Ski Trip to the Austrian Alps

Hey, y'all! Happy Thursday. As promised, I want to share with you all about my ski trip to Austria with my host family! There is a weeklong holiday here called Carnival which all kids have school off for. My host parents, Justin and Lize, took off the week from work and we headed to the Austrian Alps! We left Saturday morning and got there around 16:00, about a 5 and a half-hour drive. We stayed in a small ski hotel 5 minutes away from the lift which was very convenient. The family stayed in an apartment-style room and I had my own room with an incredible view. We had dinner that night at an Italian restaurant and I got pizza (of course). It was nice to have dinner together because the family doesn't often get to because of everyone's conflicting schedules. The next morning was our first ski day, Sunday. I had a private instructor for the entire day because I had never skied before and literally didn't even know how to put the skis on. But it went well! He taught me all about pizza and the poles (which I was calling sticks) and how to actually put my skis on. Shoutout to Paul! A typical day of skiing went like this... We got to the slopes at around 8:30 after an amazing breakfast (Austrian sweet bread and latte macchiatos) skied for a couple of hours, had lunch (I had currywurst mit pomme frites almost every day), skied for another couple hours, took a break for hot chocolate, and then took the lift down the mountain. After taking those horrid boots off and regaining feeling in my toes we walked back to the hotel and rested until dinner time. We went to a bunch of really excellent restaurants but my favorite was a small local restaurant. The waitresses were wearing traditional Austrian dresses (think of Oktoberfest dresses) and the walls were all wood with lace window curtains and decor. I felt like I was at Epcot! I went out of my comfort zone and ordered a dish of four different types of meats and french fries (which they serve with literally every meal in Europe but I'm not complaining!). I don't know exactly how to describe the flavor but it was pretty similar to German and so yummy. Some other fun meals I got throughout the trip were Goulash, Wienerschnitzel, and Roast beef with cranberry sauce. I really loved the Austrian cuisine. I went up to the slopes Sunday-Thursday but got altitude sickness on the last day. But all was well because I still really enjoyed sitting on my balcony and just enjoying the view from the bottom of the mountain. On the last day, Ashley was skiing and ran into a woman who was standing at the bottom of a slope. The woman was fine but Ashley hurt her knee and had to be taken to the hospital by the paramedics at the resort. It turns out her knee was sprained and we were all very happy to go home by that point. On our way home we stopped at an outlet mall in Germany so the girls could shop a bit. It was very cold and Ashley was limping around so we got a Starbucks and just slowly walked around. It was a really nice end to the trip. I have so many pictures but here are just a few I think you guys will want to see!

After my first day of skiing!

My instructor, Paul, and I

Lize and I loving the snow

Basking in it

Bronwin and I!

The incredible view

Traditional Austrian houses

The view from my balcony

My favorite meal

Snow!

The yummiest breakfast

Unique restaurant menu

Weekly encouragement: I heard this saying on one of my favorite podcasts, As For Me and My House, "Your priorities are the things you do." I felt really convicted by this because a lot of times I make the wrong things a priority by doing them and don't even notice! For example, do I spend more time in my Bible or watching Netflix? A lot of times it's the latter. And even though I wouldn't tell myself I am prioritizing that over time with the Lord, I am! So this week, do the things you want to be priorities.