Pamplona, Spain

It's been quite a few weeks. I am actually sitting in my living room right now. No longer in Europe. Nonetheless, I shall try to recount my adventures in Pamplona, Spain.

I should start off by saying that I was the only girl with, well, I don't even remember how many guys from law school. It was around 15, maybe? But I actually never felt weird or out of place, but they are awesome guys, so I was never worried about that anyway.

The group I was traveling with was Elliot, Bradford, Brad, George, Dixon, and Will. Right after class we all rushed to the train station to pick up our rental car. Bradford and Brad knew how to drive a stick-shift, so they were our drivers for the trip. The only rental cars available were stick-shifts, which made for an interesting ride over there. Not many of the guys were used to driving them, so there were a couple of stall-outs on the way to Pamplona. haha.

The trip there was relatively painless. Since Europeans love American music so much, we had no problems finding familiar tunes on the radio. There were 3 vans in all, so it wasn't too hard keeping the caravan together. One of the vans had a GPS, so they took the lead. We only lost a van once, which Tom was driving, but they somehow found us at a McDonalds, so it all worked out!

I also ended up getting mooned by guys in the other cars... not surprising considering I was with a bunch of boys... haha. All the cars were mooning each other. I didn't mind. It was pretty funny.

We were not staying in Pamplona because, as would be expected, there were no places to stay. I mean, the running of the bulls is kinda a big deal. So we stayed an hour outside of Pamplona in San Sebastian. The other two vehicles continued on to Pamplona and slept in their cars... Boy, am I sure we didn't do that. We found out later that most of them didn't even sleep that night. They were all dropping like flies after the running of the bulls the next day because they were so tired!

Well, back to San Sebastian, we got there around midnight. It was a lovely town. We had a bit of a problem trying to find the hostel. We had followed one of the other vehicles up there because they had a GPS. Our car was supposed to have one, but... well... the French suck. haha. So, we ended up using someone's GPS in our car. The place it led us to didn't look like a hostel at all, but it was it! The Spanish speakers of the car, Will and Elliot, and George, who booked the hostel, ventured inside. Turns out the hostel owner and/or manager spoke no English and a strange form of Spanish so communicating was difficult. It also turned out that he had over booked the hostel and had no room for us. Apparently this was good, though, because from what George told us, it was rather nasty inside.

This rather shady hostel dude took our friends off to this other place he said would take us in. So, of he went with our friends... down a dark street... then turned a corner... went out of sight... for a very long time... We got a little worried after a while. We thought about following them but then we didn't know where they went after they turned that corner so we decided it was best just to wait. We always had the option of just sleeping in the car!

Luckily, after quite a while, our friends and the shady hostel dude reappeared.  Thanks goodness!!! Our friends then led us to our place of rest for the next few days. It was almost like someone's home. But it was definitely a hostel, with multiple rooms. But I think the lady owned this one floor, dressed it up like her home (I'm actually pretty sure it was her home.), and let people stay there. Almost like a bed a breakfast, I would guess, though I've never stay in one.

Now here's a fun part: we had told the guy we only had 6... but we had 7. So the shady hostel dude told the bed and breakfast lady that we had only 6.. then 7 walked it. She was already upset because shady dude had woken her up and asked her to house 6 American kids, but now there was an extra! Not to mention, she wasn't expecting a girl, so I kinda freaked her out. Apparently she didn't want any of the guys near me at night, so I ended up getting my own bed! In my room there was Elliot, Dixon, George and Brad. In the other room were Bradford and Will. The bed and breakfast lady finally calmed down, and we went to bed. It was around 2, I think, when we got to bed, with a 4am wake up time. Woohoo... :/

The next day (or the same day?) we got up at 4am and hit the road. Most of us slept on the way to Pamplona, with the exception of our wonderful drivers, Brad and Bradford. They didn't get to steal any naps while they were driving... for obvious reasons. haha.

Parking was easy-cheesy. We parked near some fair that was in town. Then we followed the crowds to the Running of the Bulls area. We didn't have the proper garb, so once we figured out where the boys needed to go, we went in search of the necessary items. Luckily we ran into some of our fellow classmates along the way and decided on a meet-up place after the running had ended. After taking some pics, we continued forth on our journey for bull-running clothes. The proper attire was wearing all white with a red bandana tied around your neck and a red scarf around the waist. Everyone is supposed to look alike so as no one sticks out. If the bulls see someone who is sticking out then... well... let's just say it wouldn't be good for that person.

Dixon didn't need to procure clothing, because he dressed up as Elvis for the running. It was epic! People kept on coming up to him and taking pictures with him. He was kinda a big deal that day. Haha. Unfortunately, the cops wouldn't let him run because, as I mentioned earlier, no one was allowed to stand out for safety reasons. Sad day.

Here is the whole crew. Well, most of it.

