Thanksgiving Abroad & Finding the Extreme Within Myself in Interlaken, Switzerland

My Gino Capponi crew in apt. 1. good food, better company

My last European excursion for the semester was to Interlaken, Switzerland, "extreme sports capital of the world." My friends and I had been looking forward to this trip all semester, it went as far as making a pact within the first two weeks of JUST MEETING each other that we all promised (yes, a pinky promise was involved) to all go to Interlaken for our last hurrah and to partake in some extreme sports - we figured this would end our time in Europe in the craziest way, leaving us all with an even more unbreakable bond - and we were right. My weekend in Interlaken was one of the best trips of my semester, and one of the best weekends of my life.

From birth, these Interlaken natives are designed to be extreme and by association, pretty nuts in the head, in the best possible way. Many of them do crazy things like skydiving and canyon jumping every day... AS PART OF THEIR JOB. We talked to a few extreme sports pros there who said they had been skydiving over 8,000 times. THAT crazy. So, it would have been sacrilegious to travel all the way to Interlaken just to explore the quaint town surrounded by the beautiful Swiss Alps, on mere foot.

Kim & I excited to canyon jump!

My weekend really started that Wednesday, November 24, when I celebrated Thanksgiving with about 15 great friends that I have made this semester. Everyone contributed a plate, and wine, to this huge feast. And everything was delicious - it was one of my favorite nights with these people, because I truly felt a sense of family sitting around all of them, enjoying a home-cooked meal.  One of the greatest aspects of this study abroad experience is that you truly do form a family, it was completely natural. So to share a holiday with these people was really enjoyable to me, and it meant a lot to look around a room at all these faces that I didn't know four months ago, but who have grown into this family that I'll always hold dear to my heart, even years to come. The Thanksgiving feast being held on Wednesday was due to the fact that Jess, Kim, Talya, Alan, Mondy, and I would be traveling on an 8 hour bus ride to Interlaken ON Thanksgiving day. So, that's how my actual Thanksgiving was spent. We stopped at a gas station for "dinner" about 4 hours into the trip - one of the funniest moments of the trip, actually. Jessica and I wanted to conserve our remaining euro for when we return to Florence, SO we each bought a roll of bread each, for less than a euro, and we thought we were beating the system of not paying for olive oil by taking some of the oil that the cheese in the cafeteria kitchen was sitting in (cheese water, essentially) as a dipping product. We sat down with our bread, began pathetically eating, and then looked at each other, realizing that this, in fact, was our Thanksgiving dinner, and we burst out laughing. When we were finished with our non-filling pieces of bread, we got up to put our trays away and discovered an entire shelf of olive oil and balsamic that was for the use of all customers - again, we laughed at our pathetic attempts at a cheap meal, and walked back to the bus, ready for 4 more hours on the road. We arrived in Interlaken at about 2:30 in the morning. And for the record, Jess, Kim, Talya, and I being in a room together and then having to wake up early in the morning for a long, draining day DO NOT compliment each other well at all. We all talked and laughed for hours before falling asleep - but again, those are always some of the best moments of any experience. These long hours of staying awake together, talking and laughing, made us all remember back to our first trip together, late in September, to the Amalfi Coast; it was the first time we were all forced to truly get to know each other, and it was one of the greatest bonding experiences for all of us. So I felt really fortunate that I got to start out my semester on my first long weekend with these girls, and Alan and Mondy, and then to be able to end the semester of travels with them.

