…. Night sledding…. That’s the answer. It has to be one of the most dangerous things I have ever done in my life, and I WOULD not recommend it to anyone… The day started out so promising when all of us got on a bus after school to head to Interlaken, Switzerland for the weekend. Interlaken is up in central Switzerland in the middle of the Swiss Alps. It has beautiful views and is well known for the extreme sports (skydiving, paragliding, etc) and fabulous skiing and snowboarding. We decided last week to all sign up for a night sledding package, which included a bus ride to the mountain, gondola ride up the mountain, cheese fondue (yum!!) at the top of the mountain and night sledding! Sounds perfect right? Well it was, until we were going up on the gondola and part of our group meets a German family who is going night sledding too. They asked where our helmets and lights for our helmets are….. ughhh whatttt? When they realized that we were all completely unprepared… they started laughing -__- But after a bottle of wine (or two), we didn’t really think anything of it… it couldn’t be that dangerous, right?? Sooo after being stuffed with fondue, we grab our toboggans (which may or may not have been the same ones they have used for the past 40 years) and walked up a path to the very top of mountain we were on.

 And that was the beginning of the end.

 I hop on the sled and immediately I just FLY straight down a very steep hill…. I can’t see where I’m going, because there is no lights, I have no control over this sled and my Uggs have no traction so I can’t even slow myself down. Oh, and the icing on top of the cake?? It rained earlier so the track is now ice, not snow… Perfect. So, I’m going down this hill at about 30 mph (my sled may or may not have been off the ground a few times), and I am trying to dodge people every 10 feet but finally I just can’t control my sled any longer and I fly over another sled like a ramp, and I am thrown into the snow…. Cool. I get back on and keep going on this miserable course… crying a little bit every time I go down a hill, begging to be at the bottom, and hitting a few people and sleds here or there. And then when I never thought it would happen, I reach the bottom. THANK GOD. But since I flew down the mountain so fast, I end up getting there with the first group… who then decides… let’s do it again… so, I hop back on the gondola (seriously??? What was I thinking?). The second time was not better, at all. Finally we make it all the way down the mountain to the train station, and wait an hour for a bus (in the FREEEZING cold) to take us back to the hostel where we all pass out for night. 

  The next morning, a few cuts and bruises later, some of the girls get up and we have a very relaxing day, walking around the very, very small town of Interlaken, shopping and eating! During the night, we went to the club below our hostel (Balmer’s) and danced the night away with our whole group! And thanks to $1.95 wine and $10 vodka, I managed to not spend anything at the bar! That’s definitely the way to go! The next morning, a very tired (and some hung over) group of 45 American travelers ate breakfast and hopped back on the bus to Lugano. Even though, there wasn’t as much to do as I wanted, it was a great first weekend trip and I am super excited about Munich, Germany this weekend!

 Until next time! Ciao!

Xoxo,

Katie