Day Seven: The Dows turn 19!

We woke up in the morning of our birthday to another wonderful german breakfast prepared by Nina and Rainer, complete with some happy birthday candles. After breakfast, we drove 45 minutes with Nina to go skydiving with Uta who was in the process of getting her skydiving certification. The skydiving place was very relaxed, and had a vibe that felt a bit like a music festival. There were a lot of people camping in the field so they could jump the entire day. The plane we were going to jump out of was on a special tour of Europe. Unlike the plane that skydivers usually jump out of which can hold 10 people, this plane had room for 25. Most planes also have a exit in the side, and this plane had a huge door in the back. We didn't get a picture but here's one from the Internet:

We ended up waiting around 4 hours to be able to get on the plane, but it was great to be able to talk with Nina in that time and we even got to try out the slack line that a few people had set up. After an hour, I even made it the middle once!

When it was our turn to go, we signed away our lives on the liability form (which was in german) and then suited up. After 5 minutes of instruction from a non english speaker we were ready to go up. There was not much space in the plane so for the first 3,500 meters we sat down on the floor. Nina was sitting in the front seat next to the pilot and she even got to fly the plane! At 3,500 meters we stood up and all the english speakers on the plane sang us happy birthday as the rear door opened. 

Im not quite sure what I was expecting to happen when someone jumps out of a plane. I had always imagined it to be a nice stable "bellyflop" but when I saw the people ahead of me jump out of the plane, they got tossed around like leaves in the wind. (Which cory estimated to be blowing at around 69km/h) 

Dario and I walked up to the ledge and jumped. It was absolutely disorienting. We spun around for around 6 seconds before Dario stabilized us and we fell face down. After another 30 seconds we approached a cloud. Even though I know they're only water vapor, I still naturally braced myself for some sort of impact. When I hit the cloud, I didn't feel anything except for a slight temperature change . It was a pure white out, and little droplets formed on my goggles. The cloud got slightly darker and then we emerged form the other side.When we came out of the cloud, I saw a purplish bolt of lightning strike far off in the distance over my right shoulder.  Dario pulled the parachute and we started floating down. He did a few hairpin turns which were great and made all the blood rush to my feet for a few seconds. We landed perfectly. 

After that we headed to Ninas house, took showers from the long day and had dinner. 

Once dinner was over, we went to the neighborhood park which not only has a playground but also has a miniature zoo. It was Daniels favorite park and he insisted all of us go to see it! 

Then Rainer drove us by a statue that Cory remembered from his time in Germany and we headed to Heidelberg. Then we met up with Uta and Phillip and watched fireworks from the bridge. When it was over, we stayed around drinking beer and then headed to a bar/club that Uta reccomended. We left around ten minutes before half past four in the morning, got some kebab, and walked home. We got there at around 5 and immediately went to sleep. 

-grant 

A big thank you to the Butzengiger family and Uta for hosting us! It was great to see you!