December 22, 2008 — 1:30 p.m.

I JUST JUMPED OUT OF A PLANE.

And by just, I mean about 24 hours ago, but in perspective [ie, my life] this isn’t exactly very long ago.

It was by far the coolest thing I’ve ever done.  Amazing.  Indescribable.  Either because of my really crap diction or just because the experience really can’t be put down in words.  Regardless, the pictures they took [and I took...you can take your camera??] are absolutely amazing! 

Oddly, I wasn’t really scared at all.  Like, not even the tiniest bit.  I think Kelly was a bit nervous, but neither of us were freaking out or anything.  I was kind of just chillin’…even as our plane climbed in the air and I was strapped to my tandem.  Nope, just hanging out.  I had one brief moment when they opened the door of the plane and they told me to sit on the side when I think I may have turned to Kelly and done a “WHAT THE F***”, but besides that I was good to go.

Freefalling itself actually hurts quite a bit, but that could have been because it was so cold.  For some stats: 13,000 feet, 45 second freefall, and it was -5 celsius in the air.  But it just hits your face SO HARD and you breathe in so much air that it just chills your face.  You don’t really feel like you’re falling, though…I don’t know why–if it has something to do with going so fast or with the wind catching your jumpsuit, but it really doesn’t feel anything like say, falling out of a tree.

After the free fall the parachute was pulled and we just glided through the Alps–it was so scenic!  And quite.  And at that point, the air was just so cold but in a good way…it felt very very fresh.  My tandem kind of quided the parachute to see all of the sites around [from the airplane we saw France and Italy--and the tallest mountain in Europe!!]  And finally we glided into the landing field, which was a lot like sledding because we ended in about two feet of snow. 

Again, I feel the need to reiterate how AMAZING it was!  I wanted to go again immediately, but obviously I won’t be able to afford that again for like…five years.  But it was such a thrill and you just felt to energized afterwards.  [Until that night when I about passed out on multiple forms of transportation].

I think it’s also important to note the circumstances beforehand that made it so special.  As stated before, we hadn’t seen the sun on our entire trip.  Apparently Switzerland hadn’t either, and it had been cancelled on our original day.  By the next morning, when we asked if we’d be going, they told us to come back at the scheduled time and hopefully it would clear up [at the moment it had been too cloudy, but it was supposed to clear up]  And alas…it did!!  Blue skies for the first time in over a week and just in time for us to go skydiving!!  Absolutely gorgeous day, and it was just too perfect in terms of timing.  I think that added to our excitement about it.

Afterwards we headed back to the hostel and I built a fire for the first time (!!) and we just chilled and made pizza until we had to go catch “our favorite Swiss train” back to Basel, and from there another bus to the aiport, a flight, a bus into London, a tube ride and two night buses later until I was finally home, exhausted.  And actually sad that our trip had ended.  What a turnaround!

I’ll quite miss Balmer’s, too.  It was the perfect ending point to our trip, and just one huge pile of relaxation.  On the original day we were supposed to skydive, we went on a really long walk to one of the lakes and then spend two hours drinking seriously some of the best coffee of my life [better than Starbuck's Christmas blend, which is impressive).  Then we went out for Swiss fondue, possibly the most amazing cheese ever,  and (again) camped out in front of the fireplace back at Balmer's for about five hours.  Perfect day of indulging?  Absolutely.

I know I've already made a point of mentioning it, but its weird how used to travelling you get.  By Interlaken I was reading to keep going for another week or two...the travel itself used to be exhaustive, but now long train rides and a million transfers doesn't even phase me.  I think I am better suited for travelling than study abroad.  I know that sounds like an obvious point, but I don't think I have the attention span or the will to keep up with books and tests when there is an entire country to explore!  I can't do it.  But travelling?  Looking at foreign timetables and trying to figure out the fare for a train?  Asking for directions from random pedestrains and doing the stereotypical in each country?  Totally my thing.  I'll have to keep that in mind the next time.  (Hopefully there will be a next time??]

