Interlaken

This past weekend myself and three other people from the Ohio State program took a train to Interlaken, Switzerland which is in the middle of the Swiss Alps. What an adventure! We left on Thursday evening and arrived late into Interlaken. They have this rule about no loud noises at all after 10pm, and so it was absolutely serene and majestic as the mountains were shadowed behind us and the stars twinkled above you. I cannot even begin to describe the stars, but I heard an author once write that it is like someone spilled sugar all over a black table cloth. The first night we actually camped out in the woods, which I won't go much into detail except that it was extremley cold and pretty dumb.
We woke up early on Friday morning and checked into our hostel, Balmers, which was very nice. We met so many people who were backpacking through Europe and shared their stories of travel and adventure too. (Ironically, as we were walking through the town wearing Ohio State gear, someone noticed and called us Gatorbait! I couldn't even believe that would happen in Switzerland!) Even though we were going on poor sleep we rented scooters and went up into the hillsides by waterfalls and creeks. It was the most beautiful views I've ever seen. Afterwards, we all did canyoning. Canyoning bascially consisted of rappelling down 165 feet into a deep gorge in the mountainside. Then we would jump off cliffs into the rushing water or different waterfalls, or slide down into the water. The water so cold, and I was nervous at first, but it was so much fun! Out of the four girls on our group of 15, I was the only girl who didn't ever chicken out of a jump so I was really proud of myself at the end.
Saturday morning, two of the guys we were with went ice climbing way at the top of the Alps, and Katie (the girl I was traveling with) & I rented bikes and biked to the two lakes in Interlaken. We hiked up part of the mountain and also went down right next to the lakes, and I can't even begin to describe the air, the silence and the soft sounds of the water lapping against the rocks. We had lunch in the mountains and it was a very relaxing day. In the evening, Katie & I went into the main street of the town and window shopped while eating Swiss truffles, which were so good. Swiss chocolate is not disappointing!
Balmers itself was a great atmosphere because after talking to the people that work there and the instructors, I was so inspired to move to Switzerland! Well, I am not going to jump to conclusions, but for example, the photographer who went canyoning with us had moved there from New York after visiting and she has lived there for 3 years and takes pictures of all the people doing extreme sports that she gets to do as well. It's not as easy to get your license and your Swiss citzenship to work, but... Photography + Beautiful Scenery + Extreme Sports = AMAZING.
Anyways, Sunday morning, Katie and I woke up and didn't know what to do before our train left back for Dijon at 4pm. So we decided to check out what sports we could still do that day and they had paragliding available- so we signed up! It was a great way to relax and see an aerial view of everything we had climbed, hiked and explored the past few days. We went tandem with a pilot but it was so fun because we bascially just sprinted off of a cliff and the wind just picked us right up. I was able to bring my camera and take videos and pictures, and the pilot also swooped us in circles in the air which which flipped my stomach a lot but was such a rush.
Leaving Switzerland was very hard actually, I cried a little on the train ride back just because it was probably one of the most beautiful and serene places that I had ever been. I truly appreciated the lifestyle, the mountains and nature. I know that I will definitely return there one day.