My first impression of Switzerland was the clean, invigorating Alpine air and incredible mountain scenery. But I was looking for high-adrenoline adventure.
After our 8-hour bus ride from Florence with lots of other students, we checked into a spotless student hostel and bundled up for snow fun.
The modern network of cog railways and cable cars whisked us up the mountain for a thrilling sled ride down. We wore necklaces of lights in the pitch-black night so the only thing we could see where the black silhouettes of the mountain giants around us and the twinkling of our necklaces.
Then we were towed up the mountain to a Heidi-like wood chalet for cheese fondu and Swiss wine or beer.
Interlaken is an adventurers paradise; bungee jump, cliff jump, ski, paraglide, or take a zip wire over glacier crevasses, or glide along the ski runs above Grundelwalk at up to 50 mph.