As of now, I have to pack.  A lot.  I haven’t started yet, actually.  I just booked a car to the airport tomorrow at 4:15, so I do have quite a bit of time, but I should probably do it tonight for fear of not finishing.  And then I’m home!  Just in time for Christmas!!  Is there anything more exciting at the moment??

December 19, 2008 — 7:00 p.m.

I feel like I should be wearing a fairisle sweater.

And maybe the hat/scarf/glove combo.  And those sock booties with the little tassled pompoms.  Do they make fairisle pants?  I should probably be wearing those, too.  It seems like the only appropriate apparel for this cozy little hostel, tucked in this cozy little town nestled in the not so cozy, not at all little Alps.

I´m sitting by the fireplace next to a Christmas tree, and just finished eating a delicious homecooked meal that we made ourselves after visiting the local co-op.  It smells sort of like wood smoke.

Interlaken is gorgeous.  After a miraculously successful five connections from Berlin (tram, train, plane, bus, train), the last of which was the most incredible Swiss train ride through the Bernese Alps, we finally arrived at our last European destination.  Right in between two lakes, Interlaken totally has the hometown charm thing down.  Christmas lights are strung on nearly every building, all of which seem to resemble cabins and chalets and sell myriad Swiss souvenirs.  Everything is completely covered in fresh snow (it has been snowing for most of the day) and the general slowness that surrounds our first trip outside of a large city is truly preparing me for my trip home and for Christmas.

Our last day in Berlin was also quite nice.  After the most depressing morning at a concentration camp (which I´ll spare you the details of because it was horrifying), we cheered ourselves up with another Christmas market and a lenghty trip to the bookstore.  It´s a little funny that we had started to fall into a routine after being in the city for only three days.  By the last day, Christmas markets were less about cheery goods and more about scouring for food and gluhwein (mulled wine).  For the record, I settled on a sausage and spinach, fruit bread, and a pretzel (bretzel).  Our final Christmas tree count is now up to 15.  We probably spent about an hour at the bookstore before heading back to the hostel for the night.

It´s also funny that this morning, waking up horrendously early for our last morning flight didn´t even phase us.  Normally, I feel miserable and near death at the prospect of 4 a.m. travel, but I was good to go this morning.  We even imagined ourselves travelling for longer (but there is no part of me that doesn´t want to go home in four days. FOUR DAYS!!

Kelly and I were hilarious this morning.  Instead of sleeping on our epic Swiss train, we talked most of the time.  Unfortunately, being exhausted just from general travel, our sentences rarely were finished and mostly just ended in giggles.  I would be surprised if they were even coherent.  Fun for us, but I am pretty sure we were the most annoying people on the train.

We got to the hostel around 11 and wandered around for awhile.  Lunched at the co-op where we were literally the opnly guests under 60, and then headed back to the hostel and set up (book)shop for 4 hours.  We both came into Switzerland with the assumption that this would be ultra lowkey, and so I´m kind of glad there isn´t really too much to do except ski and adventure sports.

Hopefully skydiving will actually happen tomorrow.  I haven´t seen the sun in litetally a week except for when we flew above the clouds, and they cancel it at even the remote chance of bad weather.  But I want to go SO BAD — so wish us luck on that venture!

The rest of the night should be pretty laid back.  I nned to rest up for tomorrow, anyway.  And a pillow would be quite nice right now.

December 17, 2008 — 9:30 p.m.

I love Berlin.  I LOVE Berlin.  It is such a cool city.  Who would of thought the Germans were so awesome??  Granted, it IS freezing, but, as Kelly again insightfully pointed out, Berlin knows how to do winter in a way that Paris doesn’t.  The French capital just seems to close itself off and hibernate in the chill, whereas Berlin seems to embrace it and flaunt that fact that it is painfully cold, but hey, we’ll deal!  Christmas markets are running rampid throughout the city, and we’ve seen so many giant Christmas trees that we’re actually keeping a count (right now it is at 10).  And the food is so good!  And so cheap!!  Everything about this city is clearly just amazing.

