Interlaken, Switzerland

Friday, September 7, 2012 - Sunday, September 9, 2012

On Friday after our finance exam we left at 12:45 for Interlaken, Switzerland. We've started to become keener with our train times because we've started to realize that sometimes later trains arrive first with less connections. The rolling hills of Switzerland prompted everyone to continuously jump up and down in their seats to get a picture. When we arrived in Interlaken, we managed to make our way through the beautiful town surrounded by the Bernese Alps. I expected beautiful scenery but the chief town of the Bernese Alps was unimaginable.

Views from the train from Capolago to Interlaken

Views from the train from Capolago to Interlaken

Views from the train back to Capolago from Interlaken

Views from the train back to Capolago from Interlaken

Balmer's Hostel

The hostel we booked was one of Europe's Famous Hostels: Balmer's. The bedrooms were clearly not what the hostel was known for, but the fun atmosphere of the club below the hostel made up for what the rooms lacked. After dropping our stuff in the room, we ran to dinner next door at a pizzeria called X-port. At X-port there is a challenge to eat two 16'' pizzas in 30 minutes, with not getting up and now throwing it up. If you accomplish the feat, you are reimbursed for your pizzas and they give you a free beer. We were happy to see a recent Virginia Tech student on the wall of only a handful of people over the past decade. Alex saw this as a challenge; if he was to complete it, he would be the first winner this year. However, after the waiter told him he could "prepare" himself and Alex considered what he already ate two hours ago, he decided against attempting the two pizza challenge. Traveling has been making everyone dehydrated. After ordering our third round of water, our water told us we were drinking the best water in the world, and it was true.

Kleine Scheidegg

Saturday, we woke up with one goal: get a taste of the local treasures. After taking to a New York native turned I-can't-make-myself-leave-Interlakener, Ali, Kacey,  Gretchen, Melanie and I took a cog train up to Kliene Scheigg. The local store employee at the register suggested otherwise and gave us directions to picture that was on the wall. After two train rides, a cog train up a mountain with stunning views of the Alps we were inclining, we hit our destination, Kleine Scheidegg, or what is considered the "Top of Europe" without paying 170 CHF to get up all the way to Jungfrau, the top. At the top, I was disappointed I had eaten prior to coming up the mountain. There were local residents selling all sorts of traditional food. There were hundreds of people at the top of the mountain who were completing the Jungfrau Marathon, a feat I hope to one day accomplish. The course started below us in Interlaken and finished after 26.2 miles in Kleine Scheidegg.

Saturday, we visited Shuh Chocolate Factory. We watched one of the chocolate chef's instruct us in how he makes his favorite kind of chocolate.Wisely, he offered us chocolate throughout the presentation to please our instant cravings. After this, we went up to a restaurant which boasted incredible views of the city of Interlaken.

Saturday night was restless, everyone was anxious for Sunday's anticipated event: canyoning! Fifteen of us packed in two vans and headed to Chli Schliere, the canyon we would repel, slide, and jump down.

The ride there put me on cloud nine. Not only was I about to push my nerves and indulge in four hours of pure adrenaline, I had my best conversation with someone I had met to date.

The friend I made, Catalina, was from northern Germany, near Belgium.  She has traveled extensively so I was shocked when she told me that her favorite place to live was America! In her perspective, America is even more beautiful and wonderful than the Hollywood movies depict it. When she was in high school, she spent a year living with a family in Florida. Coincidentally, her boyfriend spent time working for the military in Virginia, she however, has never been to Virginia. After offering my house as a place to stay, she regretfully declined telling me, "I can't, if I ever go back, I'll never leave."

Over the course of our conversation, we swapped opinions and country ideologies in economics, finance, and politics. As a student studying finance, she had much to say that directly correlated to what I learned days before in International Finance.

With each question, Catalina considered all sides and options. When talking about Greece and the Euro, she observed that while the EU would benefit from Greece staying on the Euro, in Greece, their country would benefit from reverting back to the drachma. If this was to happen, exports would increase and people in Greece would buy more.

Catalina continued with an example of how political ties complicate the strength and credibility of the Euro. In Italy, the man who is in charge of our form of the Fed, has been pumping money into the country and thus, inflation rates have gone up. In parallel, interest rates remain low so people are saving less and hurting their country in the long run.

The politics of the US concern Europeans tremendously, as they do the rest of the world. Catalina was very interested to hear my thoughts on what I thought would happen in November and my perception of the thought of the general population. While we never directed expressed our own beliefs, Catalina explicitly stated that in order for the world economy to stabilize, the US needs a change. According to her news sources, her impression is that Europeans make for of Romney, though all agree the US needs something to start rolling in the right direction. We both lamented the need for concrete plans in campaigning, rather than attacking the opponent.

Until speaking to Catalina, I thought that Europeans enjoyed a leisurely  work schedule. She said she loved interning in the US because work weeks are only 40 hours. In her current internship, Catalina works 80 days a week. She said that once she gets a real job, days will demand even more time.

Ready to canyon

 After an hour of diverse conversation, we reached our dropping point... Time to canyon! The experience is inexplicable, it was the most liberating feeling with each 20-40 foot drop. What I found to be the biggest challenge was trusting myself. I had never been scared until standing atop my first jump into the cold Swiss glacier water. What scared me most was failing to perform jumps correctly. Each slide and jump required specific hand and body positions and jump targets. We marveled the amount of innovation necessary to perfect a safe way to do each jump, slide and repel. The most daunting obstacle, in my opinion, was one where we literally jumped at a wall while turning at a 180 degree angle while our instructor pushed us outward and would then slide down the wall: a jump slide. I would canyon again without hesitation, to see if you would want to watch me on the advanced course, watch Fan's Vimeo link: here