Two years ago my dad brought up the idea of going skiing/snowboarding so my brother, dad, and I decided to go. It was an experience like none other. I've only went maybe a dozen times so I still have a lot to learn and have a long ways to go until I can ski the black diamonds, but the one thing I know for sure is that my favorite part of skiing is the people you meet.
Most of the time you meet new people on the ski lift or in the lodge. At first you might not feel comfortable talking to people, but what's the worst that can happen? They ignore you and you move on. I was shy person myself but have come out of my shell over the years. It's definitely led me to learning more about people and the world.
Just two weekends ago I went to Whitetail Ski Resort near Greencastle, PA. This resort is popular for it's close proximity to Washington D.C. and the Maryland border, so there is a variety of people that will come up for the day on weekends. Well when I was there the first person I met was someone that moved to the U.S. from Israel 3 years ago. He said it was his first time skiing and that he could never do so in Israel because the very few (and rare) times it snowed on the mountain(s) everyone would flock there and it would be too overcrowded. I never even knew that there are some rare times people could ski in Israel!
Another person I met that day was a man who worked at the resort. He was an older man that has been skiing for years, but he was talking about his experiences skiing in Colorado and in the Swiss Alps. He said skiing in the Swiss Alps were cool because one day they were like "let's go to Italy for lunch!" and would ski down so they'd end up in Italy. How cool is that?
Lastly, I met a girl who was my age and we ate lunch together in the lodge. She said it was her first time skiing but she needed a break and let her boyfriend take some time to ski the bigger slopes. It was nice getting to know her too even though one might not think she had any big stories to tell like the man from Israel or the man that went skiing in the Swiss Alps.
You never know who you'll meet on the slopes, but you always learn something new about someone.
