I'm not too sure on how the international timeline works, but spending my 22nd birthday in the air between Los Angeles and Sydney on a plane by myself doesn't sound too enticing. It is because of this fact that I have decided to come back to Panorama for at least another month and a bit after I finish the road trip I have planned that kicks off in under two weeks. Whether I have enough money to stay and snowboard until February remains a mystery. Although it would be nice it would be tres dissapointing to be stuck in Canada without a flight home making no money and missing out on my third year of University and coincidentally forfeiting the last two completed years.
Aside from all of this, the last few weeks of the summer at Panorama are ending a little differently to the ones that closed the winter. I don't know whether it's because it's a lot of Canadian Uni students and they haven't yet figured the travelling vibe, but a lot of people are deciding to wallow in sadness rather than enjoy the time we have left. The truth is there are a lot of people I have met in the summer (not unlike the winter) that, odds are, I will never see again. The more I be sad about it now, the more it may or may not haunt my emotions for a long time to come. The way I see it, if I'm happy when I leave and stoked about the gnarly time I had with these people, I'll just be satisfied that I made the most of it and know that wherever they are they'll be friends for life whether I see them again or not.
After I leave here, I hitch a ride with some friends to Vancouver Island to meet up with the boys, Brad and Alex, to watch them ride out the last week of work before starting our road trip. Between now and then, are the In Between Days I speak of in the title. The days spent waiting, trying to hold onto money and (probably) dwelling on the last three months and letting the fact that all my friends from summer have dissapeared from my life (hopefully for the time being) bascially sink in.
Majority of the time, this trip has been filled with amazing times both chill and intense fun. But it's these transitional periods that really put you through the test. Like the immortal Pat Salmon would say; it's character building.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
I Live A Life Of Courage (Pictures to come)
So you've heard about all the partying we've been doing during the summer season. I figured I should paint a seperate, less wasteful portrait for those of you who are following my blog thinking exactly what I thought when I pictured a contiki tour; which was something along the lines of 'Why would you spend your entire time overseas drinking and not remembering stuff when you could do that at home'. So before I make my parents think I've turned into an alcoholic, I feel there's a side to the summer I haven't spoke of that is slightly less traumatic to my head the following day.
Life at a "Ski Resort" in the summer is actually a lot crazier than I expected it to be. I wasn't too interested in any of the activities as I was more concerned about saving money for the road trip that begins in two weeks down the west coast of the United States. Despite this, I still have got amongst it and participated in all that Panorama has to offer in the Summertime, whilst (as my last blog will tell you) consolidated myself as the official party liason for the staff. All my outdoor recreation stuff has come in the last month though. Two thursdays ago I went downhill mountain biking for the first time and man it was crazy. No serious falls although it was a sketchy ride everytime, not just your casual cruise through the mountains. These are serious downhill tracks about as narrow as your body width plus a few centimetres, just enough to get your bike through at a speed, and some sections are near 75 degree drops. In the winter these would be great but on a bike with nothing but dirt, rocks, logs and trees everywhere its an intense experience.
Following a day of hectic riding, we rushed home and got dressed very classy to go to the Greywolf Golfcourse and play a round of 9 holes with Benny "Effin" Meyers and Percy. It was an amazing course, with all three of us more concerned with the scenery and being idiots than actually playing golf itself, this due mainly to the fact we were just stoked to only pay $20 to play 9 holes on the second best golf course in British Columbia; one which costs regular guests $170 to play a round of 18. We snuck in some beers and got free buggys to drive around which made the afternoon pretty sweet, finishing a collective plus 3 on the front nine (we played best ball and team score to rush things along due to a 15 minute time limit per hole).
