Paragliding in Switzerland!

I wanted to post about my honeymoon trip since October; however, I was thinking about how to break the adventure down to avoid long detailed posts. So in this post I’m gonna write about our memorable day in Interlaken- Switzerland specifically about the adventure we had there. Some of my relatives and friends still don't know about it as I didn’t upload pictures of it before. I went PARAGLIDING on my honeymoon!!!! ( and I didn’t even tell my mom lol )

 I visited this town two years ago and had plans to revisit it again

 so here is goes:

On our first day we had breakfast buffet then headed to the lobby to inquire about the tourists attractions and activities in Interlaken. One of the brochures that caught my attention was the paragliding experience! I’ve seen this sport for the first time in a Korean show and tried to look for it around UAE but couldn’t find one. I asked my husband if we should go for it and even though the nervousness showed all over his face he didn’t gave a real NO back. so I stopped thinking too much and just went with the reservation!

“Be in the lobby at 1pm, the paragliding team will come pick you up” said the receptionist. Therefore, we had a walk around the hotel until it was 12:45pm, it was time to keep calm and wait for the van to come pick us up.

The driver showed up as agreed, we felt like we are on a reality tv show with all the excitement the driver welcomed us with. “ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR ADVENTURE?” said the driver with open arms.

At that moment no we were NOT ready anymore haha! 

We stopped at two hotels to pick more tourists; two Korean girls and another Korean man. The girls kept talking in Korean about how scared and how excited they were while the Korean guy remain silent and just when my husband and I predicted he is scared too, he mentioned that he already tried skydiving in France before coming to Switzerland !! *shocked face*

The team of pilots were so friendly they introduced themselves and the instruction post the flight very well. Every person had the chance to pick his pilot whoever you think you’re comfortable with. I picked a loud lady in belief that her confidence indicates and awareness of what she’s doing. (I prayed all the way up that I made the right choice lol) We had our belongings kept away and our shoes replaced by hiking shoes. We had to drive all the way up the hill for around 15mins then stopped near a green field.  We walked in pairs with our pilots having a little chitchats on the 10 mins walk to the spot of flying.

We reached a sharp edge facing the wind, that’s where they started unpacking their parachutes. My heart was racing. I’ve always been afraid of heights and edges especially were a nightmare for me. We all stood next to each other with like 2 meters away. It was very cold at the top so we were given special jackets. At first we had to demonstrate the run we will do when we attach the parachute, the idea was to never ever jump just run and let the wind do the work. I freaked out at the first trial, my pilot was screaming in enthusiasm while running but the second time with two pilots on each arm I got the courage to do it. I asked her for few minutes to relax before running and just when I was getting ready she pointed her finger saying “LOOK! Your husband already took off!!” what the hell! When did he find the courage to surpass me!!! D:!!

WHY YOU!

There was no turning back although I wanted to do so 10 times by now. The pilot holding by my back screamed: ”NOW! RUNNNN! FASTER  FASTER!!” I did exactly what she said and it was heavier than what I imagined and yelled back: ”I’M RUNNNNNNING!!!” and within a second of pulling we were already in the air.

Thats not our jump, the day was more cloudy but its a picture from the same spot

Among the clouds we started swifting, the town of Interlaken showing behind them. It was so magical, so cold, so flawless that I wanted to engrave it forever in my mind. We took pictures and videos in the air. We took a turn by the mountain, then over the town and finally landing in the park near our hotel. Before landing my pilot asked me if I wanted any more thrilling moves while landing but I had to say no cuz I was already having a light head from the excitement and the cold air.

Funny moment was: all the camera flashes coming from tourists while we landed. I covered my face with my hand. They gave me that feeling of having a glorious moment falling from the sky like heroes, or brave soldiers lol

We were gifted a flash disk with our pictures that had a piece of the parachute material written on it our name, date of jump and our pilot’s name.

We were drunk of joy the rest of the day and gave our moms a call to laugh hard at the scolding and hear how crazy we were. It was worth every euro we spent and my husband kept talking about this jump for days and days. I believe we will repeat it again somewhere new in the future!

