I figured I would just put my excuses for not posting anything new for such a long time in the title. Yes it is midterm time, I just finished my last one of those this morning though so that shouldn't get in my way now. I do however have 3 papers that are supposed to be 10 pages each due in the next week and those are going to take some time. I also have bronchitis, which is more a reason why I haven't done anything recently not so much why I won't be doing anything for a little while. I will say that being sick while away from home is not fun, especially when it makes it so that your roommates and friends get to go to Ireland and you get to sit in a cold, unfriendly apartment by yourself for a weekend with a high fever (after you had already paid for the plane ticket and hostel). My friends Colleen and Kaisa were around though and did their good friend duty of bringing me orange juice to make popsicles and doing my pasta dishes (that is right, no soup when you are sick, just pasta). They have an American doctor over here though so I got my antibiotics and hopefully the worst is behind me. Now the only discomfort I should have left are these papers. I hope to get a new fun video up soon but I just wanted to let everyone know why I might not for a bit.

I am a little behind on my blogs about weekend trips and I would like any family that reads this to know it is because I have been doing sooo much homework. Three weeks ago I went to Interlaken, Switzerland with a group of friends. Interlaken is world famous as one of the top places to do extreme outdoor activities. While some of my friends went sky diving my mom had informed me before leaving that she would not help me with this trip if I did that or bungee jumped. She did not think about paragliding so by 10 a.m. Friday morning Liz, my roommate, and I were headed up the side of a mountain to paraglide.

Andrea and Colleen decided that they would go skiing in the Alps instead of run off the side of a cliff with a parachute attached to their backs. I felt like I had no options though because I am a bad Washingtonian and do not know how to ski.

I did not fly alone though, it was a tandem flight so Stefan, my pilot, hooked me into all of the gear and we got ready for take-off.
Once we were all hooked into the parachute all we had to do was just run and lean forward and eventually we would just be running though the air. After Stefan told me this he asked if I was ready, I lied and said yes, and then we started running. He was telling the truth we ran, leaned, and before I knew it we were flying.

Once we were in the air I felt completley relaxed. It was the most amazing thing to just be soaring through the air. It is something everyone should experience. We landed just fine and Stefan went up and did three more flights that day. How great of a life would that be?

For those of you at home wanting to experience paragliding for yourselves which I highly recommend (or for any family or friends who would like to go with me when I get back...I have a birthday in September), I looked up some places in Washington state that do tandem flights, the links aren't in any order so check them out and see which one looks best.
Paraglide Washington
Discover Paragliding
Fun to Fly