Sciences Po Reading Break

I have been very fortunate thus far in my university career to always enjoy not one, but two weeks for reading break, and this year was no exception. In first year, I had my reading week, and then ditched the better part of a week to tour Vancouver and Whistler with Tamara. Last year the UBC reading break coincided with the 2 week Olympic break. This year, as you have all followed, I took the week off to go to Chamonix during the UBC break. Now, only two weeks, later, it was Science Po's turn! Being that I've been lucky enough to take some longer trips this semester, my plans weren't too crazy, but it was nevertheless a solid week.

To start it off, I had proposed a day trip outside of Paris on that first Saturday to Auvers-sur-Oise, to check out a Chateau I had read about online. It claimed to be a celebration of Impressionism and had over 500 works by a number of masters. Perfect! After short train ride and connecting bus, the crew of myself, Annie, Tom and Corina arrived at the small French town around 2pm. First things first: lunch! As we searched, we discovered that this town was the resting place of Vincent Van Gogh, where he lived for 70 days in a house across the street from the Hotel de Ville. After getting all excited by our walk up to the manor house and past some cool gardens, we decided to have lunch at the chateau restaurent, and took advantage of a great menu de midi which even included steak! Yum. We were sure we were in for a great afternoon.

The manicured gardens at the front of Chateau Auvers

What awaited us inside would have made the Impressionists roll over in the graves. It was literally an abomination. Those 500 paintings? High quality digital projections. The inside of the chateau was ruined by this lavish multi-media production that described the context of Paris and the surrounding area during the late 19th century. We were herded along in a big group listening to stories in various rooms. Mostly it was incredibly painful, however there were few cool things on display, and also some funny posters. The best part was the fake train ride out to the countryside, where you sat on wodden benches in a darkened room, and watched the landscape 'fly by'. Needless to say this was not what we had been anticipating, and were sorely annoyed that we had wasted 9 euros on this. When we finally emerged however, it was quite funny to make fun of, despite our disappointments and irritation. If you ever head to the town, just enjoy walking around the gardens and skip the crap.

A great poster from prohibition: Why did you kill your wife and drown your children?
Mr. President I don't know! I was drunk!

Grumpy conversation after the castle:

Lauren to Annie: You have weird eyes
Annie to Lauren: You have dirt on your face
Tom: You guys really are brutally honest with each other.

As if from a painting.

It was such a crips spring afternoon though so we decided we should salvage the visit. We spotted a Musee Daubigny, one of the famous painters who lived in the region, and toured the small gallery full of sketches and painting of the town and region by various artists. That was more like. Afterwards we walked down the quaint French street, and were quite startled by the sounds of some strange animal, which we decide had to be a mixed race pig goose donkey. Spirits much revived, we checked out the local Church that is a prominent feature in renderings of the village. Very nice. Then, we strolled up towerds the cemetary where Van Gogh and his brother Theo are buried. That walk made the whole trip worth it. Open fields stretched out in front of us, smelling of fresh rain, dirt and spring. The air was delicious. The serious lack of such greenery in Paris made the experience even more soul cleansing. We got to the cemetary, which was quiet and solemn and after about 20 minutes of searching, found the tomb stones just before we got caught out in a late afternoon downpour.

Vincent Van Gogh's grave.

Annie, Tom and Corina caught in a downpour, but still all smiles.

So, despite the disappointing chateau, Auvers came through, reinstilling a new love for the rural French countryside. It was truly a wonderful day. And of course the best way to top off such a day was a great dinner, especially one that warms you from the damp that fell with the evening shadows. After a rather long trek home, Annie and I whipped up a hearty roast dinner with roast beerf, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, and zuchini. Tom arrived with his hard drive for a movie later and helped us make another apple plum crumble (I know - two crumbles in one week!); We nailed the roast like none other and I have to say it would have been hard to top my content-ness at that moment. We settled in to watch Don't Mess with the Zohan on the pulled out couch. I didn't even last 5min. I was out for the night. A truly great day.

The calm of the French countryside.

