Wow. I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll just go in chronological order.
Last weekend my classmates and I went through a program here called LIFE (Leadership Initiative For Excellence). I'm not going to write about it here because it wouldn't do it justice. I will say that it was life-changing (no pun intended) and that the group of people I will be with for the next ten months now is more bonded than I ever thought we would be. These people are great and I am so happy that we went through this experience together. One last thing about LIFE is that everyone came out of it with a hoarse voice, and hurting hands. The voice was gone from all of the yelling we did, and the hands hurt from hours and hours straight of clapping for each other.
This past weekend was spent in Slovenia. At Adrenalinski Park, to be exact. This was more bonding for the group. It was a low and high ropes course. I've done low ropes before in elementary school and through girl scouts, but never high ropes. The high ropes were amazing. First of all, I will be sending pictures out (if my connection ever actually lasts long enough for my pictures to upload (I'm trying for the 5th time right now)). If you are interested in getting these pictures, and you don't already, send me an email and I'll add your name to the list.
OK, the first element I did on high ropes was climbing a pole, basically a telephone pole, that was 8 meters high (about 26 feet). By the way, during all of the high ropes elements I was harnessed in and attached to a rope that would save my life if I fell. Once on top of the pole, we had to stand up on it, turn about half way around, and then jump off. I don't really have a fear of heights, but I do hate, with a passion, the feeling of my stomach dropping. As I was standing on the top of this pole, which was furiously shaking, thanks to my trembling legs, I had to convince myself to jump off. So there I am, standing 8 meters in the air, on the top of a pole that is not even big enough for both of my shoes. And, I'm shaking because I realize the only way for me to come down is by jumping off. I don't even remember if I counted to myself, but somehow I found the strength to do it. I free-fell for about one second and then my the rope tightened and caught me. What a rush that was. And that was the first of about 5 million rushes for that day. The next event was something called the "Career Ladder". This was a bunch of wooden slabs that were hanging by ropes. I think there were maybe 8 or 9 in a row. The object was to get on one step (slab), have your teammates raise you to the next one (only one meter at a time was allowed), and work your way up to a platform so you can ring a bell. I was elected stunt-woman for this element. I believe it's because I was one of the smaller ones of the group, and not scared of heights. This was a very taxing element. We did it over and over and over (I think I did it 4 times) so that we could try to beat the other teams record. Our best time, which did beat the other team, was 57 seconds.
At the career ladder, I had a high ropes instructor belaying me the entire time. The first time I got to the platform, he instructed me to turn with my back towards the open air, and just sit down into nothing-ness. He then lowered me down very quickly. Too quickly. And I yelled at him for it. He basically called me a wimp, but I told him how much I hated when my stomach dropped. The next time around, he lowered me insanely slowly, so I told him he could go a bit faster, and of course it scared the hell out of me. After the second time, he introduced himself to me. His name is Marko, and I kind of fell in love with him. (Probably just because my life was in his beautiful hands for about half a day, but still.) Throughout the day he basically just enjoyed torturing me. I think the best thing he made me do was what I'm about to explain.
The second to last activity we did for the day was climb up to the top of the high ropes and do as many elements (walk across a log that is 8 meters high, cross tires that are just a bit too far apart, walk a tight rope etc.) as we wanted to (or could) do. I walked across the log, then crossed some ropes that were hanging so you could step into them, walked on a tight rope (with ropes to hold onto), did the tires, and crossed three logs that were suspended separately. The tires completely wore me out. It took me awhile to figure out how to do it, and with a little coaching from Marko, I finally made it across. Basically, you had to get one foot in the tire, swing a little bit so that you could grab the next hanging tire with your hand and then stick your free foot in it. The point is to keep two feet in two separate tires at all times. This keeps you from spinning in circles on one tire. It was insanely hard, and when I finished I realized how exhausted I was.
So I went back to the initial platform and told Marko I was done. He smiled and said that he was going to let me get down from the top of the high ropes in a fun way. I asked him how, and after he told me I told him I hated him. Marko wanted me to stand a few feet back from the edge of the platform, get a running start, and jump off of the platform into nothing-ness. I could tell that he was not going to go easy on me, and to be completely honest, I kind of liked being pushed to my limits. So, there I was, standing 26 feet up in the air, trying to make myself jump off of the platform. After some encouragement, Marko decided to count to 3. Once he got to 3, I don't know where I found the courage, but I did it. And it was awesome. I free-fell again, but this time for a bit longer. Probably twice as far as when I jumped off the pole. What a rush.
The last element was something called the "Giant Swing". This works by you being strapped into a lot of ropes, having your teammates run holding one of the ropes that hoists you up into the air, probably right around 30 feet. Once at the top, the instructor (in this case Marko again) tells you to pull the cord that will release you and let you fall into a giant pendulum motion. Once again there is a horrible free fall, but then it is awesome. I actually let go, but did not lean back like they told me to. Maybe next time I'll be brave enough for that. Needless to say, it was an amazing weekend.
*The picture I've included shows the platform that I jumped off of (the one with the people standing on it on the left). It also shows on the lower right corner, the Career Ladder. About halfway up the picture on the right is the other platform that I was supposed to be raised to during the Career Ladder. You can also see the 3 suspended logs that I crossed, but not the log, or the tight rope, or the tires.
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