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I couldn’t help but crack a smug smile when we walked past the busloads of students leaving the Alps on a 20-hour journey home. We, on the other hand, were on our way bowling! The reason for these somewhat polarized traveling plans was that, thanks to Ernst & Young, we were booked on a flight home this morning.

After giving our room an incredibly dramatic farewell (my suggestion to say goodbye was shot down in flames), we left the snowy mountains and headed for nature’s second most beautiful phenomenon, the airport. After approximately 550 miles, we arrived back in London. Happy to be home, we cracked out the laptops and got back to work – time to let the rest of the world know about BuyMyFace.com.

Today was our final day of skiing.  During this holiday, Ross had hurt his knee*, Pete had twisted his leg**, and Parin was a mess too*** – that left just me and Sam H-T from our apartment to brave the slopes and attempt the not-yet-completed 360.  Half an hour and 310 degrees later, I’d smashed my derriere into a rock, so it was time to go home and form the Ernst & Young bowling team.  Score.

*don’t tell his girlfriend

** he was rushed to hospital in a meat wagon

*** had to be carried 2 miles home – we weren’t going to pay 200 Euros for a skidoo!

Go Team!

Today was the Cambridge vs. Oxford blues slalom race. Seeing as Ed and I are both heavily loyal to our team (whatever they’re called), we took a trip down to support Cambridge and of course, hand out some Ernst and Young jellybeans.

After the fun had ended, we decided to take advantage of the sunshine by shooting some videos of us attempting jumps that required far more skill than any of us actually had. We all got pretty hurt and so naturally, we did the sensible thing of coming back to the apartment, having a bath, and generally taking it easy… only joking, we ate a lot of crisps and then went out to the Varsity Final Night Party! Wooh! *cough* Ouch that hurt.

Today was a white-out – having had ski slopes closed due to lack of snow, they were now closed due to too much snow!  On the plus, we decided to catch up on the sleep we’d been missing from continual ski -> party -> ski -> party.  We woke a little later than usual in our crumb-filled bed to the familiar sound of our housemate, Sam H-T, riffling through the cupboards for breakfast.  He had bad news.

Sam H-T: The pain au chocolat is gone!  The pain au chocolat is gone!

Our daily breakfast delivery was not there today… perhaps the lie-in had cost us dearly – pain au chocolat that tasty will not last outside your apartment door when there are thousands of hungry students about.

Slightly upset, we grabbed the peanut butter from its place under the table, along with the Ernst and Young jellybeans and cheeseburger flavoured crisps to sit back and watch french-dubbed japanese cartoons on TV.  At this point we realised room 306 was a mess!  To solve this problem, we picked up our ski boots from the pile of floor towels* and hit the ski slopes – ahhhh – outside is tidy.

*floor towel refers to a normal towel that has, at some point, fallen onto the floor.  Since then, this towel has been used as a mop.  Room 306 has a lot of floor towels.

LOL

After spending the day shielding our faces from the now oncoming blizzards, and sitting on the side of the piste staring at jumps we were never going to attempt, Ed and I felt like doing something a bit different. Funnily enough, Ernst and Young had fixed us up with tickets to a comedy show.

The view from the back of the room was pretty good, and we managed to make it through the two-hour show without catching the attention of the professionals whose living it is to make fun of others. Inspired by the comedy, I went straight back to the apartment to write this blog post…

Having eaten our freshly baked pain au chocolat this morning, we opened the door to the outside fridge-balcony to discover our orange juice was buried with snow!  Not only did this give us perfectly chilled orange juice – it capped the ice and rocks of Val Thorens with just enough snow to open up some more slopes.

In the evening, we skied down to the mountainside restaurant for a meat fondu, along with hundreds of other students:

Meat: 9/10

Other food: 1/10 (vegetarian option was a few leaves)

Queue length: 10/10 (very long indeed)

The reinforcements are here! Last night, the remaining students arrived by the bus-load, bringing with them the smell of an 18-hour journey. With a scowl and a huff, most people went straight to bed leaving the resort as it has been for the last few days. But all that’s changed now.

Today, we spent most of our time trying to avoid the hoards of people weaving their way down the slopes, and the rest queuing for a chairlift to take us back up the mountain again. Finally, at 4pm we said enough was enough, and headed back to our apartment to get ready for the opening night party. As always, Ed and I had to strike the perfect balance between suave, sharp and sexy, so we filled a backpack with promotional jellybeans, threw on our bright yellow hoodies and stretched out our groove muscles.

Now as far as party venues go, the French Alps are pretty damn good! We laughed, we cried, and amongst all this, we managed to make a lot of new friends who thought what we’re doing is fantastic. Tired, jellybean-less and with our egos sufficiently boosted, we skated back to the apartment ready for our next day of advertising.