Sunday was sunny and bright, and since I couldn't stay awake long enough the previously night for dessert, I did something (with Annie) that I have never done before: I had pie and ice cream for breakfast. Delicious. I felt like a bit of a bad kid, and Etienne stumbled out his room to find the two of us grinning mischeviously over our plates. Annie went home and I spent the morning doing domestic things like laundry, cleaning and went for a nice run around Avenue de Breteuil and Invalides. Then, I headed down to Gare Aushwitz to check out the Vogeuo! which is the water metro boat. Ilona, from ballroom was there along with David, Tom and Annie. We enjoyed putting down the Seine past some less scenic portions of the river. At the end of the line we hopped off and did a little walking. I apparently had my head and ears in clouds and was completely unaware of the mugging going down on a side street which was apparently the topic of conversation for a good 10minutes. We walked over a bridge, watched a kid doing some sick moves on his scooter and then headed back. Scooters are all the rage for the youngins of Paris. Too bad Emily and I didn't know that back in the day when we had our scooter club. Despite the fact it was pretty uneventful, it was still a nice little outing.

Tom, Ilona and Annie on the fun bridge. Awesome clouds.

The previous day's damp and Sundays surprisingly chilly winds got to me though and I came home with that sickly dry feeling in the back of my throat that precedes a cold. NOOO! Not just as reading break is about to start! I spent most of the night huddled on the couch. Etienne fully claimed possesion of the Best Roommate Ever title for the night by cooking an amazing dinner of paupillettes. They are these small little balls of lamb wrapped around with se-pecial seasonings and olives on the inside. Sinful I tell you. My only regret is that I couldn't properly appreciate how well it went with the St Emilion wine we had.

I'll pretty much skip over Monday since I was in the fetal on the couch or sleeping in my bed with a misearble head cold. I was so tired, walking was exhausting. This was particularly troubling since I was supposed to leave for Grenoble on Tuesday night until Friday with Annie to visit some friends of hers I'd met, tour the town, and catch one more day of boarding. I decided to evaluate my ability to go etc the following day and just hope for the best. This was also the day I found out about Tamara's accident. When things happen to the family and I'm far away, I feel so isolated and useless. It really sucked, but I knew there was nothing I could do. I'm just glad Tamara was ok. I actually revived a bit in the evening after a long afternoon nap, and Etienne came home and made dinner, bless him. I also became addicted to That 70s show, got annoyed with emails back and forth about my Vichy group paper and then just went to bed.

What a difference a night's sleep makes. It was night and day difference, and I sure needed it. My biggest priority was getting my application for Arts Career Expo sent in, due the next day when I would be away. ACE is an annual event in the faculty of Arts at UBC that connect arts Alumni with current students in an evening of panels and interviews to help future graduates deal with the all so scary 'what's next' question. This year has made me completely rethink numerous times my plans for after graduation. I've switched ideas about careers, life goals and time lines. I attended ACE in 1st year and thought it was really good and an important event. I decided that I might as well apply for the committee, which could be fun and add some good volunteer work to my resume. Thankfully I felt up to writing up a good cover letter and submitted it along with my resume. I got to school to print out some readings, had a &(min chat with Corina and raced home to pack in 30min. A busy day indeed!

I hauled by board bag and gear to Gare de Lyon and Annie and I made the train comfortably at 7, and we enjoyed a nice train ride down. I got a change to pen some blog notes to help trigger my memory for later (good thing - this all happened almost a month ago!). We arrived in Grenoble around 10, and were met at the train by Christian. Somehow, I had a surprising amount of energy and after we dropped our gear at Christian's we went out to an irish pub for a bit and realized just how lame Paris can be in regards to the average price of a pint. It makes travelling all the more appealing. At around midnight we decided to head to this terrible club. It was way too packed, music was overly loud and yet no one was dancing. We ended up huddled in a corner, Annie and I yelling over the music. A random guy came over and stood awkwardly close behind Annie, peering at us. Needless to say we tried to ignore him. I then tried talking to us, and when we did acknowledge him, he informed us that "vous etes moches". Translation: you are both ugly. WHAT?! Who comes up to someone and says that? We were so flabbergasted and understandably pretty peeved. Obviously we instantly left for another bar to have a drink to soothe the anger. At this bar, a lively black man who sat at our table with his friend couldn't stop complimenting us and gushing over how beautiful we were. There is apparently no sense in the world. I have never been more happy to see a bed when we did get home around 2, and crashed instantly.

