INTERLAKEN!

I don't even know where to begin...

Departing out of Florence at midnight on Thursday (technically Friday morning), we headed out on a 7 hour bus ride to Interlaken, Switzerland. Pumped for what was in store for us, we all took some Nyquil and tried our hardest to sleep on the bus so when we arrived at 9am we'd be energized.

Not as easy as it sounds... After 3 movies, 2 pit stops, and a very restless sleep, we finally arrived!

Pulling up to the Funny Farm Hotel/Hostel, we step off the bus into at least half a foot of snow. I could not really complain considering Chicago and Iowa City had no snow before I left, and plus... We were staying in a hostel with the Swiss Alps right outside our window. Unbelievable and absolutely breathtaking.

Little did I know, that view would not be the only thing breathtaking about this trip.

We got our room assignments and headed up to check out our first hostel room. Lauren, Heidi, Emily, Tara, our new friend Mandy, and I were staying in one room together. The entire room and hostel looked straight from the 60s/70s with bunk beds probably equivalent to those in prison cells, but hey, there was no way any of us were going to make a fuss about it.

We were laughing so hard once we got situated. As always, something is wrong with each situation we're in, and our shower and heater didn't work. We head down to the front desk to ask if there was anything they could do about it. Giving us the options of splitting up and sleeping in different rooms or taking two small space heaters, we chose the space heaters. As for the shower condition; the man gave us a key to a 'dormitory style' room where we could shower in. Happy with that, we then find out three guys are actually sleeping and staying in that room but, "are totally fine with it and would be more than happy to let us girls use their shower," says the man at the front desk. I get that everyone is super nice in Switzerland, but come on.

Hesitant, me and Tara take a trip up to room 524 to check out where we will be showering. Nothing but luggage and personal items are in there and we spot a camera on one of the beds. Tara grabs it to see if we could get somewhat of a look of what these people look like. No luck. It was all pictures of a dog...

We go back to the room, tell the girls the situation, and take a small nap.

A few hours later, a couple of the Euroadventure guys lead us on a walk throughout Interlaken.

This was the most scenic walk I think I have ever been on in my life. We walked through the town, along the river, and ended up at a lake. Every direction I turned my head, looked like a fake painting. I still cannot not get over how beautiful everything was. The pictures are great, but being there in person was phenomenal and I can't even explain it.

At one point, we were standing on the border of two towns; Interlaken and Unterseen.

Our walk was probably three hours long. Wearing rainboots and 3 pairs of socks in the multiple inches of snow, me and Tara were positive we had frostbite. On our way back, we stopped at a super market to get some food for the weekend. We were anxious to get back to the hostel, sit by the fire, and get situated for the night. 

Once back, we had something to eat, showered, and went to an Irish Pub right down the street, The Three Tells. The live music was probably the best I've heard. The guy was awesome at everything he sung, and it was all American music so we knew most of it. We each had a Swiss beer and hung there for the night.

On Saturday, three of the girls woke up at 6am to hit the slopes by 7:30. They were so excited to go skiing and snowboarding. Lauren, Emily and I woke up around 9:30 and went to get some breakfast consisting of homemade jam, bread, and coffee. Princess Tara slept til about 10:30 when we woke her up to figure out what we were doing for the day. Emily ended up going skiing again, and spontaneously, Tara and I booked our reservation for Canyon Jumping. I could not believe I actually was about to do this. Pat, who works for Euroadventures was going as well, so us 3, Lauren and our friend Nina, along with another group of girls, hopped into a van for a 30 minute ride into the mountains. This experience was incredible, it deserves it's own post... so that will come soon.

Returning from our day, Lauren, Tara and I went to get a Kebab at a restaurant down the street. In other words, this is a giant gyro, full of deliciousness. Not sure what type of food this is, but it seems to be pretty popular wherever we've gone.

After finding out from Isabelle that Joe Horrigan and Will Rigali (friends from home) were also in Switzerland for the weekend, Tara was trying to get ahold of them so we could all meet up and hang out that night. She wasn't able to reach reach anyone, but the minute we walked into the restaurant, they were sitting there finishing their meal. Talk about a small world!  We exchanged numbers, and planned to meet up later that night.

Back at the hostel, me and Tara decide to go upstairs to shower in those guys room. No way were any of us going in there alone. As we knock and walk in, the three guys are sitting there listening to 80's music and drinking beer. They have absolutely no idea that the front desk gave their room key to us. After the awkward conversation of explaining our issue, Tara and I locked ourselves in the bathroom and took the quickest showers of our lives. The guys were real friendly and we laughed about what was going on, but we were not trying to hang around their room...

Later on, us girls went to the pub, and a couple hours later the guys showed up. After a few beers, we left to go to another hotel where other kids from Florence were staying, and met them at the nightclub inside.

Our group of 10 eventually got split up; Tara, Joe and Will posting up at the bar, me and Emily being chased out by the Swiss security guard after he found out we lied about staying in that hostel (just so we didn't have to pay to get in the club), and Lauren and the rest of them were somewhere in the club. Eventually all meeting up at the hostel, we recapped and laugh about the night and fell asleep.

Sunday morning, we got coffee in the dining area and hung out in the lobby. We decided to go for a little walk back to the lake and take more pictures. Tara was hungry so her and I walked to a Thai food place and then back to the hostel.

Ben and Pat, two guys who work for Euroadventures, were taking a walk to the downtown area so I went with. The weather on Sunday (the whole weekend, actually) was awesome. The sun was out all day with super clear skies, allowing for the views of the Alps and all of Interlaken to be the best they could.

Walking through the town, we saw skydivers landing in a big field, people paragliding, and groups of people walking around enjoying the atmosphere.

After an hour or two, we headed back and met up with everyone getting ready to board the bus back to Florence. This weekend was something I will never forget. Ever.

Mandy, me, Tara, Heidi, Lauren

Between the people I was with and the new culture experiences, my love for travel is growing consistently. Interlaken, Switzerland took my breath away.

Panoramic picture taken with the iPhone.

For more pictures, check out my Facebook! I upload them all on there.