This winter break felt like a dream. Just four days after I had arrived back home in Switzerland, I was on my way to the Alps with my family. Sitting in the car, passing through snow covered villages in the mountains filled me with an immense sense of joy: this was a feeling I had been missing so deeply in Canada. Back in our cottage in the middle of Rueras (a tiny town in the middle of the Alps, with more cows then inhabitants), I put on my snow clothes, grabbed my snowboard and headed to the mountain without even unpacking my suitcase first. The feeling of snowboarding down the slopes for the first time after a whole year is (in my opinion) one of the best feelings in the world. After a couple of runs on the slopes, my brother and I decided to head to our favourite off-piste spot. Hidden behind the slopes on the top of the mountain, barely visible from the skilift is a steep crevice that we love to ski down. The snow was deep since it had been snowing for multiple days in a row now, so we effortlessly slid through it, all the way to the bottom of the mountain just to do it again. This is how we spent the next two weeks of winter break: wake up bright and early, head to the mountain, ski for a few hours, eat a traditional ‘Älplermagronen’ in the only restaurant in the resort, ski more, go home at 5pm and do it all again the following day. Even Christmas Eve was celebrated on the mountain with a celebratory fondue chinois and some night-skiing.
I honestly can’t imagine a better winter break and I am so happy that I was able to spend it back home in Switzerland with my family. I’m very glad to be back in Canada but I already miss the endless days spent in the Alps.