14,000 ft.

Week 5 of uni: actually had real assignments due for the first time this week. Realized I forgot to change my papers to "Australian English," so hopefully I won't get marked off for writing 'behavior' instead of 'behaviour.' I'm sorry, but I just can't write like that without getting distracted or thinking I am a complete idiot who can't spell. So guess we'll see how that works out for me. Successfully got all my assignments turned in on time, discovered $5 steak night at the beach palace, got asked out to dinner by an Aussie boy my friend met surfing, absolutely gorgeous weather... I would say overall, a pretty good damn week.

Oh yeah, and I jumped out of a plane Friday morning. 

Yes, I went SKYDIVING! And OH MY GOD was it incredible!! Words truly cannot describe. By far the best thing I have done in Sydney thus far. As our skydive instructors put it so well, it really is a life-changing experience. 

We woke up at 5:00 am to catch the bus to the city where we met our van driver, Marz (M-A-R-zed... 'z' in Australian is pronounced 'zed'-fun fact.). I don't think I have ever seen six kids more out of it in my life. 5 am is not our friend. Marz blasted house club music on the radio the whole two hour drive, but we all still managed to pass out and sleep. Once we were getting close to our destination, we all woke up a bit and the adrenaline started pumping. We arrived at Wollongong around 9:00 am. We had all already been up for so long that we were pretty wide awake. We had to weigh ourselves (not awkward at all...), pay a ridiculous amount of money for the video/picture package (worth every penny), and sign the release forms warning us about all the dangerous things that could happen to us that they won't be responsible for. Fun. We were in group 4, so we got to watch the other groups before us land in the field, which was so exciting. The parachutes floating down in the bright blue sky were gorgeous. Then it was our turn!!

our van

the parachutes landing from the group before us

We got in a line and suited up. We put on sexy blue jump pants (what is it with all these unattractive outfits you are forced to wear during extreme activities?) and a harness. All the sudden a man named Rob came up and yelled out, "Which one of you is Michelle?!" We were all pretty taken aback, and I raised my hand. Immediately his camera turned on to start making the video I ordered, and then we realized that this was real. We were about to go skydive. Rob was fantastic and got us all really pumped up. Soon afterward the rest of my friends met their tandem partners, and we were given a short tutorial about the head position when you jump, how to hold your arms in the sky, how to hold your legs up during the landing, etc. Essentially things we all knew we would immediately forget once it was time to use them. We were a bit distracted. It was time to go, so we all got in the van with our tandem partners (16 of us total-the 6 of us and our partners and another couple and their partners) and drove to the airport. Actually, airport is an overstatement. More like a plane in a field. Everyone's tandem partners were videoing the skydivers and getting us excited to jump! We boarded the plane all facing backwards from the pilot. We were in two long columns, almost like a banana boat. We sat on a log type seat with our legs on either side. We each hopped up to sit on our tandem partner's lap and they strapped themselves to us. Take off time!

me meeting Rob

boarding the plane

the inside of the plane

It was weird riding up into the sky facing backwards. The ground got small real fast... My friend in the back yelled out, "We're only at 4,000 ft! 10,000 more ft. to go." I think all of our mouths dropped at that point. Um, wow, we aren't even half way up yet?? The ride up took a while, maybe 20 minutes or so, so it was pretty calm. No one's nerves had really kicked in quite yet. The view of the beach was absolutely phenomenal. I was in my zone, having a grand old time, totally calm, when all the sudden the door opened. We were all told to put on our safety glasses. My friend Chris had volunteered to go first (I picked a smart position of 6 out of 8 to jump). Literally within seconds of the door opening Chris was out of the plane. Seeing the first person jump was a bit TERRIFYING. Panic level rose FAST. Chris literally was just falling out of a plane into the sky. I needed like at least a minute to get ahold of my bearings and figure out what was going on and calm down. Rob thought otherwise. All the sudden everyone started scooting forward on the row, and one by one everyone just fell out. I tried to scoot back and Rob just pushed me on forward and about 3 seconds later, BOOM, out of the plane. We were THREE MILES high. 3 miles!!! Unreal. 

right before we fell out

there we go...

AHHH!

