My Tumultuous Relationship With... A Pair Of Skis

Facing a fear is never simple. You're scared shitless and all the scenes depicting everything that could possibly go wrong flash quickly through your mind. Palms get sweaty, stomach starts to ache, you begin to tremble. But at the same time, you're trying to get control of your body and mind. What I do is I talk to myself. "Come on, you can do this, nothing bad is going to happen, be strong, you're an ESTRELLA! Get with it! Get it together! Let's go."

I put on a pair of skis on Tuesday, half unwillingly. I tried skiing once because I wanted to try a new sport. I could sum up that experience with one word: catastrophy. I went with a group of about 30 students from my university, and half of us were beginners. I was the worst in that group, hands down. I just didn't get it. Coming from a tropical climate, let's just say that snow and I aren't exactly best buddies. I crashed and burned, literally. I crashed into a fence and had a bruise the size of a baseball on my arm for about a month.

Fast forward a year later and, ha! Don't you love life's surprises! I'm living in the Rhone-Alpes region of France, the French ski capital. I would even dare call it Europe's ski capital. There was no way I could NOT go skiing and live here. It would be a shame. Not to mention the amount of people that would KILL to go skiing in the Alps...me not going skiing while living an hour drive from the nearest ski resort would not be cool.

The first half an hour on skis was atrocious. I spent 27 of those minutes on my cold, wet butt. The other three were me attempting to get up. I wanted to throw in the towel soooo bad. Why would I want to subject myself to this? The view was so pretty from the ground, why get up? But with patience and perseverance, I managed to FINALLY learn how to ski. Jess the English assistant is an expert skiier and she dedicated the whole time we were there to teaching me to ski, and teaching me to love it and not give up. And I do now, I do love it! I can't wait to go back.

The Alps are absolutely breathtaking. My neck still hurts from looking up (or from falling so many times?). No pictures can do justice to their majesty. But I tried anyway! Here are a few.

Outside

I don't think there's anything in this world that brings me more joy, that fills my heart till it feels like it's going to BURST, that engages me as much as things created by Mother Nature. Sunshine, fresh flowers, snow-capped mountains, crystal-clear lakes, river rapids, vast green fields, sheep baaaaah-ing, crunchy leaves, muddy pits. Being outdoors really, really, really, really makes me happy.

This week, the sun decided to come out and make its spring debut. Up until then, it had been cold, rainy and gray. Everyone was locked up inside their warm 'n' toasty homes. Little by little, flowers started flourishing and trees sprouted spankin' new leaves. The grass got a little greener. My walks to my school became less depressing. And then all of a sudden, it was warm out, there was no need to layer on the clothes and coats and socks and scarves. All the students laid out on the quad to absorb the warm rays and there wasn't a single person sitting indoors in the cafes--they were all people watching on the tables outside, laughing and taking it easy. And finally, the kids came out to play. I had never seen kids playing outside in the six months I've been here till this week. What a difference a little bit of sunshine can make in the spirit of a town.

I'm going to make it a point to be outside more often. You know, the sun gives us Vitamin E and releases endorphins. Tomorrow, I will go skiing in the Alps. In the near future, I must go rock climbing outdoors. I can see the rock faces every time I look out my apartment window or take a train; it's such a tease.

3 countries, 2 weeks, 1 realization

I'm back from a brief blogging hiatus. As the headline to this blog foreshadows, lots of things have happened these past two weeks. I made it home to Florida in one piece after a grueling 27-hour journey and two missed flights. I experienced from a distance the blowing up of a suspect suitcase at the airport in Paris (which was the cause of my first missed flight). But it was all worth it to see my family whom I missed terribly.

While I was home, I realized that I have it good in FL. I had always taken for granted all the simple comforts of being home before living in France (having a clothes dryer, homemade food, Miami supermarkets with platanos verdes and yuca, air conditioning). I realized that I don't want to live far from my family. I'm missing so much of my younger sisters' lives and I want to be there for them. When my family came to pick me up in the airport, my youngest sister was looking at me like she couldn't remember my face. Like, "is that really you?" I don't want to be a stranger to my family! For this and many other reasons, I'm not going to renew my contract. I'm tired of exploring and I think I'm ready to settle down in one place.

My horrible experience flying to the States was completely redeemed on the way back to France. I, Miss Fabulous Girl with Connections in American Airlines, got to fly from Miami to Paris free on first class! Upon setting foot on the plane, the flight attendant kindly offered me a drink and a hot towel. Why thank you, darling.

As soon as I got home (to France) I threw a few things in a smaller suitcase because at 3 a.m., I was to get on a bus and go to Milan. The shoe and pursemaking students were going to a fashion expo and the other English assistant and I were invited to go along. Milan is more like French than Italian. The city wasn't all that great though--I think it's overhyped.

When I got home from Milan, I (again) threw a few things in a backpack because in the morning, I was getting picked up to spend the weekend in a chalet in the Vercors, the mountains nearest to here. We did a couple of hikes and explored some caves. It was amazing! I regretted not bringing my climbing gear when I saw a couple of climbers on a rock face. The cliffs and views are amazing in the Vercors!

And that's the past two weeks, in a nutshell. On Friday, my sister and cousin are coming to visit and that should be a whole other adventure!