Ze Plane, Ze Plane

Yesterday and the day before were amazing here. Not because of any awesome lectures or any great discussions or any good conversations, though there were many. No, these past two days have been amazing here at L'Abri, perched amidst the Swiss Alps, because the Swiss Air Force has been having practice in the valley right outside my door. The past two mornings at about 11 am groups of 2-7 fighter planes have made their way into the valley and practiced flying in formation. But not just flying in a straight line. These guys were doing backflips, barrel rolls, nose dives, and sharp banking turns all while flying what looked like five meters apart. At some points they would come screaming past L'Abri within 200 meters of our heads. It makes for a loud day, but every time you hear and feel the jet sound wash over the mountain, you know you're about to see something awesome.

I'm not sure what kind of planes they're flying. When they're flying in formation they have some smaller planes, but after flying in formation for a couple of hours they send in one huge jet at a time to really show off. The guys in these jets were doing some amazing stuff. At one point I saw one of them fly straight up into the air, seemingly stall out, and then roll over backwards and go into a full-throttle nose dive, pulling up at the last second. A girl up on the mountain we hiked today said that the Air Force does this every month at the end of the month to use most of their resources so that they can get the same amount next month. Whatever reason they have for doing it, it is so freakin cool.

I took some pictures so you could see. They'll be at the bottom. I only got a couple of the formation flying, but I got some good ones of the single jets. If you guys know what kind of jets they are, post and fill me in.

In other news, I got my first real outsider comment on my blog the other day. Yep, after I posted the video of Miss Teen South Carolina at the Miss Teen USA competition and made a little comment about South Carolina's education system, I got a nice long comment from some guy or girl from Oregon. So that's exciting. I didn't think real people (ie people who don't know me) read this blog. It turns out I was wrong.

Also, I'm starting to plan out what I'm going to do for the break we have here from October 11-21. I was thinking about going to England to visit some people that were here last term, but it turns out that they won't be available during the break. That's okay though because I had already started to formulate another plan with a guy here named Jon. We're going to try to hitchhike somewhere in Europe or maybe even to Africa. Africa? Yes, Africa. We think we might be able to get to Morocco in the 11 days we have off. Actually, I'm pretty sure we could get to Morocco in three days, but then getting around there might be a little more difficult. I don't know what it's like to hitchhike in Africa. But, it's a predominantly Muslim country and they're pretty hospitable people, so maybe it'll be easy. Who knows.

We're in the planning stages right now so we only have one for-sure stop. That stop is right outside Locarno, Switzerland, at the Vascazo (sp?) Dam. It's the home to the world's second-tallest bungee jump. It measures in at 220 meters. If you've ever seen Goldeneye (the 007 movie) then you may remember the scene where Bond bungee jumps off of a dam. This is the dam. This is the jump he did. It's going to be awesome. So, since that is east of where we are now, we may end up going down to Greece and trying to get to one or more of the Greek isles. We just aren't sure yet. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

Let's see . . . what else is there to tell you . . . I went on another great hike today. Today Nichole, Renea, and I hiked to a little town called Bretaye. It was really cloudy at the top when we got there but the temperature was nice and the company was good. Plus, our waitress at a little cafe we stopped at up there was from Goldsboro, North Carolina. She came backpacking through Europe after she graduated from UNC six years ago and never left. Her French is actually better than her English now.

As for the temperature here, it's still pretty warm. I'd say an average of 70 each day, but the nights are getting cooler and cooler. From what I've read and heard, the temperature should drop about 10 degrees each month. Actually, this Tuesday it's supposed to be pretty chilly. In the 40s I think.

So, comment, email, whatever, I'd love to hear from you guys. Lata.

Just in case you can't see it in the picture (above), the guy is doing a nose dive.