Interlaken & Gimmewald Switzerland

Switzerland was unreal. The ride to Switzerland was nine hours, but it didn't seem too bad when you are driving through the Swiss Alps. Interlaken was our first stop. Even though we were only in Interlaken for a total of 24 hours, we made every minute worth it. When we first got to our hostel, we had to book it over to a grocery store because it was going to close in ten minutes and we needed to buy food for dinner. Restaurants or any type of food places do not really stay open past 5:00 in Interlaken, which was a big culture shock for us. After we got all of the essentials at the grocery store, a few of us decided to go for a run around the city. It was gorgeous. I love to run. We were able to explore the city in a different way than you normally do. It was an adventure and I loved it.

The next morning, I did something I never imagined in a million years I would do. I went paragliding over the Swiss Alps! It was a spur of the moment decision. I had no time at all to think it through because if I did not sign up right then, all of the spots would have been filled. That is probably a good thing though, because then I didn't have time to psych myself out or worse call my mom and have her talk me out of it..  I even contemplated not telling her until after cause I knew she would be nervous, she worries about everything...it is kind of a Monahan thing. It was probably one of THE BEST experiences of my life. At first it was a little odd, basically we got up to the top of the mountains and my instructor set his parachute up and then threw a backpack on me and said start running. At this moment I was like...uhh...wait you have no instruction for me but to just run. So I went with it. But honestly once I was in the air my experience was amazing. It is so calming and peaceful. You honestly feel like the whole world is on pause and you can just enjoy and take in all the beauty. 

Once we got back from paragliding we had to hustle and gather up all of our stuff to go to Gimmewald. Gimmewald is this little town high up in the Swiss Alps. So we had to pack a little day pack and hike up to it. It was a steep climb and everyone was able to go at their own pace. Even though it was a little more tretcherous than expected the view once we got there was the perfect reward. Once we got to our hostel we all decided to hike further to this gorgeous waterfall. I do not think I have every walked so much in one day in my life. We hiked for probably a good ten hours, but boy was it worth it! The beauty that is all around us is breathtaking. Ever since going on this study abroad I have felt a greater appreciation for all of the wonders around us. Nature is pretty neat. 

After conquering the Alps.

Back to Germany..

I bought any Dr.Pepper I found.

On my trip I had really come to love Germany! All of the cities we traveled to were amazing. After we left Austria we traveled to three different cities in the span of 48 hours. The first stop we made was to Dachau Concentration Camp. This place was eye-opening. It was such an interesting learning experience for everyone in the group. Walking around the camp and seeing the prisoners sleeping, eating, and working arrangements was unreal. This experience was unlike any of our other venue visits, it was eye opening to see what went on to the prisoners during World War II. Dachau was very emotionally draining for everyone. But we had one more business visit stop to make that day.

The next stop for us was the BMW Plant.  This venue was seriously so awesome.  I am not even really into cars that much, but it was so cool to see the evolution of the BMW cars from the past to now.  I mean who wouldn't like to look at the Roles Royce limited edition? 

After touring around the plant we went to our hostel in Munich. Which was by far THE sketchiest place we stayed. I saw some things on the streets of Munich that I will not go into any detail about.. let's just say Munich in my mind was quite "dirty".

The next morning we woke up and went to the Neuschwanstein Castle in Garmisch. This castle is the castle that Walt Disney modeled the Cinderella castle after. It was absolutely beautiful, I wouldn't mind going back in the future!

After these crazy past 48 hours, we were able to take a break and we stayed in a nice American resort in Germany. The Edelweiss Lodge and Resort is owned by the U.S. Department of Defense, so everything in this resort was American! It was a nice break to be able to pay with American dollars, have American food and be able to understand everyone that spoke to me. I mean they even had Dr. Pepper on hand, so to say I was excited is a huge understatement. While staying at the resort we had a few venue visits lined up throughout the first day. One of the visits during that day we were able to go to the Partnach Gorge. Let's just say it was absolutely "gorge"ous! Seriously this hike was amazing, the whole time I just loved being able to look around and appreciate the beauty of this gorge. There is beauty all around us and we need to be able to take the time to recognize and appreciate it. We went on a lot of hikes on this study abroad and this hike was by far my favorite.

The next day at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort was very low key, which was much needed for everyone in the group. We were able to relax and just enjoy the day without being stressed of having to be somewhere at a certain time. That night we had FHE where we went to a karaoke party at the resort. Let me tell you this karaoke part was wild..we have videos to prove it. I would definitely say our group was the hit of the karaoke show! A couple of us girls got together and sang "Say My Name" by Destiny's Child. The whole crowd was loving it. After finishing up with karaoke there was a firework show that we all went outside to enjoy.


All in all Edelweiss was good to us all.