quick entry… So here is the low down on my trip home:

Flight home, enchiladas, wedding dress shopping (not for me!), Elf Party, bouncer harassment, karaoke, shopping on Union, more wedding dress shopping, Niner football, mimosa brunches, family time, Christmas tree outing in the rain, Feliz Navidad in SF, City Tavern, Dana’s new house, Club Calpella, coffee with the ex, more shopping, more family, Dungeness crab, home made raviolis, Die Hard, Christmas! San Luis Obispo, the Pacific Ocean, more shopping, Tahoe, more karaoke, breakfast burritos and fajitas, New Years, DIBS!, more family, more shopping and finally home to Zurich.

Phew! Good to be back home.