On the 24th February a group of 20 girls, Miss Irvine and Miss Mateer went to Brentonico in Italy for a week of skiing and super fun in the snow. The first drama occurred at the airport at 4.30 am when each girl must have thought they were going away for a month instead of a week, carrying up to 30 kilos of luggage when we had a strict limit of 15kilos per person. This was quite funny as we got to see Linzie McNarry unpack half her suitcase to put in everyone else’s and also to see some of the parents taking home many of the girls clothes. Without a doubt this was the first stressful moment for Miss Irvine and we had not even left the country yet.
Once we finally arrived in Brentonico we experienced our 1st visit to a real Italian Pizzeria. This was the first chance for Miss Mateer to show off and practice her Italian ending up with an ice tea cold drink instead of a hot relaxing cup of tea and with Miss Irvine’s doll size cup of coffee!
The first day of skiing, everyone was up bright and early at 7.00am with excitement to hit the slopes. We were split into two groups, the beginner group who were taught by Chichelia and the advanced group lead by the fabulous AgustoThe beginners found it very challenging and they spent more time in a tangle with each other than they did skiing. Lauren Bickerstaff especially lost control and went
flying down the mountain at a very fast speed but luckily she got up in one piece and found the funny side of it!
As an extra, during the week the advanced group had the opportunity to go snowboarding. This was very exciting and all seven girls couldn’t wait to have a lesson with quite a good-looking instructor, David. This group was made up of the advanced skiers, Robyn Beattie, Linzie McNarry, Lauren Hall, Lauren Mearns, Erin Coates and Rachel Glenn. We all had such a laugh trying to stand on the snowboards and keep our balance. To be honest we were on our behinds more times than on our feet! We tried to learn the inside and outside turns on the snowboards but instead took a few tumbles down the hill and ended up with very wet behinds!
At the end of the week we all had a test to do. The ski instructors set up poles and flags that we had to ski round. Each girl was timed and the 3 fastest girls received a medal. From the beginner group we had Alyssa Shaw in 3rd place, Shannon McKelvey in 2nd place and Megan McDermott in 1st place. From the advanced group we had Lauren Mearns in 3rd place, Robyn Beattie in 2nd place and Linzie McNarry in 1st place. Everyone skied very well and each girl was awarded a badge for their hard work.
At nights there were various activities organised for us such as a table quiz, DVD’s, tobogganing and many more. We were challenged with a village quiz and there was some cheating going on between the groups as there were many Italian boys helping the girls out! We had a Karaoke night where we had fabulous appearance from Miss Irvine with her Strictly Come Dancing moves! We also went to the Youth Club with Our Lady of Mercy Girls and had some fun there playing pool, table tennis and fuse ball.
The second major drama was when Karla had a tumble on the slopes when we were tobogganing. She hurt her back and ended up in hospital, but to be honest we think Miss Mateer bribed her with money to hurt herself so that she could eye up the Italian doctors! Even though she spent half the holiday in hospital she was glad that she still had the opportunity to ski and receive a badge.
Overall the ski trip was a great holiday and every girl had many laughs and really enjoyed the week away. There are so many memories the girls brought back that will keep us all laughing forever and also many Italian words and phrases.
The girls would just like to say a big Thank-you to Miss Irvine and Miss Mateer for making the holiday such an enjoyable time, you were super and a lot of fun.
