Altitude: 13,000 Feet - Free Falling: 45 seconds - Speed: 120 miles per hour - Location: Over the Swiss Alps

INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND-

Our flight left for Switzerland on Friday at 6:00 a.m. Although it was a cheaper flight it still meant that we would not get any sleep the night before. I walked to the bus station at 3:30 a.m. The other girls joined me a few stops after I got on. It takes about 45 minutes to get to Heathrow by bus, so we wanted to make sure we got there on time and not take the chance of missing our flight.

I was amazed to see how many people got on the bus that were dressed up already for work. I can only hope that when I get a job I won't have to get on a bus at 4 a.m. ready to start my day.

We landed in Zurich, Switzerland around 7:45 a.m. and then had to take a train from Zurich to Interlaken. 

We finally got to Interlaken at 10 a.m. The town was so cute and everywhere you looked you could see the beautiful mountains. We couldn't check in to our hostel until noon so we decided to do some exploring and get a bite to eat. 

As soon as we got back to our hostel called "The Happy Inn Lodge" we all took a long nap that was much needed! 

That night after we got dinner we went to local grocery store and bought TONS and TONS of chocolate! Let me just say that Swiss chocolate is amazing and honestly just melts in your mouth!!

The next morning two of the girls left to go canyoning, which is where you jump and zip line through the glaciers while the rest of us were going to go SKYDIVING!! Everything was set to get picked up at 12 p.m. and jump out of a helicopter part. The company was called Skydive Interlaken. For the most part I was excited and just anxious to get picked up! The weather was perfect, not to cold or hot, and partly cloudy. Around 11:45 a.m. my cell phone rang and it was Skydive Interlaken, I just assumed that they were letting us know that they were on there way. But this was not the case. She had informed me that unfortunately due to it being too windy outside that it would not be safe to jump out of a helicopter and asked if we would be free on Sunday the day we left. Our flight didn't leave on Sunday until 8 p.m. so I told her that it could maybe work to jump on Sunday but asked what the chances were that the weather would better and if she was certain or not we would be able to. And she replied by saying well.... we're optimistic but I am not certain." (But on the bright side we would get the money back that we had to pay to make a reservation, which we booked a month before). Not exactly what I wanted to hear...

Keep in mind that the whole reason  why we came to Interlaken in the first place was to go skydiving, and at this point I was so nervous that it wasn't going to happen. Immediately after the phone call I went downstairs to talk to a lady at the front desk. She called another company "Skydive Switzerland to see if they were still up and running. The company told her that if we want we can jump out of an airplane instead and that they could pick us up in 15 minutes! 

We were all so excited and said that would be wonderful!! So, after a bit of a stressful morning it was actually happening... we were going to go SKYDIVING!!

When we got to the place we had a 10 minute safety lesson what to do and what not to do when falling out of an airplane. I'm not joking when I say 10 minutes, you would think that jumping out of an airplane it would require an in-depth safety lesson that would be much longer. 

I didn't start to get nervous until the guy I was jumping with came to help me put on my harness. And then soon after that the moment finally came and I was walking to the plane.

As the plane was started to move the door was still wide open and in my mind I kept wondering when they were going to shut it... seconds later after they shut the door we were in the air. There was no turing back now. 

When we reached about 6,000 feet the guy I was jumping with asked if I was nervous. And I  truthfully responded no I am just really excited! He then opened the door and yelled... "now are you nervous!!" It was funny, but at the same time it made me terrified because I still wasn't strapped to him. It wasn't until we reached 13,000 feet when he started hooking my harness to his. And then moments later the door opened and we literally did a front flip as he pushed the both of us out of the plane. For a long time I couldn't process the fact that we were literally free falling at 120 miles per hour! It was absolutely MIND BLOWING!!! 

My favorite part was when we did spins it was so much fun even though my ears kept popping the whole time. After 45 seconds he pulled the parachute and we jolted back up in the air! 

It took about 5 minutes as we drifted back down to land. It was by far one of the most exciting, and best things I have ever done in my entire life and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again! 

That night we went out for a bit with two people that we had met at our hostel in Croatia. They coincidentally had booked the same hostel the same weekend we were in Switzerland!! I couldn't believe it when we saw them!

