To Glide or Not To Glide

I am terrified of falling. I don't like airplanes or standing over cliff edges. Yet tomorrow, I have promised Michael that I will go paragliding with him here in Interlaken, Switzerland. What am I doing?? I keep seesawing between whether or not I should go. Half of me feels that holy crap I'm in this beautiful landscape where I may never return and it happens to be famous for adventure sports, and the other half of me sees these figures swinging around so high up in the air and it makes me want to pee myself.

FOR EXAMPLE! Here is a picture I took a few days ago of a paraglider coming to Earth in front of the Jungfrau mountain:

That's high up!! Many many many meters!

I imagine that once takeoff occurs and I am airborne, I will forget how far I am above the ground and enjoy the fact that I am as closing to flying as a human can be. The flight lasts from 10-30 minutes depending on the amount of thermals you hit, and it is pretty darn expensive. These factors combined with my fears are making this a difficult decision to make. Do I want to play it safe and not take the risk of being REALLY scared for 10-30 minutes, or can I trust that the joys of flying will override my nerves? I want to make the right decision.

Chances are tomorrow you will see a new blog post saying "I know I was scared before but paragliding is amazing and I had no reason to be scared at all!" This is what I hope for.

UPDATE: 5 minutes after writing this entry, I decided to man up and paraglide! Michael and I ran out to the meeting point to get into the next paragliding group, only to be turned away due to dangerous winds. We said oh well, we will go tomorrow, then found out it will be raining all day. All that mental preparation for nothing! I am hoping for a miracle weather change so I can actually do what I have been preparing for!

Sweetzerland

Michael and I are finally in Switzerland, after an unnerving couple of unplanned days. You all know what happened, and I don't feel like talking about it. But I must acknthing to acknowledge my continued happiness with the devotion and support of my family, my boyfriend, and my boyfriend's family. If I am not blessed, I don't know who is.


The important thing is, we are in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to, especially this summer (and especially compared to Spain's big cities!). I have been to Switzerland once before, but it was down on the French border nestled in the Alps, in the town of Champex. Now we are in Interlaken, a town that sits (get this) in between two lakes, and looks up at so many breathtaking mountains. It is fairly touristy, but the clientele is much more...comfortable. For me. They are all very rich. This means that food, activities etc are WAY more expensive than they need to be (Happy Meal at McDonald's is 6.50 Swiss Francs, so about 6.50 USD), but I also feel extremely safe and well, at home.

In any case, Michael and I have been having a great time here. Today we went shopping, which for us means looking at watches, jewelry, and sunglasses and saying "When I'm rich, I'm gonna buy that." We had a tasty cheese fondue for lunch, then went to the grocery store to buy dinner for the next two nights (pasta and tomato sauce). After the market we sat along the edge of a big field by our hostel where all the paragliders land. Their grace and lack of fear upon landing has prompted us to consider the idea of going paragliding as our adventure sport while in this adventure sport-savvy town. It is either that or canyoning. They are both very expensive, so we would do it as a birthday present to me, but even that doesn't quite justify it.

The hostel we are in is superb. It is more expensive than past hostels, but cheap for Switzerland. They have free breakfast every morning, free wifi and computers, a tv room where you can watch DVDs: we watched Ben-Hur last night with a girl from Sydney and a graduate of UC Berkeley who studies the same exact material as Michael. They also have a shelf of books right next to where I'm sitting that I will pick through soon, as the book that I was halfway through got stolen with my other stuff. It was really good, too.

Tomorrow we will hike around the lake and continue to marvel at the natural beauty that surrounds us. We are spending a total of 5 nights here to recover from recent events, as well as to wait for the new Eurail passes that Michael's parents have so graciously sent to us. On Thursday we will head to Munich, then Berlin, Amsterdam, Bruges, and we will terminate with 5 days in London, where we will meet up with my Grandma. Michael and I are especially looking forward to this part of the trip, for a number of reasons. 1) We get to see my grandma, who is amazing and awesome and who I miss very much. 2) Michael is in love with London. It may have been a mistake for him to go to school there, because I imagine that if he ever gets an excuse to live there, no one will ever see him again. Finally 3) These 5 days encompass both my birthday and my grandma's, so it will no doubt be a very celebratory time!

So all is well, Michael and I are extremely happy and enjoying Switzerland's Interlaken to its fullest, and we are looking forward to every other part of our journey! This computer is unbearably slow and won't let me post pictures on here or Facebook, so we will just have to have a slideshow of everything when I get back! Suffice it to say that since they are of Switzerland, they are beautiful.

Not Plain Spain

I had an entire blog written out about my experience in Granada, and right when I hit "publish post" the internet died. So it goes. I will still give you the abbreviated version, but with more cats included.

Granada was the best place to go to after my negative experience in Madrid. It was clean, organized, smallish, with many touristy things to do. The hostel was also great; it was run and populated by young, active people, and set in a central location to the all the attractions and nearby local supermarkets. The hostel offered everything we could have wanted: tasty, traditional Spanish dinners for 4 euro, an exclusive hot springs tour, a communal kitchen, free internet, and they do your laundry for you for a low price. We met a ton of people there, all Canadian and Australian, and I may see one of the Australian girls when she comes to San Francisco next year. Meeting people is certainly one of my favorite parts of traveling.

