Jumping out of helicopters over the Swiss Alps-check that off my bucket list!

A few weeks back my friend Avry and I were trying to think of a fun exciting adventure we could go on the weekend before her 21st birthday. Interlaken, Switzerland had crossed our minds but I don't think either of us expected to follow through with our far fetch travel ideas. However, when the week before her birthday approached, we mustered up and paid our 180 Euros to the Florence For Fun office and saved our spot on the trip! From word of mouth we had heard sooo many great things about Interlaken such as the beautiful Swiss Alps, laid back sporty environment, Swiss chocolate, fondu and oh ya skydiving. The second we heard peoples stories about jumping out of helicopters and planes over the Swiss Alps....I was sold. Avry needed a little convincing in the beginning but before we even got on the bus she was determined to make the jump. Now that we had both convinced ourselves to do it, there was a higher power I had to convince as well....The parentals. Now I knew this one might be a little tricky since in my family I am sort of known as the one who all ironic, impossible, unthinkable, unfortunate events happen to. Or like my parents refer to me as, "the shit magnet." So I approached this topic with them as brief and light as possible just to give them a heads up that I was deeply considering taking the leap of faith out of a helicopter.

Thursday finally rolled around and by 6pm Avry and I were headed to the train station to get on the buses! Of course with us we can neverrr go on a road trip with out some road snacks so we stopped by Conad (my favorite grocery store mainly because the Asian man who works there is quite flirtatious with me and really admires my white coat haha) picked up some snacks and meet up with the group.  Now Avry and I did not know any other people going on this trip but we figured hey why not we can both be pretty out going, well make friends! Our first impression however was not one of the greatest. Waiting around for the busses to arrive we decided to secretly open up the bag of M&M's we got, hide them in her bag and sneak a few at a time so we did not look like total fat asses. The bag they were inside of was sitting on top of Avry's 360 degrees rolly suitcase...bad idea. The bag toppled over and the M&M's went everywhere.....no exaggeration. So the first impression all of our potential new friends had of us was that we were those girls eating M&M's at the train station and spilled them everywhere.

Anywaysss after a 8 hour bus ride we had finally arrived at our hostel (The Funny Farm?) in Interlaken, Switzerland at 3:45 in the morning. By this point I had already put my deposit down for skydiving and the next day at 12pm I was scheduled to make the jump.

(Right outside our hostel the Funny Farm!)

Friday morning Avry and I were beyond excited and could barley sleep so we headed down to the "included breakfast" and had originally planed to stock up on the free meal so we could save lunch money for a big dinner. The "included breakfast" consisted of a loaf of bread and a bowl of jelly for all of the hostel guest to eat. Wasn't the biggest selection but with all of the nerves and excitement food was the last thing on our mind....surprisingly.
Next thing we knew it was time to get on the shuttle and head to the SkyDIVE Interlaken office to sign the "Incase of injury or death don't blame us" forms.

(SkyDive Interlaken!)

(The forms were signed, ready to jumpp!)

(All suited up! before they put the stupid hats on us...)

After going through the debriefing and practicing laying in the skydive position and lifting our legs for a safe landing with the 6 other people that were set up for the same time as us, they asked which 2 of the 8 people would be willing to go first. When nobody volunteered, Avry and I decided to take the plunge and go first. Now had we of known that the hats they put on us were not required and we technically had an option to not wear them....maybe we would of gone later so we could of seen how silly they look on. But silly hats aside, we got all of our harnesses on and strapped up tight and anxiously waited the arrival of the helicopter we would soon be jumping out of. 

 (Cool hats! hah)

(Helicopter landing!)

The helicopter had arrived, we determined that Avry would be the first to jump because she said that if she saw me fall out of a helicopter there would be no way she could go! The ride up was absolutely beautiful! They took the scenic routes to get to the jumping point so that we could get in some good pictures!

(Beautiful Swiss Alps!)

The ride up 14,000 feet is not the most comfortable ride in the world not only because of the tiny back seat of the helicopter but also because you are strapped in extremely tight the the tandem master your are sitting on top of! But comfortability was not really my main focus at this particular point in time, I was much more focused how how much higher we were going to go before they give us the 1 minute count down!

 (eeek!)

(Two minutes!)

(The countdown began and next thing I knew, Avry was gone!)

SO before I even had time to register in my head what I was really about to do, the tandem man strapped to the back of me was telling me "ok its time scoot off the edge of the helicopter lets do it!" What felt like  a life time sitting on the edge was really not even a minute! We were told to push our stomachs out, do a front flip out of the helicopter hold on the our harnesses until they give us the tap and let the wind do the rest. The second I flipped out of the helicopter, my hands were up in the air even though I had not felt the tap yet. Words can not even describe the feeling I had free falling over 14,000 feet in the air! It was simply the most euphoric feeling I have ever had in my entire lifeee!!! 

(Oh look there's Avry!!!)

Successfull Skydive adventureeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday March 12, 2011

The next morning we got up early to catch the bus for the free day trip to Bern the capitol of Switzerland. 

When In Rome!