After a solid night's snoozing we got up at 10 and headed out to check out Grenoble's main art museum - as Annie reminded us at least 4 times "the largest collection of modern art outside Paris". I am not a huge fan of modern art, since I find it sometimes weird, unsure of what it is or ugly, or occasionally pretty cool. My heart lies with the impressionists. This museum was actually enjoyable though, with huge windows, lots of lights and a great variety - something for everybody. We spent the perfect amount of time - about 90min, after that I tend to get bored. Its a good thing I have a whole year in Paris to visit museums at a leisurely pace. We then headed to this totally awesome cafe for lunch called Pain et Cie, which totally reminded me of Calhoun's in Vancouver. I guess its a regular nook for the student crowd, since it just has such a great vibe. We had these super gourmet croque-monsieurs, which are open faced sanwiches with melted cheese. Christian's roommate Utla from Iceland joined us. Iceland is so small, it kindof ming boggling - population only 300 000!

Re-energized by lunch, we decided to climb the mountain of Bastille to the fortifications that protected the region. It was a good 30minute walk to the top along a gravel path that winds endlessback and forth up to the top. As with all great hikes though, there is the reward of the lookout. Sadly, it was overcast so i guess we didn't have a great view of the valley, but it was still sweet and I can't imagine how great it would have been on a clear day. Apparently you can see even see Mont Blanc over by Chamonix, the tallest peak in the range. I was there only 2 weeks ago! There were some cool board with information about Grenoble and the Bastille and its part in the French Resistance and the 1968 Olympics.

Christian, myself and Utla trekking up to Bastille.

We walked back down and then went hunting for a magnet. The city, the largest in a cluster of ski towns, has a massive student population, and has a real homey feel. Its weird to think this was my second choice after Paris for exchange. Apparently, Grenoble is not huge on tourist shops. After about 45 min of concerted wandering, I went home empty handed, my track record on magnets broken. Darn. Dinner that night was awesome. I finally got to try raclette, a typical French meal. Raclette is specific type of cheese that smells like old feet, but tastes delicious when melted. you place these square of cheese on mini frying pans to melt in a sort of raclette over. Once its all gooey, you slide it over baked potatoes and garnish with onions; mushroom and sliced meats. Simply delicious, a real homey meal. That was Grenoble for me: homey yet charming. We went out to a bar for a brief spell at night, but no rager since it was up and early the next morning for skiing!

Grenoble: Homey student town.

Delicious raclette dinner.

The early morning ski wake-up is a definite love-hate. Its so painful (6am) but you know it will be worth it for the day ahead. Somehow we made it to the bus at 6:45, and after a brief panic that all the seats were already sold out, got on with no further problems. There a number of ski hills in the area, but we were going to the biggest, 2 Alpes. Its about an hour and a half by bus, which is a perfect chance to catch a short nap. Upon arrival we grabbed a quick snack, and got Annie a pair of rentals. It was going to be her first time skiing ever! Ha. Pretty quickly Utla and i ditched the teacher student duo of Annie and Christian and did a bit of skiing on our own. We met up with Pat, a friend I'd met at new years, and his French crew of boarders. It was perfect ski weather, though like in Chamonix, minimal snowcover. It was still a great day, and we enjoyed and awesome lunch on sun chairs out on the snow, savouring another ski sandwich masterpiece. Two types of meat, cheese, lettuce and greenpepper with butter and mustard mayo. Oooo Baby! Afternoon as per usual blew by and visibility detriorated so we headed in around 3:15 to take advantage of some much reputed apres ski. It certainly lived up to expectations, and then some! Between 3 and 4, happy hour 5 euro pints or 2,50 glasses of vin chaud got things rolling while chilling on the midstation patio. Then, one of the best dj's I've heard in europe threw done some AMAZING tracks qnd remixes that had everybody stoked. One of my faves being Lion King remix. Once happy hour was over, a solid dance floor got started, which was hilarious since everyone is still decked out in ski gear and boots, so just jamming around. It was too much fun, Whistler really needs to implement something like this. We headed down the hill just in time to catch our 5pm bus back to Grenoble.

First time on skis! The teacher watches over.

Alps.

Catchin' some lunch time rays. Coat courtesy of Christian.

Now THIS is apres-ski.

A brief nap on the couch, a hot very much needed shower and then a huge group dinner with a bunch of Christian's friends. A lot of them have extended their exchanges, but they were also pining over the loss of friends after term one. It really does suck. I guess Christian is one of the only guys left in a whole possy of girls. Their group also has tons of drama all the time which was fun to listen in on. We had another great raclette dinner. I have discovered we have one at my apartment, so I'm definitely going to need to host a raclette party sometime soon. I passed on wine for once, but was very glad since the general consensus on the one bottle in particular was "you can taste the hangover". Brilliant. The go-go-go nature of the trip finally caught up with me and I stayed in the night and went to bed early while the rest of the group went out to a Rhum Bar.

