Hey everyone,
In the past month, I have been riding on
the crest of the wave, which I explained last time. Most everything that I have
been doing has been pretty darn cool and interesting. Doing things that I love
and being able to see a little bit more in the world, I am really enjoying this
experience abroad and have found it to be quite a challenge as well. Money
management is also an important thing to learn while abroad, as I have found
out quite quickly.
It has already been a long journey
already, but seems as though it was last week I got here. Now I have to think
about going home? Yea right. The reason to that is I got my ticket home, AFS
sent me an email including some information regarding going home, and I am not
wanting to read what they have included. My flight is booked for the 5th
of July, and what I have gotten to do so far has been amazing, but now I am
also wanting to start a little traveling and see a little more than my town.
When I got my flight date, I had a weird feeling of not wanting to go, but at
the same time wanting to just go. I want to see my hometown and see what I have
forgotten, but also don't want to leave what I have here. Although I know what
is coming, I still wish for the days to be a little longer or the end date a
little further away, but know it must end.
Over the past few months, I have been able
to really enjoy and make a life here in Aalen. I go to dance class, climbing,
and hang out with friends. I have also been lucky enough to have really nice
host parents who took me skiing in the Alps. Over our Faschings Farin (February
weeklong break), my host parents took me skiing in Austria. I was absolutely
amazed at the sight of the mountains. They were completely beautiful. After
getting suited up, we got on a gondola that took us over 2000 meters high (6500
feet). It was a new feeling to be skiing in a completely new terrain, new mountains,
new snow, new people, new skis, and just a new feel completely. After the first
few runs, I could notice a big difference between the Rocky Mountains (RM) and
the Alps. Skiing on these ski slopes, the mountains felt icy, steep, and open.
In the RM, the snow is drier and comes a little more often; however, there are
a lot more trees and not as steep runs as the Alps.
Last weekend I was able to spend a most
interesting weekend skiing as well, however this time with a part of my rock-climbing
group. I had to climb the mountain to be able to ski, with a special kind of
skis, telemarking skiing I believe, it took us a few hours to reach the summit,
but the view was beautiful when the fog was gone. There was one part where I
got to walk up a wonderfully small valley, where a steep hillside was to the
left of me, and a rock face was to the right, and as I hiked up this small
little valley, I could see a wonderful sight of new snow, and a miraculous view
looking behind me. That night, three of us slept in the van camper from my
climbing mentor, which was pretty cool. We all ate dinner, lunch, and breakfast
together, found a spot to park the van for the night, and just enjoyed the time
together. The next day we started again, however, instead of a beautiful day,
it was more wet heavy snow with wind, and rain towards the bottom of the
mountain. I can say that was the first time I ever climbed a mountain in skis
as well as skiing in rain.
I personally cannot wait for my next few
adventures, and still have that weird feeling about going home, but I know I
will try to make the best of my experience in my reaming months to come. I hope
you guys are all enjoying what I have to write. Please leave any questions,
comments, and/or suggestions in the comments below, and I will try to answer
your questions in my next blog.
Thanks everyone,
Michael Steiner
Skifahren am Wochenende:
Skifahren in Austria:
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