As for Granada itself, it is a truly Spanish city. People take their siestas and Sundays very seriously - the only things open during these times were the touristy souvenir shops, and even some of them were closed. It also has a history of Moorish influence, making it the first place I've been to with an Arabic style. We never made it to the Alhambra (no lectures please), but we did do the local hot springs tour, and it was worth every cent! Someone from the hostel drove us out about 12 km to a little pool in a dark field. At first we assumed we were going to be murdered a la Hostel, but we just ended up relaxing in a perfectly temperatured little pool. A lot of locals with their with their children and dogs, and for the first time in weeks, I saw the sky full of stars. It was awesome. On the ride over I was asking our driver (in Spanish!) if certain animals lived in the area, but he said it was only rabbits. And scorpions. But I think he was kidding about the scorpions.

We had a feline-filled experience in Granada, which of coursed served to enhance it. When Michael and I took our own little walking tour (we didn't wake up in time for the organized one) we saw the most adorable pile of kittens sitting between a small creek and an ancient wall. It was quite picturesque. At night there was a very stereotypical prowl of cats meowing at every door on the street, possibly begging for food or just being ridiculous cats. They seemed fat enough, so maybe I should assume they were just out causing trouble because they can.

After 12 hours of train travel, Michael and I have arrived in Valencia, Spain, the epicenter of our summer. In 2 days we will go to Bunyol for the famous Tomatina Festival. It is amazing how many people I've met this summer who are in this city right now. It's like some sort of pilgrimage for college-student-aged individuals. We are staying in a 3 star hotel, the nicest thing I have encountered all summer. The upside is the severe spike in quality, however at hostels you get to meet people and do stuff with them. Luckily, since Valencia is full of people just like us, we have already met a nice New Zealander named Patrick who is traveling alone and will come with us to the Tomatina to hurl tomatoes with us.

We will take the next day to rest. Our hotel has English channels. Right now we are watching Tom and Jerry, which is awesome because there are no words so it works everywhere. After Valencia we will head to Barcelona for 5 hours, then take a night train to Geneva, from which we will immediately leave to Interlaken for 3 days of extreme sportage. We are considering the option of canyoneering, or climbing and rappelling down waterfalls! It is either this or hangliding/parajumping/skydiving/bungee jumping. We will also hike a lot. Huzzah for traveling!

In apology for being scant with my pictures, here is a photo I took in the main Cathedral in Granada (the only other thing open) yesterday.

London Calling

Warning: This post has very little to do with London, I just like the song and its quasi-relevance to what I'm going to say.

I have gone on long enough without actually saying where I'm going (besides Denmark), so here is an itinerary that I can bet you will change almost immediately, as it tends to do.

June 16 - Fly to Europe
June 17 - Arrive in Athens
June 17 - 21 Spend time in Athens
June 22 - June 30 Spend time on Greek Island
July 1 - August 16 - Spend time in Copenhagen
August 17 - Fly to Spain from Copenhagen
August 17 – 20 Spend time in Madrid
August 21 – 22 Spend time in Ibiza
August 23 – 27 Spend time in Barcelona
August 28 – All day traveling to Nice
August 29 – All day traveling to Zurich
August 29 – 31 Spend time in Zurich
September 1 - 3 Spend time in Munich
September 4 – 7 Spend time in Berlin
September 8 – 10 Spend time in Amsterdam
September 11 – 12 Spend time in Brussels/Bruges
September 13 – Take chunnel to London
September 13 – 17 Spend time in London
September 18 - Fly back to US of A

So in a way, London is indeed calling. Also Sicily might be added in there if Nicolaj wants me to go there with his family, or I will just go straight to Copenhagen and begin my month and half of embarrassing myself by trying to speak Danish

Oh, the places you'll go...

My family has always made it clear that traveling the world and experiencing new cultures are critical (and privileged) aspects of coming to know myself better. Here is a list of the places I have been so far.


In 2003, once I hit the awful age of 13, my parents sent me to British Columbia, Canada for a month long hardcore backpacking trip with a travel group for teenagers interested in outdoor activities. Only a few of my pictures are digital and none include me, but I have to say this trip was the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done.



Here is me (the one in blue three people from the right) and a couple friends in the European Alps while backpacking in 2004. This trip was really fun! We went through Italy, France, and Switzerland, and I have wanted to return to Europe ever since. Adventures Cross Country (ARCC) leads truly amazing trips, and I would highly recommend sending your teenager with them.




Here I am at the Trevi Fountain in Rome. I loved Rome. The gelato was too amazing. TOO AMAZING! It's a bummer I'm not returning there this summer (please don't judge me). The banner for this blog is a picture of me and a friend kayaking around the Italian island of Elba. So yeah.






Here I am in 2005 in Argentina with a horse I rode. In Argentina I stayed in a place called Villa del Totoral near Cordoba, another major city in the country. I stayed with an uncle for about a month and got to know the real culture of the area. It was a very wonderful place to be, and no food in the world could or will ever be able to match it.



There are a million and one photos I would love to use to describe my trip to Ecuador in 2006, but this one will have to suffice (also my profile picture is of me and a blue-footed boobie of the Galapagos so that works, too). Ecuador was amazing - if you want a good example of people who are happy with nothing then go there. The wildlife was also spectacular, and if you go to the Galapagos you will see why Darwin was so inspired.



When I was in 5th grade I went to Costa Rica with my dad and sister, but I very sadly do not have any pictures from there. Also in 8th grade my Grandma took me to New Zealand but once again I have no digitized photos :(
So my list of places traveled to is:
- Costa Rica
- New Zealand
- Canada (the backcountry and the cities)
- France
- Italy
- Switzerland
- Argentina
- Ecuador
- and USA! USA! haha

I'm super excited to add to that list this summer!