One semester down!

So, one semester complete, and I´m still alive! Just in time for Kicking Horse`s official opening weekend. A couple friends even came over from Vancouver (transplants from PEI) to join in! Coming from the east coast I always sort of assumed that ski hills were... well, hills. Boy was I wrong! It seems you can snowboard down entire mountains! Kicking Horse is basically a breeding ground for fresh powder. Just to clarify, powder on the east coast are the few centimeters of snow that land on top of the densely packed ice.Real powder is a magical soft substance that when you fall, it gently hugs you and after a cartwheel or two it places you back on your feet and sends you on your way. With almost a month off and a season pass in hand, it would be a great opportunity to get to know the slopes, but with the ever growing temptation of traveling to new places I would need to catch the bus to Calgary for my flight to Costa Rica that left early the next morning. 

Panorama, top of Eagle Eye Express , Kicking Horse 

Compadres

Greyhound might be the worst form of transportation over. Has anyone ever taken a Greyhound bus and said ``Wow! What a reliable and affordable service! And their staff are friendly too!`` In my experiences they typically break down in the dessert for several hours, or the staff wont sell you a ticket for the next bus because they close in ten minutes and they have already counted their till.

End rant. 

I arrived in Calgary just after midnight ( Greyhound was over an hour late, grrr) and was promptly picked up by a good fellow I know (another PEI transplant) and immediately taken to one of the coolest music venues Ive ever been to. The music was sort of folkish, with a strange, strange twist to it. There was a little French guy(I think...) who I wanted to be Johny Cash that I really enjoyed play. There was a bonfire and they sold black IPAs and warm cider. The rules seemed to be that you were not aloud to talk at all or you would be quickly``shhhd.`` The other option was that you could yell loudly at people and they had to respond with gibberish.

That was followed by going to one of the worse venues I have ever been, were bro`s got in fights on the dance floor and bad djs played hip hop.

The night ended on a high note with my buddy giving me possibly the best avocado on the planet. 

50 minutes of sleep later I was putting on my only sweater and a small jacket that was(and still is) two steps away from being a piece of garbage. I stepped outside and after realizing it was -20C, I came back in and borrowed a small blanket and wrapped it around my torso under my garbage jacket. A 30 dollar cab ride and two flights later I was in San Jose!