After a time I started getting rather nervous because I knew they would releasing the bulls in the near future and I DID NOT want to be on the road when they did that. We finally found a place to watch the bulls run by and bid farewell and best wishes to our friends who were off to face the beasts.

It was difficult to see from where we were because a lot of people had already gotten all the good spots. But I got a tiny spot at the bottom of the barricades to peak through. Soon there were gun shots and people running. I had Bradford's camera and was given the task of trying to take pictures. Sadly, there was little success in that area. As the bulls ran by I tried to at least get some shots of their feet running past, but no luck. :/

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WARNING: It has now been over 6 months since I've been to Pamplona. I'm going to try and finish this trip before I forget any more so I may not be as detail oriented as I was before due to fading memory.

Shortly after the bulls ran by, I decided to hop over the fence and start walking around to meet me friends. Well, as soon as I stepped onto the road, everyone who had been running down the street following the bulls turned around and started running towards me. I FREAKED! Apparently one of the bulls got turned around and started running the other way. Fortunately, he was only confused for a moment or two and turned around.

It took a while to meet up with everyone in the square, but eventually we realized that everyone made it. A lot of the guys hadn't slept the night before so they were going to nap. Bradford, Elliot, Brad and me decided to grab some grub in the square. We found this place that served burgers so we took a seat. We also found out that they made delicious sangria and began to partake. We spent about 4 hours sitting there, talking. It was a really nice afternoon.

Hot like Mexico. Rejoice.

This guy was performing next to us while we drank. He was awesome.

After a while, we realized that the bull fight would be starting soon so we got up to meet up with the others. In the arena, it was split up into two side: the sunny side and the shade side. In the sunny side, everyone threw/spit/poured sangria all over each other and basically just acted a fool the entire fight. In the shade side, which was a little bit pricier, you got to calmly watch the fight. Needless to say, we got tickets in the shade, but many of our companions didn't. They were quite a mess afterward.

Here's a link if you want some quick information about the bullfight. It's really quite interesting if you can get past the whole "bull dying" part. Bull Fighting in Spain

Before the fight, one of our friends was really drunk and tired and passed out. The guys had a little fun with him.

The opening ceremonies of the fight.

The bull fighters.

Sorry, I know this is gruesome, but the dragged the bull out of the arena afterward.

I don't know how well you can see it, but this is the sunny section covered in sangria. 

Us after the bullfight.

Dixon and George did sit on the sunny side.

After the fight it was really neat. There were several little bands of just random people that were playing as they exited the stadium. It was a lot like Mardi Gras. It was really a blast.

After the fight we went home to get a few hours rest before we got up early the next day so the guys could run again. This time Bradford and Elliot didn't want to run so I got to hang out with them. It was unusually cold that morning (the weather in Europe is just crazy sometimes), so I have a nice souvenir in the form of a sweater with a bull on it. 

For the running of the bulls, the run ends in the arena. Therefore, everyone just runs into the arena. There were several guys who ran into the arena before the bulls were even released, obviously because they were scared and just decided to run. Everyone in the arena started calling them "pusta"s, which is spanish for "bitch". It was hilarious. After this, the bulls that actually ran get put away, and they let out, one-by-one, these little bulls that have rubber stoppers on their horns to keep them from hurting anyone. 

There was a small band that played before the running of the bulls.

The Wave. lol.

They showed the running of the bulls in the arena.

Bull running someone down. Haha.

This was really neat. Every time they let a new bull out, the people would line up in front of where he was going to come out. Then the bull would (hopefully) jump over them into the ring. Very daring/stupid on the part of the people underneath the bull.

It was fun watching people playing with the bulls. It was a big deal of you could smack the bull's butt. One of our guys, Ryan French, was able to, but came away from it with poop on his hands. Hahaha. But pulling the horns or touching the head of the bull was forbidden. The Spanish people really respect those bulls (Just because they killed them doesn't mean they didn't respect them. It's a different culture.), and they would punch people who tried to tug on the horns.

Anyway, we made our way home after the fun in the arena. It was a BEAUTIFUL drive. 

The Pyranees mountains!

A Douche!! aka Elliot in some room in Spain. Haha

There were beautiful fields of sunflowers all along the drive.

After a very cold (thank goodness for air conditioning in cars) ride home, we finally made it back. It was a wonderful adventure. I only wish I had written this sooner so I could write more...

Interlaken, Switzerland

If you ever have a chance to go to Switzerland, do it! It is by far the most beautiful place I have ever visited. This was the first place where I seriously did not want to leave. I could have easily stayed there for the rest of the summer. It's simply ideal.

Not to mention all the awesome people and amazing activities that I got to enjoy while there. So, let me start from the beginning.

Due to train craziness (the french train system is a mess), basically everyone from law school ended up arriving in Interlaken at the same time. The view was fantastic on the way there. But the view was kinda like that the whole time. lol.

