"Annie wake up...were in the Alps"
Friday morning at 7 a.m. I wake up to my bus buddy Sean saying this to me... I looked out the window to see the most unreal sight in the world. Huge snow covered mountains surrounded me on all sides. I was completely amazed. It was like I had never seen a mountain in my life. Sean had a good laugh about it because most of the kids love to joke with the girl from the desert/beach about cold weather/snow/mountains and what not.
Thursday night a group from my pensione went out to dinner at a place called Yellow Bar. Delicious pizza and wine for a good price. We had a great time, all continuing to know each other more. After Yellow Bar we all headed back to the Pensione, where sean and I grabbed our bags and headed to the train station. We ran into the other 16 kids leaving as well, and arrived at the station by 11:15. By 1130 we were on the bus headed to the Alps. Sean and I started "Catch Me if You Can" but it didnt take long before we were both sound asleep. Unfortunately the sleep didnt last. The seats were tiny, no leg room, and the heat was too high. Haha, so sleep was difficult, but we were all in and out of consciousness enough.
We arrived at our hostel Balmers around 8, unloaded, got into our rooms, got dressed, and left. No one wanted to sleep. The sky was 100% clear, literally. No clouds, complete sunshine. It was remarkable. Half the group went snowboarding/skiing, but there was about 12 of us who didnt want to do that so we made our own adventure. We took a bus to the train, and the the train about halfway up the mountain. There we walked around a small village, and had some much needed Lattes and Cappucinos to wake us up. We got on a gondola that took us even farther up the mountain, then set out on a two hour hike across the snowy mountain. We stopped for lunch, I got tomato soup and french fries with Kiki, and then finished the second half of the hike. We made snow angels, threw snow balls, and had a blast playing and taking amazing pictures.
We got back to the hostel around 4, and took a nap. The other kids got back not much later and passed out too.
We got up and went to an amazing Thai place right next door to our hostel for Carl's 21st birthday. Then we went to the only club in Interlocken...the one in the basement of our hostel. Perfect.
We had a blast dancing the night away. I played 'mom' for the night because I got a bit altitude sick so didnt drink much. I took over 150 pictures just of the evenings events trying to document Carl's birthday to the fullest. We had a blast. Carls a big kid, but can hold his alcohol, so luckily there was no carrying him to bed. :)
Saturday we woke up, and prepped ourselves mentally for the extreme sports we were about to partake in. Everyone broke up into groups because everyone had different plans. After exploring the city a bit, 6 of us got on a bus and headed up through the mountains to go canyon jumping. We got to a parking lot, parked, and then walked uphill for an insane amount of time before finally reaching the platform. Thankfully Tucker is such a gentleman and carried all 8 of the girls harnesses :)
I was given the sheet we had to sign to read out loud to the group, it was hilarious. All very sarcastic, and in the end finished with "Furthermore, my mother does not know I am here".. haha. We all signed, and had our weight taken. I was the smallest, meaning I had to go last. We got our harnesses on, and lined up at the platform, everyone took videos of everyone else, so there is plenty of documentation of the event. Tucker went first. It took him no time at all and was off the platform within a few seconds of getting there. Kiki was next. Kikis biggest fear is hights. All of us couldnt believe she had paid and signed up to go, but she wanted to overcome her fear. She got strapped in, and harnessed in, and stepped on to the platform. It took a long time to jump. There were tears, she wouldnt let go of Remo (the instructor) and for a while we all thought she wouldnt do it. She did though, and Chloe and I were so unbelievably proud of her. Everyone else did their jumps, and last were Chloe and I. We were the two who were most excited, least scared, and basically got everyone else to want to sign up. After Chloe went it was just Remo and I, he was nice enough to video me since all my friends were gone :) They all cheered for me from 300 feet below, and I jumped off. I was free falling for about 5-7 seconds and then went into a full swing through a narrow canyon, about 10 times back and forth. It was the most liberating, exhillarating, and crazy thing I have ever done. I would do it a million times more. One of the girls in the group said she did skydiving as well, but the rush and satisfaction and sheer fear/job that comes from jumping off the side of a cliff into a narrow canyon was better than jumping out of a plane. I couldnt have been happier.
We got back and everyone shared their different 'extreme sports' stories and showed videos and pictures. A bunch of the girls went out to dinner, sean joined us, and we ran into some live musicians on the way. We danced around for a bit then made it back to the pensione for a relaxed night.
Sunday morning I woke up and went on a hike with Kiki, Chloe, Matt and Jeff. Matt had done the hike a few days before, and said he was willing to take us back up. It was a tough hike, but once we got to the top it was entirely worth all the effort :) beautiful scenery.

We got back on the bus and after 8 hours were back in Florence

Switzerland = cleanest air in the world, purest water in the world, unbelievable scenery, the nicest people I have ever met they were so kind to all of us, AMAZING chocolate, delicious cheese (thank goodness I brought so many lactate pills). It was a weekend trip unlike any other. We had a great, diverse group of kids from GIF there which was really nice. I got to know 2 girls that I had never met (who happen to be DGs) that I love.
I got the experience of living in a 10 person hostel, co-ded, with friends. A nice way to break in the hostel experience. It was like a big slumber party every night. We talked a lot, shared stories, talked about friends and family at home, and got to know one another even more. They broke the GIF kids into two rooms, one room of 10 and another of 8. The LMU girls and Brooks were in the other room, so I was in a room with 9 other people that I really got to know better. It was great.

Back in Florence now...its fun that this is where I get to come home to.
Headed to my music class now to listen to symphony music for three hours....cant complain :)

loving live,
ciao