Best decision ever, since Annie and mine's train left at 7:15 the next morning. So a brief but highly enjoyable trip. Now back to Paris to get down to business on the dreadful amounts of March homework...

Negligence

Yet again, in light of travels, SCHOOL WORK, social engagements, the weather and illness, I have been negligent in my attendence to the blog. My apologies. For some reason, I just have not been in the mood to sit at the computer and write about the happenings of my very exciting life. This time, I will male the weather the scapegoat, and that the early arrival in spring in Paris has made it inconceivable to be wasting time indoors when not obliged to do so rather than go for walks and enjoy the sunshine and mild temperatures. I already know what I've been up to, but you, loyal readers, have been left in the dark. I will try over the next few days to bring you up to speed in a series of installments.

I can't believe that the last post was Chamonix, which as we all know, was totally terrific. I actually followed through on my good intentions and did some readings on the long train ride home that Sunday. Good thing too since I had forgotten it was Etienne's birthday and the rest of the evening was consumed by roomie bonding over takeout sushi and watching Inception. The quiet night was just what I needed.

The start of the school week always motivates me to be productive, and I was up early with work. Mondays, though busy, have become a favorite of mine since my two best classes, Sport & Politics, and Political Changes in Russia, make the day fly by. I carried that through the early evening by running some errands and picking up groceries on the way home, before I prepared a pie for Lauren Bailey's birthday later that night. Since Chamonix, I have been all over the salad making, and tonight was no exception. Lauren lives just outside the periphery on the line one with a host family, and I got a glimpse of what a family apartment can be like: spacious and classy. This vibe was also added to by the roses of the table (with a table cloth!), candles and chilled champagne. I there were only a few familiar faces, but I had some nice chats with some Montreal natives, and other Sciences Pos. My pie (apple-plum crumble) was also a huge hit, in addition to a dangerously rich chocolate cake. It was Lauren's 21st, and I know being American she was hoping for a bit more of a rager/going out after predrinks, but a Monday is hard to work with. So no rager since I was the only one who was committed to going out, but secretly I was relieved. In the end I stayed late and helped Lauren clean up and we hung out just the two of us for the first time which was kindof cool.

Tuesday, like last semester, has come to represent the love hate day of the week. Hate because I can't stand my French class (yet again, bad luck!), and love because then its just ballroom in the afternoon. This European history class has no narrative, and I really have no idea what point the lecturer is trying to make. Add in a class that is way too hot and two hours and its a recipe for distraction and frustration. Thank goodness we learned a new dance in ballroom - the quickstep, which I think is one of my new favorites. Afterwards, I finally got a chance to unpack from the trip, and took what I thought was a well earned night on the couch watching Sons of Anarchy (that show is too addictive... thank goodness I'm all up to date so it doesn't distract me anymore!). I am almost ashamed to admit that I stayed up until 4:30, that's how much I was captivated.

Not surprisingly then, I was a little sluggish on Wednesday, and actually fell asleep during one of the breathing exercises half way through yoga. Oops. Then it was off to the war: Me vs. the conference de methode of the dreaded Histoire de l'Europe. This time the victor was me! Or at least I like to think so - I spoke twice, two very weak comments, but I'll get what I cant ake anyways. I celebrated that night with Annie, as we made tartiflette and watched one of my favorite guilty pleasure films, Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights. I displayed my normal aptitude in handling kitchen utensils and almost dropped a carving night on Annie's foot. I swear I am not so clutsy on my own, really. For those of you who aren't aware, tartiflette is the equivalent of weight gain and the best thing ever. It is a layer bake of potatoes, cream, mushrooms, bacon with a whole wheel of melted roblochon on top. Sinful really. At least we balanced it with a nice garden salad on the side. A great night for the muskateers, and I even got treated to a drunk walk home phone call and kitchen chat with Etienne as I was going to bed. This might not sound fun to some, but it was really quite entertaining and in my mind a further sign of our bonding.

New vocab: tete de con - Context: he has the head of an idiot. Ha.