We got in to our hostel at about 9:30 yesterday morning, and it is the best thing ever.  Warm, HUGE room, super helpful staff-awesomeawesomeawesome.  We went to the cafe attached and got the best breakfast I’ve ever had–seriously–for five euro.  FIVE EURO BUFFET.  As in, fresh fruit platter, veggie platter, meat platter, cheese platter, cottage cheese, multiple kinds of bread, rolls, and toast, atleast five different cereals and muesli, jams, nutella, everything.  I died.  It was incredible!  I’ve rarely ever felt so comfortably full. 

Afterwards we had enough energy to explore the city and did the majority of our sightseeing checklist within a few hours–thankfully most of the sights are within walking distance.  Although we did have to wait outside for an hour at the Reichstag to climb to the dome.  But it was pretty cool once inside.  You’re basically on the roof of their government building and overlooking the city.  We also went to the Bradenburg gate (Christmas tree number 1!), the Holocaust memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, etc, etc. 

At Potsdamer Platz we stumbled upon our first Christmas market which is officially my favorite thing about the city.  Cute little stands decked out in lights and selling glorious amounts of food.  From gingerbread to roasted nuts, chocolate by the tons and sausages all over the place.  I ate a curried sausage….withing a minute.  Downed that thing.  So good!  We also got mulled wine (which I got again tonight and will forever remind me of Christmas in Germany) and it was also amazing!  They lend you mugs and if you don’t go back for your deposit you can keep them, so of course I have a nice little souvenir!

We headed back to our hostel pretty early last night, understandably.  I think we were in bed by about 9:00, but that’s alright because it gave us a pretty good headstart today.  We walked around the East Side Gallery, a large section of the Berlin wall still intact and covered in artwork celebrating the destruction of the wall.  Some of them were really interesting–I’ll have to post pictures later.  After that we walked down the Karl Marx avenue, which I guess is just socialist buildings?  I think that’s what Kelly’s guidebook said.  Then we took the U-Bahn over to KaDuWe, the largest department store in Europe, with an entrance like a magical forest of sorts.  Clearly I was in love.  We went up to the gourmet food floor and ogled everything before picking out lots of chocolate and I had some chicken as well.

We walked down the main shopping drag, Krufurstendamm, for awhile before becoming painfully exhausted and hiking to the largest bookstore we could find and camping out in the cafe.  I read 100 pages of a book–we were there for awhile!  I’m so glad Kelly likes to read so much as well…it was nice to stay for so long without having to worry about the other person getting bored!

Final stop of the day–Gendermenmarkt.  The ULTIMATE Christmas market.  It is so, so beautiful!  We walked around and got more wine and I had some weird bread thing with cheese spread and ham that everyone seemed to be devouring (and for a good reason because it was delicious).  We also had some gingerbread and sugared nuts and sampled everything we could find.  There was a man dressed up as a Christmas tree on stilts.  And a stage with people dressed up in ridiculous costumes and singing in German.  Life couldn’t have gotten any better at this point.

We made a quick detour back to another Christmas market (third of the day…obsessed?) to buy nutcrackers and then headed back for the night.  I think we’re going down to the hostel bar later because it is karaoke night and that obviously needs to happen.  Tomorrow is our last day in Berlin?  What ever will we do?

Go to Switzerland?

December 16, 2008 — 5:45 a.m.

One city down, two to go!  Sitting in the Paris airport at an ungodly hour waiting to head off to Berlin.  I would like to point out that the car hire that we took this morning has easily been the best decision of this entire trip.  Booking it I was hesitant, but then I realized just how miserable public transportation would be at 4:00 in the morning, and here we are.  I have enough energy to write this, so..

Yesterday was a fairly good last day in Paris.  Maybe not on par with Day 2, but good nonetheless.  We grabbed our free breakfast (croissant, coffee) and headed to Cemeterie Pere Lachaise, home to the stars (ie Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde).  The famous gravestones didnät interest me that much, but the set up of the place is just amazing.  Entirely above ground, massive, ornate crypts crowded together through cobblestone walkways.  Add the creepily barren trees and it is easily spooky, in such a good way.

