Rollin' on the river. And in the river.

Today—today was one for the record books. Today was the beginning of my hiking and rafting course. We were told to meet in front of the school at 12:45, and that… actually, that was pretty much all we were told. So we get there, and there are three strange young men waiting there for us—one with dreadlocks and some missing teeth—and they tell us to jump into these two beat-up old vans, that they will be taking us…somewhere. Fog surrounds us as we drive up into the mountains, and it starts to rain lightly; had this been the beginning of a movie, there would have been about a 5% chance that any of us would make it out alive.

But no, this is just another day in my life in Salzburg, Austria. In fact, I think it qualifies as one of the best days ever. We rafted down the Salzach River with Christof as our guide, surrounded by grass-green mountains that disappeared into the clouds. We got very wet, both accidentally and on purpose, in the freezing mountain water. We sang “Just Around the River Bend” from Pocahontas, and did cannonballs off a boulder. It all ended too soon. But the fun wasn’t over just yet.

We reach the stopping point and haul our boats out of the river and onto a large pull-off on the side of the road. They tell us, in so many words, “Ok, time to undress: helmets go here, life vests go here, and jackets go there. Then, pull your wetsuit off halfway, and one of us will come around and yank off your pants.” Mind you, we are standing on the side of the highway. Most of us are in our underwear beneath the wet suits. It is currently pouring down rain. Only in Europe.

To get back to school, we hop into another old van with yet another strange man, which by now is commonplace. A pleasant heat warms my frozen toes, and the driver plugs in a CD of songs that he listens to when he climbs mountains, most of which exude a warm and beautiful melancholy. Outside, the setting sun makes the clouds glow pink behind the mountains as we sing along to “Hallelujah.” By then, it didn’t even matter how cold I was, or that all I was wearing under my rain jacket was a wet swimsuit, or that I’d needed to pee for the last 3 hours. I was too overcome with the feeling of how much I loved everybody, and how beautiful the world was, and how my life was more wonderful that I could have ever dreamed it to be.

Next weekend, on my 21st birthday, we are going on a hike in the world’s largest ice caves. I’m not sure how it could ever top today, but at least now I know to prepared for anything.