So when I left you last, we were in the hostel, about to head off skiing the next day! We woke up very early (in fact extra early due to Steph forgetting her phone is set 10 minutes fast), and after a breakfast got on the bus to Sunshine with lots of other sleepy looking powder obsessed people! I think my grin was actually reaching insane levels by the time we arrived at Sunshine. In the queue for our lift passes we got given free hot chocolate - I really do love Canadian hospitality! It was greatly appreciated, but in no time at all we had our lift passes and were in the gondola! When we reached Sunshine base camp, me and Steph had great fun attempting to teach Sarah to ski...however, we were perhaps not as successful as we had envisioned and she ended up booking a lesson for that afternoon which left me and Steph to go off so she could show me her improved ski skills! I have to say I was impressed at just how much better she had got! The runs were lovely, and full of fresh snow! So much fun! While Steph did have a bit of a freak out on one run because she saw mountain edges everywhere (there were no mountain edges anywhere, there were slightly steeper bits of the slope) no one got injured at all, which I count as a highly successful skiing day! Even Sarah got down a green with her instructor!
That evening we had been planning on heading to Banff city centre, but were so sleepy we ate in the hostel and then went to the hostel bar to bring in the New Year. The countdown started two minutes early, but considering we'd said Happy New Year to each other at 5pm (UK midnight) we weren't too fussed. Met some lovely Canadians and spent ages chatting to them (and looking after the slightly drunker member of their group!) The next day we went to the Elk and Oarsmen for brunch, love that restaurant! Ended up eating a lot of food and revelling in the gorgeous sunshine that there was. Then we headed up to sulphur mountain to soak our skiing aches away in the hot springs - it was very different from the last time I was there, the steam basically made it impossible to see anything, but it was truly gorgeous! Unfortunately lack of hair dryer kind of made my hair freeze afterwards, oddest feeling ever. We then went back to the hostel to grab our bags before heading for the greyhound. It was a bit of a military operation with some very well planned bus changes. Then came the waiting for the greyhound. We took shifts going to the nearby Timmies in order to warm up, as typically the shelter was shut and it was -20 something. Not pleasant at all. But it was nice and warm when it arrived and before long we were back in Calgary.
During the rest of Sarah's stay, I attempted to show the best parts of Calgary. Luckily we had a chinook so things were warm, but she still got excited at the sight of snow on the ground! We went up the Calgary tower both during sunset then also after night, and also walked around the Bow River (truly stunning at sunset, especially with the chinook clouds). We also went to Hitment vs Moose Jaw Warriors, and we won! VERY exciting. Plus we had a meal out at the Ship (everyone loves the Ship and Anchor, such good value)! As well as all that we watched a lot of rom coms, ate some great food, and went to the first proper Cascade party of 2013 (which even though term hadn't started got shut down by the CAs, spoil sports! Luckily Brewster CAs seemed much more accommodating so we carried on the party there)!
The room of my floor looked very empty without the mattress which Sarah had been sleeping on but the day after she left was the start of classes so pretty hectic. Unfortunately none of my profs seemed to understand that the first day back should be a gentle introduction, and all gave very long lectures - one of them even over ran! Ridiculous! The course I'm taking this semester are Syntactic Analysis (the higher level of the syntax class I took last semester), Speech Language Pathology (basically speech therapy, very interesting), Second Language Acquisition and Semantics. They all seem to be a lot of work (and the textbooks cost ridiculous amounts) but ah well, such is life! Apart from uni work I've also got a job at the theatre on campus. It's great fun, everyone who I work with is absolutely lovely and we seem to get paid for not doing much which is good!
Having people slowly return to Calgary has been lovely, so nice seeing people again (even though it's sad that some people aren't here). Since people have got back we've watched a few movies, had a few nights out (although not actually made it out, the queue for the Den was just too long) and generally had a lovely time catching up. There has also been about a foot and a half of snow (we laugh at the measly snow which is terrorising England!) Also as per most New Years Resolution-y people I've been hitting the gym with renewed vigour, and today did a brutal zumba class! Last night, Steph, me and Kate went to Original Joes and indulged in a lot of very good food and half price wine, lovely!
I think that's all I need to update you on, I'm probably missing something, but that'll teach me for leaving it so long in between blogs! Sure I will have more to update you on soon!
Skiing Pros
Sunshine in the Rockies
Sunset from Calgary Tower
Hitmen win
Excited to be back to Cascade parties!
