Le Jour Dix-Neuf (Day 19)

Okay. Pretty much this day makes it to the top 3 best days of my whole entire life so far; no joke! I’m going to have a hard time even putting the incredible experiences I got to do today into words. After going to bed early and having a big breakfast, we were dressed and ready to go paragliding by 8:30! The weather was a little foggy in the morning, and everyone was nervous that we might not get to do it. We piled in vans and drove 15 minutes out of the way to unload, make sure we have the right get, and to get on the gondola. Praying hard, the skies cleared up, and it was the PERFECT weather for flying. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this! This seemed like an awesome company, but something I learned about Austrian/German people today was that they are just really pushy, blunt, and straight to the point about things. Nonetheless, we were all so excited to fly! Kelly, Sydney, and Allison ended up riding the gondola together, followed by Brady and I. Riding up to the top, we looked back down and realized we were about to be SO HIGH in the air! However, I wasn’t nervous one bit; I trust the Lord, he meant for me to do this, and I’m only in Austria, on a study abroad with all my friends, in the Alps, and have the perfect opportunity to fly ONCE, so by golly, I was going to do this without fear! Up, up, up to the top we went, and a dark, cute, blue-eyed instructor named Marcus came up and says, “You fly with me, that okay?” You got it dude! Trying to soak in the moment as much as possible, I looked around and braced myself to see something grand and beautiful. He strapped me all up before I knew it, told me to walk forward, instructed me that when he counts to 3, we run. “One, Two, Three, GO!” We sprinted like 5 steps, and then….I WAS FLYING! I videoed the whole thing.

It was amazing, beautiful, majestic, and empowering. I could see snow-capped mountains and clouds that kissed the tops of them. I saw carpeted rolling hills with miniature, orange-roofed cottages sporadically placed among them, and clusters of thousands of trees that stretched forever into the distance. Looking off into the mountains, I was in awe of God’s glory, His power, and His way of romancing us by His nature. I was reminded that there is no excuse for man not to know this Supreme Being from the mere proof in the nature and world around them. I prayed that those people’s eyes would be opened and filled with the divine joy and purpose I am blessed with daily.

Below me, I saw the tiny city of Innsbruck, and people weren’t even to be spotted. It was quiet, sunny, and the  wind was barely blowing my helmet-covered head. The instructor had me put my arms out this whole time, and I sat in front of him. I literally felt like I was flying, like it was just me soaring through the air with the biggest grin on my face like you’ve never seen before! Forget sky diving; this was pure bliss and worth every penny. The only words in my head as I was speechless even up there (which is rare) were, “Wow, wow, wow, God you’re so GOOD!!”

The instructor took a couple of pictures, and I took a few, but I wanted to simply be in the moment for ¾ of the flight instead of taking pictures the whole time. He asked me if I liked action and I said sure, and so we spun and dipped for a bit, which, I’ll admit, made me a little light-headed, but it was the perfect amount to where I still loved it and didn’t feel sick! Thank goodness…

We landed ever so gracefully, and my friends took pictures of me! Mr. Marcus asked for a high five and then a kiss on the cheek, haha! He was precious. Almost immediately after it was over, we hopped on the van to meet back at the hotel with 45 other students to go Canyoning (which is illegal in the U.S. by the way!). We had a quick meeting in the lobby, and the guide explained the best he could what it was going to be like and that it wasn’t for…sissys. Mom, don’t freak out, but then Dr. Mac told us that two girls just like week actually drowned doing it, which made all of us really nervous, naturally. So here 45 of us go, off to Canyon in the high, deep part of some mountain in the Alps. We were scared, but we were all up for an adventure and a challenge! When we arrived, we put on wetsuits, socks, a huge harness with a diaper thing attached, and shoes. We looked INTENSE!

more pictures to come later. A professional
took them during the activity b/c
we weren't allowed to bring cameras

After a 10-15 minute bus ride up the spiral, skinny roads on a mountain, we finally arrived at our adventure destination and were given a 5 minute training pep talk. He basically told us that this wasn’t the time to be scared, that we need to be smart about rocks we step on and walls to hold on to, how to avoid getting a concussion or dislocating your shoulder, how to repel, for the boys to watch out and help the girls, and that the rushing, snow water is just a couple of degrees above freezing. After a little freak out moment and adrenaline rush from everyone, he said, “Let’s GO!” and we did.

