Let me paint you a picture. Imagine it’s a Thursday. You happen to not have class on Thursday, but do have a meeting with a professor at 11 am. You wake up at 10 and prepare for your meeting. Your meeting goes smashingly well and you are done by 11:20. Imaging you are so happy with how this meeting went that you can’t stop smiling. You come back to your room where your roommate and friend are hanging out. Imagine there is a knock on your door. Your roommate opens it and it’s her boyfriend and his roommate. Imagine you hear them say, “Hey. Let’s go to Switzerland this weekend. We’ll leave at 6 tonight.” And you can stop imagining ’cause ladies and gentlemen, this story/picture I just painted for you was my Thursday morning last week.
Up until 11:30 am Thursday I had been planning on staying behind in Gaming for the weekend. You know, catching up on homework, doing laundry, actually sleeping… Man, Thursday was stressful. I had table time, skyped with Batman and wore a hat… it was rough. I had just cancelled my debit card and had a very limited amount of cash on me. I wanted to go. So badly. Finally, after cleaning my room and talking to my mom, I decided to go. By then it was 3:30 pm and our bus left at 6. After a bit of frantic packing and a trip to Spar, we were off to Switzerland. This trip literally came together in something like 6, maybe 8 hours.
We rode our first overnight train and I secretely imagined I was on my way to Hogwarts. There were no open compartments so we split up into two that were already occupied by strangers. Becca, Emily and I were in a compartment with a wino (she seriously just pulls out a bottle of wine at like 1 in the morning and starts swigging away) and a woman that could not sit still to save her life… Tim, Mark, Katie and Jenna only had one compartment buddy. The nice thing about these compartments was that the chairs slid down to make like a bed, so sleeping actually came fairly easily. Although Ms. Ants-In-Her-Pants had to leave the compartment about 3 times every hour.
Aaaaaand cue our arrival to Interlaken. (Inter-lock-en). After a brief detour around the town (we got lost), we finally found our hostel. Heidi’s Hostel. Heidi was the cutest old woman. She had never been to Austria, and in her day she owned a fruit stand which is where she actually met her husband. Gosh, I love love stories.
Heidi’s Hostel wasn’t really at all what we expected… It smelled like a humane society and was cluttered with trinkets. However, we were happy to have a place to stay. We had a room for 5 and a room for 2. Our room for 5 even had our own kitchen. We settled in and Becca and Mark decided to go paragliding. The rest of us showered, napped and ate. (And it was luxiourous.)
When they got back we went out around the town and found where we were going to go to mass. We shopped for souviners, I got to swing on a playground ( 🙂 ), we took numberous pictures of the amazing mountains surrounding us, frolicked in a snow covered field and shopped for food. That night we all made dinner together (goulash) and sat and talked. Eventually we all meandered to bed.
With a voice like a father, we were prompted out of bed by Mark. We layered up, looked like marshmallows, packed our lunches and waddled to the train station. We took a train to the top of a small mountain. Landing around 8:30 am in Grindelwald. Which obviously made me think of Harry Potter. Duh. The town even looked like it should be in Harry Potter. It was a skiier and snowboarder’s heaven.
We went into a shop to rent our equipment. The guy asked where we were staying. When we said “Heidi’s Hostel” he got a broad smile on his face, tipped his head back, laughed a little and said, “Ahhh, Heidi’s Hostel.” He informed us that he had worked for the paragliding company that worked with the hostel. Turns out, they give half off rentals for those that are brave enough to stay at Heidi’s. So animal smell and all, it was worth it for half price skiis.
Tromping through the town, sweating from every pore of our bodies for 15 minutes finally led us to the building where we bought our day pass. I rode my first gondola, (did you know it’s not just a boat? Bahaha.) and was taken aback by the beauty outside. The gondola took about 10-15 minutes to take us up the mountain and when we got to the top we were above the clouds.
