Skiing for the first time!

For Fall break I was trying to plan some sort of big trip, but in the end I didn't plan anything because I ran out of time. And that's when Paul saved the day by inviting me to go and visit his parents with him and Joelle. There was also talk of skiing, but we weren't sure about the weather. The first day we just relaxed and went to the ruins of this old castle near his house. It was really neat to see because nothing like that exists in the United States. He said that he used to play around it when he was a kid, which would have been awesome.

The next day we went skiing. It took us about 2 hours to drive there, and I slept in the car both ways because I was so tired. The night before, Joelle was given and early Christmas present of skis and boots by Paul's parents, but I had to rent them. After putting on the boots, the first thing that I learned was that skiing hurts. Really hurts! For the first half of the day I could barely walk, and I kept having to take breaks to take of the boots and let my feet rest. Paul had taken me and Joelle to a beginner slope where we didn't have to pay for a lift ticket, while his parents went on the regular slopes.

When we met for lunch, I went back to the store to see if I could trade boots, but they told me that all boots would feel the same. (Not really true.) I was also told that because I wasn't wearing ski socks, it would hurt much more. This was VERY true. They conveniently sold me a pair of socks for 25 euros, and the second half of the day was much better.

The next day we headed into Graz and saw some pretty cool sights. Check out the pictures below! Or go here to see bigger pictures.