This past Thursday I was on Facebook talking to my friend from high school Chelsea who is studying abroad in Barcelona right now and she informed me that she was going to visit another friend from high school Erin who is studying in Rome this semester. I was pretty upset that I was going to be there the following weekend for a trip with my school and not this weekend when Chelsea was also going to be there! I talked to my mom about how the two of them were there and she made a valid point that I should just pack up and go to Rome for the weekend because in all honesty how many times in my life will two of my friends be in Rome at the same time when I have the capability of hoping on a train and meeting up with them. So after little debate, I took her advice and decided to take the plunge and head to Rome. After finding out the train tickets were only 17 euros each way and my friend Erin had a nice cozy spot on her apartment floor for me to sleep for free I knew I had to have my roommate Skylar come with me! Of course, she was totally down with taking the last minute trip to Rome. So that night we procrastinated on packing and put it off till the next morning....typical.

Friday February 25, 2011

Friday morning I went to the train station early to pick up our train tickets so that we were not running to catch the train as we usually are. Since our train tickets were only 17 euros, that meant we were going to be on the "slow train" which takes about 4 hours as opposed to the "fast train" which is 48 euros that gets you there in about 1 and a half hours. With a 4 hour train ride ahead of us we knew a good lunch would be well needed so grabbed our overstuffed duffle bags and headed down to a great nameless panini shop to grab a sandwich for the road. Because our hands were already full with our luggage and lunch we decided to hold off on getting the giant waters for the train ride until we got to the train station, however as we were walking towards the station we passed a wine shop and decided it would be a good idea to grab a bottle of wine for the ride there. The train ticket said it would depart at 1:13pm, when they say 1:13pm they literally mean 1:13pm on the dot, at this point we were still a good half mile away from the station and our watches read 1:09pm which meant it was time to start running. Luckily enough, we made it on the train right as it started to pull away, story of my life. On time or not, we made it on the train and were headed towards Rome!

To pass the time I tuned into my ipod while Skylar read her book, or should I say that was what we thought we were going to do to pass the time until an Italian man in his upper twenties got on at the next stop and chose the seat right across from us and immediately began chatting. My immediate thoughts were, "oh great this dude is gonna try and make small talk with us alllll the way there and then try and offer to split a taxi with us and it would turn into a scene from the movie "Taken," however, I was wrong. He ended up being a very nice architect from a small town in Italy and was just taking the train home for the day. We actually really enjoyed talking to him about language barriers and how he thought we were speaking complete gibberish when Skylar and I would turn to each other and say something. He kept apologizing for his english when he actually had amazing English to say the least. Once his stop came and we were finally alone in our "compartment" seating again, we decided it was time to pop open the wine.

After the wine was gone and we engaged in more conversations with the many Italians on our train including a 7 year old girl who decided she wanted to be best friends with us and come sit in our cabin and show us her dance moves to Justin Bieber songs, we were finally in Rome!

I called my friend Erin who told us we needed to catch the H bus to her apartment, get off at the 5th stop, cross the bridge, turn down some road, etc. In a place I have never been before, that was alot to take on ha so she just said to call once we got off the bus and she would be waiting! We got off the bus, and there she was!!! It was soooo good to see her and so crazy to think that we were both in Rome! We went up to her apartment to put all of our stuff down and say hey to the other girls including Chelsea! It was around 8pm or so by now and we were all getting very hungry so Erin took us down to one of their favorite restaurants were we all caught up on life abroad, old friends got to know new friends and of course started planning out our events for the evening. After dinner we went back to the apartment changed clothes and headed out for the night starting our evening at a club called Coyote with all of Erin's roommates and their friends living in Rome as well. The nightlife area in Rome is not really in walking distance of Erin's apartment so we called a bunch of cabs and all piled in.

     (We convinced the driver only 3 people were in the back then, asked him to take a picture of us!?)

Coyote was a really fun atmosphere however there was a large amount of Italian men who all looked like they wanted to start singing "It's raining American women," when our huge group of girls walked in! We stayed around there for a while and then decided it was time to hit up a new place.

(Erin, Chelsea and I all in Rome at the same time=Southlake Reunion!)

(My roommate Skylar, Erin's roommate Julia and of course Erin and I!)

                                          (So happy I got to spend the weekend with Erin!!)

(The bartenders at this bar were big fans of us!)

After a good long first night out, and a late night panini fix to put us to sleep, we headed back to the apartment to get some sleep. Erin and Julia, the nice host they are, decided it was a good idea for us to push their beds together so we could all fit on the bed. When we first fell asleep we all fit on it perfectly until I woke up on the metal springs and and Skylar woke up half on/ half off the bed. So we decided to use some towels, blankets, sweat pants, t-shirts basically whatever we could find to make a pallet on the ground. Now usually I am a person who can fall asleep just about anywhere, but I think I said that before  I had ever slept on an ice cold Italian apartment floor! However I was staying for free so there was no complaining coming out of my mouth!

