It was a cold, winter day when I made the decision to try skiing for the first time. My friend had gone on the annual ski trip, held by UIS Campus Recreation the year prior, and wanted us to accompany her on the trip. I would not consider myself very adventurous, but a part of me was feeling spontaneous that day, and I decided to sign up for the trip. I figured that since so many people go skiing every winter, it couldn’t hurt to try it, and it probably was not as hard as it looked. Little did I know, I would be 100% wrong about this.

We arrived at the slopes around 10 a.m. We walked into the building and they had gear set up for us to borrow. I felt like a rocking horse once I put the boots on that I was provided with and I could not walk correctly for the life of me. I strapped my helmet on my head and waddled over to the slope. I was grateful that the fee we paid included skiing lessons because I had no clue what I was supposed to be doing. I felt so out of place watching people next to me race down hills so effortlessly. While practicing, my friends and I fell several times. It was then that I realized there was absolutely no way this was going to be easy for me. Our skills improved throughout the lesson, but once it was time to hit the slope on our own, we still felt clueless.

We improved greatly throughout the day, and soon enough, we were hitting the larger slopes. I even got cocky and I was racing down the intermediate slopes, thinking I was all that. I was fully convinced that I was a natural. As we were nearing the end of the trip, I decided to hit the slope one last time. As I was zipping through the course, I lost my balance, and I fell backwards. I whacked my head on the ground and laid on the ground for a moment in pure shock. This marked the end of my attempts to ski and I sulked back to the car in pain. The next day, my body had never felt so sore, but I managed to avoid a concussion. Was the experience a bit painful? Absolutely. Would I do it again? 100%. I have no regrets, even if the bump on the back of my head says otherwise.

Almost exactly one year later, I was sitting with the same friends discussing our ski trip. We had a great time together and were reminiscing on our experience. This was when we decided to replicate that trip by going tubing. I had gone tubing many times as a kid, so I was ecstatic to be going on a trip that involved a hobby I knew how to do already. I thought that there was no possible way that I could run into trouble on this trip. I should have known that I would be wrong.

It was not the tubing part that was difficult for me. In fact, I had an amazing time racing down the slopes. Not to mention, riding up a conveyor belt with my tube totally beats lugging a sled up a hill like I used to do as a kid. But, of course, the forces of nature will always find some way to put me in jeopardy when I do anything out of my comfort zone. As I stepped up on the conveyor belt to ride up the hill, the child in front of me thought it would be a great idea to sit down in his tube. This was smart, except he simultaneously let go of his tube, which came sliding down the ramp towards me. At this point, I could not get off the ramp, and one of the employees came up the side to help. The child refused to listen to instructions. His tube kept sliding down and hitting me. I genuinely thought I was going to die. Eventually, the worker grabbed the tube, and was trying to hand it to the boy’s mom. Of course, because my body is in the way, the employee is holding the tube over my head while the family is struggling to grab ahold of the tube. Luckily, everything worked out, but my head almost got crushed for the second time in two years.

Do I have regrets about going tubing? Absolutely not. I firmly believe that the best part about putting yourself out there and trying new things is learning from your mistakes. Experiences will not be 100% perfect, but the flaws in these journeys are what makes for good stories. I had never attempted to partake in real, winter sports, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to try something new and make memories with my friends. I went skiing with UIS at Snowstar in Andalusia, Illinois, and I went tubing at Hidden Valley Ski Resort in Eureka, Missouri. Whether or not you have tried these activities before or you are looking for fun activities to do during winter, these are both great options that are relatively close to Springfield. Using my experiences, I encourage you to learn from my fails, and take on some snow trails this winter.