Swiss Alps

Me and some of my new friends from Gonzaga!

This past weekend I went to Interlaken, Switzerland.  I went with a travel group called Florence for Fun. They plan trips around Europe for study abroad kids. It was an eight hour bus ride to Interlaken from Florence. I stayed at a hostel called the Funny Farm. The hostel was really nice. I went skiing on the first day. I ended up skiing by myself since the other kids were going skydiving/paragliding. I ended up meeting some kids from Gonzaga University at the ski shop so I hung out with them. I had to take an hour train ride up the mountain to Kleine Scheidegg-Männlichen in the Jungfrau region of the Alps.

It was a gorgeous train ride up to the top. I started off skiing on the easy slopes with a couple of the girls from Gonzaga.  I survived the first slope fine. Then we took the ski lift back up to the top. I get to the top and realize that the only slopes up there are intermediate! I look over the edge and it is like a straight drop off down. I started freaking out! So I start going down the slope really slowly. Then all of the sudden I gain a lot of speed and can't control myself. I was going so fast I knew I was gonna wipe out and sure enough I did! I started rolling down the mountain with my skis and all. It was scary! I finally stopped and caught some breath. I still had a long way down the mountain. I took my skis off and started walking down. Then there was a point when it was too steep to walk so I decided to slide down on my butt. I was sliding out of control and thought I was gonna wipe out again. I stopped and then I decided to put my skis back on and skied the rest of the way down. Finally made it without any broken bones or bruises! I made sure I was on easy slopes after that!

After I was done skiing I had to take the train back down to the hostel. I got on the train hoping it was the right one but I wasn't sure so I asked some people on the train. None of them were speaking English. I finally found a guy that said I was on the right train. He said I had to swith trains in Lauterbrunnen. So I switched trains fine and got off in Interlaken. I go to find the ski shop to return my skis and there was no ski shop anywhere. So I called my tour guide and asked her where the shop was. Turns out I was in the wrong town. Our hostel was in Wilderswil. Luckily the train was still in the station and hadn't left yet. I ran to get back on it and finally made it back to the ski shop.

What an adventurous day!