You know you are skiing in Austria when...

...you can identify at least 5 foreign languages other than English being spoken.
... you have just picked up a hot tea at the restaurant and for 50cents more you can have rum added to it.
...2 year olds are skiing for the first time even though they just learned to speak.
...they sell a shot of schnapps with real fruit inside at the register when you pay for your meal at a self service restaurant.

I have to give Kris credit for taking the first sunny picture from on top of the Stubai glacier. It wasn't quite that sunny when we were there as you can see from the photo on the right. There were moments where I felt like I was in the Himalayas. Having never been there yet, that feeling was coming purely from travel books and I am sure I was at a much lower altitude. Nevertheless, it was beautiful scenery and although I was there to ski, I took plenty of pictures. I did get a chance to meet up with Susanne (my couch surfing friend) one more time on the mountain. She gets credit for taking that picture of me above. More photos will be uploaded soon to my other website.

The highest lift we went up brought us to 3210m (about 10,000ft). Would have been a great view, but the clouds had started rolling in and all I could see what the narrow passage between the a large rock and the cliff. This was the start of the run. Luckily, it widened out quickly. Trying to funnel loads of people through a narrow spot doesn't work very well. By the end of the day, it was brutally cold. Must have been at least -3C on average. I survived the day with some bruises and sore muscles as bonus momentos.

The trip to Austria was a blast. Nothing too fancy on my b-day night, but I got to enjoy dinner with Kris at a Gasthaus and a glass of wine in a funky bar. Now I can say that I have eaten a Tiroler knödel (Bacon and bread dumpling) and enjoyed it. Innsbruck is a cool city. The day I left the sky was kristal clear and the mountains were mesmerizing. Back in München I had Kristin's apt to myself for a night while was in Sigmaringen. I had all these great plans of things I would see in the city. What actually happened was that I shopped for a bit one afternoon and spent the rest of my time in my pajamas reading, studying or watching TV. Afterall, this is my only vacation. Once I get home things get a lot more intense. My MCAT course starts the day after I arrive home along with my spring semester at the U.