My first time to Switzerland I was 18, traveling around Europe with two good friends. During the countless hours of planning for this first trip, I came about the idea to visit Zermatt. What more could I have wanted at the time; a mega Euro resort with summer skiing, a charming Swiss village tucked away in the mountains, and a comfy train to use our rail passes to get there. A memory from this trip that will soon not fade in my mind is the morning of July 5th, 2005 when Me, Colin, and Justin were 13,000 high above Zermatt on the border of Italy skiing in about 6 inches of fresh snow on the glacier(Yes in July it snowed). I simply couldn't contain my astonishment and phoned home to my dad at 3AM (his time). The call was quick and simple, but was along the lines of "WE HAVE TO COME BACK HERE IN THE WINTER". Thats all I remember from the call, but it must have sounded as genuine as I felt saying it, because we headed back that March for a week of skiing, hitting the weather perfectly. Our plane landed the day after 100cm(3 feet) of snow fell in the mountains. Priceless...
For my trip this year, it has been so long, literally hundreds of hours of researching, chatting, posting on forums, and planning to make it happen. I can honestly say I am not moving amongst the highest alps of France, on a hunch. I am actually more sure of this decision than I have been of countless other things over the past few months! I remember opening 'Ski' magazine when I was ~13 years old and reading the Resort Guides for the alps of Europe. I would immerse myself in the statistics of the resorts and it would simply blow my mind even at that young age: Stats like a 7,000 foot elevation changes from the small villages to the grand summits, or 300 miles of trails with thousands of acres of terrain, and then an absurd 350 lifts scattered about ONE domain to move you from village to village. These little facts are what started my obsession. Pic: The Matterhorn on the right, with a summit of ~14,000 feet, and valley elevation ~5000 feet.
This obsession I am refering to grew even more when I returned to "Study" 2 winters ago in the small village of Leysin. I wasn't as lucky with the snow(It was their worst snow year in 30+ years) but somehow I grew even more keen to the culture that exist amongst these mountains. Another spark that has turned into somewhat of a fire is my desire to learn the language. There is something about when your surrounding friends speak 3+ languages fluently and you can barely handle your own... The pic on the right is off my balcony after a snowfall from where I lived in Leysin. You knew it was going to be a good day when you woke up to that.
Fast forwarding to the present day, I have had an unweilding itch to return to these mountains. The only thing that kept me from coming back last winter was that green stuff (Money) yea kind of a big deal...haha.
Cutting the long story short of how I ended up in Bourg St. Maurice in France, I will give you the short of what this region of France has to offer as I am imagining it from all my research. Hopefully some of this will entice you to check out the pics to come, and may be the final push for those of you considering flying out for a week or two of skiing: The pic on the left is the studio I will be living in, the total area is probably smaller than my bedroom in Chico last semester~
Bourg is a small town with a population under 10,000. Although its obviously a popular spot for tourists, what attracted me to it, is that it is a proper French village and not a resort that closes down for the summer. It has a supermarket with normal prices, shops 
that cater for everyday things and not just tourists and "local" pubs, where "local" people go. I am living in a studio with one Scottish girl 24 years old, and a couple from england 26 years old. The studio will be ~5-10minute walk from the funicular in town, which in turn shoots you onto the mountain of LES ARCS in 7 minutes. The Vanois Express Tram connects Les Arcs to La Plagne and creates the Paradiski Ski Area. The 425km area opens three glaciers and two summits above 3,000meters. There are 232 pistes with 175 lifts. The Paradiski Area is the worlds second largest ski resort. I shouldn't be getting bored any time soon ... Check out the trail-map on the right, you can see Bourg St Maurice on the bottom left of the map on the valley floor, this is where I will be living.
I think one of the biggest things with traveling is the inability to portray your experiences with friends and family back home. It seems like pictures and words only go so far. I know I will continually be saying "yea its amazing, its beautiful, its so fun, the people are amazing (hopefully), the mountains are so big, the snow was so good, etc. but this will never be the same as being here. I hope through this page I can converge my experiences and life to you through pictures and text, and I really hope I will have internet to skype every once and a while. A few ending notes for my posts here over the next few months:
All pics can be clicked on to enlarge for a better resolution.
EVERY SINGLE PICTURE on this blog will have been taken by me.
Comments can be left at the end of posts, and will truly make my day if some are left!
You can always email me: JamieSchwab@gmail.com
Check out my ETSY SHOP to purchase prints of my favorite pics.
And Lastly, check out my FACEBOOK for even more photos, not so many scenics as on here, but more 'candid' shots.
I am looking forward to the next ~6 months of living my dream, skiing every day, learning french, and seeing what the time beyond the winter months has to offer. I will do my best to keep in touch. I will be looking for work here so wish me luck in that regard! Please pray for my safety while I am here in these massive mountains, and don't hesitate to shoot me a message.
