Arosa Skiferien

So we have to travel back in time (it's starting to become a common theme here, huh?) just a few more times until we're all up to date on my Swissly adventures!

Arosa Ski Holiday - March 10 - 17, 2012


So while my "real" family (aka Canada) was enjoying a beautiful spring break on the beaches of Southern Florida, I was halfway around the world racing down the slippery slopes of the Swiss Alps.

My host parents and I headed to the canton of Graubünden to go skiing for a week in a ski resort town called Arosa which is situated at about 1600m above sea level. It was about a 3 and a half hour journey from our house in Niederbipp but we stopped along the way at a little cafe in Chur, the capital of canton Graubünden. I actually managed to sleep almost the entire way, so the trip didn't seem too long! After leaving the cafe, we drove up to the village - and by drove up, I mean that we drove on a road that had over 150 winds and turns...I am almost positive it has made a heck of a lot of people's tummies rumble!

When we finally got into the village, we had some difficulties finding the host we were renting because it was tucked back into the top of the village. The best part about our house was that we could literally ski to and from our front door - like really, does it get any better than that?!

The view from our front door

LOOK HOW CLOSE THE HILL IS!

Like is this real life?!

After settling into our cute little apartment, we decided to venture down into the village to do some grocery shopping, buy of week long ski passes and get to know our new home. We walked around for a little bit, purchased a few postcards and then went to one of the many restaurants and enjoyed some appetizers. Little did we know, we missed the last regular scheduled bus back up to our house, so we had two options: stand in the cold and wait 45 minutes for the next bus or walk up to our house...we chose option number 2. Although it is actually quite a long walk - not to mention uphill - we managed to make it back up before the bus would have even left the stop down below...we are such champions. 

When we got back to the house, my host mom started to cook dinner while I wrote some postcards and my host dad went to pick up my host brother and his girlfriend from the train station - Benj & Nicole took the train up to stay with us for a night and to go skiing with us, but unfortunately due to school and work, they weren't able to stay the whole week! When everyone got back, we ate dinner and talked for a little while but headed off to bed pretty early to make sure we were all in tip-top condition for the day ahead!

I had the worst dream that night...I dreamt that all of the snow had melted and we couldn't go skiing and people were jumping from the alps on mountain bikes and crazy stuff like that. Thank goodness it wasn't true, but when Nicole came to wake me up in morning, the first thing I asked her was "Is there still snow?!". Obviously I just looked like a crazy person, but my dream was so vivid, I actually believed it. 

We ate breakfast together and got dressed in our ever-so-sexy snowsuits and headed out onto the slopes!

"Where do we want to go?!"

My lovely host parents

Benj & Nicole

Unfortunately it was a very foggy day and it was really difficult to see the slopes, so the three girls called it a day around 2pm while my host dad and brother continued to ski for a little while. 

My host mom and I outside our house

Nicole and I  <3

While the boys were still out skiing, the rest of us showered and played a few rounds of Yahtzee before they came back and joined us!

Then we all got ready to head back into town to grab a bite to eat before Benji and Nicole had to leave us to head home!

The next day we got up early, ate breakfast and skied for the better part of the day. We repeated this everyday of the week - have I mentioned home much I love my life?! And in the afternoons we often headed into town for appetizers and then back home for dinner or skipped the appetizers all together and went to eat at a restaurant. One night we went to restaurant where the children's choir was performing and it was so cute - too bad I forgot my camera and didn't take any photos...

My host parents enrolled me in a ski school from Wednesday to Friday, so in the mornings I would go to ski school and then in the afternoons, I would meet up with host parents again and go skiing with them. The ski school was awesome because there were only 3 of us (2 on Thursday and Friday - but I'll get to that in a second) in the class and then our (cute) ski instructor, Martin. 

On Wednesday the class consisted of myself, Frank (a German professor in Florida - how small is the world?! He live about an hour away from where my family was vacationing...so crazy!), a lady from Germany (I forget her name...ooops!) and then Martin. The lessons were all in German and all we did was speak German and I am so proud of myself for understanding everything! 

And now to the story: we were on the very last run of the morning and were about to head back to the ski school when the lady from Germany tried to get off the ski lift but fell instead and twisted her knee or something. Long story short, she was screaming and crying in pain and ended up having to be lifted by helicopter to the hospital in Chur - and that's all we know. I hope she's ok! 

A week of skiing in the Swiss Alps was a dream come true and the beauty was astonishing! I got a little carried away taking pictures (like usual) so here are some photos for you to enjoy from our adventures:

These photos don't even come close to capturing the true beauty of the Alps ofArosa, but I hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I enjoyed skiing down them! 

Ohh, and how could I forget a picture of Martin and I?!

You know....

The sun was also shining strong - 4 or 5 degrees almost everyday - so the snow became pretty heavy and wet after lunch time, but we did our best to make the most of it! There weren't a lot of people at the resort because it was an off-week, meaning all of the school holidays were over, so it was now just tourists or families with small kids or older couples or exchange students who miss a week of school to experience something truly amazing! 

I even got a really nice tan on my face throughout the week - how wonderful! But that's about it for my ski holiday adventure in Arosa - and now we're one post closer to being up to date - hooray!

I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity and I owe everything to my wonderful host parents Michele and Romeo - I know you're reading this so: Danke viel, viel mal für alles!

Thanks for reading and love from Switzy, 

madi