Jungfraujoch and Glaciers and Ziplines and Snow.

I finally step out of the dark cave into the light which burns my eyes, causing me to blink against the sun. The sun reflects off my eyelashes, exploding when it hits them into little sunbursts. And hurting my eyes. I'm finally able to open them a little, enough so that I can squint and look around at my surroundings. I'm standing in a glacier, at the top of the Jungfrau, Switzerland. We took the gondala to the top of a rise from Wengen, hiked to Kleine Schedegg, and just had taken a train up the Eiger, the mountain that was more like a cliff, besides well, being mountain sized, in a little trolley called the Jungfraujoch. I love all of the Swiss words so much. To the left is the Eiger, which towers over Kleine Scheidegg, it's dark ominous cliffs casting a shadow. Kleine Scheidegg is like the best place ever, our lunch yesterday cost $80 for some hot dogs and hashbrowns. It also has a population of like 20. Who knew? On the right is the Monch, slightly less imposing but still beautiful. And right here? We're on the top of the Jungfrau, the tallest, most amazing thing like Ever. And there's a glacier. With sledding. What could be better?
As if to answer my question, a piercing scream sounds out from above me, as well as the short buzz that can only be linked to a zipline. OMG, I say, and run in that directions, my boots crunching on the snow. My family and I run up the metal steps, almost up to the glass viewing station, and stop on the platform. The guy there, with dark hair and light blue eyes, smiles at us. "Hey", he says in perfect english. "Who wants to go first?"
My dad goes, and then my mom. Finally it's my turn. I put on the orange jacket, and the guy clips it around my and yanks and the straps, tightening it. Finally he clips me onto a weird slidey-device looking thing, on the string, and tells me to hold on. He winks at me. "Fly like a bird", he says, quote-un-quote.
And then he lets me go. I start sliding, zipping and buzzing along, and begin to pick up speed.  zip past a couple people on the ground, and they look up in surprise. The icy wind blows against my face, whipping past me and sending my hair streaming out behind me, and then whipping and cracking back on sharp directions, sometimes against my face. The sun flashes in my eyes, which sting and water. I like go of the strap, and lean forward, spreading my arms out to the sides like wings. The wind threatens to tear a scream from my throat and I let it. "Whoohooooooo". Did I really just scream whoohoo to the whole glacier? I shrug. And then ahead of my appear the end of the zipline. The end of the string disappears into the snow ahead of my. Just disappears into the ground. But how am I supposed to get off?
I fly towards the end, fast and lean backwards, trying to position myself so that I don't face plant in the snow. There is a big plastic sign that says "caution; no unloading beyond this point". Helpful. I laugh out loud. Grinning, I shout down to my mom and dad, who are standing off to the side. "How do I get off the thing"? " You Just do It", my dad yells back. And then i'm almost there. And I hit. I hit the snow  and my momentum carries me forward. Snow kicks up in my face and I get dragged across the ground, spinning out and finally coming to a stop. I get up shakily and brush snow off me, laughing. "That was fun" I say, only half-sarcastically. Actually it was amazing. I unbuckle the harness and disconnect the carabiner from the cable and step aside to watch my brother.

 <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rauleltaz/6074432946/">Raul Garcia Piñero</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>

On Top of the World

I breathe in the cold thin air and it stings my throat and my lungs. I'm breathing hard but I can't stop grinning. There's something about being on top of the world...
"Sarah!" My dad's voice jolts my out of my reverie,  or just me numbly putting one foot in front of the other as I stare down at the dark brown mud that has started to coat my clunky hiking boots and already mud colored wool socks, probably just for this purpose. "Let's stop for a minute". And so we stop, just reveling in the cold mountain air. I sit down on a rock, which is rough and icy against my skin. I take a look around. It's starting to get a little windy, with the cool fresh breeze blowing the misty fog and dew all around us, obscuring our view of the top. The deep green moss that covers the ground and rocks around us is moist and covered with dew. We're about halfway up a slick, steep section, and if you look down, you can see all the way down to the beginning of the steep sudden rise of the mountain that we just came up in the past hour. We try to spot the neon orange of my brother, or the white of my friend below. It's really beautiful, with the meadow flattening out and stretching into the distance, eventually meeting up with the stream, the tall pine forest, and our cars. The whole thing just smells like Colorado; dirt and mud and rain...
Rain! Oh no, it can't rain this early, can it? When you're above 14,000 feet, if there's a storm, you have to get down fast. Your basically a big lighting rod, standing on bare rocks at the peak of a mountain. And we haven't even climbed Grays yet, haven't even started Torreys.
I put the thought out of my mind and my dad and I keep walking. I take off my jacket, exposing my arms to the icy cool air. We keep walking. I move in front of my dad too, motivated by the song in my head. I dig my feet into the slick damp mud along to it. "I'm on top of the world, hey! I'm on top of the world, hey!" After a while it becomes more of a chant inside of my head then a song, occupying my mind as we move farther up into the cold thin air, the mist wreathing around our heads and slowly accepting us, engulfing us into it. My lungs are burning from the air.
And suddenly, there it is! The top! I grab my dad's arm and point. "Over there"! He manages to catch a small glimpse of it before another thick bank of fog drifts in front of it. I start running/stumbling up the path, trying to avoid the little sliding pebbles that tumble down and bounce over my shoes up into my legs, stinging. After twisting and turning, we finally have a clear shot to the summit. Being my usual impatient self, I'm frustrated when we go up, and down, and then up again, and then come over the final rise onto the summit of Grays. We take a picture, eat some Gourp (I save all of the M&Ms for last, and the orange ones until the very end), and contemplate what to do next. The fog swamps us, but seems to be drifting our way away from Torreys. My dad calls my mom and asks where they are, They're about thirty minutes behind us, so they might make it or they might not. My dad looks at me. "Should we do Torreys?" he asks. "We'll really have to boot it down from there". Also we'll have to traverse the ridge", looking down at the steep rocky knife-edge ridge that drops out steeply below us, and then curves up into the ascent into Torreys. I eat another peanut M&M, this one is yellow and I sear it tastes different from the green one that I ate before. I sweat that the flavoring is different, otherwise why would the orange ones be the best? "Well?' my dad asks.
I look up at the bronze peak of Torreys towering above us, sun reflecting off it in all different directions, no fog obscuring the view. On top of the world. "Let's do it".

