Family adventure

After hearing about my sister and some of my friends' experiences skydiving last summer, it sounded like something I wanted to try. This spring, I stumbled across a Groupon for skydiving in Wisconsin--and figured, what a great graduation present to myself! My sisters and I went on this adventure together this past Saturday- jumping out of a plane from 14,000 feet in the air.

Eleni, me and Maria- all in our college shirts!

Many asked us if we were scared, and none of us really were. I thought I'd panic the morning of the dive, but never felt a fear in my stomach. The biggest scare came from signing three packets of waivers claiming the skydiving company cannot be sued for injuries, death or any issues that arise in your experience. My sisters and I were those people that actually read the waiver, and it brought more ideas to our heads. You sign off on saying the company is not responsible for any mid-air collisions, issues with the harness or other equipment. You initial a statement that says "I understand that parachute jumping will expose me to risk of personal injury or death." They really know how to get you- you can pay $500 to NOT sign parts of the waiver that let you sue them. Nice to know that if you die skydiving, it costs the price of the dive + $500 to sue them. Oh America.

Enough about legal documentation. The experience is technically "tandem skydiving," where there is an experienced skydiver behind you and your harnesses are latched together when you jump. You sit through a short class of instructions, where we learned that diving from 14,000 feet up gives you slightly over a minute of free fall, then some parachute time. There is no depth perception at that altitude, and you fall at 135 mph, and when the parachute goes up at 5,000 feet, you slow to 24 mph. Another reassuring statistic they provide is "jumping out of this plane is statistically safer than you driving here." Interesting!

Us on the plane with our tandem buddies and photographers

We waited a few hours, got harnessed up and met our instructors and photographers that would be on the plane with us! They document and videotape your experience too and do a great job (see photos below).  Maria, Eleni and I jumped from youngest to oldest, and all enjoyed it.

The coolest aspect to me was that it didn't feel like "diving" or "freefalling" - it felt like floating or flying in the air. The speed was unreal and seeing the land below, watching you get your depth perception back and seeing lake Michigan was phenomenal. It was the slowest minute of my life, taking in the beauty and not feeling a bit of fear doing it. The temperature was about ~3 degrees colder for every 1,000 feet up, so the cold air felt amazing. No one got sick, and I was the only sister who felt slightly nauseous after flipping and spinning in circles with my tandem instructor.

I'd highly recommend skydiving to anyone interested in being adventurous and assure you that it will be one of the most captivating minutes of your life!

Check these pictures out to see more!

Time flies by

I can't decide if summer goes by faster when you're at home--mainly staying in one place--or exploring new territory. In the past, I've had more extended travel experiences that broke off the summer into segments, and now, any travel I plan is on weekends for quick trips out of town. Living in other cities for those longer periods of time requires adjustment time and sometimes has felt slow, but you always leave feeling like there was more to do and how the experience flew by. Being at home, in Chicago for that matter, has given me a different concept of time. A different mindset than I have while I'm at school or traveling.

At school, I'm always mentally ahead of where I need to be, logistics-wise. My schedule has always revolved around others--classes, meetings, activities & friends--and you have to keep yourself up to speed. At the end of every night, all of my stuff is put away and I'm prepared to start off fresh in the morning, ready to go for the next day's plans. Sleep is irrelevant, because my outfit needs to be laid out, transportation planned & the day is on a pretty strict timeline. I guess you could call it living for the future.

At home, I'm living in the present. Waking up, getting on the train, conquering the ~hour commute to work each way, working the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. life, having some sort of social plans and suddenly, it's 10 p.m. already. Go to bed, rinse, lather, repeat. Just kidding, but the process goes on. I often feel like I never left work once I return there in the morning. Each week goes by as its own entity, each weekend after, and the cycle continues. Suddenly, three weeks of relaxation and six weeks in the work force have gone by. I've rarely slept for more than six hours on any night and can't seem to catch a break. Unfortunately, as a result, I feel like I'm constantly falling behind on my own goals and living in rewind. 

But just because I haven't gotten to achieve my to do list of scrapbooking, cleaning or completing other long term projects doesn't mean it hasn't been an enjoyable summer. Forcing myself to do one of these things instead of taking up spontaneous plans would contradict living in the present. Catching up with an old friend or high school acquaintance on the train might be more valuable than rushing to read a book to cross it off of a list. Visiting Milwaukee, Champaign, Kansas City, Mexico & San Diego in the past few weeks has been incredibly fun, even if I haven't vacuumed my room but stare at that instruction on my to do list daily. I enjoy quality time with high school and college friends-in person, oh the phone or via email-- and it's great.

So will this worldview of living in the present translate to my graduate school career? Or will I need to revert back to planning SO FAR ahead? I'll have my own bedroom (and bathroom!) for the first time and will already have plans you on more of your own time instead of what it's like living with roommates. Two semesters will already go by quickly, but do you make more out of it by living in the present, the future or a combination of the two? I guess we will see as time goes on!