On the last day of spring term, a group 40 students from both Years 10 and 12, made their way to Heathrow then onto New Hampshire, for Wren’s annual Ski Trip.  Despite our tiredness from the long flight and the drive from Boston, it was a very early start for our first day of skiing.

For some this was their first time putting on skis and for many others it was like second nature to them.  Due to a wide range of abilities, we were placed into groups that were most suitable to our capabilities and confidence levels.

Our first three days of skiing took place at Bretton Woods where we were taught the basic skills, we then skied in our groups with our instructor.  Our rapid progress allowed everyone, even beginners, to try out the more challenging slopes further up the mountain, which were very different to the simple training slopes on which we had practised.

Each day consisted of a five hour skiing session and concluded with a range of evening activities which included shopping at the local outlet centre, candle stick bowling, movie night (where we watched Baby Driver) and of course Mr Simonot’s infamous USA quiz.

For our final two days skiing we moved on to a new resort, Wildcat, where we were able to show our new batch of instructors the skills we had learnt at Bretton Woods.  With our previously mastered skills, everyone moved up to the 4,000ft mountains quite quickly, despite the challenging conditions of snow and 20mph winds (which felt even more extreme at the top).

Our final two days of non-skiing finished with a quick visit to New York City for sightseeing.  Seven hours and four states later, we finally arrived at Times Square and ate dinner at the legendary Hard Rock Café.  Our very last day was an early start for our busy day of sightseeing ahead of us.  Covering as many sights as we did, in such little time must have broken some sort of record!   We began with a    pre-breakfast walk in Central Park, then made our way to the 9/11 memorial, drove past; the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Trump Tower and Radio City Music Hall.  We then walked from the Empire State Building to Grand Central Station.  With not long until our flight home, we finished off our last few hours in the sunshine at Central Park again, before heading to the airport.

Written by Sophie Tsioupra, 12 Strand