The next day was really windy so I was so happy we got to skydive the day before. We wanted to take a tour up the mountains to see the beautiful view but it was closed due to wind. Instead, we took a walk around the city and randomly decided to rent a scooter and two ATV's and drive to some waterfalls! It was so much fun! Even though I was really nervous, for thing because I didn't want to crash and It had been awhile since I used a scooter before, not to mention it being awhile since I have been able to drive in general! But I got the hang of it and soon my nerves went away and I was able to enjoy the experience of riding a scooter through the mountains in Switzerland. It was surreal! 

Overall, I had the most amazing weekend! It was the perfect trip to end all my traveling adventures through out Europe! 

Anyway, I come home in five days. I can't believe it! That means I'll get to see you all very soon!

-Britt

SHOUT OUT: I want to say hi to the three wonderful and adorable boys that I babysit! Jake, Zach, and Nick! See you this summer! :)

Five new entries on the 5th day of the 5th month!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I’m updating you all on the rest of my spring break trip. Thankfully I kept track of what we did on my ipod... Anyway, enjoy!

LA SPEZIA, ITALY-

With the help of five alarms and the morning sunlight shining through the cracks of the shudders that covered the window we were out the door at 7am. We took a train from La Spezia to Cinque Terre and got there around 8am. For only 5 euro we were handed a map as well as an entrance ticket. After that we started our five-hour journey of hiking through narrow paths with absolutely breath taking scenery. It wasn't an easy hike by any means. There were a lot of steep hills and people coming at you from the opposite direction. Every time you passed someone they were out of breath. Despite the hard work it turned out to be one of my favorite things we did over spring break. 

It was quite an accomplishment when we reached the beach for the first time. After that we took a nice nap and worked on our tan. It truly was paradise.

A couple hours later a few of us decided to hike a bit more. We walked over to this massive rock that for whatever reason reminded me of the Lion King, I’m not sure why. I only had my flip-flops with me, which was probably not the best idea to stay balanced and climb up a rock, but I managed. It was pretty scary looking down, but the picture turned out pretty sweet! Don’t you think?

FLORENCE, ITALY-

Before making our way to Florence we stopped in Pisa. It was an interesting place, but you really only need to stay there for a couple of hours. 

Here are some classic tourist pics.

We got to Florence in the afternoon and it was my job to figure out where our apartment style “hostel” was. Thankfully, I spent the majority of the train ride there looking at maps and an Italian guidebook. The apartment had a lot of space but it was a bit dirty and had no electricity for a few hours. Along with that, there was had a lady next door to us that had a cat named Shadow who kept wanting to get into our apartment. 

After we explored the city and ate dinner. When we were walking back from dinner I heard my name being called from across the street and it was Kim Willer! I couldn’t believe that I ran into her. It is exciting to run into people you know in general, but when it’s in a different country, that’s another story! Talk about being at the right place at the right time. She showed my friends and I her apartment that we had just passed only five second before she saw me.

The next day a few of us were hoping to go on a wine a bike tour but they were all full so we had to go the next day. Instead we went shopping at this huge market and ran into other Americans who also go to St. Mary’s in London. After that we waited in line and went up to the very top of the Duomo, it was absolutely beautiful.

The wine and bike tour was fabulous. The tour was put on by these two guys from Ireland that have lived in Italy for about 10 years. First we went to a castle and saw how wine and olive oil was made. After trying a sample of each we went on a 13-mile bike through Tuscany.

They took us to this cute family owned restaurant where we had salad, homemade Italian pasta, wine, and tiramisu for dessert. After eating that lunch I was glad we still had some biking left to do.

After the tour the diver dropped us off and we could get a few pictures before heading back to our apartment.

The next day we left Florence early and headed towards Perugia. We ended up getting off at the wrong stop so we had to wait for over an hour. After an hour train ride, an hour of waiting, another train ride, a half hour bus ride, and a two mile walk on gravel roads with what seemed like 50 pounds of luggage we finally made it to our hostel. To you I’m sure it sounds like our hostel was in the middle of nowhere (it kind of was, but on the bright side it had Internet, free breakfast, and there was a cute lounge).

ROME, ITALY-

We got up at 4am to catch the 6:15am train to Rome on the Saturday before Easter. We went and got the tickets I had reserved for Easter Mass at the Vatican. In order to get tickets I emailed my Mom who emailed the Priest at our church who contacted the bishop, who had a connection in Rome. I then emailed that person back in February and requested six tickets. Easy as that! Haha.  After we got our tickets we went to the Trevi Fountain.

