Tessily: Paragliding in Interlaken- a safe sport

I woke up on Saturday in Interlaken and felt like a bus had literally ran over me. My knees and elbows were bruised, ankles swollen, and an overall ache was kind enough to stay the night with me. I even had an awkward bruise below my butt that stretched across my cheeks... but that was a bit of an over share I apologize. No worries though I was so happy to be alive and on my first excursion in a new city that there was no time to complain. Our hostel gave us a breakfast voucher with two complimentary options. One was a "traditional" breakfast of wheat toast, white rolls, and orange juice (with topping options of jam or local un-refridgerated slightly sweaty Swiss cheese) and the second option was oats and an apple with orange juice. I know these seem bland, but there was only one smart decision in front of me and that was oats. When you are traveling and your biological clock is crying on a daily basis you better fight for that fiber. Moving on...

After I survived gliding down the mountain of death at night I decided what better to do during the day than jump off one?! SO a very nice Swiss-German man met us outside of our hostel in a van... WOAH rewind... let me rephrase that.... Our paragliding instructor met 3 other girls and me outside the hostel in a van with our instructors and a driver to take us up the mountain!

A brief history lesson about Interlaken, Switzerland is that the town is water locked in between Lake Brienz to the east and Lake Thun to the west. Hence being internally locked? Lets just go with that.

We took a 20 minute drive up the mountain and the instructors explained how safe it is and that they in fact do not do night sledding or sledding in general because of how dangerous it is. They gave us the option of picking our instructor to glide with or playing Swiss roulette which "is a bit more safe than Russian roulette." We chose the roulette option and I wound up with a man named Bruno. He was from a small ski town near Interlaken and they actually only had service roads there so everyone either walks or skis to class growing up. Talk about going green no wonder there are no overweight people here.

At the top of the mountain they gave us some snow boots and we took a 10 minute hike to where we were going to take off! Bruno set up the harness and one by one we all ran a couple steps and the were lifted off the ground so delicately you really don't feel badass at all. I can say that view was absolutely amazing, and if I was not appreciative and in awe of this amazing adventure I am on before.. it forced me to stop and reflect on how incredibly blessed I am. Gliding and turning 2,000 feet in the air you can see the two lakes, towns, and only happy mushy thoughts cross your mind. Maybe it was the altitude was messing with me, but mind felt to clear and happy. I highly recommend paragliding, at the end we turns and twists were like a roller coaster that took my breath away. The landing was just like a stomp on the ground and we paid the men and went off to explore the town!

Unfortunately, Interlaken was not as banging as I thought it would be... we strolled... they have an odd amount of Chinese restaurants. I purchased engraved Swiss army knives for the three Anderson men in my life, but I made sure not to get them any dangerous gadgets that they would accidentally slash their pant leg with.

After exploring and downing a much needed kabob we showered and got ready for the nightclub attached to our hostel to celebrate a girl in my groups 21st birthday! I was told by a very wise person to celebrate everyone's birthday like it is my own and I intend to do so since my 21st was during winter exams. The club called "Metro" was fun and creepy (our bus driver had been posted up in the corner of if all weekend.) I danced battled the locals and listened to this banging Spanish song a million times which cemented its legacy as the official song of the trip.

One story from the weekend that was beyond hilarious happened when a girl from our trip apparently dropped her pants and allegedly pee-ed in the nightclub. She was then kicked out and the bouncers actual grabbed her arm and yanked her which is when she said,"this shit does not fly in America." ***Just a heads up study abroad tip... do not EVER say that in a foreign country. The bouncer then tried to get her passport number and arrest her and by the grace of mary she cried her way out of it and safely back into our hostel.

The ride home was very long... 3 people vomited and bruises from night-sledding were still raw but overall it was a HUGE success. A guy from our trip made a video and added in the legendary Spanish club beat and a sweet little scene of someone puking.. enjoy!