Hello Everyone! I intended to post this last week but got too caught up with studying for midterms and then ended up doing a lot of traveling this weekend with very little free time or Wifi. Unfortunately, I am currently really sick, so at this particular moment I am in my bed all stuffed up hacking my lungs away. So I'm not as giddy or emotional 7 days later as I was when I wrote this, but I just couldn't find time to make final edits last week. I sit here with a smile today looking back on the time I have endured these past few weeks here abroad. I don't know how, but it just keeps getting better and better. Last weekend I spent my time in Interlaken, Switzerland. Interlaken is a small ski town in the Central area of Switzerland. I am starting to realize more and more how much I cherish experiences whether it be paragliding through the Swiss Alps, or sitting in the common area of a hostel enjoying people's company surrounding me. It has become very important for me to focus less on materials and small, meaningless, things and to instead open my eyes and enjoy the moment I'm living in. I've learned how many things don't matter, and what truly does to me. I also have a new appreciation for the true value of a face-to-face conversation and how much more meaningful it is rather than through a screen. Since being abroad I have been using my phone so much less, especially this past weekend, and it is really freeing. It is nice to not always be updated on what everyone else is doing, and just be able to focus on myself and what I am actually doing. Before I go off rambling for too long before giving a shortened overview on my weekend, I basically just wanted to express how enlightening this experience has been thus far and how much more happy I have become since being here. I couldn't be more grateful for each and every day I get to spend abroad. Onto some details about my weekend: I planned this trip with 5 of my friends here. We signed up through a travel company which included transportation, accommodation, and breakfast. Besides that we were free to make our own plans while in Interlaken. We didn't have a whole lot planned besides a few activities like paragliding and night-sledding. So in a brief summary, here is what our weekend looked like! Day 1- Friday: On the first day we took a short train ride to Lauderbrunnen which is further up into the mountains. This is another very small ski town known for waterfalls that are right in the center of the town. Something I found appealing from this area was how quiet it was. Florence is not New York City by any means, but it also is far from the size of my small hometown, Petoskey. What I mean by this is that at times Florence can be swamped with people, especially Americans, and there aren't many times it is quiet. Sometimes it is really nice to get a break from the reality. There were no Americans around besides us, and there were hardly any people in the streets. It was us 6 girls, walking around a small town in Switzerland, taking in the astounding views around us. There is something about being in the mountains that makes me feel like I am where I'm suppose to be. Later in the afternoon we visited one of the famously known lakes of Interlaken, Lake Brienz, and did a hike around part of the shoreline. Unfortunately the weather consisted of a lot of fog while we were there but the views weren't anything less than beautiful. I really enjoyed this part of the day because all of our spirits were so high and I felt as though I never stopped smiling or laughing. We were having good conversations, constantly joking around, taking funny photos, and truly enjoying each others company. It felt like we had all been friends for years prior to this trip even though we just met 6 weeks ago! Day 2- Saturday: PARAGLIDING. All my roommates in the hostel and I woke up at 8am ready for the trip to the top of the mountain to go paragliding. We were picked up at 9:30 on the dot and off we went. At times in the car ride we were fairly close to the edge of what seemed to resemble a large cliff, and I started to get that unnerving feeling in my stomach. While getting closer we also started to notice more and more fog and slowly the bottom of the valley was becoming less apparent. But at the same time we were all super giddy and couldn't stop smiling for the excitement of the unknown. Surprisingly after I got all my gear on and was hooked up to my pilot, I wasn't very nervous and all of sudden we were running off the mountain and gliding into the fresh Swiss air!! I found paragliding to be a thrilling and amazing experience. I got to see such a beautiful view of Interlaken and the Alps, and it was a different kind of experience from anything else I had been doing. Even though my pilot snapped some photos with his Gopro, it wasn't about the pictures, it was just about taking in the moment and everything that was around me. Mid-day on Saturday is when we did some exploring of the downtown area of Interlaken. We walked around into little shops and did small souvenir shopping. It was hard to figure out the typical Swiss cuisine dishes besides cheese and chocolate. There were a lot of Chinese and Mexican restaurants all over downtown but nothing really screamed "Switzerland" besides a few different chocolate stores. So we stumbled upon one that looked appealing called "Funky Chocolate" and checked it out. They had a really tasty item on the menu that was a cup of strawberries drizzled in their homemade chocolate. Later that night we signed up for a cheese fondue dinner that was offered at our hostel so basically we really did immerse ourself into their cuisine as much as we could from what we knew! Day 3- Sunday: For Sunday's adventure I just want to share a story I have from that day: The 6 of us were walking downtown Interlaken and found an authentic Chinese restaurant to sit down at for lunch. Almost the entire menu was in Chinese so the majority of us just looked at the pictures and pointed to the one that looked the most appealing. While we were waiting for our food one of my friends somehow came along this video of her time here so far on her camera roll that Apple had made for her. It was basically just pictures of her at different places she's been, some with friends, and then to top it off there was this sappy music playing in the background. We were all sort of laughing because it was a cheesy video, but then we said... "We are laughing now, but you're going to look back on this when you're home in the States and probably start crying." Saying that out loud kind of hit me and started to make me emotional, thinking about the fact we actually have to all go back to our different homes in a couple months. It makes me tear up writing this. Happy and sad tears because I wouldn't have this feeling about going home if I hadn't met all of these wonderful friends and been having an amazing experience thus far. But I suppose that is how this journey works! Anywaysss, Switzerland was amazing but I always love coming home to Florence. :) Also, I really am hoping to start posting more because I feel like I am falling behind on my journeys. But now that midterms are over I will hopefully have some more free time!!
Thanks for reading and happy Tuesday!! Jen
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