Viva Suiza

I’m a person that takes words very seriously. Having said that, I recently spent 6 of the best days of my life in Switzerland. What a trip. Ever since I met a man in Colorado this December that offered a place for me to stay in Zurich, I’ve been wanting to work my way over to “Suiza,” as they call it in Spain.

My trip was split in half... first 3 days were spent with TCU friends and the second 3 were spent with new pals studying in Sevilla. Hopped on my first ever Ryan Air flight on Thursday morning... 5 am wake up call to catch a sketchy flight... gotta like that! I flew with my new pals who I’d be meeting up with in Zurich, Bridget and Anna Kate, to Barcelona. Next came a 4-hour layover, which sounded miserable... until I saw the Barcelona airport. It’s a beaut. I would live there. Any airport that has a sunning deck with an outdoor Hagen-Daz gets an A+ in my book. I flew from BCN-ZUR, and then hopped a train from Zurich to Interlaken. It should be known that Swiss trains are incredible. After 15 hours of traveling, I was finally at hostel, sweet hostel in Interlaken!

In the middle of the night, my TCU pals that are studying in Florence arrived to our hostel! My heart was FULL and I couldn’t wipe that happy smile off of my face. Eight of us – Kathryn, Rachel, Moriah, Kacy, Michael, Robert and Brandon. It was incredible to be with people who really know me. Much needed and extremely refreshing!

Friday morning, we all wanted to take advantage of the adventure that Interlaken has to offer. Some wanted to sledding, some were going to go canyon jumping, some wanted to go paragliding. My friend Kacy and I were talking about the possibility of going skydiving on that Sunday, so we decided to ask if we could put a deposit down. When we asked the man at the desk, he said that the beautiful weather was supposed to turn soon, so we should go today. We decided to find out more info. When we came up to the skydiving instructor to ask if we could book for later that afternoon he asked “You girls here for skydiving?” “Yes! We have a few questions...” “Our helicopter leaves in 30 minutes, let’s go!” What? Within 1 hour of telling Kacy I might want to check out skydiving, we were suited up, strapped tight, and waiting for our helicopter. INSANE.

Kacy and I were first up. I couldn’t really comprehend what was happening, but it got real when my hair was whipping back in forth (not volitionally) underneath the helicopter blades. Nuts. The heli ride up alone would have been worth every penny. It was incredible – the view of the Alps & all of Interlaken... dang. What a Creator we have. I may have shed a tear – it was so beautiful. Summits with no tracks, unchartered territory, waterfalls that were starting to melt... incredible.

Now – time to jump! My jumper, Tony, and I scooted to the edge. The next 6 seconds were the most peaceful of my life. Taking in the full view – no windows – and then slowly, sweetly pressing into atmosphere. Pure silence; pure beauty. Then FLIP FLIP FLIP TAP TAP ASSUME THE POSITION! We swirled around every which way and then the sky was zooming past us – it felt like we were perfectly still. My cheeks were flopping like a dog’s jowls out of a car window. After about 45 seconds of freefall, the parachute deployed and we floated through even more Alp beauty. We glided for a few minutes, I even got to steer some, and then we landed in a huge patch of deep snow.

IT WAS SO FUN, IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL, IT WASN’T SCARY AND I THINK IT WAS THE COOLEST THING I’VE DONE IN MY LIFE. All right. I think that sums it up.

The rest of the day was great. Adrenaline still in the system. Kacy and I walked around the city center in Interlaken, bought of first of many Swiss chocolate purchases, accidentally bought a $10 coffee drink, then met up with Kathryn and Moriah at the hostel. We all sat on the back porch of our hostel, swapped stories from our semesters so far, toasted with a bottle of wine and watched the sun go down behind the Alps. Yeah, yeah, my life is really hard.

That night the whole gang went out for a Swiss fondue dinner! Cheese fondue, meat fondue, chocolate fondue, it’s all good. I have a theory that anything you can eat on a stick is tasty. After dinner, we all enjoyed each others’ company, swapped stories, then called it a night.

The next morning, we decided we wanted to go hiking and sledding up in the mountains. After renting some hiking boots we made our way up to Grindelwald via Wilderswil. Grindelwald is a cute mountain town – absolutely loved it – so decided to stay for much longer than anticipated! We rented sleds and rode the gondola up the slopes as advised by some locals.

