-February 17th around 5:00 PM my roommates and I made our way to the train station with all of our luggage and excitement in hand. We met up with a large guy who ran the program named Jeremy in the Termini train station, and two couples that were also studying in Rome as well were coming along with us. We jumped onto the fast train that took us to Florence (a bus ride is almost 3 hours long, this train took 1 1/2 hours from Rome to Florence), as we arrive to Florence, we waited for almost an hour for our charter bus to arrive to take us to Interlacken. I talked about it earlier but it's still really strange being on a bus for a long time and it's not for a lacrosse trip, another big difference is that these buses we are taking on these trips don't have any room once so ever, there is no bathroom in the back, no space above you to store a small backpack or anything like that. We were told that we were going to arrive in Interlacken around 2-3 AM, well good thing we arrived at 5:00 AM and had to wake up at 7:30 AM for breakfast (which was suppose to be all inclusive, all that there was was a loaf of bread and a coffee pot... Thanks euroadventures for really making sure we were fed well).
-That night I didn't sleep a wink, regarding the fact that I just sat on a bus for over 8 hours and didn't even try and sleep; I was to excited to ski, I just listened to my iPod waiting for my alarm to go off. When my alarm finally went off i sprang off the bottom bunk and bounced next door to wake everyone and told them to get a move on, by the time I came into my room Spencer was already getting ready and Aaron was still feeling sick, We all went down stairs and stocked up on bread and coffee, then grabbed our gear from the rooms and made our way to the train station. But before we even made outside we ran into the biggest St. Bernard I have ever seen, this monster's head was twice the size of mine and weighed double what I do. Everyone meet Splif
(Erike, Spencer, Mike, Splif, Me)
-Day one crew for skiing was Erik, Mike, Ron, Spencer, and I; Aaron was throwing up all night the night before once again on another trip. As my roommates and I jumped on the train to head to the ski resort, we over hear some other people who are staying at the Funny Farm (seriously thats what our hostel was called) talking to a local guy about where to ski and what stop to get off at. If it weren't for them talking to that guy we never ever would have be able to make it to the resort. It seemed like we stopped every 10-15 min and there were ski lifts all around us. When we finally arrived to the top of the mountain we step off of the train and looked ahead of us and this is what we saw.... Now we didn't get to ski this mountain but thats a perspective of what we were dealing with on our side.
Skiing the first day was kind of rough needless to say, the locals on the train told us that Switzerland hadn't see any snow for over a month (January 11th, was the last snow fall) and it had been really warm the past few weeks. It really showed, there were parts where we were skiing on grass and branches. It had the atmosphere of spring skiing in Utah or Idaho, but i wasn't complaining at all, all I could think about was getting to the top of the hill and finally ski the swiss alps.
- When we made our final runs of the day it was around 4-5 PM and I had a sick feeling in my stomach because we couldn't find Erik or Spencer anywhere on the mountain. Ron and Mike headed back down to the rental shop to see if they had maybe found a different route home while I stayed back and tried to find them. It was kind of nice and relaxing jumping on a few lifts alone and just enjoying the weather and the fact that I was finally accomplishing a dream of mine. But a few hours passed and I decided that I better head down the mountain too before the rental shop closed and I couldn't get my shoes back, and in the back of my mind I still didn't want to leave until I knew that Spence and Erik were back. Come to my surprise Erike and Spencer had found an amazing trail that took them to the bottom of the mountain and right to a train station as well. So after hearing the good news when I arrived to the rental shop we all headed back to the Funny Farm to relax and grab a drink.
That night we were all so tired we could barely get out of our ski gear and knew that we had to get to sleep soon so we were well rested for skiing tomorrow. We went to Hooters and had the most expensive Hooters meal ever, even though it was just a few wings the cheapest thing on the menu was a small salad for 12 Franks. We were all so hungry we all devoured our food before the waitress came back to even check up on us. It was nice being in Switzerland because everyone there also speaks English as well, so it was a nice break from having to try and butcher Italian every time. After dinner, we walked back to the hostel and the temperature had dropped so much we wanted to sprit back but we were to sore and full to even move. As we walked into the funny farm we sat in the lobby and chatted for a bit with a few of the other people who were staying in the funny farm and shared a beer or two. Around 11 PM we made our way to bed and rest for tomorrows full day of skiing.
Day two skiing the Swiss Alps
- The night went a lot like the night before, I laid there waiting for my alarm to go off just listening to music until it was time to go wake everyone up and head to the mountain.
