This week has been incredibly busy (what’s new in my life)
so there is a lot to update everyone on!
Thursdays are quickly becoming my favorite days of the week.
We only have class for 1 hour, and we will usually be leaving Thursday nights
for our weekend trips! Last Thursday we hung out/packed/did homework all day,
then went to our 1 hour of class, grabbed a quick bite, then ran to the train
station to leave for Interlaken, Switzerland! We booked our trip through
Bus2Alps (a company I would HIGHLY recommend!) and they set up our
transportation and sleeping accommodations. The bus ride was 8 hours with a
1-hour stop in Milan for food. That is a longggg time to be crammed on a bus,
but there were about 200 kids from Florence who were traveling on Bus2Alps, so
we got to meet a bunch of new people. We arrived at our hostel just in time to
hit the sheets Thursday night.
Friday morning we got up and had a walking tour of the city.
Interlaken translates to “between two lakes” Lake Thun and Lake Brienz.
Switzerland has the lowest crime rate out of any country in Europe, and the
highest quality of life. Interlaken is also the adventure headquarters of
Europe and capitalizes on tourism. On the tour they took us to see the town and
then to see lake Thun. It was picture perfect. It was a foggy day over the snow
capped mountains and the water was a turquoise color I’ve never seen before. I
was absolutely blown away. It’s funny; many of my friends here have said that
some of the big cities (like London or Zurich) remind them of home. The
mountains in this city made me feel like I was back in Colorado, and it was
JUST what I needed. After exploring the city we went to a Thai restaurant next
to our hostel, then headed in for a nap. That evening we got all bundled up
(with rented snow pants and boots) then jumped on a 30-minute bus ride higher
into the Alps! A quick gondola ride and we were thousands of feet in the
mountains ready for some night sledding! I’ve been sledding for as long as I
can remember, but I have NEVER sledded in the dark! All of us were presented
with a blinking necklace that we wore down our back, and the only light we had
was the necklace of the person in front of us, and the moon! The ride to the
bottom of the mountain was 7 miles long and took us almost an hour to get down.
IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! All of us were crashing and laughing the whole way down.
Once we got back to the hostel we quickly changed and headed to the club!
Conveniently, the hottest club in Interlaken was located right next to our
hostel. I was exhausted from the night sledding though and went to bed shortly
after.
Saturday morning there was an optional day trip to Zurich,
but we decided to stay and explore the town of Interlaken more. We went
shopping and walked up and down the little streets and made the loop of the
city. One of the Bus2Alps guides told us where to find the tallest hotel in
Interlaken, so we went there, went all the way to the top, and got a drink at
their rooftop restaurant. The view was indescribable. Finally we ended at Schuh
Swiss Chocolateir. For 13 Franks we got to see a chocolate show (and got more
chocolate than you could possibly eat!) They showed us how they make their
specialty: chocolate mountains, which are milk chocolate with caramel inside.
As the chocolatier was making them I asked if he ate a lot of chocolate working
there (I know I would!) and he said he was “a victim to the chocolate”. After
the tour we got a ticket to buy EVEN MORE chocolate in their gift shop. I was
all chocolated out after that and we headed back to the hostel for dinner. Our
dinner was Swiss cheese fondue. I am beyond spoiled with the food I’m getting
to experience on this trip; it was absolutely to die for. We once again went to
the club by our hostel and got to meet a ton of other students studying abroad
all over Europe.
Sunday morning I did the most adventurous thing I’ve ever
done in my life. I went canyon jumping! Hey, Interlaken is the adventure
capital of Europe right? A few friends and I boarded a bus after breakfast and
headed 45 minutes deeper into the Alps. The bus dropped us off at the bottom of
a canyon, and we hiked another half an hour in until we were at the top. I’m
not deathly afraid of heights, but they definitely make me nervous, and being
at the top of that canyon was pretty terrifying. We signed a few wavers then
got harnessed up and headed to the platform. I say this casually, but it was a
sheet of ice, and we had to hold onto ropes that were tied between trees to get
out to the platform (sorry mom, I know this isn’t your dream come true!). We
weren’t given a ton of instructions, we were basically told “just jump!”
Pierce, a boy from my program, went first. He was absolutely fearless which
gave me a ton of confidence. The instructor also gave me a shot of schnapps,
which gave me some more confidence. I was ready to make this happen until I got
to the edge of the platform and realized I really had to jump off a cliff.
After shuffling back and fourth a few times I finally jumped! Almost 300 feet,
and 4.7 seconds of free fall. The most incredible feeling EVER!!!! After the
jump you swung through the canyon for another minute or two before they pulled
you in. I am so happy I did this. How many people can say they jumped off a
cliff in the Swiss Alps? All pumped up with adrenalin we headed back to the
hostel and loaded on to the bus. This weekend was incredible. It definitely set
a high bar for the rest of my traveling weekends. Switzerland is one of the
most beautiful countries in the world, and if you have a chance to go, I highly
recommend it. And for all you adrenalin junkies, cliff jumping is definitely
something you should experience :)
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