[FM] Apres ski shenanigans with a French ski instructor in the Alps. Part 2.

Link to Part 1: [https://www.reddit.com/r/gonewildstories/comments/tzfh9s/fm_apres_ski_shenanigans_with_a_french_ski/](https://www.reddit.com/r/gonewildstories/comments/tzfh9s/fm_apres_ski_shenanigans_with_a_french_ski/)

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We met the next evening. I [F27] waited for him at an outdoor apres ski bar next to one of the ski lifts in town. It had seats around a fire and outdoor heating so it wasn’t very cold sitting there, but I also made sure to dress warm. Mathieu [M30] came up the stairs to meet me and we sat again after getting drinks from the bar.

We talked about everything and anything. I shared more about myself, my interests and journey, and he told me more about Chamonix, what it was like growing up here, how fun it was to having the entire mountain as a playground during the COVID lockdown, etc. We also talked about sports. He used to do professional ski racing but stopped after having a knee injury and a surgery. He told me about the valleys in the region and the wild animals that you can see in the summer. We also talked about paragliding and paraglide skiing. He told me that he briefly did that in the past however he stopped after a close friend of his passed away during a paragliding accident. I noticed the change of tone in his speech and realised it was sensitive topic for him to talk about, but I kept listening.

[FM] Apres ski shenanigans with a French ski instructor in the Alps.

They say that one of the things that every woman should have before turning 30 is a juicy past to look back to. Well, I have to say that I at least have that part fulfilled.

Last Christmas, I was going through a rough patch in life and feeling very low and out of myself (this was due to unexpected changes in my personal life that I won’t be disclosing here). I felt stuck in my place and my town, and I knew I needed to get out and go somewhere. So with a determined mind, I booked a one-way ticket to France on the last-minute and hastily packed two duffel bags with winter clothes enough to last me a while.

I arrived first to Paris, walking among the pre-Christmas crowds and visiting the main sights. It wasn’t my first time in Paris and I always wanted to explore the rest of France, so I took a train to Lyon, a city in the south east of France, known for its cuisine. I tried some weird food. Snails and pig feet? These are common dishes at the Bouchons Lyonnais (traditional eating houses). I genuinely liked Lyon because comparing it to Paris, you feel like it’s more authentic and French. Less touristy. More local. Smaller, but less worried about pickpocketing.