Afterwards we headed to Montmartrethe artists quarter of Paris, home to the Sacre Couer church and the Moulin Rouge.  After a breathless hike up a hill (only to be rewarded with a foggy view of the French capital), we walked around the Sacre Couer and back into the village, which is largely overrun by tourists but the backstreets are very quaint and pretty.

We walked down the hill to find lunch which, for me, consisted of the ultimate in comfort food, french onion soup!  I also got a little plate of escargot.  It had to be done.  They came out with a few tools of destruction that took me an awful long time to figure out how to use, but eventualy I got the hang of it, and they were delicious!  Probably because they are drenched in garlic butter, but surprisingly good for the amount of flack that they get.  Definitely a good decision to try something new!

We walked around a bit more, mostly to find the Moulin Rouge, Parisian letdown number 2 (although at night it probably looks incredible).  What can I say, cinemetography these days…We took the metro over to Rue St. Honore and explored the ‘good life’ for awhile (ie, pretending we could actually afford those amazing maryjanes in Chanel–ugh).  The streets drip in designer, which, as Kelly noted, ‘was a bit painful’.  Although she also pointed out something else.  Don’t you always feel like Paris is like the mecca of chic?  When every woman personifies classic and effortless style?  Back in London, I am put in my place every day by stylish heel-clad woman who look dressed to the nines by nine in the morning.  Definitely not the case in Paris.  Certainly not to say anything BAD against their style-it just didn’t stand out to me.  A little odd, very surprising, and absolutely comforting knowing that the city of style isn’t all it’s made out to be.

From here wa passed onward down the street (rue) to the Louvre and (almost) shamefully stepped in a massive Starbucks.  For nearly two hours (half of which I spent passed out in my arm chair.  One of my days highlights, of course.  We finally gave in to the coma and headed back to the hostel roughly at 7:00 for a solid nights sleep (which ended up not starting until 10:00…obviously).

My ears hurt from the overusage of earplugs-by the way.  Excited for the possibility of sleeping without them in Germany!  We did meet some nice people, though, which is what I love about hostels.  There were two girls in our room who actually just came from Interlaken, which is weird, and jad just gone skydiving, which is just…bizarre.  They were glowing about it, though, so I am all the more excited!  But first–Berlin!  Home of many an art gallery and curried sausage..should be interesting!

December 14, 2008 — 9:00 p.m.

After an incredibly rocky start zesterday, things are finally starting to look up in Paris.  This city is seriously so cold.  We got to our hostel yesterday at around noon and couldn’t get into our rooms until 4:00, so after waking up at 3:00 a.m., that morning we had to find something to do for four hours. 

Fortunately our hostel is located in the cutest little area, called Commerce, and had a bunch of fun little cafes and frommageries (uh, and a Sephora!) to keep us entertained.  Then we preceded to walk to the Eiffel tower, which really wasn#t that great, although I think that largely had to do with the weather (horrible, rainy, freezing)  And also the barren gardens, and the horrific Seine (is it always that disgusting? Ew.)  Afterwards, we traversed to the Arc de Triomphe, nearly passed out from exhaustion at a cafe, wondered down the Champs-Elysees, and found ourselves back at the hostel, in bed, by 7:30. 

Our hostel, by the way, thinks it is summer.  It is centered around this courtyard with PALM TREES and the bathrooms are outside.  OUTSIDE.  Outside. Think about how awful that is at 3:00 a.m.  Exactly.  Anyway, there was also live music and hordes of people until atleast 1:00 a.m., which is roughly when I finally fell asleep.

But, as promised, the story does get a little more uplifting!  This morning we hit up the Louvre, which is probably really cool for the art history folk (erm….Leeners) but we just kind of wanted to see the Mona Lisa  (and Vermeers ‘Lacemaker’….why do I love the dutch so much?) After that we went over the Seine to the Cite de Paris, which is basically an island with the Notre Dame on it, so that was cool.  We (I) took pictures with a hunchback, and there was a Christmas tree out front, which automatically made me happy!