Not the greatest pic, but you get the idea.

The first day we got in late, so I just went and grabbed a pizza from the place next to our hostel and headed to bed. I had skydiving at 8:30am and had yet to check in, so I had to be at the office of the place at 8am. I didn't wanna take chances with being too tired or anything before that.

I should mention that there was the lovely perk of everyone speaking English there. Obviously this was because it was big tourist area, but it was a nice change nonetheless.

We lucked out. We were suppose to be in a 32 person room, but they over booked so we got a private room!

Woke up bright and early the next morning to get free breakfast (there wasn't much to it. lol) downstairs and then ran into Josh, his girlfriend, Missy, and Brian on the way to the place to check-in. Missy wasn't skydiving. She was going to try and tag along but there wasn't enough room for her. :(

We went to this little place across the street from our hostel to grab some food after we checked in. The lady was so mean! I even wished her a good day and she ignored me. I must say that's the rudest person I have run into on this trip.

When 8:30 rolled around, Bradford, Josh, Brian, Marianne, Sage and I all hoped into the van and headed to the skydiving spot. 

When we got there, it turned out that there were two other LSU law people who went skydiving right before us at 8am: Quinn and Ruth. They looked like they had a blast. While we were getting suited up, they were relating to us what happened to them. I was getting so excited!

Where we got ready.

Our group!

Marianne, Brian, Bradford, Josh, me, Sage

We were split into two groups of guys and girls since the airplane is so small. My tandem jumper was named David Bailey! I have an uncle named David Baily so that was neat. We dubbed ourselves Team Bail(e)y. lol. Later on he tried to claim I was his wife, but that didn't fly. haha. It seemed like it took forever for our turn to come up. The girls got to go first and I was called up first (which meant I got in the airplane first and jumped out of it last).

It was soooo cramped in that place. We had the 3 girls, our 3 tandem jumpers, and all 3 of us got camera guys. So there were 9 of us. Kinda crazy. I wasn't scared in that plane at all though. I was just excited and taking in the amazing view!!

Interlaken from up top!

Looking back at these pics, it's kinda hard to imagine I actually was there... weird.

Then, while I was just sitting around enjoying the view and cutting up with the guys, all of a sudden the plane door was opening. It was at that point that it became real. No longer was I leisurely sitting in an airplane, but wind was violently blowing in and there was very little between me and the open air!

Sage was to go first. She started laughing hysterically. She didn't look too freaked out, but you could definitely tell that it was extremely nervous laughter, not silly laughter. She started kinda making me nervous because I could see the fear in her eyes. Then, she was just dangling over the side of the airplane. If you haven't been next to a person who is simply dangling outside of an airplane, then just take my word that it kinda freaks you out. Then all of a sudden out she went!! It was nuts.

Like right after Sage went out, Marianne started scooting to the edge of the door. It was all happening so fast. She didn't seem as scared so I calmed down a little and started getting excited again. My adrenaline was pumping so fast! Before I knew it she was out the door, too! ... I knew what was next. lol.

Then we started scooting. I decided to make the best of the moment and just have a blast. No need to concentrate on the fear. So I was sooooooo excited and ready. I put my head back on his shoulder and screamed, "Let's go!!". Then... out I went!!! 

Team Bail(e)y after we opened our parachute and were just cruising around. This was a great part of it as well because you got to just sit in that sky and take it all in.

That red and white dot farthest to the right is me.

I swear, as soon as we landed safely back on the ground, I wanted to do it again! 

It was neat watching the guys go and parachute out. Everyone had a perfect landing but Brian. He landed in the flowers... lol.

After everyone had finished, we packed back up in the van and headed to the hostel. Because skydiving took forever, we literally got there, got our stuff for water rafting, and then headed down the street for that. 

Most of the law school people who went to Interlaken did the water rafting with us, so it was a HUGE group. Which made it all the more fun. I got to put on a wetsuit for the first time. Elliot saw me and said I totally was working the Lara Croft look. And I was. haha.

So we suited up and all of us go into 2 really cramped vans. It was SO hot!!!! Those wetsuits definitely keep you nice and warm.

When we got to the site, we got a crash course on safety measures and how to row properly. 

Then we carried the rafts down into the water. Since we were the last group, we had to wait for everyone else to push off first. Then it was off down the river!!!

To say that the view was great is a vast understatement.

Our raft: Elliot, Josh, Bradford, Brian, Missy, Me and Frank

It was a blast! At some points our guide even let us just jump in the water and swim around. Sadly, when I was getting back into the boat one time, by fleur de lis ring got caught on the rope and it came off. I meant to take off all my jewelry before we left, but because we were in such a hurry after the skydiving, I forgot. :( I'm hoping I can buy another one just like it when I get home because I wore that ring every day.