We were instructed earlier on to assume the banana position as we left the plane. Head back, feet tucked under the belly of the plane, arched back. We grabbed onto our harness with our hands until we felt a tap on our shoulder to let go and let our arms fly out. I assumed Rob would like let me sit on the edge of the plane, look out for a second, count to three, then jump. Wrong. He scooted me up to the door and I barely had a chance to look out before we literally just fell out sideways. I don't know why I didn't think it would be cold at 14,000 ft. in the sky, but it definitely was. About 20 degrees Fahrenheit in a light t-shirt is pretty damn chilly, but I only noticed for about one second. I was a bit more concentrated on the fact that my body was moving at 120 mph out of a plane three miles off the ground. The wind was so strong against my face that I literally couldn't to open or move my mouth to scream or say anything. It was such a rush of adrenaline that I can't even describe. We spun around a bit and I was so disoriented. I finally calmed down and got ahold of myself, figured out how to open my mouth to get some screams out, and realized how absolutely amazing this was. My body just fell out of the sky  at the highest speed a human body can travel at for an entire minute. We bombed through the cloud layer and ended up in the gorgeous bright blue sky. Rob's camera was on his wrist taking pictures and videoing the whole thing, but I wish he had moved my head up because I am looking down in almost every picture. Oh well, guess I was loving the view too much to care about the pictures. I had thought all morning about the cool hand symbols and such I would make in my pictures. Such a joke. No one tells you that your mind goes completely blank when you are free falling. *Cue Tom Petty.

incredible view

Rob pulled the parachute and we shifted from a horizontal to a vertical body position. My ears popped and my harness went up real tight in the crotchal-region. It was probably the coolest experience of my life. Just ask Rob. I couldn't stop telling him that for the entire time we floated down, for about 7 minutes or so. Apparently they let you take the reins on the parachute usually and help steer down, but only if you appear capable, as I learned after landing. I was the only person in my group that didn't get to do this, so I guess I did not 'appear capable'... awkward... I'm guessing it was the fact that I went with a bunch of guys who outweighed my by a lot of kilos. Runt of the group as usual. Anyways, Rob let me take in the view for a bit longer than everyone else on the ride down and let me land last. So guess you win some and you lose some. We landed in a big circle in the middle of a field. You put your feet up and just glide on in and end up sitting down on your partner's lap (also awkward, but guess we were so far past that point). The six of us were all jumping and running around and screaming and high-fiving and hugging each other. So much adrenaline from all of us. So much happiness. Such disbelief. Seriously, the coolest thing I have ever done. 

after he pulled the parachute

floating down to the ground

just landed!

so stoked

high on life

We un-harnessed and went into the main office to pick up our backpacks. We were told the videos wouldn't be finished until another hour, so we walked to grab lunch. We were all ravenous since we got up at the crack of dawn, so it didn't matter that we shoved pizza and pasta into our mouths at 11 am. BEST. MEAL. EVER. So badly needed. We all talked about how crazy that was and laughed and looked at some pictures. Jumping out of a plane really bonds you together, I always say. We went back to grab our videos, but they took much longer than we expected, so we ended up just playing in the field for another hour like little kids. Cartwheels, naming each other as members of the 7 dwarves, photoshoots, etc. Really mature things. We were all in such strange crazy hyper moods that not one of us cared how ridiculous we were being. Gorgeous weather, great friends, best day so far in Sydney. We eventually got back in the van, then the bus, and made it home around 4:00 pm. We had all been up for so long and were so tired, we decided to shower and nap and then reconvene for a video watching and dinner party later. Watching each other's videos was probably the highlight of the day. Chris looked absolutely hilarious-his mouth was open the entire time, since he couldn't close it against the wind when he fell out, and his curly hair went straight up into the air about a foot high. He looked straight out of a cartoon. Learned one of our friend's parachutes didn't open at first and he just fell past Chris-I would have freaked out seeing my friend just bomb past me with a struggling parachute, oh my god. It eventually opened, so no worries. Everyone's reactions were so different and just priceless. Tried grilled kangaroo meat that the boys made for us. It was not my favorite, but guess now I can say at least I tried it. Ended up going out into the city for dancing that night with the crew. Realized I had been up for almost 24 hours and my body hated me. It told me to go home, so I did, and I crashed real hard. 

motto of the day: YOLO-you only live once! 

Here is the link to the video for y'all to watch!

http://www.skydivethebeach.com.au/customer-videos?videoID=nvkq1hf7rfhxjpji

See if you can find the moment when my emotions shift from totally excited to totally terrified. I promise you won't miss it... 

I still can't believe I went skydiving! It has been on my life bucket list forever, so I am glad I finally accomplished it! It was so worth the money. Best memory of Sydney so far. I couldn't have picked a better group of friends to go with or a better weather day to go. I can't stop watching the video or looking at the pictures. It was an experience that I will never forget!