It's like flying

What did I do? I still can't even believe it.

Yeah... I went skydiving on Sunday.  Sorry I wasn't able to write about my experience earlier ... it's midterm week.

It was honestly probably the coolest thing I've ever done... and that's pretty impressive because I've done plenty of cool things ;)

I've collected a few questions people asked me about my experience and below I answered all of them! Here ya go!

1. Were you scared?

The scariest part is when they opened the door of the airplane. Before that, it's not even real that you're actually going to jump out of this perfectly good plane. The plane was so small, though! My friend Christina and I were squeezed in the back on the laps of the men we were jumping with and the only seat on the plane was for the pilot. Honestly, we were probably at maximum capacity. 

The scariest part though was after Christina and her partner jumped out (they went first cause they were closest to the door). Seeing them disappear was like... HOLY FUCK IT'S MY TURN. One of the scariest moments was clumsily scooting backwards while on the lap of my partner towards the plane door then awkwardly maneuvering my legs outside of the door. I was already attached to him. It was so difficult and I thought we were just gonna tip out of the plane right then and there! 

Hi, Christina!

Bye, Christina!

So there I was attached to my partner with my whole body hanging out of the plane while he was standing on a small platform outside of the door holding onto handles attached to the plane... holy shit. There's no going back now. I have ZERO power here, I am helpless! My fate is in the hands of this Argentine man I just met. 

Also, after my partner pulled the parachute, he unlocked the clips that connected our hips without telling me!! I thought something went wrong and had a mini heart attack!!! Then I realized that he unhooked the other one and it was just so I could relax on the parachute ride to the ground... although it wasn't very relaxing because the harness was super uncomfortably tight.... better than uncomfortably loose I guess. 

2. How much was it?

The jump including video and photos were AR$1000, about US$130 with a medium exchange rate. 

3. How high was the jump?

10,000 feet.

4. Did you get any training first?

A little bit... they just told us we had to get on the laps of our partners and when we jumped, we had to keep our feet together, our arms crossed in front of us, and our heads up. Then 5 seconds in, our partner will motion when we can open our arms.

Our partners did all of the work so we really didn't need much "training".

 

5. Did you get a money back guarantee for the parachute to open?

No, Dad, I did not. 

Good one, though.

6. What was the coolest part?

The best part was when I was sitting on the edge of the plane one second and then the next second I was free falling. I didn't even realize it happened at first! My stomach just dropped and all of a sudden I was flying.

Also while we were parachuting, we went through a cloud!! It was so cool!! Everything in my sight was just pure white for like 10 seconds. And before we entered the cloud, I saw my shadow on the cloud and a circle of rainbow colors in the cloud! It was like I was dreaming! It's exactly what I imagined flying above the clouds would be like.

Although, I thought that going through a cloud would get my clothes damp because of the moisture... that was not the case FYI.

7. Who did you go with?

I went with a group of 7 students from IES but I got to meet two awesome girls from Holland! One is interning (along with a girl in IES) with the same company that set up the skydiving trip and the other is just traveling. That night, Will and I went over to their apartment for dinner!

They are in the same "fraternity" in Holland. We talked for about an hour the similarities and differences between American Greek Life and their "student unions". Their organization is through the community, not through their university. And there were like 6 different organizations they rushed and within the organization they chose, there were smaller sections that you did your pledging. 

Their entire "pledge class" was over 100 people but within their "mini co-ed fraternity" they only had like 10 people and these are the people you really get to know during pledging.

Their pledging was pretty tough too-- way tougher than mine! They actually got hazed in their "co-ed fraternity". I'm not even sure what to call it because it's not associated with Greek Life. I guess it's just a social student union club.

Anyway, Will cooked dinner that night and I brought the wine. We had steak (obviously), garlic mashed potatoes and salad... it was delicious. And the Malbec went perfectly with the red meat!

8. How long were you falling?

At first I thought I only free fell for MAXIMUM 15 seconds... then when I watched my video and counted, from the time I tipped out of the plane til when my partner pulled the parachute, I was free falling for 50 seconds!! Almost a minute!!! I guess time does fly when you're flying :)

I'm not sure exactly how long the parachute ride was but I'm guessing about 6 or 7 minutes. It was weird, after we passed the clouds and all, I kept thinking we were so close to the ground... then nope, I would look over at the cows on the ground and they were the size of a pinprick.

We were also moving SO fast, but I didn't think we were. but when I saw the other people parachuting down, it was crazy how fast they were falling.

9. Did you land on your butt?

No I did not!! I had a perfect landing on my feet, thank you! Christina kinda crashed on her bum though, sorry for ratting you out, chica. 

For those who have ever wanted to skydive, just do it. Do it this weekend! I found out I was skydiving the DAY BEFORE! It was so last second and I think that's what made it so fun and spontaneous! 

I was very lucky because I was approached with this awesome opportunity but if you really want to go skydiving, don't wait, just do it! 

I will repeat myself: 

Skydiving was the coolest thing I've done in my entire life!

Hasta luego chicos!! Tomorrow I leave for Peru for Spring break! I'll try to blog during my trip but if not I'll catch yall up when I get back to BA!