Peace,

Amna Al Dhaheri

Say hello to the camera!

Pepero Day 빼빼로데이 ~♥

Happy Pepero Day~ !

One of the exciting events around Korea is Pepero Day on 11th of November xD

Pepero is the most famous chocolate covered biscuit sticks snack in Korea since 1983 made by Lotte

The day became an annual celebration for lovers and friends to exchange Pepero snacks (Just like valentines day)

I'm not sure who invented that day but the day 11/11 looks like Pepero sticks and thus that day from every year was allocated to celebrate Pepero

The joy is not only shared among love birds but definitely extends to the marketing team of Pepero company

YOU CAN'T IMAGINE 

the huge amounts prepared a week ago and the giant sizes that are specially made for this event !

Huge Stand At Lotte Mart~

Another Small Stand ~

I've never seen Pepero sticks this huge~

HUGE PEPERO ~

Some bakeries too serve their own homemade huge Peperos  which are more delicious than market ones and got me all excited to prepare them when I get back home

My Korean friend's friend made this at home ! so perfect so yummy ~

I got myself ready for that day but not buying Pepero from 7eleven convenient store for a week! < - - too confident that someone will give her pepero

and yesssss I got pepero~ 

hehe~ *blush*

ok so I got a lot of Pepero to eat and a laundry to catch

again 

Happy Pepero day everyone !

>‿‿◕

Amna

Lab Fun !

"You are still in the lab !!"

"what are you doing there ?"

yes the same questions being asked each and everytime I spend a long day in the lab, I feel sorry for those who never sees the lab as any further than a studying room !

so what do I like about the lab life ?

well lets start by this, I Started going to labs in my home university and I found myself comfortable to the whole idea of gathering in one room and building up memories as well as gaining a lot of experience from others

I tried to write down why do I like being a member in a lab not to encourage workaholic-ism but to spread awareness about our need to change our minds and start collaborating in order to grow !

so I'll leave you with my list:
 

1- The encouraging all-working atmosphere

Seriously and honestly, how much can you achieve at your house lying on your bed ? probably a high new score of sleeping hours ! when you see people are devoted to their work you start acting the same !

 

2- You get to have a warm family

Spending so much time together will bond any hating people together and you will start missing those people while you're away and have the best time when your together. we simply build families, sister & brothers :)

Miss you all !

 

3- shared meals 

No more eating alone, always with those warm people around trying different food ( if you have options to go out of campus) and enjoy a nice talk and funny situations exchanging around the table !

Maybe not this fancy but from time to time :p

 

4- free time activities

YES ! one of the best parts. at your free time you can simply socialize with other lab partners, play some video games, watch movies or listen to music together ! 

Rock festival attended with the lab members yesterday :D

 

5- Cultural Experience

I found this the most interesting, understanding mentalities from different countries (if you have non local lab partners). how they act and how they talk and dress, you get to develop a better understanding being to those outsiders. hey hey locals only doesn't mean you don't get this benefit, everyone is unique and there's alot more to learn from the person next to you!

Seriously ! learn english please it would be easier for both parties ! :P

 

NOW now, I'm not done yet ! to be fair overdoing some stuff always have a bad side that we shouldn't forget to mention !

Some people spend time in the lab more than they do in their own houses which can make them socially isolated ! Also, some health issues might arise in a result of the long sits and unhealthy snacks. okay you figure out the other stuff I don't wanna ruin the mood lol 

Today in Hanyang university; I'm part of the Software Engineering lab. The first day was a bit awkward as we have people who don't share the same language ! ( korean, chinese, urdu & arabic -me-) and english is the universal & easiest language but most of us don't speak it !  so did that stop those things I love in lab life from happening ? NO we are enjoying it ! each and every min whether its an afternoon cup of coffee or funny hand signs or simple broken English questions about each others whereabouts :)

At the end of this, if you get the chance to be part of a lab just be part of it without any hesitation ! there's always a good part out of it and a huge experience you don't wanna miss.

SMILE !

Peace,
Amna