So much has happened since I last blogged. I will try to blog more often from now on. This blog is about my first weekend away!
This past weekend I traveled to Interlaken and Bern. In Interlaken, I, along with nine other girls, went night sledding in the Alps. Yes, you read that correctly. We arrived at the mountain around 7 p.m. and were escorted onto this ski lift/gondola thing. Eight of us squeezed in with sleds in hand, and we started moving up the mountain. It was so scary and tall, and I had to stop looking out the window because the gondola was moving in the wind and we were super high up. We finally hit ground at the top of the mountain. We got our sledding lesson and put our reflectors on our back and started sledding down the mountain. I was extremely surprised to discover that I'm actually quite good at sledding. I had no trouble steering and picking up speed. It was so much fun. I was literally sledding through a Winter Wonderland. It was so much fun.
We did a lot of cool things this weekend and most of them are outlined in picture form on my Facebook page. In the interest of not rambling on forever, I had two really cool moments that I want to share in this blog.
The first moment was on the train ride to Interlaken. I was looking out the window and the stunning beauty of the mountains hit me. I'm not going to lie, when surrounded by these gorgeous mountains all the time, their beauty is sometimes lost on me. But, sitting on the train, listening to my music, I just felt this calm sense of awe and peace. It's truly impossible to describe. In the midst of this amazing opportunity there are many high stress moments that come with it. Planning trips and figuring out how to travel from place to place with people I met a week and a half ago on a new continent where locals don't always speak English is incredibly daunting. It was so important to have this moment of peace and calm in the midst of all the crazy.
This past weekend I traveled to Interlaken and Bern. In Interlaken, I, along with nine other girls, went night sledding in the Alps. Yes, you read that correctly. We arrived at the mountain around 7 p.m. and were escorted onto this ski lift/gondola thing. Eight of us squeezed in with sleds in hand, and we started moving up the mountain. It was so scary and tall, and I had to stop looking out the window because the gondola was moving in the wind and we were super high up. We finally hit ground at the top of the mountain. We got our sledding lesson and put our reflectors on our back and started sledding down the mountain. I was extremely surprised to discover that I'm actually quite good at sledding. I had no trouble steering and picking up speed. It was so much fun. I was literally sledding through a Winter Wonderland. It was so much fun.
We did a lot of cool things this weekend and most of them are outlined in picture form on my Facebook page. In the interest of not rambling on forever, I had two really cool moments that I want to share in this blog.
The first moment was on the train ride to Interlaken. I was looking out the window and the stunning beauty of the mountains hit me. I'm not going to lie, when surrounded by these gorgeous mountains all the time, their beauty is sometimes lost on me. But, sitting on the train, listening to my music, I just felt this calm sense of awe and peace. It's truly impossible to describe. In the midst of this amazing opportunity there are many high stress moments that come with it. Planning trips and figuring out how to travel from place to place with people I met a week and a half ago on a new continent where locals don't always speak English is incredibly daunting. It was so important to have this moment of peace and calm in the midst of all the crazy.
The second thing that happened was skating in Bern in front of Parliament. I love ice skating. I'm a hardcore amateur, but I do enjoy my yearly skate at Mercer County Park in early January. This year, I went with my sister. It was loads of fun, despite breaking my "I haven't fallen at all in three years" streak. I assumed that would be it for skating this year, but we saw a flyer for skating in our hostel and decided to give it a go. Skating in front of Parliament in Bern was way different than Mercer County. First, Bern is in Switzerland, not New Jersey,and the rink was outside. Also, there was no Zamboni. The ice was not cleaned and "freshened" every hour, so it's harder to skate. The people we skated with were very good at ice skating, and they were mostly from Switzerland, so they spoke other languages. We've been learning Italian, but Bern is in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, so my "scusi" (excuse me) wasn't as useful in Bern as it is here in Lugano. Around the rink, there were these plastic seals that young children held onto to balance and learn to skate. This was my favorite part. As I was warming up and getting used to the ice, a child came rushing toward me with a seal. He was shouting, "I'm going to harpoon you!!" The child was trying to knock me over! I started cracking up, as did everyone around me. It was hilarious, this little child, clearly comfortable on the ice, went around trying to knock unsuspecting foreigners to the ground. Everyone got a laugh out of that one. Good news: He did not knock me over! Once kids started leaving, we picked up some of the seals and began skating around with them. It was so much fun. Music was playing and thanks to my seal I was quite confident in my ability to skate. My favorite part of the evening was skating around with my orange seal singing "Drops of Jupiter" and laughing with my new friends.
I've definitely had some rough times this past week, but I'm starting to adjust and get the hang of things here. Just want to say thanks to all of my friends and family who have sent encouraging words and prayers my way. They mean so much to me. I miss you and love you all dearly. I'll write soon.
Love,
Swiss Miss
Love,
Swiss Miss