Seriously, go look at my pictures on Facebook. We were above the clouds. The sun was shining and everything was crystal clear. The wind blew a lite dusting of snow and it looked like glitter in the air. It was really spectacular. We stood there in awe, snapping pictures and strapping into our skiis.
We took the ski lift up to the beginners hill. And let me tell you my face was freezing. Like. I couldn’t open my eyes. So. Cold. When we reached the top of this mountain we again went crazy over the beauty. Pause. Okay, I should tell you here. This was Mark’s first time skiing and only my second. Okay, play. “This is basically what you do, Mark.” And suddenly he was flying down the mountain. Trying to stop, he sits down which only makes him go faster. Finally he leans to the side and stops himself. I followed (doing the same thing) shortly behind.
Katie stayed back and was my teacher for the day. After almost flying off a cliff a billion times, using a million vulger and explicative words, catching air whild tumbling down a hill and ripping the crotch of my snow pants, I made it to the bottom. Took me about an hour and a half. But dang, I did it. I skiied in the Swiss Alps, and that’s something I love being able to say. Check off skiing in the most beautiful place on Earth, Switzerland. CHECK!
We all stopped and had lunch and decided to split up. Mark, Becc and I decided to go back and return our equipment and walk around the town a little. We found a cafe and had Swiss hot chocolate. Mhmm. I know you’re jealous. We ended up back at the hostel, starving and already sore. We ate a little and got ready for mass as we waited for the others.
Mass that night was in Portuguese and there were a total of 15 people present. The priest spoke very little English, but we could tell he really wanted to talk to us. Mass was really great and after we found a little store that was open to buy some chocolate and last minute food items. When we got back to the hostel we had round two of goulash, packed up, and went to sleep.
Sunday morning, snow is falling. Okay, I know those aren’t the lyrics, but that’s what our Sunday gave to us. We rode about 8 different trains. The longest one being 6 hours. I read, slept and listened to music. The scenery was beautiful and I got to see the sunset. There has to be a God if the sun setting can cause people to stop what they are doing and admire it. “Too many sunsets I haven’t seen.” I’m working on it.
Side note: There is something so much more romantic about a couple saying goodbye at a train station than an airport. Bah. I just love it so much.
We traveled all day and finally made it to the Kartause at 10 pm. Sore and exhausted we went to bed. End of trip to Switzerland. I am still amazed that 6-8 hours of planning made such an amazing and unforgettable trip. It was worth it being super stressed all day Thursday and just taking the risk and hopping on that bus. It was a great and beautiful trip. God delivered.
Random thoughts for the week:
1. Last night I hung up my Romania Mission flyers and am continuing to ask for prayers for me and my mission team, as well as those we will be serving. This mission will push me in ways I’ve never been pushed before. It’s such a new experience for me, leading a mission trip. And I am so excited to be a leader.
2. Ballet on Monday went extremely well. I think they really want to do something for the talent show which makes me very excited. They are really into it and are always eager to learn new steps. It makes me happy because I can go over to their house and just dance. Just dance. I haven’t been able to just enjoy ballet in forever. And this is such a great experience. I love it!
3. Yesterday I went to the Austrian school again. Briana and I had made Valentines cupcakes Monday night with our RD Allison in her apartment. (Which was such an awesome time.) So we went in, decked out in our pink outfits and delicious chocolate cupcakes. We talked about Valentines Day and what it means to Americans and what we usually do for Valentines Day. Then we played Catch Phrase to help them with their English. Next time we go in we are showing them pictures of our homes and families and activities that we do. I’m excited. I love going in and seeing them. I think they think we’re crazy though… We probably speak too fast.
4. This weekend is our Poland pilgrimage and I can’t wait to write my blog on it. It’s going to be life changing. And freezing… Temps are supposed to be super super cold. We’ll really get an idea of what the Jewish people went through at the concentration camps during the winter months. It’s going to be so intense. But also very fruitful. Blessed John Paul II, pray for us!
And with that, I’m outta here. Thanks for reading! Love you guys.
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