Aoife and Ski France
On the 14 th to the 21 st January 2012 a group of 47 pupils and 6 staff went to Alpe d'Huez, a French ski resort. At 4:40am my mum was frantically packing and unpacking our bags even though we were expected to be at the high school at 5:00am! I wanted to break the family tradition and be early for once so we said our goodbyes and set off immediately. When we arrived at the high school all you could see were half-asleep teenagers and worried parents!
We survived the 21 hairpin bends and the ski slopes looked great! The bus stopped in front of this fantastic looking hotel, 4 stars at least! Everyone was looking up at it in awe. We got off the bus ready to walk up to the beautiful hotel until the teacher shouts, “turn to the left!” we all turn around and see in front of us this small worn down hotel with a few letters from the sign fallen off. It would be lucky if it was even a one star!
We trudged along in the snow and were given our rooms they were pretty small but they had bunk beds so I quickly claimed the top bunk and began unpacking. We made our way down to the dining hall where we were greeted by three other English school groups. Some became our friends many others became our enemies as we mimicked each other's accents and threw around a few local words that they were glad they couldn't understand! The food was not exactly high quality French cuisine but it did not matter because we stuffed our faces with crepes, pizza, chips, sweets etc.
That night we had our skis and boots fitted. Then we went to bed, breakfast the next morning was at 7:45am so I was about to see what my friends were really like in the morning and it wasn't a pretty sight! After a 15 minute struggle and getting called all kinds of names I eventually got Helen out of bed! We received our ski passes and were told specifically not to break or lose them because they were to last us the whole week. It must have been some sort of record because after just one day Maisie managed to snap it by sitting on it. There were 5 groups 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. I was in group 4 with many of my friends but Joseph was in group 5, much to my annoyance. Our ski lessons lasted 4 hours, 2 hours before lunch (which we had at the hotel) and two hours after lunch. We could ski most of the way down to the hotel or you could get the cage but mostly everyone skied because it was quicker.
After skiing we could go to the town or just stay in the hotel because they were couches, pool table and a foosball table. After dinner there were organised activities such as laser tag in the snow (which we won), Mr Curry's quiz, create a 3D snow scene (which we also won), Musingo (music bingo) and outdoor swimming which only me and 3 others were brave enough to do! The water was freezing! We were also meant to be going ice skating on the last night but it was snowing heavily so we had a snowball fight and got free crepes instead!! One of the nights we went down to the sports centre and did a sort of indoor high ropes course it was really fun. Playing on the net below was more fun than actually doing the course itself! There were ping pong tables there as well where the teacher's competitive nature was unleashed!!
Overall the trip was amazing! I had a wonderful time experiencing skiing in the French Alps it was millions of times better than Fort William! I hope to go back again sometime soon and improve my skiing even more (hint mum and dad!).
By Aoife Tangney
(Exaggeration may have been used a little.)
The hotel Aoife dreamed of staying in!!
Shinty is James' big passion in life and he was captain of the Strathclyde University shinty team last year. His efforts were rewarded during the university sports awards night when he won the prestigious Half Blue Award. There was an awards ceremony which forced James to wear a suit which semed to have worked in attracting the ladies attention ....see photo below.
He also played for the Scottish International University team.
Saturday the 29th of January saw the annual fixture between the Scottish International University shinty teams and the British University Hurling/Camogie teams. The men's match which saw players from Strathclyde, Dundee, Glasgow, Heriot Watt, Napier and RGU, started at a frantic pace with chances being spurned at both ends of the field. The 2nd half saw the Scot's up the pace and begin to move the ball about using the full width of the pitch. This tactic tested the fitness of their Hurling counterparts who struggled to keep up the close tackling which contained the Scots in the 1st half. A final goal by David Fraser and a point by Calum Barton countered a late reply by the Hurlers of their goal and point resulting in the final score being 17-7 to the SUS Men's Team.
April 27 ,James has handed in the two projects after a week of all nighters …..James says he is a” broken man “after the massive effort. 112,000 words and 40% of final year mark. He is now able make us all some Ibuprofen ie Neurofen !
In June James passed his exams and is now a B ENG (Hons) . However he did not graduate until Nov as he did't register in time for the July graduation. Highly organised our James was too busy celebrating after the exams.
No graduation photo as James set off on his world tour in Aug with friend Sam.
First off to Thailand for a month then Bali. Perth Australia in Oct and well looked after by Liz's first cousin Mary who collected the boys from the airport etc.They are now working on a building site 32C in the shade and saving up to go travelling around Australia for a few months. After that who knows and I safely assume that James will eventually make his way back home when the dosh runs out !!
The girls get ready to throw James and Sam into the river Clyde !!
Why do the girls on the right holding Sam look happier than the girls holding James? Especially the blond girl holding James' leg
