F3 Ski Trip 2011
View the gallery of images for this trip
Questa è una storia breve il nostro viaggio di sci in Italia-Spero vi piaccia!
It was Sunday 2nd January at 3.00 am; after saying our goodbyes we all piled on to the bus. Some were anxious about being away for week without our parents, but I can tell you now, we all had a blast! During our journey by plane and coach, we watched movies, slept or took pictures to make the time go by quicker; the clicking of cameras was constant as we were passed through beautiful scenery in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and finally Italy. We had a lot of stops along the route to stretch our legs, I’ve never eaten so many croissants in my life; they were just so good!
After our relaxing coach journey to Pragelato we eventually reached our hotel, Casa Alpina Don Barra. We were all so excited to have arrived and as we retrieved our heavy suitcases from the coach to head for the door our muscles felt like jelly. As soon as we entered the hotel Mr Jack and Mr Gallagher allocated us to our rooms, it felt so good to crash on to our beds and stretch out. We didn’t have long as we had to get straight back down stairs for tea at before grabbing a pair of ski socks, and onto the bus, everyone was eager to go to the ski hire shop in Sestriere (where we would be skiing for the week). It took quite some time for us all to be fitted with the right helmet, boots, skis and poles, but again everyone knew it was worth it so that we were all kitted out and ready for a quick getaway up the slopes the next morning. What a day, but we couldn’t wait till tomorrow!
7.00 am, “Wake up every one - Breakfast!” We were feeling refreshed from a great night’s sleep, everyone was full of energy and raring to go! Straight after breakfast we packed a bag with sun cream, ski gloves, helmet, goggles, lip balm, sunglasses and anything else we might need. On went the thermals, salopettes, ski jacket and we picked up our ski boots on route to the bus, ready to leave at 9.00 am. After a short journey, we had arrived at the slopes! It was so bright and sunny; you could see the snow sparkling in the sunlight like sugar, it was breathtaking, such an unbelievable sight. We soon had our ski boots on, had collected our skis and mustered at the bottom of the slopes eager to meet our instructors. We were divided into four groups through our skiing ability; it was great fun meeting our instructor (Andrea era caldo!) who spoke fluent English which was helpful! After an exhausting first lesson we stopped for lunch in a restaurant right next to the slopes, I was STARVING!
Every day we were served pizza or pasta, either way they were both amazing! I’m sure I wasn’t the only one, but I’ve never eaten so much in my life! It was great because the more food we had, the more energy we were going to burn off, as well as being SO energized with the beauty of Sestriere and the freedom of the slopes! Every day the lessons went too quickly, but that just meant I was having too much fun! I was already esaurito (exhausted in Italian!) after our first day!
As soon as we returned our skis back on the racks for the next day, we were given about an hour to spend time in the shops of Sestriere. Everyone made a beeline for the supermarket to re-hydrate on fanta, lemonade or diet coke, we were so thirsty after our days skiing! The most popular stop for everyone had to be Sestriere’s crepiere shop. They had massive tubs of Nutella used on the crêpes, and some of the boys asked if they could keep some of their empty tubs as souvenirs! The messy part was that there was still some Nutella left inside the tubs, so the boys decided to stick their heads in (it was that big!) and lick the chocolate from the inside, it was hilarious!
We had to be in the bus for 4.00pm so we could get washed, changed and relax before the evening meal and the entertainment. Every afternoon on the bus leaving the slopes, Mr Jack presented a “Silly Billy” and ”Silly Betty” florescent vest to people who had done or said something really silly that day. The vest then had to be worn at all times until the next afternoon. There were many humorous things that we all did, I was awarded the “Silly Betty” vest one day as when I went to sit on my seat at lunch, I missed and my bottom thumped the floor! That was so embarrassing, but hilarious at the same time! What was also entertaining was that Mr Gallagher was awarded the “Silly Billy” vest on the same day. He was filming us skiing on the slopes as he didn’t notice that he hadn’t pressed the record button and wasted half an hour’s worth of footage!
There was entertainment organised for every night. There was a quiz night and outdoor ice skating at a picturesque rink. Even though I saw more of the ice than I expected (as I kept falling) we all had a fantastic time! Another night we went swimming to an indoor pool, we had a great time even though it was absolutely freezing! One night we were taken to an AMAZING pizzeria where we were given huge pizzas for a whole table, but the ultimate part of the night was eating chocolate Nutella pizzas! That’s right, Nutella on PIZZA! It was delicious! We also had a movie evening, and on the 2nd last night of our week in Pragelato, our instructors presented us with certificates and an official badge to show how well our skiing had improved that week. Of course you can’t have a school trip without a disco on our last night at the hotel. It was such an enjoyable, entertaining and pleasurable evening, some awards were made and the cameras were snapping away as everybody was taking photographs. The pictures I took that night, I’ll keep forever.
I hated having to leave Pragelato, I’d had such a great time in the snow; the skiing and the freedom was amazing. This holiday has been the best school trip ever, I’ll never forget all the friends I became even closer with and getting to have many great laughs with the teachers. Thanks so much to Mr Jack for organising the ski trip and Mr Gallagher, Mr Webb, Miss Campbell and Miss Douglas for giving their time to come with us. I had never skied in my life before and to be honest I was incredibly nervous, but after this experience, I’d ski down a slope any day!
Grazie! X
By Alison Ross