Shockingly, despite the series of late nights, I didn't even hit the snooze at 8am to go to 9am swimming. I have decided to start going to swim practice an hour earlier because Sciences Po gets the whole pool and so the lanes are much quieter, which is how I like it. Its worth losing the hour of sleep, and this practice proved it. I even did my first set all year and didnt suck too hard! I try and take my victories, however small, where I can get them. I headed home, stopping to pick up produce at the fruit et primeur and did a great clean of the apartment that left me very energized - this is going to become a weekly routine. Every up has its down though and I may or may not have dozed off a little in my seance de rattrapage of Russian politics. Basically for the next month, Russian politics is twice a week since the professor is away all of April. At least its becoming my favorite class so I view this as acceptable. He is just such an efficient lecturer, it is really a joy to take notes. The content is very well structured with background info, causes and consequences, and interesting stories. If only all classes were like this. It never feels rushed either, which is a big contrast to Vichy France. We're now 3/4 of a lecture behind in the syllabus, getting continually sidelined by questions about general history of WWII. Being that I already know the war pretty thoroughly, I find the delays irritating, and surprising that other students have had relatively little exposure to such a major formative world event. But I guess that's the history student in me. I was also particularly unimpressed with Vichy today because we got assigned a GROUP research paper. This sounds lika a terrible idea, I am far from enthused about trying to write a paper with 3 other students. The topic designation will be by first come first serve email response over the upcoming spring break. Perfect.

No point dwelling on that for now though. After class I headed to Basile with Ayumi to chat over a 3 euro pint. The only location a cheaper pint can be found, not even during happy hour, is at The Hideout in Chatelet. Which is in fact where I headed after dinner to grab another drink with Camila and Tom. Only 2,50. That is more like it Paris. You should really try that sometime. We had an amicable evening, despite being told to shhh by the table beside us (which I thought was unreasonable considering how loud the music was palying). I have met Camila numerous times now, but this was our first real chat, and she's super cool and quite the character. She's an American from Hawaii, David's ex and studying at the Sorbonne. Tiredness overcame our group so I headed home rather than go out with Annie and some other in Oberkampf. You just can't deny sleep sometimes.

Bourdelle sculpture from a series entilted "Siestes" aka Naps.

After another tough week, Friday is always awesome. The difficulty is however, to not waste my day being lazy and getting out of the house and doing some exploring, especially when its overcast. I struggled with the usual love of tv/scrubs and rallied early afternoon. i ended up spending auite a bit fo time researching cool and quirky things in and around Paris I'd still like to do. Not wanting to venture too far from home, I ventured out solo to a small museum a 20min walk from home, Musee Bourdelle. The former Paris house of Antoine Bourdelle has been transformed into the current museum, and houses some of his impressive, massive sculptures. I enjoyed the quiet and toured the studio, and even got let into his apartments, which were actually closed (thank you old man security guard). After dinner, I headed to Annie's for a little hosuewarming of sorts for drinks. Around one, Corina, her visiting friend Vlad and I went to Concorde Atlantiaue for some dancing. I had the jitters, and we boogied away on the dance floor for a couple of hours, until we couldn't take the heat anymore. The party wasn't the best, but Corina and I had fun. After a walk and velib ride home, I stayed up late visiting with Etienne and his buddies Max, Loic and Thibault, who were having a little party at ours. Being the responsible kid that I am I made it to bed at the respectable Friday night hour of 5am. Believe me, that was responsible!

This is a plaster model of the statue La France. It stands over 20ft tall.

IN THE FACE! Close up from Hercules the archer sculpture, one of his most famous pieces

Inside the atelier. I found it very soothing.

Cool building I passed on my walk home - une ecole commerciale.

Next chapter: Sciences Po Spring Break!

Let's see how the Alps stack up

As we all know, I have been fortunate enough to ski at a number of mountains across Canada. Moving out to BC and skiing Whistler and the Rockies definitely woke me up to some amazing riding, the best I've ever had. I had always heard, however, that those Alps over in Europe were really something, so I figured I couldn't pass up the chance to ski them and evaluate them for myself. When I found out the Ski and Board club from UBC was coming over to Chamonix, France, for their Reading Week, I knew it was a sign that I couldn't pass up. Hence my difficult to decision to take the week off school and head down to Chamonix for a week of shredding with some UBC crew. Like I've said, its a tough life I've been leading over here.

