In my book, spring serves as a universal applause from Mother Nature that we made it through winter, and I can think of no better reward than Spring Break. Before I even left the States, I planned out my spring break to include the one thing I’ve always wanted to do: ski in the Alps.
Starting out my break, I was blessed enough to have my girlfriend, Bronwen McAuliffe, come visit me for a few days. We shuffled around from monument to monument, ate our weight in pasta (a weekly occurrence for me), and I was able to show her how Romans live their daily life. Not only was it nice to
see her, but she also brought me every kind of Reese’s known to man, which was amazing.
[Bronwen and I on one of the Seven Hill overlooking beautiful Rome]
After we parted ways I set off for my Swiss ski adventure in the Jungfrau region of Switzerland. Based at the foot of the Eiger Mountain, Interlaken (the city in which my hotel was located) was the most stunning place I have ever been. Early the morning after I arrived, I boarded a train to go to the base of the mountain, rented my skis, and climbed onto the ski lift that took me up the mountain. Before this trip, I had only skied in Indiana, which as you may expect doesn’t really have mountains but rather large hills. The chairlift at Perfect North Slopes in Indiana takes a maximum of five minutes to ascend the hill, but the mountain I skied down in Switzerland took 45 minutes to reach the top!
Once I got off the chairlift, I attempted to ski down slopes that were entirely too hard for me, fell down many times, broke three ski poles, and was sun burnt from being so high up in the mountains, but I had the time of my life. It was great to finally be able to spend time in nature again after traveling from city to city for three months.
[The absolutely stunning view from the top of the mountain]
[My picture taken by the three old French Ladies I befriended at the top]
[View of the top from 1/4 of the way down.]
[I stopped to eat lunch at the top of the mountain after a few runs. When I came out the top of the mountain was inside of a cloud! I couldn't pass up the opportunity, so I skied through the cloud and then down the rest of the mountain. It was so cool!]
[My hotel/restaurant/bar/heaven]
[Day #2 of skiing: a cabin in the midst of trees]
[Impeccable view]
[Another beautiful view]
After three days of skiing, I boarded an overnight train for Prague, Czech Republic to meet some friends for the remainder of the break. The train departed mid-evening and arrived in Prague the next morning at 10:30 am. Prague was beautiful, and definitely extremely different from any city in Western Europe. We only had a few days in Prague so we were limited on what we could see but managed to tour the castle, visit the old town square, and find a TGI Friday’s to celebrate our halfway point of being abroad.
What lies ahead for me: Cinque Terre, Nice, Monaco, Venice (this time in warm weather), London, and the Bay of Naples. So until next time, continue enjoying the sun, good luck on your papers as the semester comes to a close, and above all, continue blasting Andy Grammer.
