2/22/08

This morning we checked into our hostel straight off the night train at 6 in the morning. We stayed at Balmers in the private guest house and it was amazing! They really took care of us and the beds and pillows were ridiculously comfy. We woke up too late to hit the slopes, but Ethan couldn't wait and so he did all of the ridiculous black diamonds and unmarked paths in lieu of sleeping a couple extra hours. As we were sitting at lunch eating insanely expensive Swiss food (hash browns), and paying 30 francs for water, John suddenly announces, "I'm going skydiving in an hour, who wants to come?" I pondered for a few minutes, considered throwing up, and then said "I will." An hour later and a whole bunch of will requests later, John and I were on a bus on the way to go jump out of a plane. We got there and had a "lesson" which was literally three minutes and basically the only instructions were "don't throw up on your tandem partner." Then we got into our blue astronaut suits and harnesses and waited for our plane. When I saw it in the air on its way down and realized that it was so high up that I couldn't make out wings, I started to get a lot of nervous. Three minutes later John and I, our tandem partners, a hot Swiss photographer and two pilots were on our way up into the sky, 13,000 feet up (putting us at about 15,000 feet above sea level.) I thought we were about ready when we could see the tops of all the Alps and France and Italy, and just then my tandem Roland said, "Halfway up!" While this was true, some of the other things he said to me were just to mess with me. For example: "Oh no! Did you forget to grab goggles!", "I'm nervous, are you?", "You know one person a day dies doing this with me and I haven't lost anyone yet today." "All of your carabeeners are broken! I'll have to just tie onto the bottom." I was shaking in my Ugg boots the rest of the way up (yes, I wore them) and then the door of the plane swung open and I was leaning over the ledge with my feet dangling over the ground far below. Suddenly a wave of calm rushed over my entire body and all fear that I had turned into this amazing feeling like I could do anything. I leaned my head all the way forward because I forgot everything I learned in the 3 minute class, and Roland had to pull it back so that I wouldn't break my neck jumping. And then I was in the air. It was almost an entire minute of free-fall, over 8000 feet of breathtaking views of the Alps and every surrounding country. I couldn't get a single breath but it was ok, I wasn't even thinking about it. After the minute that felt like about 10 days, (in a good way,) my parachute released and everything slowed to a halt. I was 5000 feet in the air and swooping around the cascading mountains surrounding the valley where I would soon land. After a few minutes in the air, the ground grew nearer and I yelled to Roland "Do we have to go down now!?" He responded, "...There's really no other direction to go." We made a fast descent to the ground and I landed on my butt in a pile of mud (don't worry, I was supposed to.) A minute later John landed and we spent a few minutes jumping up and down screaming. (I think I said I love you to Roland.) We made it back to Balmers about an hour later and saw the rest of the gang who ran screaming and embraced us shouting "You're alive!" 

We were in and out the door in about a half hour and on the way to night sledding. We took a gondola up through the pitch black mountain which was possibly scarier than skydiving. Then we got our lesson which consisted of a man named Ronnie with a ridiculous Swiss accent handing us a sled and a glow stick and saying "Eef you vant to be turnik right put yourright fut on seh ground. Eef you vant turnink lefft put your lefft fut on zeh grownd. Eef you vant to stop then puttink bof feet on zeh grownd. Eef you see a black tink movink closeh to you, you should break because dat ees eizer a tree of a cleef. Okay, vee go!" ....And....down the mountain we went. It was a narrow path about 12 feet wide with a cliff on one side and a rock formation on the other, and it was about an hour of horror down to the restaurant. After we arrived safely, we were served a very authentic Swiss meal of cheese fondue and hash browns and eggs. (They love hash browns and have them at every meal.) Dinner was fabulous but way not enough food because I am an over-eating American. Before we left we made sure to get one more good look at the unbelievable stars. There were more than I have ever seen in my life, and the view of the Alps with the sky lit up in stars was breathtaking. We contemplated checking out the bar on our way home, but once we saw our beds we were in for good (even though it was only about 10). Then the 7 of us went about all sharing one bathroom the only way you can... to just run for it and see who can get in first. This method worked out just fine. Slipping into our picnic table print beds after the long day was amazing, and I had skydiving dreams all night!