So on a overcast Valentine's day morning, I packed my bags and headed to the train station to head to the hills. The train ride went by smoothly, thanks to Annie's copy of the newest Dan Brown novel, Lost Symbol. Its really not that good, but was entertaining nonetheless and 5hours and 15min, and two transfers later, I arrived in the small ski town of Chamonix just before 7. Its clustered in the middle of the Mont Blanc range, and has 6 skiable hills. After a quick stop to pick up some dinner provisions and toilet paper for the house, I struggled around town looking for the appropriate bus stop. Finally found it after a bit of difficulty, made more cumbersome by my uber heavy snowboard bag. Next problem: figuring out which stop to get off at. It was dark, and there were no announcements as to what stop was approaching. Then a small miracle in my mind occured. Onto the bus hopped Johannes, a hilarious German exchange student from last year who I guess was also crashing the UBC party for the week. We all got off at the right stop just past the small town of Argentiere where our house was, 15min from Chamonix. The club had rented a house of sorts for the week that slept about 30 people, so there was room for Euro travellers to party as well. I got in, was warmly greeted by my good triathlon friend Mel Thompson, and Rosy, and unpacked my stuff. I quickly wolfed down some baguette with chevre, before the group headed to a bar down the road. Over beers I got to meet the various faces of the group, and chatted with the few people I knew a little bit before. The pub was empty, so at around midnight, we headed back up the street to call it a night. But en route we passed a small bar, Le Salon, that was packed and bumping! Clearly we had to stop and check it out, and one thing led to another and we took over the dance floor and were badgering the DJ with requests for Snoop Dogg and other tunes. Some good times were had, and before I knew it, I only made it to bed by 3am. Great start to the trip.

This initial late night however, combined with the fact I am far from an early riser any more, meant a not so early start on Tuesday. I thought I was doing pretty well to be up at 9:30 and got ready pretty quickly, but most of the house was empty, and I ended up waiting for a group of stragglers to get their act together before heading out. So began the day of mishaps. Mishap number one: not realizing where I had to buy my pass. Morgan had said I couldn't buy it at Les Houches, the hill the group was checking out that day, but that I should head out with the group and he would let me know where I could pick up the pass. Unfortunately, he forgot to do so, so I actually had to get off a bus and go back to Chamonix central to try and get my week pass sorted out. Since the hills are open to 5, I wasn't fazed as I could still get a full afternoon's skiing in. Mishap number 2: Not realizing where the ski offices were and walking around with my board for 30min trying to find one. The closest one had been only 5min away. Great. Finally found a ticket booth where I could order my pass, and thought I got it all sorted out. Mishap #3: Headed to Les Houches, and catch the Gondola up the mountain. Start skiing, take a couple tow ropes by accident, which suck on snowboards and try to figure out how to get to the lift where my friends are. It was snowing pretty heavily and I couldn't see more than 2 ft ahead of me. When I try to get on a lift, the screen scanning my pass informs me I have the wrong domain card. What? How did I get up the gondola then? I ski down some sketchy closed run to another chair, and same thing happens. I make my way down to the bottom of the desk, and they inform me I must have gotten/been given the wrong pass. Unfortunately this means I have to head back to Chamonix to get it fixed.

So Tuesday skiing was a bit of a fail. I bused the 20min back to Chamonix after standing in the slush rain and got my pass all sorted out. By this point it was 3:30, and I decided that was a wrap on the day. The rest of the crew came back from the hill as I finished sorting out my pass and we headed to this bar, Chambre Neuf to check out rumours about a really good apres ski. The nice cold beer made me feel better, especially since it was on the Ski and Board tab. We chilled out for a while, and then around 5:30 a large group decided to head back to the house. Thankfully, this lovely Norwegian girl Hilde convinced me to stay a bit longer, and we enjoyed the most rowdy apres ski ever! Dancing on tables was fully encouraged, and we shouted along to Bon Jovi with the live band. It was great fun. Then we headed home for a quiet night of dinner and cards, and a good nights sleep. Fresh snow today means tomorrow was going to be good!

Chambre Neuf - stories of great Euro apres ski were bang on!

My goal for Wednesday was the rectify all the errors of the previous day and get what I had come for: a full day of skiing. Step one: Wake up at 7:30 and arrive at the hill at 9, taking first run at 9:30 in 10cm of fresh snow. Now that's more like it! Being that it was my first day of the season, the legs were quickly begging for mercy, but I still had great fun skiing a full morning with Mel and Jake, tearing up some off piste. One thing that is interesting with European mountains is they start so high up you are above the tree line. Therefore the whole mountain is open. We met up with Morgan and Rosy just before lunch. Mel Rosy and I broke off in the afternoon and took it easy, as Rosy and Mel had swapped gear, resulting in Rosy being on skis for the first time in 9 years! I was extremely impressed with her skills, especially considering by accident we took her down a black on her second run. By 3 the hill was pretty tracked out and visibility was crap, so we contentedly called it a day. A good one at that.