Next we went in search of Shakespeare and Co, the legendary bookstore whose original owner fostered the careers of authors such as Hemingway and James Joyce and which my english major companion Kelly is obsessed with.  This bookstore is amazing.  Books towering over you, floor to ceiling, and lots of used books, too.  So while agonizing over which book to buy (Simone de Beavoiur or Colette?) they mentioned there was a tea party going on upstairs , in the owner’s library (he’s 95, so needless to say, he didn’t take part).  So we wandered up these stairs to this apartment overlooking the Notre Dame and a woman named Pamilles (originally Pamela, but she ‘changes it every few years’ and is currently going by the Greek version because it means honey) greets us and about a dozen others with tea.  We all go around sharing a bit of background (some Italian au pairs, a Portugese poet who attended the same tea Sunday tea party 30 years ago) and chat for awhile.  It was bizarre.  Just picture old books cascading over walls and Pamilles (who reminds me of Ruth from honors with a french accent, of course) reciting poetry she’d written.  It was so cool.  Easily my favorite (and most unforgetable) part of the trip.

Afterwards we grabbed the metro back to Champs-Elysees to try out Lauderee macaroons, which I’ve wanted to do forever.  I don’t even know why they’re famous, but they are.  And pretty.  And expensive (horridly! 6 euro for four of them).  And SO DELICIOUS. We sat on the Champs-Elysees looking at the Christmas lights and the Arc de Triomphe, eating chocolate macaroons, and for a moment I wasn’t even cold.  Priceless.

We ended up just walking back to our hostel, via the Eiffel tower, which was so much more impressive at night.  I also got some Chinese food for fear of starvation and….back to the hostel we are!  We’ll probably go to bed soon, if onlz because getting a decent nights sleep is the onlz waz we’llsurvive this marathon of a trip.  Tomorrow is our last day in Paris!  We’re hoping to see the Cemeterie Pere Lachaise, the cemetery with a billion famous residents, and explore Montmarte in the afternoon.  Hopefully another good day on the horizon–provided it doesn’t rain!

December 12, 2008 — 8:00 p.m.

So I’m having a mild panic attack. Although I don’t think ‘mild’ really does anything to help the situation, since I’m still here, freaking out, and inducing possible stomach ulcers by constantly stressing. Post trip trip starts in less than an hour and a half. Is it so wrong that I don’t want to go?

I couldn’t even tell you why. I know Kelly and I will have a good time, but the planning, from hostels to trains to buses, is just too, too much right now and I am consistently worrying about the next thing that will go wrong. For instance, earlier today I realized I hadn’t printed out our $100 train tickets and had to make a run to campus to print them out. And just about an hour ago I realized I had made our easybus booking [bus to the airport at 4 a.m. this morning] from the wrong location. So I changed it, but I need to go to the library again and print them out. THANK GOD our library is open until 11 tonight. But I’m still panicking. No use stopping when I’m on such a roll!

I think that large majority of it is stemming from my severe, severe homesickness [and I’m not just saying that to make you feel better, Mom, Dad]. I miss everyone from home so much and especially my family and I just feel like I’ve been that way the whole time I’ve been here and I never really let go of home and now that I’m so close to being there I just want to skip over everything that’s in the way and go home. Just, right now. Change my flight, disregard every travel plan I’ve made and just go. But instead I will stay, and when I come home people will be like ‘Aren’t you glad you stayed?’ and I’ll nod my head yes and put on a smile when I’m really thinking that I would have rather been home. Because honestly? I’ve gotten good practice. ‘Aren’t you glad you stayed in London?’ I get that question all of the time. What am I supposed to say? No? I sort of wish I had stayed home? The ultimate of insults. So instead I say absolutely, it would have been a mistake to go home. Or to have never come at all. Which is probably true in the long run, but right now it isn’t. I sort of wish I had stayed home.

