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Published: March 4th 2009
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Trip to Interlaken!
This trip happened on the weekend of February 13-16th. (Valentines weekend!)
Ok everyone, so I know I haven't added my blogs on time recently, but it is really hard considering how much I have to do! I took a ton of notes on Interlaken so I'll be able to remember everything, which is good.
To start things off, the reason I decided to go to Interlaken, Switzerland was twofold: My school, AUR, was hosting a program that allowed people to sign up for a bus trip to Interlaken for a weekend. It was very expensive, but they said you could go skiing, sky diving, paragliding, night sledding, etc. How could I refuse?! So, naturally, I signed up as early as I could, since I wanted to reserve my spot. I unfortunately did not sign up with anyone I knew since we had just gotten to Rome, and I didn't know very many people yet. I figured that I would get to know the people before we left, so I didn't think twice about it.
Actual Bus Ride
It seems a little strange to mention the bus ride to Interlaken, but I just wanted to mention that, yes,
we DID take a bus, which was run by a company called "Bus to Alps." This company signs people up and shuttles them from one place to another (it can go to more places than just the alps). In any case, the bus ride was 11 hours. Yes, 11 hours non-stop. It was insane! I couldn't believe that I signed up for this! Interlaken is on the southern most part of Switzerland, which is even crazier, since it took us so long.
So, we all got on the bus at 8:30pm on Thursday night, and left for our destination. We arrived in Interlaken at 7:30am, which means that most people got no sleep.
The bus ride itself was pretty horrible. It was an incredibly small bus, and there were NO open seats. Fortunately I sat next to a small girl, so I was able to stretch onto her side without her complaining!
What I thought was very immature, was that a bunch of guys that were on the bus decided to drink to either help them sleep or help them relax. Who knows. They drank a lot, and they were really loud and obnoxious. At around 12:30, everyone was pretty
much trying to sleep, and then they started singing (more like screaming). I didn't care too much, but they eventually went to sleep and then everyone got a few hours of sleep. I think I slept for about 6 hours. Not bad considering the circumstances.
Arrival in Interlaken
Once we got to the hostel we were staying at, we checked in immediately, and then signed up for Night Sledding(!!) for Saturday night (again, it is Friday morning at 8am right now).
I met a bunch of guys on the bus ride there and before we got on the bus, and we all decided to get a room together (you got to pick your roommates). There were 7 of us total, but some people didn't show up, so we got a 10 person room. It was cool. Once we got situated, we then headed out to the ski rental place, and got our skis, pants, jackets, gloves, goggles, and ski lifts. I wanted to ski SO BAD so I decided to do 2 days of skiing. BOY was it expensive! Thanks Mom and Dad! =D
So at around 9:30am we all left for the ski slopes, which took about an
hour to get to.
Skiing in the Alps... Day 1
The skiing was... AMAZING. It was the best skiing I've ever done. I had so much fun, and I would definitely go back if I could! It was incredibly nice out that day; some people were even saying that it was the nicest skiing day of the season! Boy did we really luck out.
I hadn't skied in about 2 years, but I had no problems. Three of us decided to break off from the group (we all figured that we were about the same level and we didn't want to wait for beginners). In our group was a girl from Rome, but she wasn't from our school. She had a week off from school so her and her friend decided to come out and snowboard. She was really knowledgeable about the tracks and slopes, which was so helpful. She took us to her favorite slope, and we all skied/snowboarded all day.
On the slopes, we all got really hungry, so we just HAD to get a Bratwurst. It was amazing. It was such a traditional German/Swiss meal. It was perfect, but again, the portions in Europe are way
too small. I was not full after just one, but it was too expensive to get another, so I just sucked it up and kept skiing.
After skiing
The three of us skied all day, which was exhausting, and then decided to call it a day around 4:30pm. We were all pretty tired, and it took us a while to get back to the hostel, so we all figured it was a good idea at that point. When we got back, I just took it easy and relaxed. There was not free internet, so I couldn't check my email or anything. They did have 6minute internet tokens they gave us for free, so I was able to quickly email my parents that I was still okay and having a great time.
Day 2 in the Alps
I woke up at 8am, got a bus at 9am, and got to the slopes by 10am. Again, I went with the same two people, and we skied all day. It was not as nice as the day before, but it was still absolutely amazing. We skied until 3:30pm since we had night sledding that night, and needed to be ready to
leave at 6pm. The trails we hit today were so amazing. There were barely any people on any of them, and they were all in the middle of the mountain with fresh powder and great sights. Everywhere you turned you could see a new mountain or a new forest, and it was just the coolest thing ever. I couldn't believe how beautiful the scenery was. I took a whole bunch of pictures so be sure to check them out!
Night Sledding
Night sledding was something that I thought I knew what it was, but it turned out to be something completely different. Altogether, it was so much fun. First, we drove about 20-25 minutes through many deserted roads, all of which lead us to a Mountain top. Mid-way through the mountain we got dinner - it wasn't a very good dinner, nor was it very Swiss, but it was still good. We got salad, cheese fondue, beer, hash browns and eggs. It was a good, fulfilling meal, but very strange. Anyway, the sledding was really hard. I took pictures of the sledding also, and since it is pretty hard to describe the sleds, I think you should just look
to get a good idea of how they were designed. Figuring out how to steer and stop was really hard, but once you got it, it was a lot of fun. The main reason it was so hard was because it was PITCH BLACK out on the slopes. The only sense of protection we got were glow sticks that we all had to hang from our neck and keep on our backs, so that people behind us wouldn't crash into us. I won't lie, those glow sticks did not stop me from crashing into so many people haha.
The biggest problem that most people had (especially the girls) was that the slopes went so fast. We were going much much faster than I thought we would go, and since it is pretty hard to stop/steer, it was pretty scary at times. I didn't wipe out at all, but I saw plenty of people who did. It was hilarious. Altogether though, it was an exhausting day!
Ride Home
The bus ride home wasn't as bad as the ride there, except it just felt like it took sooo much longer. We left on Sunday at 1pm, and got to Rome
at midnight. I was so tired the whole time, and I slept like a baby that night!
I had an absolutely amazing time in Interlaken, and I would go back in a heartbeat if I could!
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