Two Days to Ski Away, Winter Muju Trip

Bat-Erdene Nomin-Erdene, Department of Business Administration

It was a wonderful experience to visit the Muju Ski Resort, for a two-day-one-night trip at the end December 2018, hosted by the Office of International Cooperation at CBNU. Since I had never been to a ski resort before, I was ill-prepared. There were many other students like me, who did not bring proper ski clothes and equipment for themselves. Luckily, there was a store nearby, from which we were able to borrow everything that we needed. The whole experience was extremely interesting to me. The first night we were supposed to just prepare our equipment and wait for the next day.

After borrowing our ski gear, we had a dinner. There was a delicious barbeque restaurant nearby. It was a great opportunity for me to talk and exchange opinions with students from different countries and various backgrounds while having a delicious dinner. After dinner, we arrived at our accommodation. Muju Resort Hotel was a place where everything was comfortable, cozy and clean. I thought, it was a perfect place for a family that is looking for a nice place to spend their vacation. I had three other roommates in my room. The room was bigger and more comfortable than what I had expected.
On the following day, as soon as we finished our breakfast, we went outside to ski. One thing I particularly liked about the major resort is that it was equipped with all the necessary facilities such as convenience store, cafeteria and coffee shop.

Finally, there came the moment that I was waiting eagerly for, which was, obviously, our skiing experience. As soon as I finished dressing up my ski clothes, I to put on my safety helmet, as well. The very first impression that I had about wearing ski boots is that they were quite heavy. There were a few instructors who gave training to the people who had no experience skiing. The instructors were quite kind and polite. After the training, I was all on my own. I kept failing and falling, because it was my first time. I thought, it was important not to hurt yourself when you fall. Standing back up after I fall was one of the challenges that I faced. I had to disconnect one of my skis from the boot, in order to place my foot firmly on the ground. Other people with better techniques were doing it without disconnecting their boots. Even though I kept falling, I really enjoyed the experience. Skiing felt as if I were flying.
We skied till lunch time. It was at the moment I arrived at the cafeteria when I realized that I felt a little cold. This was because when I was skiing, I was so excited and didn’t even notice that I was cold. After getting a little rest and some warm coffee, I went back out again for more skiing.

One of my life philosophy principles is “always learn new things”. This ski experience was a true manifestation of that. Another new and enjoyable experience was using the cable car to go up the hill. It is amazing how such a practical technology can decrease the need of human labor. With the cable car, I did not need to walk up the hill.
After one wonderful day, that was full of joy, we had to get back on the bus to go back to Jeonju. Not only was this trip an unforgettable memory to me, but it was also an opportunity for me to make lots of new friends. I am grateful to the Office of International Cooperation at CBNU for giving me this wonderful opportunity. They always do their best to provide good programs like this to international students like me.