Interlaken!

Happy Leap Day Everybody! I hear that people on the East Coast are getting lots of snow!! Just to rub it in a little bit, I didn’t even wear a coat today and tomorrow it is going to be 70 degrees here...I’m loving it. ANYWAYS. This past week has been great. Last thursday my roommates and I made our way to Interlaken, Switzerland for our first big trip outside of Italy and it was definitely an adventure and started with a bang. We went with an organized tour group so we took a coach bus to get there and the ride was 10 hours. While walking to the bus station, Kelly and I were walking under some trees and these birds decided to ruin our lives and POOP on us!!!! People say that that is good luck but it was all over my favorite sweatshirt and my hand and I was walking onto a 10 hour bus ride. Not fun, but we laughed it off and figured traveling in europe does not include being clean all the time. Then, as our new found luck would have it, within the first 20 minutes the mirror on the bus broke, and then, get this, a girl who was sitting behind us projectile vomited and it got everywhere. Some even landed on my seat!!! Talk about torture. The bus had to pull over at a rest stop so she could clean up a little bit. Once we got back on the bus and got going again, she decided to puked again. UGH. The whole bus smelled like vomit for the remaining 9 hours. I was not happy. When we stopped for dinner my roommate ate an orange and gave us all some orange peels to smell for the rest of the trip, I was practically eating the peel because it smelled so bad on the bus. The tour guide was spraying hairspray to try to make it smell better. Although I felt bad for the girl, a little warning would have been nice! Anyway, we arrived in Interlaken at 5am and had to wake up at 8am to sign up for activities. We obviously did not get much sleep but it was totally worth it. Friday was absolutely perfect, it was like 50 degrees and sunny outside, you could see all of the alps and I can officially say Switzerland is one of my favorite places in Europe. Everything was so clean and the people were so nice. Cars stopped for us and the men weren’t nearly as creepy as they are in Italy, we were amazed and sometimes I felt like I was cheating on Italy a little bit because I loved it so much. 

Later on Friday I went PARAGLIDING over the Alps. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. I went with these two girls I didn’t know and three instructors. We drove all the way up this mountain then climbed up a little more to a hill. While climbing up the hill, I fell twice, the swiss instructors thought I was a hot mess, which is typical I guess. Once we got on this hill we got all ready and you basically run down a hill with a dude and his parachute strapped to your back and somehow you just start flying. Absurd. It makes no sense. I have no idea how it actually works but you end up in the air and you barely feel like you are moving. It’s actually very tranquil and peaceful! Here are some pictures I took while in the air!

Our Guides!

My Leg just chilling over Interlaken

Unreal

After this crazy crazy experience, we explored Interlaken a little bit more. If any of you watch the Bachelor, Ben (aka the dude with the bad hair and horrible taste in women) took the final girls to Interlaken this week. The town is super cute and Interlaken actually means in between or something in german and its because the town is positioned in between two beautiful lakes. That night we got wraps from a place owned by an American woman from Long Island who moved here when she feel in love with a Swiss professional sky diver (A girl can dream...) We loved her so much that we even went back again on Saturday night. On Saturday during the day most of my roommates went skiing but me and Shannon decided to go into Grindelwald for the day. Grindelwald is a smaller town closer to the mountains and it was beautiful. 

Later that night we went on a chocolate tasting and I literally died and went to heaven. This chocolatier wasn’t that bad either. We watched him make chocolate cows and shoes and got to taste a ton of chocolate and got a voucher to buy some from the store! Amaze. Strangest part, Katherine (my roommate from school, neighbor in ohio, AND friend studying abroad in Rome) walked into the same chocolate tasting! It was really nice to see her!! Small world. 

I never really had the desire to go Switzerland but I am so glad that my roommates convinced me to go on this trip, so far it has been a favorite. The bus ride back was thankfully uneventful and we watched Home Alone which definitely made me miss my siblings and parents since we watched it together this christmas (Buzz, your girlfriend, WOOF). BUT My mother happily pointed out that this past weekend was the halfway point of not seeing each other! I am beyond excited to share Florence with my family in April! I miss them all so much. Although I am really sad Lucy can’t make the flight over!! If only dogs could survive 8 hour flights! 

This weekend we are staying in Florence for my roommate Kelly’s 21st birthday and we have a lot of secret plans, in addition to getting some chicken fingers, fries, and margaritas from the Hard Rock in Florence for a little taste of home. I also had my first iced coffee here today!! AMERICA!!!! They don’t do iced coffees in Italy so you have to go to an American place to get them and I have never been more excited for a coffee with milk, sugar, and ICE! Tonight we went to a cooking class with Fairfield put on by an Italian student and we made Tiramisu..and it was disgusting. Apparently it is more common to soak the cake in coffee here instead of Rum like they do at home, so it was different. I will just stick to gelato, which continues to be amazing and dangerous. I wish I could send you all some of my favorites, but I guess that is what visiting is for! Talk to you all soon! Ciao!!!