Afterward, a bunch of us got pizzas and kabobs (which has been the food of choice for many law students this trip, oddly enough). Many of them were going canyon jumping after we ate. I didn't sign up for it because I figured I had already done skydiving (which was rather pricey) and I could pass on that extreme sport. However, now I'm extremely jealous because after talking to several people who did both skydiving and canyon jumping, apparently canyon jumping was way scarier! Granted, they did admit that skydiving was the best experience of the trip, but I love being scared!

After lunch, I showered, took a nap and played on the internet. I kinda needed a break. lol. When everyone came back from canyon jumping, we got hamburgers at the hostel's grill and just all ate and talked. It was a nice evening. No one really wanted to get crazy that night because almost all of us were going canyoning in the morning. I was going on the most extreme one so I definitely wanted to be well rested!

Hanging out after burgers.

The next morning at 9am it was time to do some canyoning. Basically, canyoning is when you rappel, slide, and jump down rocks and waterfalls. We went to the main place, got our wetsuits, helmets and such, and then took a rather long drive up a mountain to where we began our canyoning. 

When we got to the spot, we got all geared up and ready to go. Btw, all our helmets had goofy names on them. I was Bush. Elliot was Al Kaholic (appropriate). Bradford's was Spartacus. Sasha's was Beaver. And there was a whole bunch more. It was funny. At any point if they needed to call to us, they would yell out the name on the helmet, and because the names were so goofy, you remembered yours. lol.

Then, we had a rather long walk before we got to our first jump. We were very hot and ready to get into some glacial water!!!

Hiking to our first jump in wetsuits... talk about hot!

The first jump was the second highest jump: 30 foot jump off a waterfall.

We jumped from that spot in the upper right hand corner, which is a bit above where the waterfall actually is.

Me in the midst of executing the proper "canon ball" jumping technique. lol

I should note that Elliot did not use the proper jumping technique and landed face first in the water... from a 30 foot drop. Yeah, he came up and when he smiled his mouth was full of blood. We kinda freaked out. Turns out he just bit a chunk off the inside of his lip. All was well, excepted he complained about his deformed mouth for the rest of the day. lol.

On this one you had to jump from where the guy in the yellow is, turn in mid-air so you could hit your back against the wall and then you slide down. You had to do this because if you jumped straight out, there was a good chance you would hit the rocks in the center under the water. It was crazy because Josh's gf, Missy, just jumped straight out and the guide's freaked out because apparently she was very lucky to have missed the rocks!

This was also the highest jump being 40 feet high.

"Bush" repelling down a lovely waterfall. Too bad they didn't take a good pic of this waterfall because it was really pretty.

This was the trick area. We were all supposed to do a flip or something. Most did flips. Elliot and a few other chickened out.

Me about to perform a flip.

Flipping!

Big slide

Me sliding!

For the slides, you had to make sure you used proper technique: arms usually needed to be above your head and legs slightly bent with knees together. One girl didn't keep her knees together and she tore her ACL. A helicopter had to come and get her. I guess she learned that she better listen to directions...

About to repel and then drop down into some crazy slides!

This was really difficult. First they repelled you from a really high rock only part of the way. You had to hold on to the rope that they were repelling you down with. When they blew a whistle you had to let go, cover your face (to prevent the rope from whipping into your face), and then you dropped into a poll of water. After that you slide into another pool. Lastly, which is what is pictured above and below, you were repelled down just a little bit while holding on to the rope, then when he screamed "let go", you did and slide the rest of the way down. It was insane and happened very quickly! You really didn't have time think. You just did it.

That's me sliding down!

Group pic at the bottom

Me and Smells canyoning

The hike to the van where lunch and beer was waiting. 

I think everyone ended up with a few bumps and bruises. I had a nasty bruise on my elbow from one of the slides that's not pictured called the "topsy turvy" slide. You were literally flipped over while you were sliding. It knocked my elbow really good.

When we got back, we took showers, napped, and ate. Then everyone got ready to actually go out and have fun since we weren't endangering our lives the next day! haha

Our hostel actually had the best bar in town right underneath it, so we didn't have to go very far. It was a great night! We closed the bar. haha 

Missy, Lauren, Kierstyn, Sage, Ashley, Me, and Brent

Me, Bradford, and Elliot

The next day, we ended up traveling with this guy we met in Interlaken. He was really cool. All 3 of us had an hour layover in Bern, the capital of Switzerland. So we grabbed lunch and decided to take in some of the nearby sights.

The view from here was really pretty. We wanted to get it in the pic, but apparently the photographer didn't.

We didn't have too much time so I didn't get to take a whole lot of pics. But it was very pretty. (Interlaken was better though. lol)

Then we just continued on our train ride home. It was an amazing trip. I couldn't have asked for anything better. (Except maybe more money and time so I could do other crazy stuff there.) Like I said earlier, this was the first place where I just kept saying that I didn't want to leave.