The week following, Alana, Stew, Joey and myself all went to Lake Louise and Banff to check it out. We hired canoes and cruised around the lake in the best weather for at least an hour and had heaps of fun just taking pictures and being at the place; it's truly amazing. It was great just to be in Banff again around the sweet little shops and bars; buy some new clothes, have some dinner and go see a movie. Like everyone says literally anytime they leave Panorama for a day; "It's just good to get out of Panorama" (made famous by Jackie when she said it just going to the grocery store in Invermere, 15 minutes away).
Apart from all that outdoor activities we put our bodies and minds to the test last Friday in the first ever Staff Accomm scavenger hunt organised by yours truly, which for me, was probably the best night of the summer. Leading up to it, once again there was some hype amongst the bosses that it was going to get out of hand and Panorama once again tried to shut it down. But we pulled the secret together pretty well and it went off without a hitch. We all met on the grass outside staff accomm around 7:30 where myself and Spence handed out all the "Top Secret" (Not) envelopes with the challenge lists and goodies for the tasks. We had 5 teams of 5 consisting of the Red Team (Mine), Blue Team, Green Team, Black Team and Pink Team. After explaining the rules we went back to our bases and as soon as the hunt began it was the best kind of mayhem.
At 8:30 I ran around the house sounding the air horn for the beginning of the hunt. Some of the best things we checked off the list was riding the staff accomm stairs, finishing a naughty number, kissing a cougar, doing a pre school piss, performing an urban rodeo and attempting to ride "Bike Mike" like a bike. Basically everyone got almost completely naked for the first hour and did a crapload of stunts. As the sun went down we headed into the village to do some of the other stunts such as jump the fence at jackpine, a shot of water from the tank of a toilet, climb the adventure centre tee-pee, take a hobo shower in a pond outside great hall and throw a member of your team over the volleyball net. This was my favourite part of the night as all the teams coincidentally met up for the same tasks and there were big wars and yelling and fun between all the crews.
Once into the bar the mountain resort manager (basically EVERYONE's boss) was in there so we calmed down for a bit. But once he left the drinking continued and overall it was one of the best nights all summer. We got some great footage and pictures and got some hardcore dancing on; with the red team winning best choreographed group dance to the music of Bloodhound Gang. I also found out that bluntly being a complete asshole to girls works and am quite dissapointed that I haven't mastered the art yet. No specifics are going to be given as this is a public blog. Anyways, we all got together in the common room the next night and went through all the awesome footage that each team got; it was an intense experience recapping shenanigans of the highest calibur (class the night up a bit).
But I am determined to lay low for the next two weeks before I leave Panorama to save some money; a task in which I have been terrible at since coming back in May. Nevertheless I will make do because I want to make the most of my last month and a bit away from real life. Basically I am sitting in my room at the moment listening to Owl City (only one person knows about my intense connection to owl city and moments of reflection and can appreciate actually how narly this session is). Thinking about leaving is just making me feel about as lost as I felt before I came here and my first week of fun and confusion in a new country; but considering what came after that time I can't help but feel excited about what else is to come once back home. I definately have changed a lot and for the better from being over here and I intend to bring my new self back to Australia to experience everything I can and make the most out of my incredible life.
"Let your hopes go and they'll survive, Cause this is the future and you are alive" - Owl City.
Life at a "Ski Resort" in the summer is actually a lot crazier than I expected it to be. I wasn't too interested in any of the activities as I was more concerned about saving money for the road trip that begins in two weeks down the west coast of the United States. Despite this, I still have got amongst it and participated in all that Panorama has to offer in the Summertime, whilst (as my last blog will tell you) consolidated myself as the official party liason for the staff. All my outdoor recreation stuff has come in the last month though. Two thursdays ago I went downhill mountain biking for the first time and man it was crazy. No serious falls although it was a sketchy ride everytime, not just your casual cruise through the mountains. These are serious downhill tracks about as narrow as your body width plus a few centimetres, just enough to get your bike through at a speed, and some sections are near 75 degree drops. In the winter these would be great but on a bike with nothing but dirt, rocks, logs and trees everywhere its an intense experience.
