Recently, Keely Kelleher (Big Sky, MT) and Hailey Duke (Boise, ID) took part in the two-week The Hoyt Dartmouth Language Program offered by The Rassias Foundation ALPS. Kelleher studied German, referring to the experience as "German boot camp," and below is how she chronicled her time there.

So for the past two weeks I have been at the ALPS language program in Hanover, NH. Through the generous support of Judy Hoyt, U.S. Ski Team athletes are able to take advantage of learning a language.

I wouldn't really say that it is just learning the language on the Dartmouth campus, but more being totally immersed into the culture and language of your choice. My language was German. I've never in my life taken a German class and neither had my teammate Hailey Duke. She called me up one day and said she was going to the ALPS program so I followed along.

This program has been supported by the U.S. Ski team for so long and I can't believe this is the first year that I actually took advantage of such an amazing opportunity to learn a language.

I have to admit that I arrived with Hailey on the Dartmouth campus a little intimidated and unsure of what I'd gotten myself into. All I could say going into it was: Where is the bathroom? Can I get a beer? And how are you? So as you can see I definitely couldn't speak the language. Which, in my opinion, is sad because I've been traveling to Europe since I was sixteen and I still can't communicate with the people. It can be frustrating at times to walk around not knowing what is going on because you have no idea what people are saying.

John Rassias, the founder of the ALPS program, described momlinguism as a disease. So from day one the ALPS program's goal is to cure it. And make no mistake they drilled German into me so extensively that I started having dreams in the language. Every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. we were having classes and drill sessions.

The drill sessions were the most intriguing part for me because the way they teach you to speak is just by listening to the drill teacher and then repeating the words. The master classes were all taught in German. Our teacher Jere would make us laugh so hard in class. His acting skills were in full force the first couple of days because we had no clue what he was saying. So he would act out what he was saying and most of the time it would leave us rolling on the ground laughing. No English could be spoken. You had to eat and breathe German.

Neverthless, by the end of the two weeks Hailey, Doug Haney (the Ski Team's press officer), and I were all speaking and understanding the language. I wouldn't say we are fluent but coming in knowing nothing and coming out actually being able to articulate sentences is such an amazing feeling! I've never had such a fun time learning. It helped that I had Hailey and Doug there with me because they are both extremely funny and animated individuals. I made some great new friends at German Boot Camp and learning a really sweet language. I can't wait to get over to Europe so I can speak it!

For more photos of Kelleher and Duke's German adventure, go to http://ussa.smugmug.com and to follow along with Kelleher on her blog, check out www.keelykelleher.com. or catch up with Hailey Duke at www.haileyduke.com.