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my dearest blog readers, hello. skiing today was very nice, and i think i actually enjoyed it. this morning i went with a ski teacher and a couple other people and i found it not so scary and not so intimidating after all. go figure there! but i must say that the chair lift at the very top of the mountain was the scariest thing of my life! having your feet dangle down while heading up to the top of the giant mountain is quite intimidating. although, i do believe it was also one of the most beautiful (if not THE most beautiful) sights of my life. but the lift was after lunch, before lunch we just did easy stuff which was fine with me. so let me tell you about lunch. we all met at this crazy lodge type place at the bottom of the mountain for lunch and at the end of the day. i had something that i would describe as...a giant hash brown with cheese, bacon, and a fried egg on top. weird eh? but so good. so after lunch we first took a normal (enclosed!) lift up the mountain which ended up stopping leaving us suspended for like five minutes swinging around...didn't enjoy that at all! so after skiing more than enough we met at the crazy bar place again. since we were standing outside my host mom suggested that i drink another warm wine like yesterday but i really didn't feel like it, so the guy behind the bar suggested another warm thing...which was basically like apple cider with some alcohol in it. okay can't complain, haha. eventually we went inside and i finally figured out the definition of "apres ski". basically, its the party after a day of skiing. for me, it was drinking a couple "radlers" (half beer half lemonade..really ridiculous actually), pretending to dance to loud german music, and playing a drinking game. the game was this giant tree stump where you hammer nails into person by person until your nail is all the way in..and the last person to get theirs in buys everyone drinks or something. so after some partying we came to the hotel and had dinner. i came to my room to blog after dinner and sad news awaited me on the computer. a perfectly young, creative and loving friend tragically died in a hiking accident. it's really sad, and i feel beyond horrible for the family. but with faith you can get through anything, and the family is the most faithful and inspirational family i know. my trips to utah won't be the same without his witty comments. so rest in peace josh, you are an inspiration to everyone. becca and i would have never dared to dance in front of the middle school for the student council elections without you leading the way and doing crazy things the year before. thanks for reading guys!