We ducked under branches, held on to vines, stepped on huge rocks and sides of cliffs, and waded through the water for a good 10 minutes. The initial exposure to the freezing water up to my knees during this time wasn’t bad at all! I could tell my wetsuit was super thick, and it actually felt refreshing after being on that bus ride that felt like a sauna. I was in between two HUGE dudes: the one in front was named Chris, and he was basically Mr. Mountain Man who breezed through all the obstacles, and Dane was behind me making sure I was okay too. I followed every step Chris took and only had to grab his hand twice because the rushing stream water was too strong for me to stand up against without falling over crossing it. The good thing about my short stature is that it’s super easy to act like a monkey, bending down and grabbing with ease and strategy, at least in my head that’s what it felt like.

I was LOVING THIS, and the scenery was breathtaking: sunlight coming in rays, hitting random parts of waterfalls and green cliffs, birds singing everywhere, and the soothing sound of the flowing water. Speaking of the water, I drank so much of it because I was so thirsty, and it was just as good as any bottled water I’ve ever had! Ah, so refreshing! I soaked in every minute of this adventure, standing on rocks and showing my muscles, drinking the natural spring water, and admiring the scenery.

Us yodeling 

Okay, then after those 15 minutes, we were all a little disappointed that this was named “intermediate,” because this wasn’t bad at all and we had hardly even gotten wet. Is this it? HA, well. We were soon to eat our words and pay for it. We noticed the obstacles were getting a bit harder, we were having to use our carabineers more, and there was a slight hold-up in the line. Suddenly, I realized what was happening as it was almost my turn: a HUGE jump off this cliff of a waterfall into the deep, rushing pond below it. No exaggeration, this sucker was a long ways down! No time to freak out, the only thing in my head was, “Welp, here goes nothing and I only live once!” and I leaped and held my nose. GOOD GRACIOUS ALMIGHTY MY BRAIN WAS IN SHOCK as my whole body sunk hard under water. “SO COLD SO COLD…need air need air,” were my thoughts, and I came up so confused and gasping (like everyone else did), and grabbed the orange rope she threw at me before the river took me another way, and I made my way out onto a rock. Lips blue, eyes wide, body in shock, that was the most exhilarating, shocking thing I’ve ever experienced. BUT OH MY GOSH LET’S DO IT AGAIN! I felt so refreshed once I came back to normal functioning after a minute or so! We were all laughing and encouraging each other, happy to be doing this altogether, and we all thought it was amazing.

We had two more of those jumps, 3 places we had to sit down and ride the waterfall and smooth rocks like it was a waterslide into a deep pool (one of which literally everyone thought they were dying, including myself. That one was rough and I couldn’t hardly breathe, and we weren’t warned), and then about three times we had to rapel down the side of a cliff, which was AWESOME and was my favorite part. My instructor said I repel beautifully! The last 15 minutes, after this constant being in the water, we all started getting cold…like, really cold to where I could no longer feel my hands or feet, and some girls had blue lips and were shaking from head to toe. I got to know so many new people around me, and this activity was the BEST team-building, encouraging adventure I’ve ever been a part of, and it made us like a family, helping each other and seeing each one at their worst. It was incredible, incredible, incredible, awesome, I HAVE to do this again, probably best thing I’ve ever done in my life! It surpassed paragliding by a long shot, easily.

Our group became even closer because arriving back, we had to HURRY to get back to the hotel because we had a huge Austrian dinner to get to. We all stripped into our underwear/bathing suits in a huddle, washed our suits, and returned everything. We all felt semi-exposed (mostly the girls), but we all just embraced it with a, well, take me or leave me; we’re family here attitude. Waiting for the bus, I met an 18-year-old Austrian girl all dressed up in her little Austrian dress for the holiday that was yesterday, and after our long conversation, she begged me to come back and stay with her! Sister, you just say when. We became friends on facebook tonight.

We had 15 minutes to change and get on the bus for the Austrian dinner after arriving back to the hotel. Thank goodness my hair dries curly… it looked half way normal; thank you, Jesus. I dressed in my new Zara outfit and wore my seafoam skinnies! Eek! This Austrian dinner was SO MUCH FUN as we were stuffed with SO MUCH FOOD: 4 kinds of meats, bread, and then ice cream…yum! I’ll admit, Austrian meat and all their food sort of…freaks me out a bit, and I think the thought of all these people speaking German and huddled around all these meats and sausages is a tad sickening, but it was a great dinner. My favorite part was the Austrian band that played just for us. We had a huge dance floor for us to yodel, learn a new Austrian partner dance, two-step, waltz, jump around and clap, make up our own line dance (that included the wobble), and form a huge congo line! You better bet I was right in the middle of all of that, and I’m so glad other people love dancing around just as much as I do! It was magical. Afterwards, we had a lantern walk, and that was so peaceful and relaxing. Then, it was back to the hotel for rest after a long, eventful, incredible day.

At camp, we would have said, “BEST. DAY EVERRRRRR!”