Weekend in Switzerland

I never thought I could do so much in just 48 hours. This weekend in Switzerland was an incredible adventure. Friday was a nerve-wracking day for the detail-oriented planner that I have assumed the role of for this abroad experience. Earlier this summer I spent hours looking at train times, talking to, or rather waiting on hold for, booking representatives, making hostel reservations and overall preparing for this tour across Europe. Friday was the day that would determine if all of my efforts resulted in smooth travel or if they had been for not. Dramatic, I know. Ask anyone that traveled with me this weekend and I think they would agree that my stress was a little over the top. Thankfully, despite my nightmare on Thursday night about ending up in London instead of Basel on our first day of travel, our three trains and two connections all went very smoothly. We arrived in Interlaken at midnight and made our way to the “famous” Balmers hostel. As we soon learned, Balmers is the hot place for people our age to be in Interlaken. A club in an old bomb shelter was the center of the action at Balmers and was surrounded by game rooms, lobbies and outdoor seating. This initial positive impression was quickly squashed as we made our way to our room to find our roommates already asleep and the showers outside of our rooms in the middle of the hallway. This was my first hostel experience and although I wasn’t expecting the Ritz or even a La Quinta, I also wasn’t expecting that I would have to hold the knob down in the shower constantly for the water to come out or that we would share a single toilet with at least 30 people. It was a shock, but I caught up quickly and accepted the accommodations for the weekend.

            We started off Saturday early by hiking the Harder Kulm mountain. It was the shortest of the hikes suggested by the receptionists at Balmers and we rode the tram up and only hiked down but still, it was an accomplishment to reach the bottom. After a quick break, we were ready for our white water rafting trip. We suited up in our stylish wetsuits, booties, lifejackets and helmets, loaded up in the minibus and headed to the river. Our entry point in the Lutschine River was flowing with rapids bigger than those I had ever rafted and I knew it was only the beginning. After a short practice session in the parking lot, we loaded up in the rafts and took off paddling. Keeping in sync, responding to the guides commands and trying to stay in the boat as we hit boulders and sloshed through waves made for an exciting afternoon. We all had so much fun and got a good workout in as we could tell from the extreme soreness we all felt when we woke up on Sunday morning.

            Now if Friday was a day for stress, Sunday was a full-blown panic attack. All I could think about was the fact that at 3:30pm I would be jumping out of a perfectly good airplane and would plummet towards the ground while relying on a stranger and his parachute to save me from becoming a lawn dart. We took the morning easy and did some shopping and relaxing in the hammock room at Balmers but before I knew it, the time had come. Shannon, Kyle and I hopped on the bus and headed to the hanger where Scenicair was located. I considered backing out and thought about how insane of an activity this was and about how many things could go horribly wrong. On the other hand however, I reminded myself that skydiving had been on my bucket list since I had a bucket list and doing it in Switzerland had always been my ideal plan. As the minutes passed and we went through a very, almost alarmingly so, training session, put our suits and harnesses on and met the people we would be diving with, my anxiety began to lessen and my excitement intensified. When it was finally our turn to go, a storm began to creep into the valley and sent all of the staff into a hurried pace in order to get us up and down before the weather prevented us from doing the dive. My instructor Mitch was a seasoned skydiver claiming to have over 9,000 dives under his belt which made me much more comfortable. But that comfort didn’t last for long. As we climbed in the airplane and began ascending and a steep incline, as the houses got smaller, the altitude rose and clouds surrounded us, my initial anxiety was nothing compared to the panic I felt as the reality of the situation began to sink in. Mitch clipped me to his harness, reminded me of my very small role in the process and promptly scooted me out of the airplane against my not totally g-rated remarks. And that was it. The initial realization of what had just happened, that I had barrel rolled out of an airplane at 12,000 feet was incredible. As we fell towards the earth at around 200km/hr I tried my best to take it all in. After a good 6,000 feet and 45 second free-fall, the moment I had been waiting for arrived. The parachute opened. That was the first sign that I would make it out alive from this crazy decision I had made. We coasted through the sky surrounded by beautiful mountains and glacial lakes. All I could say to Mitch was “thank you”. He had helped me to fulfill a dream I had always had and had given me the most incredible experience of my life.  

            As I lay here on the night train on my way to Vienna I am so thankful for and amazed by the things I’ve seen and the experiences I’ve had so far during my time here. I am looking forward to exploring Vienna this week and learning about its history as well as all of the medical excursions we have planned.