Falling For... Switzerland!

10/13/2013

After a very long day of traveling, we started our day in Athens, jumped a flight to Milan, Italy, from there we barely made an oversold train to our final destination of the day to Zurich. This marks the halfway point in our trip which means we have no reservations from here on out and it also marks the first time having to use our Eurorail pass; which is proving to be more confusing that anticipated. We are required to purchase reservations before we are allowed on the train as they only allow so many seats to be used as Eurorail passes... which we quickly figured out are not enough. Here we sit,  in the restaurant car, with no reservations, no validated ticket (which is a huge no, no) and no seats. We may end up paying a huge fine and find ourselves sitting on the cold, metal steps for the next 5 hours. Gonna cross my fingers, put on my poker face, order some food, and attempt to look like I belong here.  With all the plains, trains, and buses, we have not had a chance to eat. Starving, I look at the menu, only to find out that they are sold out of everything except a dry salad and some stale bread. Par for the day.

Finally we have made it to Zurich!! Thankfully our search for a hostel was short; as the last thing I wanted to do now was wander around the city, in the dark, with my 30 lbs pack. Luckily, one of the first places we stopped at, Langstars, had a room a mixed dorm of 12 available. We don't care, we will take it!!  The hostel is situated above a cool little bar.... Hippie meets Hawaiian. I fell in love with it. However, our room was quite a different scenario. We ended up bunking with 10 men and me. Even after an extremely long day of travel, sleeping was not even an option.  This whole trip when we have stayed in a mixed dorm, it ends up being me and all men. The snoring, farting, and scratching, have really put a damper on my beauty sleep!! Combine that with 2 showers and 1 toilet, it's about enough to put a pms-ing girl over the edge!

On Monday, we walked around Old Town and then Decided to take a cable care up to Utelberg, (small mountain overlooking Zurich.) We met Bryan, a guy from South Dakota, who was staying in our hostel. Turns out he knows my cousin and several people I went to college with at NDSU. Small world!! Bryan joined us on our cable ride journey, turned 6 mile unplanned hike due to being just a tish lost. :)  More blisters, but worth the amazing view of Zurich.

10/15/2013

Beep, beep, beep. Ding, Ding, Ding musical serenades reminded me it was 0700, even thought I was up most of the night listening to the melodic snoring of 10 men. That combined with a hot, sticky room is enough to make any girl a bit crabby. Any who, off to Interlaken we go aka the center for sky-diving, para-sailing, hiking... all fabulous, all super expensive, all weather dependent.Today we caught a bus, train and 5 cable cars to Schilnoff (2nd highest point in Europe) It was -10 C and snowing, so the view was nonexistent at best. While atop, we met a couple from Boston, whom we went to the Thundenn waterfalls with. They had a stash of wine in their backpacks, so we stopped for a social before catching the bus. Such awesome people one meets when traveling!!I just can't imagine my parents doing a European getaway, but Ive met tons of people in their 60-70s doing just that. My goal is to be like them when I am older and wiser.

Dinner consisted of a quick stop at the supermarket and a bottle of wine. Here I sit, in the basement of our hostel doing laundry. While it's the last thing I want to be doing right now, but it's been 3 weeks since I left and this is the first time washing my clothes. They smell from the humidity in Spain, Greece, and France as well as from just being dirty!! Cheers to clean clothes and hopes of not being allergic to the laundry detergent here. That would be my luck!

10/16/2013

Life changing day!!! Woke up around 0700, took a nice warm shower for the first time in a week, enjoyed a traditional European breakfast of toast, nutella, yogurt, granola and coffee. The forecast predicted rain so the plan was to wander around the city and see where life would take us.

Everything changed when we woke up to clear skies and sunny weather. As I read the daily quote in front of my cafe macchiato: "Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that disempowers them or one that literally saves their lives."

It was in that moment, a skydiving flyer caught the corner of my eye. Hmmm..... 395F to jump out of an airplane over the Swiss Alps. My heart did multiple skip-a-beats, my stomach had butterflies, my heart fluttered more: Should I? Could I? Can I? What if I chicken out? What if I shit my pants? What if my chute doesn't open? What if? What if? What if? Is it worth the 395F? After about a half an hour of going back and forth, I thought about WHY I came to Europe, why I went on this journey, taking risks and just going for it. I decided on a "Yes, I Do". A commitment phobe of sorts came out in me, As once my credit card was swiped, there was NO refund. Either jump or be out a lot of money. The van was scheduled to come pick us up around noon. That gave me exactly 1 hour 15 minutes to freak out. I'm quite certain I went to the bathroom 15 times, paced the hallways enough to break a sweat, my heart racing the entire time. HOLY shit!!! I am really going to do this. Me!! The same person who won't ride an elevator is going to jump out of an airplane at 13000 feet.