Mel T on snowboard at Grands Montets

View of the Valley.

We got back to a quiet house, and after a brief rest period, Rosy Morgan and I made the 10min trek into Argentiere for groceries and the ordering of food for the family dinner of pizza planned for that night. That sorted, we returned to prep the salad and wait for the rest of the team to arrive. After finally procurring a corkscrew to open out 15 bottles of wine, about 23 of us sat down to dine together. It was a lovely affair, and gave a true sense of family to the group. I sat down by Rosy, Morgan, Mark and Dylan. The salad with toasted sunflower seeds was a particular hit. The wine flowed freely, followed by beer. Food devoured, it was realized that our banquet table would work perfectly for some epic flip cup face offs. My team won, multiple times. Afterwards, we somehow hustled everyone out the door and out into Argentiere to take over a bar. Its amazing how when you arrive with a group of 20, the place really gets lively. More good dance times had, and before I knew it, I was helping Morgan stumble home at 2. Altogether an epic day.

I have mixed reactions about Thursday. I got up at 7:30, and felt not so hot, so I was very thankful when Rosy, Mel and Morgan were doddling, and took advantage of a small nap. Their morning antics were actually quite funny, taking in a glass of wine in hopes of helping the hangover, and Morgan and Maurizio deciding to test out the "water feature" in the year out front. All of this meant that we rolled out the house rather late, but it was a beautiful morning so there were things to look forward to. Initially Rosy and I were confused when Morgan made us get off at Aigulle du Midi, and no one in line for the cable car had skis. Because we weren't skiing just yet. Initially I was like, what I want to go ride, but in the end, missing that afternoon of skiing was one of the coolest things of the trip. Here's why:

Not a bad view.

After summitting a number of peaks, up and up on two dizzying cable cars that had be legitimately nervous because of the fact we were speeding along vertically up a snowy rocky mountain only by a single thin wire, we arrived at Aiguille du Midi. The view from the first look out point was incredible. You can look out all over the Mont Blanc valley, which includes Chamonix and Argentiere and all the way to Les Houches. Mountains and valleys as far as the eye can see, into Switzerland in fact. Not a bad place for a picnic lunch. We munched on the best sandwiches ever and remembered what an incredible experience this trip was. We had a laugh over the extreme amount of dog poo Rosy was rocking on her boot, and inadvertantly got on Morgan's pants. Then we took and elevator up through a shaft into of the mountain to the very summit of Aiguille, at 3842m. Even better. From this side, you can see over to Italy, and in the summer you can actually take a cable car over there. I was amazed by the engineering feat of climbing all the way up and building this lookout. Ballsy if you ask me. I was nervous even leaning on the railing.

Looking up at the very summit of Aiguille du Midi.

Morgan and Rosy up at Aiguille du Midi. They were the Mom and Pop of the group.

And this is why the Alps are legendary. Hello Italy!

After spending just over 2 hours enjoying the sunshine, we went back down the mountain to Chamonix. Thankfully to my surprise, the ride down was significantly less scary than the ride up. Rosy and I made the executive decision to just enjoy the remaining short portion of the afternoon walking around Chamonix and picking up some postcards. So no boarding that day, but it was still pretty awesome. Good thing we had snow suited up when we headed out though - just in case!

Chamonix Centre

Got back to the house around 5 or so and cleaned up and made a really awesome pesto pasta salad. As the evening wore on, I partook in a great came of Kings featuring raptor claw as a rule. That led way to another series of flip cup rounds. Then I made a tough call. The rest of the group changed their minds and voted to go the Chamonix for some serious clubbing, but I knew I was super beat and wanted to put in some solid days of riding Friday and Saturday. So I home, and ended up crashing really early. Best decision ever. I even got to witness a hilarious drunk guy Marc (a brothers friend) be hilarious. Over the course of the night, a "table jumped out at him", he tripped over his own pants while peeing outdoors and sliced his nose open, and got dropped off randomly in Chamonix to work off his own drunkenness, yet still managed to pick up to two girls. I have a feeling this is much funnier for me than for all of you back home. You'll just have to trust me on this one.

