Ski Weekend at Muju

This past weekend was a blast. CDI took everyone on an all expenses paid trip to Muju Ski Resort! We met at CDI at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. They warned us if we were late we would get left behind. They were smart though and told us 8:30 sharp knowing people would be late, so we didn't end up leaving until 9 a.m. I knew that I would only be gone for one night, but somehow I ended up bringing a huge suitcase. Everyone else had a small bag or backpack. Oh well, I've never been a good packer. We took the Chungdahm school buses which aren't your typical big yellow buses, they're like Greyhound buses and are super nice. I would've loved going to and from school in them.

So Muju is about an hour and half south of Daejeon which isn't too bad and driving that distance you usually wouldn't stop. Well, I guess it's common for Koreans to stop at EVERY rest stop along the way when traveling even a short distance. Luckily there was only one and it had a little more than just snack food and restrooms. There were vendors lined up selling everything you could imagine from mops and brooms to stuffed animals and mini bowling sets. So after some browsing, we got back on the bus and drove the rest of the way to Muju.

When we got there they fed us lunch and handed out the equipment. It was a great deal. I got snow pants, a winter jacket, goggles, and rentals for free! The lift tickets were good for four hours which was a perfect amount of time. I was worried because I didn't see snow until I got to the actual mountain. I'm pretty sure it was all manmade because under the chair lifts there wasn't any snow. I conquered the bunny hill first. Instead of a tow rope, there was a moving sidewalk type thing to bring you to the top. I think skiing is like riding a bike, even if you don't do it for a few years, it comes back to you once you start doing it again. The hardest part was avoiding running into people. The hills were packed. I had to wait in line for an hour just to get on the chairlift! The hills were comparable to Michigan ski resorts and there were about 25 slopes. The weather was perfect for skiing, the sun was shining, and I avoiding getting a goggle tan line.

The people who didn't go skiing or snowboarding went sledding and snow mobiling. I wish I could've done it all. Everyone met back at the buses around 4:30 p.m. and we headed back to the pension to get ready for dinner. Another CDI branch was there so we all had dinner together. There were probably around 75-100 people altogether and the night only got better. Dinner was a delicious Korean BBQ and there was pizza and hot dogs. They provided us with tons of snacks later too including cheese puffs annnd chips and salsa. So good! Anyways, knowing this was a Korean party not only was there enough food to feed an army, but they also bought 200+ bottles of soju. We played games all night and there was karaoke too. I felt like I was at summer camp.

In the morning we all had breakfast and headed back to Daejeon with of course stopping at a rest area along the way.