A foot of powder+me=Cortina!
This past weekend I went skiing in Cortina. The mecca of all skiing places in Italy and maybe all of Europe. I mean the Alps have nothing on Cortina. At least I think so. I've never been to the Alps before so this is all biased.
We left Saturday morning and took the 3 hour trip to Cortina. Once there we went into the town and took a walk around. I'm not kidding: It was like being back in Vail. The mountains surrounded us, the stores extremely expensive and the smell of snow in the air. I loved it! I've never felt so at home in my life.* I also bought this really cute Volcom jacket for 45€ when it was originally 90€. Go me! It is a lovely jacket. Now how will I get it back to Colorado? Damn...
Then right as we were getting ready to go back to the car, it started to snow. It never stopped! A winter girl's dream.
I woke up Sunday morning and outside it was snowing. It had snowed about a good 6 inches. Maybe more. The bottom of our car was snowed in. Hehe! A sign from Ullr (Nordic god of snow) that we had come to the right place for skiing. Once we got the car unburied we went up to Cortina. Marco and I bought our ski passes and went up to this one place.
Cortina isn't just one mountain. It's about 4 different mountains that aren't connected because of the ever so present cliff faces. We went up to the mountain on back side. Marco's goggles were fogged so I ended up skiing by myself.
There was snow up to my hips and up to my chest in some points. It was beautiful. I had to cut a rope to get into the good stuff but everyone else was doing it and it was a controlled area. Yes, it was a little stupid of me but you have to understand my situation. There was only one run open with not a lot of snow and the light was so flat on that run it was more dangerous than the closed run. It's not like I was going out of bounds like I saw some people doing. (They had proper equipment!) Anyways I was safe.
After skiing it took us an hour to get down from the mountain. It was like Vail pass on a bad day. We didn't have snow tires or chains so we took it slow. I got to have ice cream in the Ice Cream capital of Italy too. Not a bad weekend.
Then yesterday, I hit my 6 month mark. Below are my feelings on home.
*Home is a strange word for me too. I mean in Vail, I have an actual home with a loving family and some of the greatest friends. Not to mention the skiing is the bomb. (ie: Fresh tracks on Red Square at 8:45 in the morning after a night of snow) Yet before exchange I never really felt at home. I felt odd and out of place. Like that missing jigsaw puzzle piece that's under the sofa. Now with 6 months come and gone, I feel at home. I feel like I've found the right place in the world. And in 4 months I have to leave it all behind. It hurts to think about that date. (Even though that date hasn't been settled yet.) Still, I'm no longer that missing jigsaw puzzle piece. I fit in here. In some weird way, I fit in. I've built a life here. 6 months ago, I was given the opportunity to start over. I was given a blank slate with the words "Don't screw up" and I threw my shoulders back, held my head high and took that opportunity. 6 months later I'm no longer that awkward, quiet, sad girl. I am Italian! I have embraced my new culture and life and I wouldn't trade it in for anything. They say, If you love something let it go. But how am I supposed to let my new family and my new life go in July? You tell me.
I am not the person I was a year ago or 6 months ago. I will never be that person again. Instead I'm this new girl. So how will that effect everyone when I come back to Vail? I hope it makes them see me in a new light. A better light. I hope they see how happy I am and if they don't, it's their loss.
In 4 months there will be tears. There will be an ocean of tears when that plane comes in to take me to my future. But until then, I'll keep living this new life with these new friends and this new family. I won't think about the future because it will only cause me pain.
I bet you guys can already see that I've changed.
Anyways... 6 down, 4 to go. Let's hope it's a good 4 and that I can live on sleep deprivation.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
I'm Back!
Whoa! What is this wonderful thing? Oh yes, it's coming back to me. I almost forgot about Blogger. Ciao everyone. Sorry for not writing. I've just been super busy. Carnvale, Venice, going on vacation, going to Ljubljana, Dante. Yep, been really busy here in my new home of Gorizia.
So with that said, I can promise you that I won't be covering all of that in this blog post. I think I'll write about vacation because even though it took place over 3 days, it's the easiest to write about at the moment. Venice is a whole can of fun that I cannot write about right now. It's going to take planing on my part.
Since it was Carnvale, all the schools in Italy closed for 3 days and we had a mini mid-winter break. With my family, I went to Slovenia to Zreck/Rogla. Rogla is a small ski mountain and at the base you have Zreck which is famous for its pools. So in the mornings we would ski and in the afternoon swim.
We left Sunday morning. I had a headache (but that doesn't matter) and we had a two hour road trip. What do you do for two hours? Well it's like going to Denver. You turn your I-pod on and read or look out the window. Or you turn your I-pod on and 10 seconds later it dies so you're stuck listening to nothing while reading. (Guilty!)
Once we got to Zreck, Marco and Nic went up to ski while I stayed at the base with Carla and Claudia. Why did you not go skiing?! Good question. Remember that headache about 6 lines up? It was so bad, that I couldn't even think about skiing. So instead, I went swimming in the hopes it would help my headache go away. It did.