As I said, missing out on the club was a good decision (especially in light of the fact that drinks were stupidly expensive and the cabs home were a ripoff - 60 a cab). I woke up refreshed and not quite so poor, and way out the door and on the hill by 9:30, this time over at Le Tour. I was riding solo since the majority of the group had decided to hire a guide and do ski tour down from Aiguille du Midi. Being that it would only be my second day all season, and it was 70 euros, I decided to pass and just check out some of the smaller mountains. Thanks to my early start, I got to enjoy some first tracks, and had a great time cruising around the mountain at my own pace, rocking out to my ipod. Sadly, Chamonix has been a victim of global warming the last few years, having recorded record lows in snowfall. Apart from Tuesdays few cm, they hadn't had snow since Jan 26th, any skiiers nightmare. Add in lack of snowmaking machinery, things were a little dicey. This meant that I was left with some imagining of how much more terrain would have been open, but nonetheless I enjoyed my explorations, which were mainly confined to the trails.

By some miracle, Morgan managed to spot me on the hill just before lunch. We did a run then headed in so I could enjoy yet another exquisite sandwich. I never make sandwiches in my everyday life, but it is an integral part of skiing, and the French edition was just amazing. Sinful, I might add. Gorgeous baguette bread, ham, cheese, mustard mayo and green peppers. Delightful indeed. Morgan and I seperated in the afternoon, and I cruised around for another hour and a half before calling it a day.

A brief reading rest, shower back home before Morgan and I walked into Argentiere a final time for some last minute food. Enjoyed another good pasta and salad dinner with Rosy before I packed up most of my stuff and headed out at 6 towards Chamonix. The club was leaving tomorrow morning, so I had left open my reservation at a hostel for Friday and Saturday nights. I decided to take most of my stuff over on Friday to avoid the meelee of the Saturday morning shuffle. After missing my bus stop and having to walk back 10 with my cumbersome board bag, getting a little lost in a random neighbourhood in the dark and slipping on ice, fallling and getting my pants wet, I finally found the front door of the Gite Alpenrose. I was given a brief tour, ditched my bags, and headed back to town. Unfortunately. My deviations of the route had resulted in me missing the last bus to Argentiere. It was 7:50, and the next one wasn't until 11. However, with the help of a nice young Irishman, I managed to hitchhike back to Argentiere. Because the bus system in the area really kindof sucks, this was not that uncommon, and we didn't even wait 5 minutes. The lovely couple who picked us were from Vancouver in fact, but living in Geneva for the last 5 years. Small world. I finally made it back to the house for the final night at 9. Despite the fact that I was rested and game ready, I had to admit that in the end we lazily sipped beer and watched ski movies in the living room.

The church in Argentiere.

Saturday morning flew by as somehow, everyone got out of the house with all their stuff, and we left the place decently clean. Or clean enough that we only lost 80euro of the 300 euro deposit. The guardien of the house, however, informed Tita, that if we all lived normally in such a state of hygiene, we would all have very sad lives. (I don't think he really liked us very much). Hey, a house of 30 young partying students is not the easiest to keep a handle on.

And with that, I said my goodbyes to the team as they were headed to Geneva for a day before the long flight home. I, on the otherhand, still had one day left before my train home Sunday morning. I got back to the hostel and changed and snack, arriving at the hill of Brevent, Flegere just before lunch. Like Friday, I rocked out for 4 straight hours to my ipod, cruising around the sunny hill, enjoying the views and just riding. Sometimes its nice to have some time to yourself. I finished at about 4, and I have to say, I have been a very satisfied camper on this trip in terms of skiing. BUT...Whistler is still the bomb! And as per everytime I go skiing, I have redecided I need to be a ski bum for a season. It just has to happen (sorry Mom).

Paragliders over the valley.

I headed back to the hostel and chilled with my book before enjoying the longest hottest shower. Next stop: Chamonix for some magnet searching. I probably haven't been somewhere if I don't have a magnet. I also scored a sweet retro promotional print for my room. Mission accomplished, I was faced with an evening all to myself. I decided to go see Black Swan, a film I've been meaning to see. What else to do by myself at night? For my first movie watching experience by myself, maybe not the best movie choice...for those who haven't seen it, its kindof creepy. Not the kindof movie that makes walking home for 20min down a dark deserted road very enticing. Natalie Portman is pretty amazing, hence why she won best actress for it the falling weekend. I really enjoyed it anyways. Thankfully the trusty old ipod came through to distract me from the shadows on my walk, and I made it home alive. Cheery even, thanks to Meatloaf and Paradise by the Dashboard Light. Reading. Packing. Bed.

Sunday morning train catching at 9:03 went off without a hitch. A great week in Chamonix, yet another incredibly special memory to add to my treasure chest that has been this year in Europe. My only annoyance is that the snow was coming down thick and heavy now that I'm leaving...

Bisous!