After almost wearing out the soles on my shoes and heart shaking from all the fluttering, the van had arrived. From there, we proceeded to pick up an additional 7 wary jumpers. All from India, all super cool people. Upon arriving to the hanger, we were given a 10 minute lesson, signed some some safety waivers if something should go wrong they were not responsible (oh boy), it was finally time to get our jump suits on and get harnessed. One more stop at the bathroom and it was "go time." or was it? I'm not the best listener when I am anxious. What was I supposed to do again?? Where was I supposed to put my arms? what does the tap on the right shoulder mean? EEEKKK!!

Tim, from New Zealand, was the lucky man strapped to my back. Charming, friendly, calm, cute in a mysterious way. Yeee! Ok, so there we sat for the 20 minute flight to reach our jumping point of 13,000 feet. The temp was -5 C at that level. Oddly, I wasnt too nervous at this point. There was no backing out, no turning back. All was in God's hands and Tim's lap!! And that's when he said, "Your up. You are going to be the crash test dummy for the rest of the jumpers." Oh my, oh my!! Holy Crap!! I am really going to jump out of this plane! Wait!!! What was I supposed to do again? Where do I put my hands? My legs? As we crept towards the open door and looked down, everything went silent. I took a deep breath and just let go. Let go of control. My thoughts. My feelings. My doubt. Let all guard down and just free falled for 45 seconds at 120 mph.... One of the most freeing and timeless moments of my life. I was lost in the beauty of the Alps, Tim's charming accent, living in the second. Wow!! This is how we should all live life every day! Free of everything! Beauty, excitement, passion, a rush, a wish, a dream, a moment where time feels as though it's stopped. Falling...Feeling...Living...Falling...

What was that? Did I just fall out of my harness???? Nope... My parachute popped open and it felt like we were being catapulted back up into the sky, followed by a spin, a roll, and a dive. Ahhhhhh!!! Suddenly I woke up from my dreamy gaze and was scared!! Holy shit!! We are still in the air!!! My brief moments of serenity were interrupted by reality. I am still in the air falling at high speeds towards a snow capped mountain!! And its cold!! And I have spit all over my face, tears in my eyes, a permi-grin, and a check on my bucket list!! Eeeeeeek!!! Overwhelmed with emotions.

Meanwhile, Tim is taking pictures, has my back, is making me feel safe, brave, and on top of the world. I pondered for a split second about how that's exactly what I am praying for in a relationship...when my thought were interrupted by the ground. Holy crap!! We are almost down. Remind me again what my job is with landing? We came to the ground, I tipped back and put my legs up as high as I could get them, and the next thing I knew my butt was hitting the ground. It was over. One of the biggest rushes and sense of empowerment I have ever experienced. Completely going outside my comfort zone and just going for it. I am still on an adrenaline high. I now understand how addicting this could become. Total time from jump to finish was less than 8 minutes. But those 8 minutes changed my life. I conquered one of my biggest fears. If I can jump out of an airplane, ANYONE can! A great reminder of one of life's most important lessons, "we" can do anything we put our minds to.

Afterwards, with perma-grin intact, I stopped at an Irish bar for a few drinks. It was the first time in 3 weeks I had spent some time alone. I need that. I crave that. I've missed that time of solitude. Feeling blessed and just taking in all the beauty I am surrounded by. Lost in thought, shivering with emotion, I hear a charming accent. It's Tim!! We shared a beer, some life stories, and went our separate ways. People truly are the reason I get up everyday. They intrigue me. Inspire me. Motivate me.

Now here I sit, bottle of vino in hand, cork signed, in my pjs... I feel alive. Blessed. And refreshed. Switzerland will forever hold a special warmth in my heart. With that, I am anxiously awaiting to see my skydive video accompanied by Pink's lyrics of "Try".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTCDVfMz15M&feature=kp


Fitting. With the lyrics bringing me to tears, I thought again about that moment of feeling safe, brave, on top of the world, in a stranger's arms... and thinking it's time I get back up and try to throw my heart back out in to the world. Hoping there's a prince ready and waiting on the other end to catch it. Protect it. and Keep it forever...

FINALLY... my skydive video... hope it drives you to do something you've always wanted to do.

http://www.hightail.com/download/OGhmeEVUSEJwcFZBSXNUQw