When I finally opened my eyes and took a deep breath, I looked around carefully, trying not to act cowardly. I was 8, and it was the first time I met snowboarding. It was early in the morning and the sun hadn’t shown its warmer side yet. The Alps were so enormous that I thought The Great Wall of China couldn’t be noticed next to them. The clouds were trying to cover the air, but they were scared of this Swiss Miracle’s grandeur. It was freezing, and I decided not to cry because I was afraid that my tears would become little ice pieces. I couldn’t easily feel my body any more and I was sure that if I cut one of my vessels no blood would flow.

To activate my muscles I decided to walk around and then I heard my name called. It was loud and echoed a lot and I hoped that it wouldn’t cause an avalanche. I had to take my scarf off to see who was calling, because mom had tied it up to my eyes. It was the snowboarding teacher. My heart was no different than a car engine at that moment, it was beating at a terrific rate because the time had arrived. I was going to try snowboarding by myself and it didn’t seem like a good idea anymore when I looked ahead.

The instructor reminded me of some important steps, but I wasn’t even listening. All I remember was him saying “OK, don’t worry. You’ll be fine.” I replied him “Yeah, I’m sure…” but he was busy checking my board for the last time and he couldn’t notice the sarcastic tone in my voice. I put my board on and looked at the cotton field that was lying beneath me. I slid down a few meters, then the way got steeper and slippery. It was getting harder to control the board, because it was obstinate, moving in whichever direction it wanted. The wind was like a wild animal, blowing like crazy and trying to make me fall down. Everytime I made a sudden turn, tons of snow were heaping up on me. I had already turned to a snowman.

I tried to remember what the instructor had taught, and I was surprised how easily my legs responded to that and started to work in coordination. It was a great feeling: being able to use what I had learnt. That helped me beat my fear and I started to enjoy it. I realized that the scene around me was no different than those gorgeous postcards. The way didn’t seem that violent any more, I could feel the clean air rushing into my lungs. It felt like flying. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again I was standing next to many other competitors in a national snowboard race. It had been a long time since my first try. When I saw the “go!” sign, I started sliding down with excitement through the white infinity.