Ski Trip 2017 Well…here I am again writing about another Ski Trip which, for me anyway, was even better than last year because I already knew how to ski and so there was less falling over! The journey to Austria took about 24 hours and we had to pick up our twin group, from North Leamington School, on the way to the Euro Tunnel. We had several stops on the journey for refreshments; ordering breakfast was difficult since we had to speak German but that is where our German lessons come in useful! In Germany we saw the Allianz Arena – Bayern Munich’s stadium. During our journey to Gosau – our ski resort - we passed busy cities and through peaceful towns and remote tiny mountain communities. Seeing the ski slopes made me so eager to ski because last year I had so much fun. Once we had arrived at our hotel we carried our suitcases to our rooms and then we had to get our boots and skis fitted. It had been a tiring journey so we had an early night after our evening meal. We had the same routine every day, waking up at around 7:30 and then, after breakfast, making sure that we had everything ready for skiing. We skied for about five hours a day, 9:30 to 12:30 and then 1:30 to 3:30. After a day on the piste we were exhausted since skiing uses a lot of energy so we had to eat plenty of food! In the morning we had bread rolls with a mixture of fillings and spreads, and cereal. We also made our packed lunch to take on the mountain. For our evening meal we had soup, which was very salty, a main meal and desert. Our first day of skiing was highly anticipated and very exciting. We were separated into different groups based on ability and weeks skied on the snow. This was my second week so I was in an intermediate group. Our instructor was called Felix and he was only 17. He had started skiing at the age of 3 so you can imagine how good he was! Our group started off by going on the nursery slopes just to get used to skiing again. On our second day we were able to go higher up the mountain so I tried to develop my turning and started to ski parallel. Throughout the day, a lot of people fell but that’s just part of skiing I guess. In the afternoons, the snow became bumpy; this makes it harder to ski and it’s a lot more tiring and a good challenge. Every evening we had an activity. On Sunday we had a quiz in teams based on our hotel rooms. We were also competing against North Leamington School who had their teachers in some of their teams! However, the HGS Team consisting of Yusuf, Amar, Shivam, Roshan and Dhiren won overall. Another evening event was bowling. The teams were the Year 8s versus teachers and the two Sixth Formers (Jack and Josef) and the Year 9s versus the Year 10s. Our game was very tight at the end but Jagjeet ended up scoring the most in Year 8 with me coming second. In the other game, Yusuf scored the most points and, yet again, a Galahad student came first! On Tuesday evening we went to a pizzeria. It was an interesting and rather strange place. As we walked in, there was a well under the floor with glass covering it up. The pizzas were really nice but they were the size of a big plate so they were also very filling. Wednesday evening’s activity was swimming. We travelled around 45 minutes to a swimming complex. There was an outdoor pool linked to an indoor pool, three other indoor pools and a jacuzzi. Towards the end of our time there, there was a laser show and party. An array of lights bounced around the room in sync to different songs; there was a remix of Pirates of the Caribbean and a song from Avicii. It was a unique experience. Thursday was our last full day in the resort, in the evening we had a disco with the other school, but some people played pool or darts and others sat down and talked or played cards. Every evening we voted for two people to wear high visibility jackets for the following 24 hours, one had ‘HGS MUPPET’ written on the back and the other had ‘HGS WIPEOUT’. We nominated who we wanted to wear them and had to give a reason why. To decide who would get the jacket, Josef called out the names in turn and we made the loudest noise for who we wanted. For example, in our group Felix let us to do some jumps. Amar, aka ‘Bambi’ due to his ‘unique’ skiing technique tried to do a jump and fell over. When he tried to get up he fell back down then when he finally got up he 12 TRIPS AND VISITS mixture of fillings and spreads, and cereal. We also made our packed lunch minutes to a swimming complex. There was an outdoor pool linked to an indoor pool, three other indoor pools and a jacuzzi. Towards the end of our time there, there was a laser show and party. An array of lights bounced around the room in sync to different songs; there was a remix of Pirates of the Caribbean and a song from Avicii. It was a unique experience. Thursday was our last full day in the resort, in the evening we had a disco with the other school, but some people played pool or darts and others sat down and talked or played cards. Every evening we voted for two people to wear high visibility jackets for the following 24 hours, one had ‘HGS MUPPET’ written on the back and the other had ‘HGS WIPEOUT’. We nominated who we wanted to wear them and had to give a reason why. To decide who would get the jacket, Josef called out the names in turn and we made the loudest noise for who we wanted. For example, in our group 12 song from Avicii. It was a unique experience. in the evening we had a disco with the other school, but some people played pool or darts Every evening we voted for two people to 24 hours, one had ‘HGS MUPPET’ written reason why. To decide who would get the technique tried to do a jump and fell over. since we had to speak German but that is where our German lessons come in useful! In Germany Our first day of skiing was highly anticipated and Every evening we had an activity. On Sunday we had a quiz in teams based on our hotel rooms. We were also competing against North Leamington School who had their teachers in some of their teams! However, the HGS Team consisting of Yusuf, Amar, Shivam, Roshan and Dhiren won overall. Another evening event was bowling. The teams were the Year 8s versus teachers and the two Sixth Formers (Jack and Josef) and the Year 9s We were also competing against North Leamington School who had their teachers in some of their teams!