Not to mention that I’ve been having these oddly morbid thoughts that I am going to die on this trip because god forbid I make it home after months of being away to see my family. No, no, I will be involved in some random accident three days before Christmas and I’ll never get home. It is the most terrifying thought in my head right now. [And booking a jump out of a plane didn’t help, either].

Sorry for such a dramatic exit from the blogging world for the next two weeks [okay….nine days]. It’s a necessary stress outlet. In other recent news, I am finished with coursework, finals, and internships. I don’t really have too much to say about any of them at the moment, other than thank goodness that is a lot off of my plate. And I also had a completely out of the blue stomach bug from Tues/Wed. which involved throwing up everything and eating nothing. So that was healthy. One week sick, one weekend healthy, one week sick….shall we keep going?

Maybe later. As of right now, I am busybusybusy and also still packing and still stressing and still complaining and possibly still missing some important document that will trap me in Switzerland for Christmas. Because that would totally happen. Hope everyone is enjoying there holidays. At home.

December 8, 2008 — 12:00 a.m.

 

Just a quick bloggy update because I am finally feeling better and believe that it is a time for celebration!  So I ended up having the flu, and it’s accompanying fever for five days until Saturday, when I could finally bring myself to wear less than four layers of clothing without shivering.  It kind of sucks because it was my last weekend here and I really didn’t leave the house any except for today, but whatever—I’m over it.  What’s done is done, right?

 

Had a great day today—probably reason for my overly optimistic mood at the moment.  Kate Meskey traversed England to come visit the capital!!  So Courtney, another friend of ours studying in London, Kate, and I all went around to some of the sights and other fun London-y stuff.  It was really just nice to see familiar faces—I can’t tell you how excited that makes me to go home and be surround by people that know me and that I already know.  Such a comforting thought.  We started around Trafalgar and went to the National Gallery, walked down to Big Ben and Parliament, and then over to Buckingham, which still tops my list of my disappointing London sights ever.  Why so bland, palace??  Afterwards we walked up to Piccadilly and Fortnum & Mason [whose teas I am obsessed with] and then spent at least an hour in Pret gossiping about pregnant classmates from high school, which was….amazing.  Obviously.

 

THEN, I had to split because it was finally time for our tea at the Wolseley!  I’ve been excited for forever.  We had to book months in advance and it was literally the only spot left before Christmas, so Amanda, D, and I all got really pumped up about going for afternoon tea at such a sought after spot [rumored to be Kate Moss’s fave!].  AND.  We ended up being seated at the table next to Dita Von Teese!!!  The woman is gorgeous in person.  I mean, her skin is a little weirdly luminous, but flawless nonetheless.  Anyway, so that was definitely a highlight.  Although our tier of finger sandwiches, pastries, and scones didn’t hurt either.  So delicious.  After a pot of tea and some chatting we ended up sticking around for dinner, where I had a few oysters [bad decision] and fresh cooked veggies [and trying D’s steak tartare, which was surprisingly good].  I think that may have been one of the longest times I’ve even been in a restaurant.  It was really such a relaxing way to spend a Sunday!

 

Fast forward back to my dorm, where I finally finished all of my coursework for the semester!  I did most of my history paper a few weeks back, but really pushed it all out last night.  3,000 words on crime and disorder in 19^th century London?  Ew.  But also done.  And I sited that thing like crazy, so hopefully he’ll notice how much intense researching I did?  Tonight I finished my linguistics coursework, which was a pain, but atleast I didn’t want to tear my hair out this time.  I’ll be handing in both of them tomorrow and then all I have left is a linguistics final on Thursday!  Hurrah for a free week!  I’ll update later!

 

Kmesk and I in Trafalgar Square–reunited at last!

 

 

Outside Clarence house–if only the princes would come out to play!

 

 

Our tea cart at the Wolseley–we’d already devoured the sandwiches

My beautiful teapot

 

Fortnum and Mason–luxe!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Piccadilly at night

 

Outside!