Because it was Easter weekend places were closing early and the lines were incredibly long. That meant that we had to choose. To either wait in line and go see the Vatican Museum and the 16^th chapel, or go to the Coliseum. We ended up going the Coliseum because we knew we were coming back the fallowing day to St. Peter’s Square for Easter.

You know when you subconsciously make a list of all the things you want to see and do in your lifetime and some of those goals are easy to reach but the others if you do achieve them are usually always completely unexpected? It almost seems like a dream because it feels too good to be true and you can't believe what's happening is actually... happening.

That’s how I felt when I was able to celebrate Easter at St. Peter’s Square in Rome. At one point the Pope was only 20 feet away from me. 

My friends and I got there at 7am and waited in line for two hours. When they finally were letting people in through security I used my height to my advantage and looked over the crowd to see what way we should go. We literally ran to the closest seating that was still available, which was about 100 feet away from where the Pope would sit. It was incredible and again something I never imagined would be possible. 

The mass lasted for about two hours. All the people that were sitting were able to receive communion. At the end of the service the Pope said a blessing in every language. I lost count after 20 I wish I knew the exact total though. 

NAPLES/ CAPRI-

At this point I was finally getting use to carrying all my stuff around. Naples was beautiful even though the town itself was known as having a lot of theft. But I managed to have nothing stolen from me! Mark and I were in a hostel with four other strangers. The other four girls we were traveling with were in a room right next to us. It made me appreciate private hostel room (sharing the room with only the people you know) because coming back around 10:30pm after dinner all the lights were out and everyone was sleeping so I had to get ready for bed in the dark. It was interesting.

The next morning we got on a ferry that took us to Capri at 7:30am. It took us about 80 minutes to get there. 

When we arrived we looked for information about going to the blue grotto but it was closed. So instead, we bargained with a local who gave us a private tour of the island for 15 euro each. The boat ride was a lot of fun! I even got to steer at one point.

After that we took a shuttle up to the top of the island and headed toward the beach. Thankfully it was perfect beach weather. I honestly felt like I was again in some sort of tropical paradise there were two beach bars that made delicious margaritas.

 

It was my friend Kaitlin’s birthday that day too. I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate ones 21^st!

SPLIT, CROATIA-

The next I left the original group I was traveling with and went to Croatia with Colleen and a different Caitlin.

We took a five-hour train ride from Naples to Ancona, Italy. But first we had to switch trains in Rome. We were in first class on the way to Rome because that was all that was available. It was so funny seeing people dressed up in work clothes and getting a snack provided by Eurostar. I wasn’t use to that from previous traveling I had done the past two weeks. It was nice! However, our train to Rome was delayed and we ended up missing the train that would get us to Ancona with enough time to catch our overnight ferry. We were able to take another train to Ancona but we were still afraid that we would miss our ferry. On the ride there we ended up meeting an American couple that were traveling throughout Italy on their honeymoon. We also met a woman that was on a professional soccer team in Italy.

Colleen called the ferry company around 8pm because we were supposed to check in at 7:30 for departure at 9pm and we still weren’t there yet. They suggested we took a cab to collect our tickets, and told us that another cab will be waiting at the ticket office to take us to the dock. As soon as the train stopped we hurried off. A local tried to help us and it remind me of a scene from Titanic where an old man said to Leo and Kate’s characters “this way I’ll show you,” pointing straight. But they ran right passed him. Anyway, I’m getting side tracked but that is sort of what we did, but we thanked him anyway. We got a taxi that had strange techno music playing in the background. After we got our tickets, paid the driver, and then jumped in another taxi that was free because the ferry company provided it. We got to the dock at 8:50 and luckily made it just in time! If it had been 10 minutes later we would have had missed it.

The ferry reminded me of a 3-star cruise ship, it was fun because I never had been on a cruise before. We had dinner, walked around the boat and then went to bed it was a long day to say the least.

The next morning we got up at 6am and had breakfast. The sunrise was so beautiful! We got to Croatia at 7am. After being bothered by locals to come to stay with them at their hostel we finally made it to our own. It was kind of annoying because the kept coming up to us saying, “do you need a place to stay?” We told them no over and over again but it didn’t matter. One even followed us for five minutes as we were trying to find where our hostel was. 

