Making it unforgettable

Experiences are great, but it’s the people you share them with that make them unforgettable. This is true for my Europeans experience as well. Of course skiing there is incredible, but it wouldn’t have been the same without my team, supporters and the other skiers. There was a great atmosphere amongst #teamNL both on and off the ski site. We were all in this together and that was clear throughout our week in Rome. In order to accurately describe the atmosphere amongst the Dutch and Belgian team, I have to introduce a Dutch word: gezellig. It does not fully translate into English, but it is some sort of combination of a sympathetic, joyous, warm and cheerful atmosphere. This word comes to mind whenever I think about the atmosphere around the lake and also in any activity away from the lake. The first one being the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony took place Wednesday night, which means after one competition day. Since I skied on the first day, I’d actually done all my skiing before the opening ceremony. The ceremony itself took place in the stadium of marbles, a great sport complex in Rome. It is surrounded by 59 statues of athletes, which gave the stadium a slight Olympic air. We had to drive for a bit to get there, but even this was organized in such a way that we all felt pretty special. The skiers and coaches were driven in busses from the military, pretty amazing that the organization was able to use those! When we got to the stadium, there was a couple taking wedding pictures, which of course we had to photobomb (they loved it). Eventually everybody was ready for the parade and we walked around the stadium, whilst there were still some other athletes training there. At the end we got to listen to the speeches of various authorities who made the whole experience possible. Since it was such a great evening and the atmosphere was really enjoyable, we decided to go out to dinner with #teamNL to continue our gezellig evening J.

Another off-lake team bonding experience was when we went to waterpark Hydromania. This was an amazing day on which we were completely away from the stress of the competition. Also we could cool down a little in the water, because the outside and lake temperature was a lot more than we are used to in the Netherlands! This park had many fantastic slides and pools on which we spent our day till closing time!

Lastly, when you think Europeans, you think final night. Throughout the night, there were initiations for any skiers who entered their first Europeans. Multiple times, this consisted of being taped down or to another skier and getting covered in eggs, Nutella, jelly or flour. However some unlucky skiers got a nice haircut…

After living in uncertainty for the entire week and being slightly frightened by the initiations that had come before me, I knew it was also my turn. Lucky for me, I had already accidentally done my initiation voluntarily, as our new skiers were going to be pushed into the water. But I had already decided to go swimming with some skiers, so I got lucky this time. My other team mates did not plan this and they went in a little less voluntarily. We even got our coach into the water, so there was #teamNL, soaking wet at the final night.

Besides the intiations, there was plenty of time to enjoy the music and create amazing memories on and off the dancefloor. I was able to talk to a lot more skiers here, because the stress of the competition was officially gone and everyone could open up a bit more, including myself. The final night was much more fun than I am able to put into words,  mainly because I can’t find the words to describe the atmosphere and the bonds that were formed.

This was my last blog about the E&A championship of 2015; next week I will tell the story about how I got hooked on water-skiing in the first place.