Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria

Snow, snow and more snow! A completely fantastic week of snowboarding, making friends, après ski, snowball fights, dancing to German tunes and just having an absolutely fun-filled time!


On Friday the 24th of February at 8pm in the chilly evening I joined a group of about 30 youngsters from ATC on a trip to Saalbach-Hinterglemm in Austria. Dennis and Marijke our 'buddies' at ATC were on the trip which was great as I got to know them alot better. The trip took 14 hours right through the night. I was positively exhausted from my first week in a new country, so sleeping on the bus wasn't the usual challenge. I managed to overcome: the clambering over chairs, singing that was really trying hard to sound like screeching and incessant giggling of Dutch teenagers. But I made it, and soon found out who I would be rooming with for the week.
Thomas, Max and Olivier who can be described in three words: Fantastic Mad Dutchmen!
I really got on well with them as did they with me. Within minutes of our arrival our room looked like a nuclear waste plant. So I felt at home ;)
Getting to know the rest of the group took time, which was luckily on my side. I found them loads of fun to be with and easy to fit in. I am sure that I made some great friends over this past week.


Back to my day of arrival and I was just as tired as when we had departed the night before. It seems when you are 1,9m tall, sleeping in a chair designed for Napoleon Bonaparte doesn't give you rest but instead back, neck and spine pain mixed with cramp in your legs from lack of movement and of course the sleeping bollocks which hinders walking. Enough about the negative aspects as they were completely forgotten once the fun started.

For the rest of the first day we just tried on our snowboarding and ski boots and got our rooms sorted or in my case unsorted. Jody as well as 3 others on the trip needed skiing lessons so Dennis planned to take those who needed into town. He failed to mention what sort of path we would be taking and the hostel we were staying at was halfway up a slope with one road down, or so I thought. We went down a single track path which was under a meter of snow! Getting down took a while. Then I got some sleep in... wait for it, a bed that was too small for me! While other students went to town or bought a day pass to go skiing.

The Sunday morning, our first day on the slopes was cold, overcast and snowy but that meant that the snow on the mountain was plentiful. Falling has never been so much fun. Landing in the fresh powder was great especially seeing that was where I spent most of my time on the first day! But I soon got back my long forgotten and dusty snow legs and I was speeding down the many slopes that Saalbach and Hinterglemm have to offer. Keeping up with all the students who had a lot more experience than me was not as hard as I thought it would be. Which was a relief! The weather stayed pretty much the same until the Wednesday when the sun and blue sky started to break down the clouds. And on the Thursday and Friday the sky's were utterly clear and the views on the mountain tops where absolutely magical. Snowboarding is and will be for a very long time one of the top most enjoyable things for me to do.










The good news was the fun didn't stop on the slopes! Every night the students would go out to a club in the town, and I'm not over exaggerating by saying every night. It really happened. The generic meaning for 'mad' was not the only reason I chose to use it to describe my roommates. MAD as in 'Mutually Assured Destruction' was more what I was going for. And this goes for the group not just my roommates. They quite literally party till they drop. How they lasted the week I don't know but my less hardened body only managed 3 nights which were very memorable! (In a good way!) Especially our last night out which was dress-up night. The theme: Swap sex and/or Animals. So naturally I went as a cross-dressing bunny! Loads of fun.



By the end of the week I was more shattered than ever before. And although I was sad to be leaving I was looking forward to catching up on sleep and finding that thing called peace and his buddy quite.

I want to thank ATC and atscholen for this great opportunity, I was much appreciated. And then to Dennis, Marijke and the other staff a big thanks too for always being willing to help out. And most importantly thank you to all my new friends at ATC, you're great and I will never forget this trip!

HÄÄÄÄNDIG!