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 :)

Viva Valencia

Peniscola, View from the Templar Castle

Field Trip to Pago de Tharsys Winery

Reading in the Riverbed Park

The last week or so in Valencia has just been so amazing that I can't even begin to explain how sad I am to leave this beautiful city. After a hectic weekend in Roma, it was just so great to come home and relax with the roommates. We started our weekend off by heading to the discotecca, Luna Rossa, a massive four story club located directly on the beach. Although drinks require a down payment, they are worth every cent. We spent the majority of the night on the dance floor with the locals learning moves I've never even witnessed before. By 7 AM, the booze was wearing off so we decided to take the party to the beach and watch the sunrise. This was definitely one of my favorite nights in Espana so far and something I will never forget.

Rather than sleeping away our hangovers the next day, a few of us decided to wake up and head to the Riverbed Park across the street. Words cannot even describe how amazing this place is. It is a 10 mile long stretch of colorful trees and flowers where all of the local Valenthians do anything from take a leisurely nap in the grass to practicing Tai Chi in the fields. We were able to find an amazing climbing tree where all of us found our little niche and read our books and listened to music. It was a perfect ending to a fabulous weekend in Valencia and now my favorite park in the world. Since then, I have been going back as often as possible and plan on purchasing a canvas and some paints and spending a day there expressing my creativity (a.k.a. drawing stick figures).

We had a pretty busy upcoming week of school, ranging from seeing Slumdog Millionaire in Spanish at the theatre to visiting the vineyard of Pago de Tharsys with our Food and Wine class. The vineyard was beautiful and definitely a memorable experience. We were able to actually witness the workers picking, fermenting, freezing and bottling the cava (a Spanish champagne) and then were able to finally taste it. It was a very small vineyard, but made it a comfortable and intimate experience where we were treated like royalty. Although I decided not to purchase any wine or champage, I was able to pick up a little something for mis padres :)

Although it was a busy school week we were still able to make time to hang with Mr. DiPasqua, who were in town visiting after spending a week in London. After missing my parents so much, it was so great to see him and get a big bear hug. After some delicious meals at some of our favorite tapas bars and endless bottles of wine in the plaza, we were all pretty ready for our weekend trip to Barcelona. Unfortunately first, we had to witness the slaugher of the Magic in Los Angeles. The only good thing about our night was the fact that FSU was able to convince a local bar, Max Max, to stay open until 7 am in order for us to watch the game "live." Rather than sit around and watch Dwight Howard suck it up, the entire program decided to get extremely drunk and trash the place. It was a ridiculously fun night with all of my fellow students, but needless to say, Max Max will not be inviting us back. Rather than sleeping in the next day after going to bed around 8 AM, we were all forced to wake up and take a bus to Peniscola, a beach town about three hours a day. Normally, this trip would have been an amazing one with gorgeous views of the Meditteranean and huge templar castles to explore but the hangover just killed it for all of us. That, and the fact that it rained the whole day. Even still, Peniscola was a very cool little town and I am very glad I was able to make it.

The next morning, bright and early, was our train ride to Barcelona to meet up with Mr. DiPasqua. After a three hour trip (where we obviously slept the whole way) we were greeted by an amazing hotel, the Fira Palace with a double bed for each of us and huge walk in showers. After spending some awful nights in some real crappy hostels, this place felt like the Ritz. Barcelona was an amazing city and one that I will definitely be visiting again. We were able to tour the Sagrada de Familia, a church they have been building for over 100 years and don't expect to be finished until 2030, and other amazing sights. The food was amazing, some of the best seafood I have ever eaten in my life, and the conversation even better. I am so thankful for such an amazing weekend with Mr. DiPasqua and it was definitely a trip I will never forget.

So this week is a pretty relaxing one, consisting of lots of cramming for our final exams, considering we haven't really been doing much with school lately. Dominique and I are planning on going to the market in the morning and cooking dinner for our roommates tomorrow night. We are planning a white fish cooked in a tomato sauce with mussels, shrimp, and fennel (complements of Ina). This Friday we leave for Switzerland to hopefully bungee jump off of the world's highest bridge in Interlakken, the same jump done by James Bond in Goldeneye 007. Watch this video and you will probably pee your pants for me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69NtkkwSl4s)! On Saturday we are waking up and going canyoning, something that Katey highly recommended, and I am so excited, as long as I am still alive after the jump. Wish me lots of luck, I wish all of you could be with here with me. Love you all and miss you tons, although still not enough to come home just yet. Until next time, hasta luego.