An 18 hour long adrenaline rush

Wow, oh wow, oh wow, oh wow...

I DID IT!

Yesterday I jumped off the Salève; the mountain lying just behind the French – Swiss border, the mountain that I wanted to conquer ever since the first day I arrived here!

This time I went together with Chandresh - it was his last night here in Geneva and I succeeded in convincing him that this was the way to end your stay here! We met with the same ‘laid-back chillin’ & relaxin’’ dudes at the Paragliding school, we had the same memorable trip in the van up the mountain, and again the view was amazing when we arrived at the top. The only difference with last Sunday was that the sky was now packed with paragliders. The circumstances were perfect; the sun was setting down, the wind was not too strong, and thus this time there was really no other way back to the ground, than just to jump off the mountain…

After a short – really short – introduction talk, we got our helmet, we got attached to our ‘seat’ and… we were ready to go. It all went so damn fast!

And *pampampam* ... I managed to make a movie from the take off! My instructor was up in the air before me, so in the beginning I was still kind of hopping around on one leg. But then suddenly… Whoosh, there I went! And I just couldn’t talk anymore for a couple of seconds, I was speechless! You actually hear the instructor in the end of the movie asking me whether I’m ok or not, because I didn’t say anything :)

For the rest, I will just stop writing and let you enjoy the view...

... and then we left the edge of the mountain. I really felt like a bird. There was no mountain close by anymore, no trees that could kind of still break my fall, but just me being 1,5 km above the ground. Wow...

My place !

And then - when I already felt like my adrenaline levels couldn't get any higher - I did the most crazy thing in my whole life. I did a 'sat'.


............. OH MY GOD ................. (click on the links only if you're brave enough)


My instructor asked me whether I had an 'Iron stomach', because he knew a spectacular way to go down back to the ground. And - tough girl as I am - thought: Oh well, me and my stomach have already survived a big storm on a cruise ship from Tallinn to Stockholm. So probably I can answer this question with a 'yes'. And thus so I answered, and thus so my instructor steered down...

I felt G-forces, I couldn't tell anymore which side of the world was up and which one was down, it felt like all my blood was squeezed to the left side of my body, back on the ground I was shaking for 10 minutes, and today at 15:00 was the first time I could eat again. It felt like my stomach was everywhere except for the place where it belonged.

But I did it, and I loved it, and I want more !!!

I barely slept last night, I just couldn't. My adrenaline levels were still so high, and only at 4 this afternoon I started to feel sleepy. The rush was slowly leaving my body.


And you know what the best part of the whole afternoon was? After this amazing trip - really one of the best things in my life - I made a GREAT deal with the instructor. Because if I can convince 10 other interns to go paragliding at their school (and I already found 5 after just one lunch), I will get another ride. For free.