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Published: April 5th 2009
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So I was dying to go snowboarding again. And I did!!!
Woohoo!
I went to Innsbruck. I was really lucky as I met a couchsurfer, Lisa, from Austria. She was 18 and completing I guess the equivalent of the HSC. She said I could meet her and even offered me to borrow her board. How nice was that! She even gave me pointers and overall I had a really good experience with her. I hope she comes and stays in Amsterdam so I can return the favour.
So the night train was unavailable to Innsbruck. I had to take a terrible combination of trains:
From Amsterdam Zuid on the 16 of January, 2009 I got the train at 18:23 after work. I then switched at Utrecht Centraal for the train to Frankfurt HBf. I got to Frankfurt at 22:34 and waited there until 12:30 or so for the train to Munich. In the meantime I met this really nice guy called Lance who was from LA and was a consultant for Shell. So talking to him actually made time go by quick.
At Munich - which I arrived at around 5am I waited around a bit and got
on the train at 6:38am to Rosenheim and then got to INnsbruck at 9:16am where Lisa met me at the station.
Whew!
Lisa was really cool. She even lent me an old snow board of hers! It turned out I was her first couch surfing experience but she was so awesome. She was only 18 - still in school but so wise. She had done an exchange in Australia in Perth. We pretty much talked all the first day on the bus to the snow fields - which we nearly missed by the way as we were running late from having a quick breakfast at the station. We got to the snowfields and we were met by a guy at the bottom of the mountains. His daughter was sick so he wanted to sell his lift passes. The student price was 22€ for the ticket and I said I would buy the lift pass off him for 20€ if he would sell it to me. He said ok and said he would be back at 4pm to get the lift pass back so he could try to sell it tomorrow.
That was well sweet!
When we were
up on the mountains Lisa showed me some cool tricks including doing a few cool little twists and turns. Also I did a few jumps with her as well. WE had a break around 1ish were we grabbed a soda and just watched the lifts go up. It was a nice sunny day and really a beautiful view. There was a band playing and a whole bunch of guys (most probably Germans Lisa informed me getting drunk singing and dancing with them). We talked some more and decided we could really talk all day and it was time to board. It was great boarding with Lisa. She gave me some good tips and tricks and really I feel like I perfected my technique with her. She said I was much better than a beginner as she was advanced and she was boarding at 85% of her level with me which she really enjoyed - ie I wasn’t well too slow!
We got home and then her mum made a delicious chicken burritos and her aunty and her 11 year old cousin Peter came over and they brought their dog with them who was really cute and kept sniffing our feet.
They let me stay in my own room and I ended up having a really good sleep - ie I woke up and wasn’t quite sure where I was.
The next day we went skiing at another resort in the Innsbruck area - slightly more expensive as it was a bigger snow fields. I still got it cheaper thanks to Lisa as she brought it using her student and Tirol residence - so it only cost 27€! Sweet. Also I was only skiing from 11am by the time we got there. The snow was much harder and icy today which wasn’t so motivating but we still managed to get some good boarding in. I was really having a good time - I realised once I get more comfortable on the mountain I just fly!
We went to the playground and we did some of the boxes - haha but I fell going over it.
We had some lunch - I had some fries and shared with Lisa and she had some corn. Her aunty and Peter had a hamburger. IT was pretty dear but I guess these things always are at the snow fields. Rich mans sport
right?
So it was about 2pm and we made our way to the playground. They went ahead whilst I wasn’t so comfortable with the playground so I just road ahead. I did want to try the playground and decided to try the one closer to the bottom. They went over the jumps quite well even Peter was really good. SO I went down. I was too scared to do the first one but decided I really should do the second one. I went over but freaked out and went on my heels and boom I fell. They cheered me and so did someone from the lifts but I was in agony - I massively landed badly on my tailbone!
Ouch!!!!! I was so sore but determined to make it down the hill. So slowly but surely I caught up to them. Her aunty asked me if I was ok but I was dying lol. And going down the rest of the hill was a struggle as well - it had become more icier and steeper. You could see a lot of the people were just stopped in a few places or sliding on their butts. I made it
down so slowly, ever so slowly. Lisa didn’t complain though - she said you know you did a really good job as at the moment the snow on that hill was more akin to black conditions rather than begineer. I was struggling by the time I got down and said I wont really push myself any further and I don’t think ill enjoy going down this hill snow boarding so I will just catch the cable car down. Lisa agreed and said she wasn’t really enjoying conditions either and we caught the cable down together.
When I got down I felt abit faint and went to wash my face. Getting into the car - her aunty said I looked a bit pale and told me to just tell her if I wanted her to pull over if I wanted to be sick. I slept most of the way in the car.
At home her mum ended up making a delicious dinner - traditional Austrian - roasted pork and potato dumplings. SO nice and delicious. I had a quick snooze before dinner. Dinner was so nice and then Lisa said she would show me around the city centre of Innsbruck. I said no as she had an exam to study for but she insisted.
Anyways we got to the city and she showed me some really nice sites. I had such a good time walking around with her and we ended up at the Irish pub before her dad came with my back pack and to pick Lisa up before I left.
Coming back was less of a mission. I left Innsbruck - after saying goodbye to Lisa and her dad at 8:30pm. I got to Munich and my night train on time and caught the night train to Utrecht at 22:44 on the 18 of January. I got to Amsterdam Zuid at 9:07 after the train change at Utrecht and was about 10 minutes late for work. What a sweet arse weekend. (Though I did struggle to sleep and sit on my butt for a week but still!)
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