Home!

Back into the swing of things at home. Life has been a little disrupted as of late, and I am more frantic than ever. My main goal right now is to get some sleep and then start making decisions.

Up Up and Awaaaaaayyyyyyyy!!!!

A friends' take-off on her paragliding adventure!

Special Pic

There is a small park in Bruges with four statues representing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Although they weren't labeled, this one seemed most like Pestilence...so I send this out to my favorite car in the world.

Mountains

Along the bike route from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen

A bird's eye view of Interlaken

Pics

The Eiger

Ceremony
Speed Racer

The Alps

The girls having a little bit of fun

Homeward Bound

After my 21-hour day yesterday and not much sleep last night, I am quite exhausted and ready to be home. I've got an eleven hour train ride to look forward to this afternoon, arriving in the capital of the Palmetto state around 2:00 a.m. This has been a whirlwind of activities over the past ten days and I am looking forward to some peace and quiet when I get home.

And for those of you who have been patiently awaiting the humiliating information, here it goes:

1) Spice Girls' "Wanna Be"
2) Divinyls "I Touch Myself"
3) Cindy Lauper "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"

(I had conveniently forgotten about the last one until so kindly reminded by my singing partner.) Thankfully no videos were taken of me singing either!!!

I Am Still Alive!

Per the advice of my bro, I didn't chicken out. I went for it and am soooo glad I did. I "manned up" (sometimes that 97% comes in handy) and went paragliding in the mountains of Interlaken yesterday. I was a little nervous on the way up the mountain and the 'pilots' were teasing me a little bit. We got to the top of this mountain, which had a grassy slope that I was told we'd be running down and eventually off of. Um..yeah. My stomach isn't the most stable of organs and I was a little worried about puking on my poor pilot. Even though he sat behind me, I was sure I'd find some incredibly graceful way to spew on him. Knowing this about myself, I took two Dramamine in hopes to prevent any motion sickness.

Standing atop the grassy knoll, some hang gliders took off before me and I was beginning to get a wee bit nervous. My pilot, Saul (I think) said "Okay, you ready?" in this beautifully thick Bulgarian accent and I thought "oh goodness, can't back out now." So then he said "4, 3, 2, 1--Run Run Run!" And I ran and ran and ran toward the edge of this cliff until my feet left the ground, the parachute opened above me, and we were airborne! It was the single most exhilarating feeling I've ever had--now I sort of understand why people jump out of airplanes. It was incredibly peaceful and beautiful, and I got some great pictures of the city from above. And I got to see the Eiger once again in all its majesty. Quite amazing! And better yet, I lived to tell about all of it!

Now I am in the airport awaiting our flight back to D.C. I have mixed feelings about coming home: in one way, I never wanted to leave Switzerland because it was so beautiful and the people were so nice (although it was insanely expensive and I'd have to sell both kidneys in order to live); but I am ready to see my friends and hang out and return to normalcy for a bit. Enjoy the pictures and yes, yes, I know I look like Speed Racer in the paragliding get up. Don't be jealous! HA!

(Alright, the computer is being weird and won't let me upload any photos. I will try again later possibly or tonight when I get back to the States!)