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.
NATALIE!!! Your skydiving pics are amazing and I am SO jealous :) And as far as the canoeing is concerned, I expect you to be in top form for Wii canoeing upon your return!
ReplyDeleteI love seeing your pics and I have relayed stories to my friends about you being in Spain with the bulls :) So what if I am living vicariously through you... lol! I hope you are having SO much fun and I can't WAIT to hear about it in person!