Paying to sign my life away

The jump!!

After doing the 007 Goldeneye Verzacsa Bungee Jump of 720 feet, the highest in the world!

This weekend has gone down in my "life book" as the most adventurous one ever! We headed for Milan bright and early Friday morning where we were met by an Italian bus driver who drove us two and a half hours to Bellinoza, where we were staying for the night. Never in my life did I expect Switzerland to be so stunning. Everywhere you looked you saw rolling hills, enormous mountains, and running waterfalls. Words can't even describe it's beauty. Our hostel, the Istituto Santa Maria, turned out to be amazing and conveniently located directly next door to an old castle. For only 30 Francs a night, we were able to stay right in the center of the town while having amazing views of the beautiful country right from our bedroom windows. Once dropping off our luggage and grabbing a quick bite to eat, the adventure to the Valle de Verzacsa began. Let me just tell you, this was the must nerve racking hour of my life. After about an hour of winding roads and jamming out to pump up music, we saw the first sighting of the dam. The Verzacsa Dam is a 220 meter piece of concrete and the highest bungee jump in the world. From here on out, the doubt began to settle and the butterflies began. After signing a 'death contract' and recieving a disturbingly quick run through on how to do the jump, we were all strapped in and ready to go. The jump was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced, but probably not something I will be doing in the near future. The only word I have to describe it is euphoria. Basically the whole crowd counts down from three, where you are then instructed to do a swan dive off of the platform they have provided. For the first five seconds of the jump, your heart about comes out your mouth and you feel as though you may be dying. Once you are able to feel the bungee cord and realize that you aren't falling head first into the ground, you began to actually enjoy yourself and are overtaken by a sort of peacefullness. That is, until you realize you are hanging 220 meters from a dam and have some work to do. We were then instructed to pull youself up into a seated position (which might I say, is almost impossible) and then hook yourself onto the safety latch which then pulls you up. Although the jump lasted only for about 10 minutes, I think it was the longest ten minutes of my life. Out of all 22 jumpers in our group, everyone did it, not one backed out. It was such an amazing experience and I am so glad I got to share it with such a great group of friends.

So obviously we had an early night, all of us in bed and asleep around 10 (the earliest I have gone to bed since I have been here.) We then had to wake up around 6:30 AM and catch a bus to our next adventure...canyoning. We met the guides at a small little clubhouse where we were given three layers of wetsuits, repelling gear, and helmets. The groups were divided between the fast and adventurous ones to the more laid back, scaredy cat ones. Obviously, I was in the second. We then took a gondola up to the top of the mountain where the adventure began. Basically, to describe canyoning, it is treking through rivers and woods where you reach multiple waterfalls and jumps that you must complete. We started off at the "easy" jumps of only 20 or 30 feet and eventually led up to a 65 ft waterfall where we were then instructed to repel down. Never in my life did I think I would be able to do something like this, but surprisingly, I think I did quite well. All of us did, and more importantly, we had an amazing time. Despite the freezing waters and severe exhaustion, I can vouch for everyone when I say we would definitely do it again. The canyoning lasted three hours, the last half hour being a strenuous hike down the mountain. The guides were very interesting people who are definite thrill seekers and really made it easy for us to have a good time.

After some lunch by the river, we headed to the train station to catch a train to Locarno, the city centre. Considering we had to be at the Milan airport by 6 AM, we decided to pass on a hostel for the night and just party until our flight. We arrived to Locarno around 4 PM, giving us about twelve hours until we had to leave for the aiport. Luckily we were able to find an amazing park right on this beautiful lake where we took naps, popped a few bottles of wine, and just relaxed.

Overall, an amazing weekend in Switzerland, a place where I will definitely be going back to (hopefully with mom and dad)! Such a beautiful country with so many things to experience. Now as our Europe experience dwindles down, the feeling is very bittersweet. Although I am very excited to head home and see my family and friends, I have definitely grown to love it here. I have made so many memories that will last a lifetime, met people I know I will be keeping in touch with for the rest of my life, and learned so much about myself in the process. I want to thank everyone for keeping up with my blog and staying in contact with me, it has been so fun hearing from everyone! Love you all and can't wait to see everyone back in the states. Until then, hasta luego :)