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Jungfrau- A Mountain in Interlaken

So this weekend I went to Interlaken, Switzerland, a small city in central Switzerland which is known as the adventure capital of the Europe. After an eight hour train ride (!) we arrived in Interlaken and checked into our hostel which was called Balmer’s Herberge. The hostel was awesome. It had everything: an underground dance club, a restaurant, a merchandise store, billiards, and of course, excursions. I went with a group of twelve people from my program and the whole weekend was a blast. The first night there I ate traditional Swiss fondue and met some really cool people at the club. The next day I went kayaking on one of the two lakes in Interlaken (which means between lakes).

Me and two others searched for hours to find the one kayak rental place in the whole city which turned out to be pretty sketchy. No one in Interlaken knows how to give directions. Anyway, when we finally got out on the water, I discovered that my one person kayak was extremely low to the water and that unlike the peaceful calm lake I was expecting, there were heavy winds which created waves. The result of all this was that the arctic glacial water piled into my kayak rendering me soaked from the waist down. Besides that, the lake was absolutely beautiful and the views made it well worth the wetness. Switzerland is filled with green pastures with cows roaming beyond which you can find huge snow topped mountains. This contrast really makes for a breathtaking landscape. On the next day (a Saturday) I went on an eight hour canyoning excursion an hour outside Interlaken.

Canyoning turned out to be one of the craziest/most extreme/most exhilarating things that I have ever done. Basically, three guides brought us into a canyon at the top and we had to leapfrog our way to the bottom. We accomplished this by jumping off cliffs into glacial pools (the highest cliff was 30 feet and the water was FREEZING), sliding down huge waterslides, repelling off rock faces, and being lowered down waterfalls. It was such a crazy/fun experience which was hindered only a little by me hurting both my ankles. On one of the jumps I guess I jumped into the wrong spot in a pool and it was too shallow so I ended up landing in the water and hitting rock at the bottom. Currently I am hobbling around Florence like the Hunchback of Notre Dame and my ankles have swelled so that I basically have cankles. I think its just a light sprain though and they are already feeling better. Also in Interlaken a couple of us hit up the local casino. The first night there I broke even but when we went back for a second time I won about 80 bucks playing blackjack.

The Group Pre-Canyoning

Anyways I am back in Firenze now recovering from my weekend. Last night I went out for Mexican food and went to an American movie theater to see Burn After Reading. Afterwards I went to my new obsession which is a gelato place called Grom (think Berryline times 10 for all my Tufts friends). This weekend I am heading to Munich to go to Oktoberfest so I am sure that I will have plenty of stories when I return.

Thanks for reading!

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