me in my harness, prepared for the jump

Friday morning, we all woke up early to sign up for whichever extreme sports we wished to partake in that day. Plans changed for many of us, and Kim, Alan, Mondy, and I all decided to canyon jump with Katie and Lorin. The extreme sports pros at our hostel, Funny Farm, told us that canyon jumping is something that freaks out skydivers and scares them. One of the guys said he's been canyon jumping many times and that given the choice, he wouldn't put his heart through that again after years of working with that. Yep, that seemed like the right choice for us. So we signed up to be picked up at 11:00 am for canyon jumping. We were taken to the area, and had to trek up to the canyon, an uphill walk that was quite tiring, but entailed beautiful scenery.  The Swiss Alps were visible, and that makes any tough trek a little easier. It was freezing out, the ground and trees covered in snow. The bottom of the canyon, where the stream lays, was also covered in snow. Reaching the canyon and looking over the edge, we all began to panic a bit. We weren't even walked through the procedure at all - we had to sign papers, in which the guy joked that we were "signing our lives away," and minutes later, we were having harnesses attached to our bodies. These harnesses wrapped around our thighs, waists, and up around our shoulders - and served as our only protection if God forbid the robe attached to us were to snap and we were to plunge to our deaths (I'm sure you're loving reading this, mom!) And so then we all had to wait in line, about 14 of us, for each person to jump down the canyon, swing until close enough to be thrown a rope, pull themself to the ladder and finally climb up the ladder to remove the gear. Kim and I were almost last in this line, so we got to watch everyone else make their jump. We were cold atop the canyon, but we were motivated by excitement. When it was finally time, our leader, Ziggy, attached the bungee like rope to the harness, at about chest height, and told me to go for it. Almost without hesitation (if I hesitated, I would have been there all day), I jumped off of the platform atop the cliff and within milliseconds, I was soaring through the air, and I could feel the pencil-like way my body was falling. I cannot possibly explain here or recreate in words what I felt and thought on the way down - though the most thrilling part was only seconds long, these seconds were more life-defining than years of anything else I've ever been through. I can't remember the order of my thoughts - but I do know that there was a few seconds where my mind was COMPLETELY blank, the only time in my life when I know for sure there were no thoughts were going through my mind, as if I blacked out. Or maybe it was that thing one supposedly experiences when approaching death, the thousands of images and thoughts flowing so fast through your brain that it's as if you're not thinking or processing anything at all. Either before or after this phenomenon, I know that my body and my heart went into some form of shot - my breath and my heart stopped for a few seconds. I was in such shock that not even a scream would release from within me - I couldn't have made a sound in that moment. I'd love to see my face in these seconds of free fall. I know it's cliche to say, but I truly never had felt so alive in all my 21 years. This is what I mean by life-defining, in addition to perspective setting. A few seconds of your life could be more astonishing, more risk-taking, more extraordinary, than a long life of mediocrity - so these big risks are worth the reward. The adrenaline makes you beyond happy, and makes you thankful, more than ever, to be alive and to be grateful for experiences like this. I would go for it again in a heartbeat, and plan to line up a list of extreme sports to do before my time on Earth is up. These moments that take your breath away, figuratively and well, quite literally, are yours for the taking, and they're to be valued greatly. Needless to say, I felt amazing afterwards, new almost. And I was ready for the next adventure.

chocolate indulgence

After this experience, Katie and I got back to the hostel, got some Irish Coffee to warm us up, and waited for the rest of the crew to get back and go eat. We ate at Hooters - yep, Hooters in Interlaken. And right after, we had dessert at a free chocolate tasting as part of the trip we booked. That's right, I was not only in the extreme sports capital of the world, but I was in the country known for making the best quality chocolate in the world. Needless to say, I was in some kind of Heaven, having been a chocolate lover my entire life. The guy who worked at the place, the Chocolate Chalet of Switzerland, Martin, was a delightful guy with a seemingly neverending knowledge about chocolate. He walked us through the history of chocolate, the steps that it takes to make it and preserve it, etc. etc. It was definitely educational, and I certainly enjoyed the subject, especially when we got to taste all the different kinds he talked about. We even tried a pepper chocolate, which was hot and spicy, very interesting. We tried dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white, among chocolate mixed with other things, like liquor. Everyone bought souvenirs from this store and gifts for family. I just hope it travels well!

That night, tired from the extremities of the day, and with the need to wake up early the next morning to do it all over again, we all hung out in our hostel - which was definitely the nicest hostel that we have stayed in this semester. It had a bar on the first floor, with a beautiful lounge area with windows that looked out at the Swiss Alps and a snowy view. It had a foosball table, pool table, and ballroom. We all got drinks, lounged and talked, and then Kim and I took Alan and Monday on in about 6 rounds of pool. Kim and I demolished the boys, Kim carrying our score, admittedly. But it was a great time, and felt like we were at a ski resort. I loved it.

