Happy 21st Birthday!

Yeeeeeah..
So I turned 21 in Spain, not too much excitement because the celebrations were a typical night in Barcelona except that all of my younger friends could be there too!

So..I needed there to be some kind of climactic something to fill the void of the usual, "FINALLY I'M 21 AND I DONT HAVE TO BE SOME 26 YEAR OLD FROM THE MIDDLE OF MINNESOTA," stoked about finally having another important use for your real I.D. feeling.

Something I've always wanted to do and almost accomplished for my 18th birthday, was skydiving..So we got a group together to do it! I'm even happier I waited because instead of driving to Lodi or some cow town outside Sacramento, we got to jump between the coast and the Spanish/French Pyrenees, how awesome is that?

There's no way to put into words the feeling of it all. My emotions of excitement, anticipation and nervousness were all having a huge battle inside every part of my body. We got there and I expected some long training videos, a bunch of awful waiting time before the jump. But once we paid, we were brought to a white board showing the order of events from when you jump to when you land, we got our harnesses strapped on, one more review with our tandem coach and within 30 minutes we were walking to the plane!

I was scared out of my mind the second before we fell, especially because I had to watch Adam go first and plummet to the earth. So we jumped, flipped turned a little and once I was oriented with up and down, I was overcome with happiness and a feeling of liberation. I forgot to breathe and think and all that, I was just flying through the clouds and soaring over the Mediterranean. They only thing I did think was if the chute didn't go up, I was too high to care. High, literally on adrenaline. Same adrenaline that kept me going for 8 hours later, my cheeks are sore from smiling, as are my abs and some other random parts of my body (??) Regardless, this was the most incredible thing I've ever done, EVER EVER EVER EVER. The second I got to the ground I was ready to do it again, although my brain probably couldnt've handled all the seratonine release.

My tandem guy was awesome too, he is from Belgium, asked if it was my first jump, he said it was his first also.. all that stuff and he made me feel extremely comfortable. At first he probably thought I was such a weirdo, when you forget to think and you just react, it's interesting to see how you handle it... for me, the only things I could say was "OH MY GOD" "THIS IS SO SICK," other adjectives like "TIGHT" and a few other choice words. But then on our way out, he asked to friend us on the internet, so now Laurent and I are facebook friends for life.

Alright, so without further adue (I've been away from english too long, I forget how to spell and speak) I present you with the video, which was a present from Adam and the group of friends that I went with.. They all chipped in to buy it for me and I am so grateful because I will forever relive that experience and all of you can just wait, watch and see if you too get sweaty palms and volcano cheeks everytime like me, cuz it is FREEEEAKY!

Enjoy, and happy birthday to me!
P.S. Thanks m and d!
P.P.S. We jumped from 13,000 feet. yiiikes!