Anyway, later we explored the city and went to the local market and bought fresh fruit, bread, and cheese.

Our hostel was great! Everyone was so friendly we met a few people from America, one from Canada, and two others from Australia.

The next day we visited some Roman ruins. 

On Saturday us and the Australians rented a car and visited some waterfalls and a beach that was supposedly ranked the 6th best beach in the world. 

I was so happy we rented a car! Even though we got lost a couple times it was totally worth it, and a lot of fun!

The next morning Caitlin, Colleen, and I had to drive the car to the Croatian Airport and we made it with plenty of time to spare without getting lost. We had a connecting flight in Germany and we landed at Heathrow that afternoon.

I had so many wonderful memories on this spring break that I will never forget! But like always,  I was happy to be back “home” in London.

-Britt

SHOUT OUT: EVERYONE back in the states I love you and miss you all! Be home soon. <3

First Stop: Venice, Italy

VENICE, ITALY-

Wow, where to begin? I have been meaning to update this blog for such a long time now and I am so happy that I finally have the time to share with you all some of the wonderful experiences that I had over spring break. To recap I was able to travel through Italy for about two weeks. I went to Venice, La Spezia, hiked through Cinque Terre,  and also visited Bologna, Puergia, Rome, Pisa, Florence, Naples, and Capri. I then took a five hour train ride to Ancona, which is on the east coast of Italy and from there an over night ferry, or what seemed more like a smaller cruise ship to Split, Croatia. I got back to London on April 19^th and five days later I was on a plane to Switzerland where I was able to skydive over the Swiss Alps! Anyway, life abroad has been fabulous! I can't believe it's almost May... that means I leave in a month from now! 

I must say that I am extremely proud of myself for only bringing one large backpack and a medium sized duffle bag for two and a half weeks. I remember last summer when I went to New York and Boston for five days I felt as if I brought my whole closet. So I guess studying abroad has made me condense! I hope I can stay like that when I come to the states.

The night before we left for Venice I didn’t get much sleep. I was up correcting a paper on Journalism of Attachment, packing, figuring out internships stuff and what my plans are for the summer. I woke up early the next morning and finished packing, printed/handed my paper in at school, went to the post office to mail my Dad a birthday card, then went back home to pick up my stuff and back to campus again for class at 1 until about 4pm.

Right after class we all got dinner to go at the caf and walked to Strawberry Hill Station to take the train to Gatwick Airport. We didn’t get to Venice until about 11pm that night. We took at taxi to the hotel we booked last minute because we thought sleeping in the airport probably wouldn’t be the best idea.

The next morning we got up early and walked about a mile to the train station with all of our stuff. It was hot and our luggage was incredibly heavy… However, it was only the beginning of having to walk long distances while carrying what feels like 50 pounds on my back and 20 pounds on my shoulder.  

We finally made it to picturesque Venice. It was absolutely beautiful and I’m happy it was our first stop in Italy. Every picture I took on my camera felt like it was post card quality. This was partly to do was my awesome photography skills and high tech camera settings. Haha of course I’m kidding, clearly it was the scenery but I am going to assume you all knew that.

We took a boat taxi to Lido, an Island off of Venice. With all of our stuff we basically walked around the whole island, which took about 20 minutes before we made it to our hostel. Later we found out that had we of just gone straight instead of making a left. The hostel would have only been a five-minute walk down the street!

After we got settled in we headed straight to the beach. It was really nice out, probably about 65 degrees if not warmer. However, this was definitely not hot enough for the locals who all gave us strange looks as we passed them in our flip-flops, carrying our beach towels, and wearing our swim suites.

For dinner we all had pizza for the first time,  it was better than what I had expected and my expectations were high being that we were in Italy of course! Then we got gelato right after and it was wonderful. 

The next day we went to St. Mark’s Square and went to a church that had a ceiling covered in millions of tiny gold squares. It was breathtaking especially when the sun would shine through the windows making all the gold squares shimmer. 

On Sunday we took the water taxi to the train station and made it by literally one minute! Next stop, Bologna and La Spezia! 

-Britt

SHOUT OUT: To my lovely travel buddies who made this the best spring break trip ever!