The way the pools are layed out is the following: a unisex changing room, a unisex shower room (no curtens or doors like at the Avon rec center), a big pool, a big pool out side that has a small inside pool link, a tiny baby pool, two hot tubs, a hydromasage, and another big pool except really warm and happy. Plus there was a sauna. But the sauna is another story for another time and I'm not sure if it should be posted on the Internet.
So we swam all the way until 7 pm. May I say it was like a 4 hour swimming period. I mean, I did sleep a little bit on the beach chairs. Then we had dinner. Best part of the night! Rogla was hosing the World Cup paralympics ski race and Australia was sitting behind us. I got to ask them what time the race started. Okay, so it wasn't a huge conversation, but it was still cool.
Our room or should I say tiny cottage, was like 30 meters away from the hotel so it wasn't that far of a walk. We stayed in Villa Flora. All the villas had flower names. Villa Iris, Villa Flora, Villa Fauna, get it.
The next day, Monday, I went skiing with the boys. It was cold, (I say cold because I was going with how my hands felt. They were dying of cold. So it was cold) and grey. There was fresh snow and I got to watch some of the ski race. So that was fun. Then afterwards, we went swimming and I had my first experience with a Slovenian sauna. Again, another story for another time.
Tuesday, we didn't go skiing. We were supposed to be going home but it had dumped about a foot. Now's the part where I kick myself for not going skiing. The powder would've been epic! Still, we went swimming and I jumped in a freezing pool. (Oh the WIL memories.) Then we headed back home.
Wednesday, was preparing for the ski race I had on Thursday plus studying Dante. Ski race Thursday. I placed 2 and now I'm going to the big provincial race tomorrow. It means, I'm going to go get my butt whipped by people who have proper equipment. At least I get to go skiing!
Okay, that's it. I had a ton of fun in Slovenia and the next trip for me is ISRAEL! Yeah, I know a lot of you guys don't know that I'm going to Israel, but I am. So I'll be there for a week next month and I will take a ton of pictures and enjoy wearing shorts.
So with that said, I can promise you that I won't be covering all of that in this blog post. I think I'll write about vacation because even though it took place over 3 days, it's the easiest to write about at the moment. Venice is a whole can of fun that I cannot write about right now. It's going to take planing on my part.
Since it was Carnvale, all the schools in Italy closed for 3 days and we had a mini mid-winter break. With my family, I went to Slovenia to Zreck/Rogla. Rogla is a small ski mountain and at the base you have Zreck which is famous for its pools. So in the mornings we would ski and in the afternoon swim.
We left Sunday morning. I had a headache (but that doesn't matter) and we had a two hour road trip. What do you do for two hours? Well it's like going to Denver. You turn your I-pod on and read or look out the window. Or you turn your I-pod on and 10 seconds later it dies so you're stuck listening to nothing while reading. (Guilty!)
Once we got to Zreck, Marco and Nic went up to ski while I stayed at the base with Carla and Claudia. Why did you not go skiing?! Good question. Remember that headache about 6 lines up? It was so bad, that I couldn't even think about skiing. So instead, I went swimming in the hopes it would help my headache go away. It did.
The way the pools are layed out is the following: a unisex changing room, a unisex shower room (no curtens or doors like at the Avon rec center), a big pool, a big pool out side that has a small inside pool link, a tiny baby pool, two hot tubs, a hydromasage, and another big pool except really warm and happy. Plus there was a sauna. But the sauna is another story for another time and I'm not sure if it should be posted on the Internet.
So we swam all the way until 7 pm. May I say it was like a 4 hour swimming period. I mean, I did sleep a little bit on the beach chairs. Then we had dinner. Best part of the night! Rogla was hosing the World Cup paralympics ski race and Australia was sitting behind us. I got to ask them what time the race started. Okay, so it wasn't a huge conversation, but it was still cool.
Our room or should I say tiny cottage, was like 30 meters away from the hotel so it wasn't that far of a walk. We stayed in Villa Flora. All the villas had flower names. Villa Iris, Villa Flora, Villa Fauna, get it.
The next day, Monday, I went skiing with the boys. It was cold, (I say cold because I was going with how my hands felt. They were dying of cold. So it was cold) and grey. There was fresh snow and I got to watch some of the ski race. So that was fun. Then afterwards, we went swimming and I had my first experience with a Slovenian sauna. Again, another story for another time.
Tuesday, we didn't go skiing. We were supposed to be going home but it had dumped about a foot. Now's the part where I kick myself for not going skiing. The powder would've been epic! Still, we went swimming and I jumped in a freezing pool. (Oh the WIL memories.) Then we headed back home.
Wednesday, was preparing for the ski race I had on Thursday plus studying Dante. Ski race Thursday. I placed 2 and now I'm going to the big provincial race tomorrow. It means, I'm going to go get my butt whipped by people who have proper equipment. At least I get to go skiing!
Okay, that's it. I had a ton of fun in Slovenia and the next trip for me is ISRAEL! Yeah, I know a lot of you guys don't know that I'm going to Israel, but I am. So I'll be there for a week next month and I will take a ton of pictures and enjoy wearing shorts.
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