My first impression of Switzerland was the clean, invigorating Alpine air and incredible mountain scenery. But I was looking for high-adrenoline adventure.
Thrill and terror cliff jumping in a snow storm.
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.
Free-falling before the rope stops me.
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.
On the platform moments before we jumped.