Counquering the Swiss Alps

This past weekend I continued my European adventure in Interlaken, Switzerland.  My friends and I stayed at a hostel called Balmers, which is ” the most famous hostel

in Europe” with a million and one other kids that I knew who were studying abroad. It was quite the

scene but still an enjoyable time being that they had a bar in the basement of the hostel that doubled

as a club that became packed with American kids trying to get drunk and Swiss guys trying to hit on

drunk American girls. I recommend staying there because it makes everything easy for you because

its a very popular hostal and right next to an amazing thai food place, the ski rental/night sledding

place, close to the casino and you can sign up for skydiving and get picked up in the lobby. The rooms

are ehh but very campish and innexpensive and they give you free breakfast. Don´t buy anything in

the guest shop because I bought a hat for 16 franks that ended up being 12 in the airport ( and airports

are usually a rip off to begin with, but the hat is awesome).

 Going to the Swiss Alps has always been a dream for me because I am an avid skier and could not wait

to hit the slopes.

I have been skiing since I was five and could not have been more excited to take advantage of this

opportunity. The skis and lift ticket were reasonable, I have my own skis but for obvious reasons I

don´t have them with me, so renting a jacket, pants, goggles and helmet, boots, poles and skis along

with the lift ticket came out to a grand total of 190 franks. The mountain was huge and beautiful,

the snow was amazing, but the visibility was horrible so it was really difficult to ski and for those

who ski a lot and understand the terminology white out (when you have no perception of the

terrain in front of you because the snow is white and the air and snow falling is white, this was the

worst I have ever seen. The food at the top of the mountain was alright but over priced as usual and

the soup was really good. The gondala isnt slow but it takes 30 minutes to reach the top of the mountain

and about 30 to ski down it if you know how to ski and are being conservative. Otherwise it was an

great and I am sure that I will venture back to ski there again.

       Unfortunatley for us humans, flying isnt a natural ability that we are blessed with and therefore many

 people are uncomfortable with the idea of even being in an airplane, let alone jumping out of one.

I am one of those people, and further more I not only have a distate for flying but a hatred for

turbulence. I journeyed this past weekend to Switzerland, by plane mind you, and at no

point did it occur to me that jumping out at 13,000 feet was a good idea by any means. Then again,

I am abroad and doing things that I am not accustomed to and putting myself outside of my zone of

comfort is a major aspect of this whole adventure. So, as I am sure you have guessed, on Friday

morning I jumped out of a plane and partook in the amazing experience of skydiving. Jumping out of

a plane and free falling through the clouds at 130 mph is not something that is easily explained but

incredible and exhilirating are two adjectives that begin to tell the  story. Of course, I reccommend

skydiving to everyone as something they should do at least once in their life, especially if its a great w

to conquer a fear that many people share with me. Although, I must warn all future sky flyers that

you must make sure your finances are in order because the jump and the video (which is a must

purchase because how are you going to jump out of a plane and not have a video to show for it)

run you 570 franks which is around 500 dollars, but nothing has been more worth the money.