SKYDIVING

As you all know, hopefully, I went to Interlaken, Switzerland for Spring Break. The only reason I really wanted to go is because I wanted to do the Canyon Jump. Now, the Canyon Jump is similar to bungee jumping but instead of bouncing back up, you swing through a glacial canyon. Awesome.

interlaken

Now, before I get to the best part about my trip I will fill you in with the minor details. We took the train (three different ones) to get to Interlaken, the trip totaled about six hours which isn't too bad. We stayed in a really nice hostel and the weather was sunny and crisp. It was very refreshing to be outside, in the open air that is rid of smoke and city pollution. I felt as if my body was going through a nice detox. We walked around the city, I had an amazing sausage for lunch one of the days and we pretty much did nothing. On Tuesday the 20th we went to Bern, the capitol of Switzerland. It was a very nice, clean, uniform city and surprisingly quiet for how busy it was. We spent only a few hours there but it was still nice to explore more of Switzerland. On Wednesday we went to the bar the Hostel had and met two people from Canada, who are currently in Florence and we have gotten together with them a few times, their names are Sarah and Kris. 24/25 years-old and a couple. They are very nice and we enjoyed just drinking and talking with them. Oh, I also read the Hunger Games and by read I mean it took me two days to read it so I suppose I flew through it. It is a great book!!! I loved it. Cannot wait to go back to the States and watch the movie.

"be scared"

Now, the greatest and more exciting day of the trip and of my current life was Thursday, March 22. The canyon jump was canceled because the ice was melting and they said it was unsafe, however, they told me I could go skydiving. It was about 10:30 am when I was at the front desk asking about the canyon swing, and they told me skydiving was an option...at NOON! So talk about a spontaneous decision. I asked Alex if she would be down...then I started jumping for joy when she said yes! We signed up and waited an hour till the van came to pick us up and drive us to the skydiving place. Dan and Tim were the two guys who picked us up (Tim ended up being the guy I jumped with). They were hilarious. After a 20 minute drive we arrived to an incredibly large open rectangle of lang with a landing strip for a plane in the middle. There were 5 of us jumping that day so we all got out of the van and waited for further instructions. Hans (hanz) another instructor, whom Alex jumped with, showed us how to exit the plane and free fall properly and how to land. Then we suited up, I felt like a bada** (find a better word to describe the feeling and I'll use it) because walking down the landing strip, with a harness on and jump suit made me look like I was about to go kick some serious butt in an action movie. Maybe I hoped I'd turn into Laura Croft...

Timmy!

The plane was incredibly small and there were a lot of us in it. Me+Tim and my cameraman, Alex+Hans and her camera man, Another girl+Dan and her camera man, and two other jumpers going by themselves. Tight flight to say the least. All of the guys were trying to make me nervous by making comments about how this is Tim's first jump too or saying "he doesn't really have to do that" when he would adjust something on my harness or when he had me sit on his lap so he could strap us together. Now, none of their comments worked, for some weird reason I wasn't nervous until the moment the plastic sliding door (no, there wasn't even a real door to this plane) rolled up and I had to walk (well Tim walked since I was stuck on him) to the edge of the plane and looked down. I was outside of the plane mostly since Tim was the one sitting on the edge and I am strapped to the front of him, so he pulled my head back, rocked three times and off we fell. (he grabbed my head because when you jump you are supposed to arch back and become almost a banana in the air)

off we go...

I have never been so excited/happy in my life. I was laughing and screaming and beaming the entire fall. I loved it. We were in free fall for about 50 seconds before he pulled the parachute. That was the weirdest feeling, going from falling 120 km/s to shooting up into the air and almost floating because of the chute. My adrenaline rush was beyond ridiculous. I didn't each much before the jump, I didn't want to throw up or anything but I wish I would have eaten more because I felt light headed afterwards and I wanted nothing more than burger so badly! Burger craving aside, skydiving was probably the easiest thing I have ever done. Odd, I know but over the past few months my fear of heights has decreased and I have been waiting so badly to do something crazy. The whole experience was super short and I definitely want to do it again and try other things, like bungee jumping and maybe SixFlags? Hopefully I am over my fear of roller coasters now...

carpe diem