Easter Ski Trip – USA

Forty girls and four teachers, all dressed to match in maroon hoodies, set off to Boston on the 4 April 2009 for what was going to be a magnificent week. 

As you can imagine, we encountered a few stares and countless Americans were interested to know who we were- some wondered if we were a really good softball team?  No, just heading to the ski slopes to show off our skills.  In Boston airport, while some girls were stalking Keith Duffy from Boyzone, a few of us embarrassingly got searched by an aggressive looking sniffer dog as we had brought illegal goods in to America from the UK (a ham sandwich and an apple!).

Back at our hotel that night there were many funny stories circulating, including talk of the whacky ski instructor John!  After dinner the hotels swimming pool and Jacuzzi were crammed with Glenlola girls not as tired as the teachers may have hoped after a hard day skiing.

After a great day on the slopes on Monday, we set off on our cool, yellow, American-style school bus to the highly anticipated shopping mall. Predictably there was a mad rush to Abercrombie and Fitch where some girls were close to spending their university savings!  While most girls had Abercrombie and American Eagle shopping bags, Courtney “the suitcase” Rainey … wandered around Steeple Gate Mall pulling a giant new suitcase which she had bought to replace her broken one.

Wednesday brought new challenges on the slopes, for some that meant black slopes!  There were also many more entertaining moments.  One of the instructors stated, ‘Isn’t it embarrassing when you do stupid stuff where everyone can see you?’ as one group passed Mr McMillan lying on his face in the snow directly under a ski lift.  It is also believed Miss McAuley may have had the most collisions throughout the trip as she was unable to avoid any obstacles within a 10 metre radius!  Mrs Sinnerton enjoyed witnessing her hit trees, sign posts and many large pillars.  Another exhilarating day on the slopes passed and the plan for that night was rock climbing!

While half of the girls explored Wal-Mart, the rock climbing went well with many girls reaching new heights while putting complete trust in their peers who were at the bottom holding that vital rope.  This didn’t work out so well for Amber Davis (or Miss McAuley’s nerves) as she landed on her bottom after her friend had misunderstood the words ‘Don’t Let Go!’

The week continued successfully, including a trip to the bowling alley, and sadly the last day on the slopes arrived.  Some skiers had improved tremendously and others preferred to take it easy, but everyone had had a splendid week.  After a very wet snowball fight, we headed back to our hotel for one final night. 

We spent our last day in Boston, and there were many tears on the flight home (although this was due to the in-flight movie ‘Marley and Me’ which seemed to strike a chord with all the females on the flight).  Everyone from Glenlola Collegiate School was definitely in agreement that the week had been hugely successful and great fun!