Ski
Trip 2002
School ski-trip Diary
23rd
March
On
our last day in Austria I got up and packed my remaining stuff
up. I went downstairs and ate breakfast there for the last time,
and was ready for when we caught a bus into town to buy presents.
Ehwald, though small, had always reminded me of Adare, not because
they looked in any way similar, but in that they were both done
up for the benefit of tourists, and as such there were quite a
few shops there where you could buy presents. However, I preferred
to go into the local shop/Supermarket, along with most of the
other lads, and try to buy some genuinely foreign goods to bring
home. Needless to say, being in a Germanic country (I don't care
what the Austrians say) we all mostly came home with highly Alcohlic
drinks, in my case a bottle of Schnapps (37.5%) and a bottle of
Blaufrankish wine. The other commodity that everyone was sure
to have was Chocolate. If there is one thing the Germans, Austrians
and Swiss have right, it's chocolate. All countries should have
Milka as their true currency, I think anyway. I bought nine huge
750g bars of pure, alpine milk chocolate home, for only 18 Euros.
You couldn't get a Milka Easter bunny for much less here! We finished
our shopping (I bought a sixth film only to find out my battery
had run out) and returned to the hotel for final goodbyes.
It was sad to see your former room being cleaned out and all 27kg
of your luggage dumped at the front door. We took our last sights
of the Alpenhotel, Ehrwald, threw our last snowball at people,
(mostly the teachers) and boarded the bus. We were all pretty
sad at the end of the holiday, although I would say some of us
were looking forward to seeing friends and family again. I think
everyone enjoyed the Ski Trip.
It took even longer to get to Salzburg Airport than before because
there were huge traffic jams at several points on the Autobahn.
We listened to music and messed around, Gordon and Robin repeated
the phrase "No shaggin' way!" at least five hundred
times, and I found the enlightenment preached about by the Buddha
by visualising strangling Gordon and Robin.
At Salzburg Airport, we waited around for a while, some of us
displaying proudly the Tricolour to bewildered Austrians, and
others, like me, buying overpriced key-rings or laughing at friends
buying Milka Bars for twice the normal price. We boarded the plane
and took our last sights of Austria before enduring a two hour
long journey with Ryan Air. If any readers of this article have
heard any allegations of a breach in my moral conduct during the
journey, its all lies. Plus I was really tired and not aware at
all of what I did or allegedly did. We arrived back home in Ireland
in the dark, said goodbye to those, like Anna Sheane who were
getting off in Dublin, and proceeded down, wrecked to Limerick
and home. Peter Bagnell informed me that the Bottle of Blaufrankish
wine that I had asked him to carry for me, had been broken when
he kissed the ground on emerging from the Airplane. I casually
swore to avenge said bottle of Blaufrankish wine at a later date.
When we reached Limerick and said our goodbyes, remember feeling
totally tired, but also absolutely gob-smacked that the long-awaited
for and anticipated Ski Trip had come, happened, and gone. I loved
the skiing, I loved the crack and I loved the people. I would
recommend going on a school ski trip to anyone who is thinking
about it. Thank you very much to everyone who organised or participated
in it, for making a truly brilliant experience and great fun.
Shane
Sibbel.