Saturday February 26, 2011

Now most people after a long night out exploring the nightlife of Rome, Italy would sleep the following day away. Skylar and I on the other hand don't let the lack of sleep get in our way of exploring Europe. We have found ourselves waking up really early and tackling the world quite a bit since we met each other so we decided to call it "The morning charge!" So Saturday morning we jumped out of bed around 11 or so (I know I know thats not super early but in 20/ 21 year old time it is!) and began to map out our day! 

                                            (Heading out on our morning charge!)

We took a guide book we found in Erin's apartment and set out on the streets of Rome. To get organized, we stopped at a little sandwich shop and wrote out the main things we wanted/ had to see. Our list included things such as the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, the Vatican and whatever other good things we stumble upon along the way! Our first destination was the Colosseum, however took us longer than expected to get to it because of all the beautiful buildings and sites we had to stop and snap a few photos of along the way.

We were unsure of the many beautiful things we were taking pictures by but it was still amazing! But shortly after a few detours, we had made it to the Colosseum! It was completely surreal to me seeing the Colosseum up close and personal like I did since I had only seen it in movies, text books and pictures!

(Me in front of the Colosseum!) 

Next we were headed toward the Pantheon. The Pantheon is is a nondenominational church in Rome that means "to every god." This is one of Skylar's favorite sites in Rome so it was a must see! What was cool about this church is that there is a hole in the roof right in the center of the top dome!

 (Outside of the Pantheon!)

(The hole in the dome of the church!)

(Of course a picture of me in the Pantheon!)

With two sites down we were quite proud of what all we had accomplished so far so we stopped for a coffee to help us push on! Unfortunately the coffee place we found had amazing looking cannoli's oh and of course gelato to! So we went by the saying "When in Rome!" and enjoyed in a great snack!

The next place on charge was to get to the Trevi Fountain. Of all the places to find I would say this was definitely the easiest because all we had to do was follow the mob of people cameras in hand pushing and shoving their way to the Trevi Fountain to snap the perfect picture. So being the tourist that we were for the weekend, we did the same and followed the crowed to snap our photos!

(In front of the Trevi Fountain!)

(Skylar and I being tourist!)

(Now that is alot of tourist!)

At this point we had seen way more than we expected us to be able to find! Erin, Chelsea and the other girls were awake now and so we all planned to meet up at the Spanish Steps which conveniently enough for us was really close to the Trevi Fountain! Once again, we followed the mob of people heading to Spanish Steps and met up with Erin, Chelsea and the girls!

(All the girls on the Spanish steps!)

We sat on the Spanish Steps and chatted while we people watched the hundreds of tourist that filled the streets!

(Sooo crowded in front of the Spanish Stairs!)

Once we left the Spanish Stairs we headed back in the direction of Erin's apartment so they could show us around the main area where they live! The girls had not got any gelato yet so we had to stop so they could get some! Now the thing with gelato is, when you see someone else eating it, you can't help but crave one for yourself! So using the "When in Rome" saying again, Skylar and I decided to split a small cup! haha The walk back was beautiful because the sun was just beginning to set and the buildings all looked even more pretty than they did in the middle of the day! We walked passed one of Erin's favorite buildings and decided it would be a good place for a Southlake reunion picture with Erin, Chelsea and I!

Erin and Julia kept telling us how we were going to pass the "cat sanctuary" on the way home and that we had to stop and look at it. We kept asking what in the world the "cat sanctuary" was and all she told us was "just wait you'll see!" So when we came upon this "cat sanctuary" it was literally a big open area with old pillars and platforms everywhere......and tons of cats just roaming around in it. As were looking at it Erin also threw in that it was also the place where Caesar was stabbed. haha They now call it the cat sanctuary because people decided to make it a place where cats are able to roam around free! If you ask me....ew!

(Where Caesar got stabbed/"Cat Sanctuary"?)

We were then back on our way to the apartment to shower up and get ready for dinner and another night on the town in Rome! For dinner we met up with a bunch of Erin's friends at school with her in Rome and went to this amazing restaurant called Tony's! There was a group of about 15 of us so we ordered a bunch of liters of the house wine and had a great time! After dinner the big group of us all went over to a group of the boys apartment to meet up with even more people to go out with! Soon after we headed out and hit up a few of their favorite bars and had a wonderful last night in Rome!!!

 (Erin and I at the apartment before going out!)

(We decided to take a picture waving to our moms! ha!)

The next morning we were going to try and wake up real early before we had to catch a train home and check out the Vatican. However, when the alarms went off, we decided we might have to make a rain check on the Vatican! So the weekend was nearing an end and we packed up our stuff, went to one last lunch with Erin and Julia....oh ya and had to try the Nutella crapes everyone had been ranting and raving about....and headed on to the train station. Of course the bus we needed to get to the station from Erins apartment had not shown up in the entire 30 plus minutes we had been waiting for it, so we missed the first train we planed on catching which meant we had a little over 2 hours to kill before the next train arrived. We stopped by one of the grocery stores, picked up some salads for dinner and some snacks to keep us satisfied along the way and waited for our train. We finally made it on, rode the 4 hours back and next thing we knew we were back in Florence! 

Once again I had another amazing weekend that I will always remember!!! :)