Amo sciare!!! (I love to ski!)

I learned to ski in the Austrian Alps :) It was amazing!!!

I went on a trip with my school to Innsbruck, Austria. It was only a 6 hour bus ride from Florence. The hostel wasn't too bad, but I was happy to sleep in my own bed on Sunday! We woke up early Friday morning and headed up to the mountains. We were able to rent all our ski equipment, which was super cheap. I wanted to keep my snow jacket, it was so nice! Guess I will have to ask for one for Christmas next year and beg JoeJoe and his brothers to take me to the snow! I was so lucky, one of the professors at my school is a ski instructor and volunteered to teach people how to ski on the first day...saving money whenever possible is wonderful (mom and dad will be happy). I picked up on it very quickly...the other girls, not so much! They bailed on me after doing the bunny slope twice. I learned a lot in the first couple of hours...

Lesson #1 - Walking up a slope in skis is not fun at all, especially when your 70 year old ski instructor is having no troubles at all.
#2 - Ski boots are not comfortable, I think my shins are just now feeling better and are less bruised
#3 - Don't trust the girl next to you when letting go of the T-bar that takes you up the mountain, cause when she decides to jump off too soon, your arm will go flying with the pole...OUCH!
#4 - When you fall (I only fell once!!!) it is almost impossible to get back up, especially with two skis attached to your feet and you are on a slope. The best thing to do is to sit there for a few minutes hoping you will magically get up, but then realizing you are still sitting on your butt!
#5 - Even mastering the bunny slopes is such a GREAT feeling, I had soooo much fun :)

We took the gondola to the top of the mountain for lunch...I had these amazing spinach balls with butter and cheese...here you go mom, I FINALLY took a picture of my food :)

That night our school took us out to dinner in this cute little town right outside of Innsbruck...we got to experience a true Austrian meal. It was delicious!!! We were all so tired, but figured we were only in Austria for a couple of nights, so we took the bus into the city that night. We heard a bunch of music coming from one of the bars, so we decided to check it out...little did we know we were crashing a birthday party! We felt like we were in a movie, no one said anything so we stayed! There were "Happy Birthday" signs around the bar and everyone was wearing costumes. We were laughing at the situation and ended up having a really fun night!

The next day we went on a walking tour around Innsbruck...it was such a cute town!

And this is wear Anna would live if she moved to Innsbruck! She loves this color green...it made me think of my AnnaBanana!

After our walking tour we found this super cute restaurant and sat down for a traditional meal of weinerschnitzel, potatoes, and a glass of beer! I've never been a fan of pork, but I sucked it up and I really enjoyed it (dad, you would have been so proud of me)

Austria was definitely one of my favorite trips so far! I think we were able to truly enjoy ourselves this weekend, instead of being stressed out about everything. I think everyone is always concerned about money that they get caught up in worrying, so it was nice to go out, explore, laugh, and just be silly :) The hostel had really good breakfast...they eat a lot of fresh bread, cheese, nutella, and jam!

This was our view outside of our room at the hostel!

I will try to keep up on my blogging! I hope everything is going well back at home! I miss you all...would love to receive emails from all of you. As of now my mom, dad, sister, and Auntie Ruth and Uncle Tish are at the top of my list because I get emails from them :) Skype is super easy to download... http://www.skype.com/ and my email is ahito2@gmail.com

Hope you are all training (haha) for the 1 mile fundraising walk for pancreatic cancer!!! I'm so bummed I am going to miss it! It is on February 13 (Mom's birthday!) in El Segundo...I think mom is going to be able to pick up your t-shirts and everything so you don't have to worry about it on the morning of the event! It's not too late to sign up or donate! http://www.pancan.org/purplestridesouthbay10 Join Team Gene! Thank you guys for your love and support!

Hugs and Kisses!

Ciao

xoxo