Hi my name is Alex Bowen, I'm 20 years old, and I'm on the United States Aerial Ski Team.  If you don't know anything about aerial skiing, it's basically gymnastic acrobatics with skis on your feet.  We aerialists ski into a 13 foot high, 65 degree jump around 40 miles an hour, and go upwards about 45 feet.  This year I got to do my first World Cup Competitions overseas.  I had some good training, but when it came time for the competition my landings weren't there to make the jump great.  All and all I had an amazing time, and I'm really glad I went.

Our team had to deal with long travel days that involved quite a lot of jet leg.  It wasn't too hard to deal with, because we planned ahead.  Staying awake the night before I left was important, because in the next morning when I left it was night time in Europe and I fell asleep right away.  For the first couple days I was constantly tired, but overall I adjusted pretty quickly.

Leading up to the last plane ride out of the ski resort in Ukraine was a little frightening.  The airline's crash record for this current year was 4 planes down, and the airport only operated once every few days.  The terminal was a building with one entry and exit door onto the runway, the tickets were hand written, and the plane was very small.  It was just the culture of the people, and how it worked in such a tiny country.  I remained calm, everything actually went pretty smoothly and no bags were lost.  I had to deal with lost baggage once on my trip to Europe.  I didn't have my skis for 3 days, but luckily I thought ahead, bringing my ski boots and helmet on the plane in case that situation did end up happening.  You can always borrow other equipment from other people and there is usually a ski shop.  It's not fun though getting ready for a big competition without your own gear.

Alex