a picture does no justice to the Swiss Alps

The following morning, a few of us woke up early to go snowboarding (and skiing for me). We rented all our equipment and had to take about a 45 minute train up to the slopes. Forget the skiing experience (which I eventually had to because I was born with less balance than the average human being), the VIEW was worth every cent spent that day- it was unbelievable, and not something I could successfully or accurately describe. The Swiss Alps are to die for though, and apparently many do when they try to climb the highest point and get lost in the caves within, or do more extreme sports that I'll ever be capable of. But it is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL there. The snow-covered mountains and the beautiful contrast of the immaculately white snow and the forest green of the trees is transcendent - you're automatically emotionally transported to a mental level you've never been at before, and as your eyes scan the snowy mountain tops and miles of white, you can't help but be thankful to be alive. I couldn't even stop myself from taking a moment, closing my eyes, thanking God, taking a breath, and then opening my eyes and repeating this process one or two times over. With the canyon jump the day before, and this view, I had to question whether or not this was real life or a dream. I was surrounded by nature's beauty. These moments of reflection are very humbling - when you see such grand entities bigger than you, bigger than what you are, than what you represent. You feel so inferior to these grandeur landmarks - they existed long before you were even a thought, and will continue to exist long after you're forgotten. As morbid as that sounds, it's entirely true and it's impressive. The human race consists of mere specks strewn over these amazing lands, these unbelievable natural elements, things that man could never create. And views like this truly ARE life-changing and they make you think. You have to wonder if Plato or Aristotle sat in front of views like this, philosophizing and theorizing, because such views, for me at least, are the most inspiring things one can come across.

Alan and I with the Swiss Alps behind us

Kim & I with our snow gear

... Somewhere amidst this view, I was failing miserably, and pathetically, at my second ever attempt at skiing. Here come my justifications: there was no BUNNY HILL... AGAIN! (the first time I went skiing, the bunny hill was closed), and here in Interlaken, they had what they call a "Beginner" run, but let me just declare this... BEGINNER,   MY    ASS.  That run could have very well left me for dead - it was entirely triumphant over me. And the whole way down, I cursed mom and dad in my head for never teaching me how to ski (just kidding, guys!) But one of the ski instructors that we rented our gear from saw me falling all over the place and took mercy on me and tried to teach me some of the basics, and ended up having to help me through the entire run. I did learn some things, but this wasn't the place to test my lessons further - no, I need a bunny hill for real the next time. Nevertheless, it was a cool experience and hey - I skied the Swiss Alps, not something many people I know can say. And the rush of flying down one of those hills was incredible. But I learned that skiing is something that I do want to learn and while my balance issues will probably never allow me to master it, I'd at least like to get through a run without falling. The huge bruise on my leg serves as a reminder of my lack of athletic ability.

The view from our balcony at Funny Farm hostel

After we got back to the hostel, a few of us ate together and relaxed in our beloved ski-resort style lodge. Then a few of the girls shared some drinks and ventured down into the basement of the hostel, which housed two bars, one of which had a stage in the room, and live music. The band was a cover band for that 80s rock that personally I didn't know still survived in anyone's lives as anything but a guilty pleasure - but the band was totally into it so it was enjoyable and it was fun. After that, sleep came quicker than ever and before we knew it, it was morning, our last day in Interlaken, much to our dismay. As always, we all separated for a while - Kim and I went walking around Interlaken, looking for some gifts and such, and taking in the last minute views. By the way, a thing about Interlaken - you look up in the sky, and it is normal to see people falling into the sky - paragliders, skydivers, etc. Sometimes right above you, you'll find a paragliding team soaring beneath the clouds. Interlaken, like Amsterdam and Dublin, is like a universe all to itself, with different rules and different forms of magic. And the people are very friendly here. After our little excursion, we met up with Jess, Lorin, Alan, and Mondy and went ice skating with our remaining hours in Switzerland. It took me a while to get the hang of it (do I need to reiterate my problems with balance any further?) but it was fun and I could have kept going if it weren't for the bus ride back looming over our head's. Before we left, Kim and I went into a Swiss Army Knife shop, where I picked up a mini souvenir, swiss army nail filer, ha, and then we went to this bagel shop for the second time that day to get wraps for the bus ride home. (The owner was from New York and held a thick Long Island accent!) The departure from Interlaken was bittersweet - we were all leaving a place that had tested us to limits and inner strength that we didn't necessarily know we had, but we were on our way back to a city that has become home to us, one that we knew we would be spending only a few more days in. And so, to end my post on Interlaken, I just want to say that this is another amazing town that I hope to be back to some day - as it has already taken and kept a part of me, and taught me more about myself than I knew the weekend before.