Following a day of hectic riding, we rushed home and got dressed very classy to go to the Greywolf Golfcourse and play a round of 9 holes with Benny "Effin" Meyers and Percy. It was an amazing course, with all three of us more concerned with the scenery and being idiots than actually playing golf itself, this due mainly to the fact we were just stoked to only pay $20 to play 9 holes on the second best golf course in British Columbia; one which costs regular guests $170 to play a round of 18. We snuck in some beers and got free buggys to drive around which made the afternoon pretty sweet, finishing a collective plus 3 on the front nine (we played best ball and team score to rush things along due to a 15 minute time limit per hole).
The week following, Alana, Stew, Joey and myself all went to Lake Louise and Banff to check it out. We hired canoes and cruised around the lake in the best weather for at least an hour and had heaps of fun just taking pictures and being at the place; it's truly amazing. It was great just to be in Banff again around the sweet little shops and bars; buy some new clothes, have some dinner and go see a movie. Like everyone says literally anytime they leave Panorama for a day; "It's just good to get out of Panorama" (made famous by Jackie when she said it just going to the grocery store in Invermere, 15 minutes away).
Apart from all that outdoor activities we put our bodies and minds to the test last Friday in the first ever Staff Accomm scavenger hunt organised by yours truly, which for me, was probably the best night of the summer. Leading up to it, once again there was some hype amongst the bosses that it was going to get out of hand and Panorama once again tried to shut it down. But we pulled the secret together pretty well and it went off without a hitch. We all met on the grass outside staff accomm around 7:30 where myself and Spence handed out all the "Top Secret" (Not) envelopes with the challenge lists and goodies for the tasks. We had 5 teams of 5 consisting of the Red Team (Mine), Blue Team, Green Team, Black Team and Pink Team. After explaining the rules we went back to our bases and as soon as the hunt began it was the best kind of mayhem.
At 8:30 I ran around the house sounding the air horn for the beginning of the hunt. Some of the best things we checked off the list was riding the staff accomm stairs, finishing a naughty number, kissing a cougar, doing a pre school piss, performing an urban rodeo and attempting to ride "Bike Mike" like a bike. Basically everyone got almost completely naked for the first hour and did a crapload of stunts. As the sun went down we headed into the village to do some of the other stunts such as jump the fence at jackpine, a shot of water from the tank of a toilet, climb the adventure centre tee-pee, take a hobo shower in a pond outside great hall and throw a member of your team over the volleyball net. This was my favourite part of the night as all the teams coincidentally met up for the same tasks and there were big wars and yelling and fun between all the crews.
Once into the bar the mountain resort manager (basically EVERYONE's boss) was in there so we calmed down for a bit. But once he left the drinking continued and overall it was one of the best nights all summer. We got some great footage and pictures and got some hardcore dancing on; with the red team winning best choreographed group dance to the music of Bloodhound Gang. I also found out that bluntly being a complete asshole to girls works and am quite dissapointed that I haven't mastered the art yet. No specifics are going to be given as this is a public blog. Anyways, we all got together in the common room the next night and went through all the awesome footage that each team got; it was an intense experience recapping shenanigans of the highest calibur (class the night up a bit).
But I am determined to lay low for the next two weeks before I leave Panorama to save some money; a task in which I have been terrible at since coming back in May. Nevertheless I will make do because I want to make the most of my last month and a bit away from real life. Basically I am sitting in my room at the moment listening to Owl City (only one person knows about my intense connection to owl city and moments of reflection and can appreciate actually how narly this session is). Thinking about leaving is just making me feel about as lost as I felt before I came here and my first week of fun and confusion in a new country; but considering what came after that time I can't help but feel excited about what else is to come once back home. I definately have changed a lot and for the better from being over here and I intend to bring my new self back to Australia to experience everything I can and make the most out of my incredible life.
"Let your hopes go and they'll survive, Cause this is the future and you are alive" - Owl City.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