Once we got to the top of the resort, Aaron was able to come with us and we finally had all six of us at once ready to take on Switerland. There was a huge difference in this days skiing than the day before. The sun came out extra early this day and there were no clouds surrounding it either, meaning that the sun was beating down on the ice all morning and softening the snow minute by minute. All six of us were having the time of our lives each run was becoming more and more fun, each run had new scenery, each moment was never dull, there's no way it could ever be boring or non enjoyable when you are skiing and get to look at things like this!
This picture was the last picture I took on the hill, I was tearing up as I was skiing the last run on the Swiss Alps, after 14 years of dreaming and talking about it, it was time to call it a day and enjoy the memories.
Day 3 in Switzerland
My alarm goes off at 8:00 AM, I pop up and couldn't remember why it was going off, but Spencer was already up looking out the window, he spread open the blinds and outside it was PISSING rain but PISSING snow at the canyon swing/ ski resort we had been skiing the past two days... Then it hit me, the canyon swing was this morning! If this rain keeps us from doing it I'm going to freak out! Spencer, Mike and I made our way down stairs to sign up for the swing. After eating our bread and drinking our coffee we make our way back to the rooms to see if anyone want to come last minute, but of course everyone remained in bed. We made our way back down stairs to prepare ourselves to jump off of a 300+ foot cliff.... for no reason! The ride over there was building anticipation and excitement in all of us. All everyone could talk about was what they were going to when they jumped off of the platform, and all I could think about was why the hell was it snowing so hard the day I wasn't skiing and the day I was leaving.
The van ride took us about 20-30 minuets upon arrival, and then another 20-30 minuet walk to the top of the canyon. Spencer and I were wearing vans and by the time we walked 5 minuets they were soaked and lost all feeling in our toes. Although the walk was all worth it, the fact that it was snowing like crazy made the view's incredible!
After the walk up the canyon we finally arrive to our platform where we will be jumping off a 300+ foot cliff... Say that to yourself and see if it makes any sense to you, it still doesn't to me but it was worth every second and I cant wait to do it again! After we are all fitted into our harness and march over to the platform Mike, Spencer, and I all thought we were going to be some of the last to go because we were the last ones that came under the tent, we were way wrong! They picked Mike to go second and Me to go third, Spencer followed behind me at 4th in order to jump off a 300+ foot cliff... It still doesn't make any sense ha ha. The rules were not to jump forward because there's a chance that the slack could wrap around your neck and.. yah you know the rest. And after a good 10 minuet lecture on how not to jump the idiot that went first... went head first and the instructor, I thought he was going to jump after him and ring his neck himself. But after the line was re-attached it was Mike's turn to jump
After hearing Mike yell and scream, there was silence and my heart started to race! I was next and all I could think about was why the hell am I doing this? I love heights, I love thrills, but this is just dumb haha, but I bit my tongue and gave the camera lady and the instructors a shot they said they have never seen anyone do when jumping off the cliff.
Then as the line tightened and the chain came back to the top it was my turn to link up and jump into the abyss. I walked over to the edge, put my toes over and looked straight down, then looked over at Spencer and tried to make words out but all that came out was gibberish. As the instructor counted down I took a step back and then lunged forward to get as far out as possible and did whatever came to my mind first and this is what came out. I've gone skydiving twice now and this was hands the scariest thing I've ever done in my life! No doubt though I can't wait to bungee jump and even possible do this again, there is only 3 canyon swings in the world so maybe I'll try and do them all?
After I finished it was Spencer's turn to jump, and to his credit he screamed the whole way down, screams of cheering and fist pumping. We all were so excited we wanted to run up the canyon and do it again before everyone finished.
(Here's Spencer's jump)
This concluded a trip that I know will go down in the record books for ages. I will never forget this weekend and have few things now to figure out.
Now that I have accomplished the number one goal in my life, what do I move to? I mean this was more than half of my life dreaming and thinking about doing this and now it's happened, where do I go from here?
One of my roommates said it best, it's a lot like retirement, you spend your whole life going to school, studying for tests, cramming for exams, interviews, jumping from job to job, making money, loosing money, etc. Then one day you no longer have to wake up in the early mornings, you don't have to give orders or take orders anymore, you're done working. And you now need something to fill that space in, so now the question is what am I going to fill this empty space with? I have a lot time to think about it and now I feel so much better finally getting the chance with great company and a great dream to finally come true!
This weekend I'm heading to London with the roommate Ron, post cards should be coming soon!
Until Next Time!
Here's my jump if you guys want to see it!
Sounds like you're havin a good time! Thanks for sharing the stories and pics.
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