Plowing Snow

One weekend in Switzerland; Thursday February 16 - Sunday February 19. Seven to eight hour bus ride from Florence to Interlaken, Switzerland. Stayed at a hostile named Balmer's. Got into Interlaken at tree AM and there were already four girls from Barcelona sleeping in the room; later at five two more guys came in. All college kids; juniors. One girl's name; Alex one of the guys name; Walsh, the others I never heard or forgot. Friday morning: after eating complimentary bread and cereal; rented board and boots, got lift and bus passes. Got geared up and started the hour long commute to the mountain that consisted of a short bus ride and two trains, one very long train ride up and through the mountains. Once on site took a gondola to the top of the mountain/slopes. First day rode down only one run, it was a black, very steep and some moguls; did that numerous times. I never made it to the bottom without falling, I had so many trip ups; I felt so bad for my new friends who had to wait for me at the bottom of the mountain.

I left first, naturally; I couldn't keep up with the guys. I walked around the small town at the bottom of the mountain; Wengen. After a while I left and on the way home I spent some money at a vending machine to buy some cannabis tea. I accidently went one stop too far on the last train and had to wait to go back one, and by then the other guys who left later had caught up and we ended up back at the same time. Me and Colin ate at an Irish Pub, it was such a nice one, and it was real expensive. For dinner I had beef and Guinness pie, with a beer that had a hint of bubble gum taste; I didn't like it. We were planning on going out to the underground club beneath our hostel but both of us were so tired that when we lied down we passed out for the night.

Again we had complimentary bread and cereal for breakfast. We wanted an earlier start to get to the mountain. Today I went to a different part of the mountain that the other guys went to the day before that I didn't make it to. I did so much better than the day before, I still wasn't keeping up but I wasn't falling as much and I was making it down quicker. This day I was knocked down by a skier and he sliced my fingers and I didn't notice for a while. I was quite a while down and I noticed how much it was bleeding and how bad the gash was. I got bandaged up at a lift station and by then some other guys had caught up to us and we stayed with them. I like this one guy we were with, I think his name was Ben, he was cooler than the rest of the others, he is studying in Prague. We stopped for lunch at this small cabin restaurant halfway down the mountain. We finished down the mountain and rode the lifts up to the very top again. By this time I had fallen another countless times and some really bad ones, I mean so bad, coughed up blood once after one fall, and another time I was winded so bad I couldn't move.

That night we did go to the underground club with our hostel mates and an MP and Airforce officer. So much beer was drunk that night with Alex the Airforce guy; he was so chill and cool. Odd thing was I wasn't drunk at all even after countless drinks.

The last day we left at four in the afternoon so we had all day to kill. I was the first one up, obviously, so I had breakfast by myself and went back to sleep until everyone else woke up. Me and Colin spent most of the morning walking around the town and went to one of the lakes nearby. It wasn't a very good day to be out, it was rainy and snowy, which means clouds and clouds mean no sun. We were done walking and spent a few hours in the hostel lobby watching t.v until we left. Best time of my life, maybe.

Alcohol

My level of tolerance for alcohol increased; it's quite displeasing. Before winter break I had a real low tolerance, I think, for alcohol; meaning I needed less to get drunk. That was good because I wouldn't have to spend much money, but bad because that also meant that I'd be drunk too fast. I had some crazy times drinking with friends and non-friends. Oktoberfest, for starters first real time drinking. Hanging out with army guys, they go hard! Two buds, Charles and Rob came up here and we partied all night, that was the plan. We drank absinthe, so crazy that it's illegal in the US. Only five shots of that and that lead to a black out. The hangover the next morning was the worst I've ever had. Another time with them we drank more absinthe and my favorite Bacardi; Bacardi dragon fruit. Recently I bought a bottle of Grappa to try since I'm here in Italy, I think it's only produced in Italy, not sure though. It was one of the grossest things I've ever tasted, and it doesn't smell any better either. On the other side of the spectrum, I had some hot chocolate today, it's basically just melted chocolate it is so thick and rich. So yeah, my tolerance is really high "ehh"