When we were talking about going sledding, I was thinking like maybe a hill or two... NO. This was sledding on crack, ‘roids and protein shakes. We had our little rented wooden sleds, dressed in leggings and flannels – and everyone else had on full ski gear to do the same exact thing. What we thought would be a 20-minute joy ride turned into a 2 ½ hour sledstravaganza!!! I haven’t smiled and laughed so much.... maybe either since I saw Charlie Bit Me for the first time or when the Frogs won the Rose Bowl. So good.

K-Waggs and I grabbed some mid-sled cider on the side of the mountain. I can’t express how perfect this was. One of my greatest friends in the world, one of the greatest views in the world, great conversation, warm drinks, numb rumps. I was on cloud 927. After we finished our descent, we were completely wiped out. Ate some incredible cheese for dinner, made our way back to Interlaken, pubbed, soaked up our last few hours together, then hit the sheets.

The next morning we said our goodbyes, and I hopped on yet another amazing Swiss train. It was a beautiful ride next to the lakes that surround Interlaken. Interlaken means “between lakes.” Once in Zurich, I grabbed a tram to the next location. My first experience with couch surfing! Couch surfing is an online network that hooks you up with hosts in foreign cities – crash on their couch for free! I met Bridget, Anna Kate, and Dexter at our host family’s home. Our host family was incredible! Andre, Laura, and their sweet daughter let us stay in their flat in exchange for some good American cupcake recipes... yeah, I like the way they think!

They prepared a traditional Swiss meal for us, raclette. In the middle of the table was a little stovetop with 6 slots for these little pans we had. On the pans we put grilled onions and cheese. Oh, cheese. After popping those pans on the hot surface, we mashed new potatoes on our plates, then after about 5 minutes placed our delicious melty cheese concoction on the potatoes. Toppings included, curry, garlic sauce, spices, pineapple, bacon, and the lot. It sounds weird, but man, it was incredible. Best meal I’ve had this semester!

That evening, Bridge, AK and Dex showed me around Zurich. My favorite things were the clock faces! They are big and beautiful. There’s a clock face even bigger than Big Ben in the city. We got to see some of Zurich’s Carnival... some crazy sights to see! Big bands, intricate costumes, good times. We explored Zurich’s nightlife and have some great stories involving an Australians, Burger King, Spanish bodegas, being serenaded, elderly Chilean men, piano bars and the lot, but it’s too much for this never-ending blog post.

Monday morning, the girls went city-hopping. Basel and Bern were on the list! Snagged a train to Basel first – we went to see their version of Carnival. It was an incredible time! The city has an Austin-like feel to it. Hip feel, fun graffiti, interesting people. One of my favorite things in the city was going to the top of its cathedral. We snuck into the bell tower, felt like sneaksters, and got THE greatest view of Basel!

The Carnival parades were insane. I literally don’t know how to describe them. The people on the floats would throw candy, fliers, oranges or confetti at the spectators. Our luck: ALWAYS CONFETTI. And 2 oranges! Seriously, we were picking out confetti from our hair ‘til the next day... I also found some in my boot today (25 days after we were in Basel).

Another Basel highlight: BRATWURST. Brats off the street – no other way to do it! Delicious.

Next stop: Bern, the capital of Switzerland. I would love to say that we saw all of the sights and loved every bit of it, but the truth is that we barely saw the city. We grabbed some chocolate and drinks and watched the sun set from the river behind the building of parliament.

It was one of the greatest moments of this semester – life chats, good friends become great friends, river, chocolate, Alps, bridges, Switzerland. It was all of Bern that I needed to see! After a few good hours, some walking around, and a Toblerone McFlurry we were back on a train to Zurich.

We played Swiss board games with Laura and Andre late into the night once we got back to the house. They were in German though, so we were lucky to have some translators! That night, we late-night feasted: brats, homemade icing, apples, cookies and cake. We are obviously well versed with the food pyramid. Well done, crew.

The next morning meant going to the airport to head back to Sevilla. It was another full day of traveling, but worth all 16 hours!

What... a... trip. I still get giddy anytime anyone says Switzerland. Overall – I’ve realized that it’s all about whom you share life with. I’m so grateful to have some great, adventurous company abroad and at home.