Åre Ski Trip 2014

This past week has been wonderful.Terrific.Great. Impossible to describe. I'm not even sure how to begin writing this blog post. I guess I'll just start from the beginning.

On Saturday March 15th, I took the night train from Uppsala to Undersåker (a town a few kilometers east of Åre). This trip was with a group of 34  exchange students from all over the world who live in all different parts of Sweden. There were exchange students from India, Japan, Italy, South Korea, Brazil, France, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, the USA, Argentina and Australia. Åre is the best-known ski resort in Sweden, and it is about a 12 hour train ride from where I live. The train arrived early on Sunday morning and there were Rotarians waiting to pick us up at the train station and transport us to the hotel we would be staying at. Upon arriving at the hotel, we ate breakfast, met exchange students who had arrived earlier than us, and picked our rooms. I shared a room with Sierra (Utah), Mili (Argentina), and Sofia (Italy). Sharing a room with these girls was such a blast (I absolutely adored our ABBA/Grease dance party). I had a lot of fun meeting new people and making new friends on this trip.

Sundmans Fjällgård (Our hotel, or is it a lodge?)

On the first full day of the trip, we settled into our rooms at the lodge and went out for a walk to a frozen waterfall. I wore my boots that don't have sturdy soles with a lot of traction, so I slipped and fell maybe 20 different times on the walk both to and from the waterfall. Embarassing. The frozen waterfall was definitely worth the walk, though. 

Frozen Waterfall.

The hotel had a large living room and a fireplace which made for some relaxing evenings after long days of skiing. There was also a game room downstairs with a pool table and ping pong table, and a sauna. The sauna wasn't in the game room, but you get the point. Every morning, a large charter bus arrived at 8:45 to pick us up and it was about a 20 minute drive between the hotel and the ski resort. The bus rides were often entertaining with loud music ,yelling, and lots of laughter. Anytime you put 34 exchange students in one place it's going to get loud and crazy.

On the bus.

Jiul (South Korea) and me. Bus buddies!

Overall I thought our accomodations were just fine. But enough of the hotel and the bus...now for the reason we were in Åre in the first place: THE SKIING.

Map of the Åre ski resort.

Skiing!

On Monday morning, we stopped at a rental shop and rented everyone's skis, boots, helmets, poles, snowboards etc. Then we headed over to Rödkullen, an area of the Åre ski resort. We went inside the värmestuga  (ski lodge) which was where we put on our boots, relaxed, and ate lunch everyday. For our first two days skiing at Åre (Monday and Tuesday) we spent the morning in ski school, with lessons and instructors. I was in a very small ski school group. There was just Mai (Japan) and I, and our two instructors Linus and Adam.

From the left: Linus, me, Mai, and Adam.

On our first day with the ski instructors we worked mostly on our technique since both Mai and I already knew how to ski. We worked on technique with turns, as well as learning two new skills: doing a pirouette on skis, and skiing backwards. Monday afternoon was free skiing, so I just went out skiing with a group of exchange students and had fun.

Selfie with our instructors, they were so funny.

On our second (and last) day with our ski instructors we decided to explore the mountain and we just did the runs we wanted to do, rode different chair lifts impulsively, and overall had a great time. Adam and Linus took us to a part of the mountain with fresh powder which was a lot of fun, and I spent a better part of the morning trying to throw snow on Linus every time we stopped (just with the force of my skis, like a hockey stop).  I had a lot of fun skiing on Tuesday afternoon with Miyeon and Jiul (South Korea) and Mai (Japan). 

I had so much fun skiing with Linus, Mai, and Adam on Monday and Tuesday.

On Wednesday and Thursday we didn't  have any ski school, so we had two full days of free skiing. I skied with too many people to remember really, but I know that I skied with Natalie (Australia) and Mai (Japan) on Thursday. The weather was pretty good the whole time we were in Åre and it snowed while we were there as well.

During our ski lesson on Tuesday.

Skiing with Mai on Wednesday.

Skiing with Mai.

Mai and I found some trees that looked like frozen elephants.

Reading the map. We may or may not have been completely lost at this point. (Okay, we were lost).

Ski lift selfie: Mai, Natalie, and me.

Selfie with the Swedish flag: Mai, Natalie and me.

On Wednesday night, about 10 Rotarians came over to our hotel for dinner. We had a three-course meal with delightful chocolate cake and raspberries for dessert. The dinner was great and it was really interesting to meet the Rotarians who organized this trip and made it possible.

At the Rotary dinner: Ashley (California), Bronte (New Zealand), and me.

After the dinner, all of the exchange students divided themselves  into country groups and each group did a presentation about their country. The Americans performed the Pledge of Allegiance. The Australians sang a song called Give Me a home among the Gumtrees. The Canadians sang a sort of joke national anthem. The New Zealanders showed a video of the traditonal haka dance. Fish presented a powerpoint about his country, India. The Latinos (Argentina, Mexico and Brazil) danced and played the harmonica. The South Koreans explained Gangnam Style and performed the dance. And the girls from France, Italy, and Japan did a short skit using sterotypical accents from their countries. The presentations were ridiculously funny. 

The Americans performing the Pledge of Allegiance (I still know it by heart, thanks elementary school).

After the presentations ended, we took two of the greatest group photos ever taken.

The group.

Completely serious. ;)

On Thursday night, we got to the train station about 30 minutes before our train departed, so to pass the time we took selfies with our wonderful group leaders: Rolland, Madde, and Agnes.

From the left: Sofia (Italy), me, Agnes (our group leader, wearing the sombrero), and Mili (Argentina).

Sofia, me, Agnes, and Mili.

From the left: Sofia (Italy), Ashley (California), Madde, Bronte (New Zealand), me, Rolland, Mili (Argentina), and Agnes.

My International Family. 

We had four really great days of skiing at Åre. I had so much fun getting to know new people. I also had a blast skiing with friends from all over the world. I am so happy that I decided to go on Rotary's Åre trip this year, and I am very thankful for that opportunity. I've made memories I'll never forget. I just want to give a special thanks to our three group leaders: Madde,Agnes, and Rolland, the Åre Rotaryklubb, Sundmans Fjällgård, the Åre ski resort, the internet Mai and Sofia for providing all of these photos, and last but not least, to all of you 34 exchange students for making this a trip that I will always cherish and never forget. :)

<3 Åre Ski Trip 2014 <3