The Law Faculty Ski Trip

Aaah, the ski trip... how my body aches. I managed to finish packing, grabbed 2 hours' kip and make it to the bus on time (always a feat!) for 7.30 am and then I was out like a light for the entire journey to Hakuba. Boy, I was tired.

No rest once we'd arrived, it was pretty much a case of 'here are your skis, lets hit the slopes'. The efficiency was staggering; everybody was already assigned to a ski group, with ski instructor, all the right equipment, ski pass and lunch money ready. A happy marriage of Japanese's penchance for order and a no faffing policy of the lawyers.

Now, learning to ski entirely in Japanese is certainly interesting! Our instructor would go into lengthy explanations of various techniques and dispense a plethora of advice relating to our performance, he was incredibly enthusiastic and patient, though all his words were lost on me. Par the word, 'Relaaaax', which he would call out while trying to encourage me to stop looking completely petrified. Thats what you'll get if you mix a girl who's terrified of heights with a very steep slope and an inability to stop properly. Looking back, it was hysterical. There I was at the top of the slope trying to make my way down going from side to side except I hadn't quite mastered turning properly so I pretty much went straight down gathering speed as I go. I am thinking all sorts of obscenities, cursing my own stupidity for ever putting on skis in the first place while trying to bend my knees and making an inverted V with my skis. Still no luck, I wasn't slowing down, in fact I was going faster and faster....aaaarghhhh! I sounded like a Hugh Grant movie...'F*ck, bugger, oh f*ck'. In the end, I decided the only way I could stop was to fall over so I crashed, tumbled, rolled a few times and finally came to a stop.

'Tan-san!!! Daijoubu desu ka"
"Daijoubu yo!"

I was laughing so much I could barely get up.