Last Time I'll Post About The Play

The closing of the play was Saturday night, and it was amazing. Even if you didn't do the play or stagecraft, didn't go to Logan, didn't see the play, or have acted in your life you can connect to the feeling of something you have worked so hard on suddenly ending. In our case, we had worked on this play for six months, doing hundreds of run-throughs, and then it suddenly ended. We had to do four perfect run-throughs of the play, in-front of an audience of course, and then it just ends. Okay, now I'm making it seem like a tragedy or a drama or something, which it's not, but still, it's sad. Closing night is especially awesome/awful, depends on your view, because you want to hold on to every single moment. Your last lines go by, and then your last lyrics, and then you go take bows, and then you know that you will never do the show again in the same way. This makes for a very good show for the audience, just like opening night too.
So basically, we did all of the things that we have done so many times for the last time, and got to share it with the audience. That's one of the great things about theater, and performing, and acting, and all of that stuff. I've made so many new friends in the play, and am sooooooooo glad that I did it.
Oh, by the way the after-party was really fun. We ate delicious food, almost all of the boys played basketball, and the rest of us hung out and played QuizUp and talked. I am so obsessed with QuizUp right now, so if you have one, friend me:). We also played lap tag, which apparently nobody remembers that I was there (Hailey and Kate) and it was just a lot of fun.
So overall, it's kind of bittersweet, but really epic at the same time!

Yesterday was opening night

Yesterday was opening night. Before I start listing all of the things that went wrong, let's just say that overall it was awesome. Also you guys are supposed to think that everything was right, so I can't talk about everything that went wrong. So let's just say that overall it was awesome.
One of the many things I love about performing is the nerves that you get before it. Actually, I don't really get nervous before performing anymore, but a little bit, sort of the walking-on-the-edge feeling, which I guess I like. One of the most nerve-wracking things that happened to me in the play last night is that my boa scarf got tangled in a string, literally as the band was playing the opening notes and I had to go onstage, I realized that it wouldn't move and ditched it. That did not get the play off to a very good start, but none of you guys probably noticed anyways and I tried to make up for it. Another thing was cutting open my leg backstage; ok, that makes it sound worse than it actually was, but I was worried that it would show up onstage. But I guess that is also one of the things that I love about performing, that you are live and anything can happen that you have to deal with on the spot. During the play last night, there was a lot of the-audience-doesn't-know-the-play-so-no-one-will-notice-moments, but it all worked out in the end. Since backstage is dark and no one is supposed to hear or see you, it's basically like stuffing around 15 actors and even more stagecraft in a tiny dark room, with people taking huge pieces of wood and cardboard around and huge funky-shaped costumes, and trying to make your way around without talking. It's kind of like those team building exercises that teachers make you do, just people tend to get mad at each other instead. Although spending so much time with each-other can really get on your nerves, I've also made so many friends in this whole experience, and become better friends with so many people. One of the great things that the AS play has done is that when the show starts, we all support each other, and suddenly become each other's friends for the sake of the show even and probably will be that way for a long time, especially the people I spend a lot of time onstage with. Overall, even though it won't be the same as opening night, which is my favorite, I'm so excited that I get to perform the play three more times, and each will be unique in its own little ways, because that's just how performing works.

Tonight is Opening Night

Tonight is opening night. Maybe you'll be thinking that I'm nervous, or can't wait to get it over with, or even think that we aren't ready. But I'm not actually, I can't wait. I think that I've worked so hard and now I get to show the play, which is super entertaining by the way, to other people. I love being onstage too, so I'll get that. our costumes are really cool and I think that all of you guys will love it, if you go to Logan/are coming/etc. My only problem is that I'm sick; why do I always have to get sick before important stuff. But whatever. The set is also pretty cool. Stagecraft did a great job. So yeah, come to the play, sit back relax, enjoy the show, all of that. I can't wait.

5 Things That You Can Learn From Frozen

My mom and dad have started a hate-fest on Frozen, saying that I like it too much, it's only a movie, my dad even told me yesterday to focus on my real life. I mean, really. So here it goes; five things that you can learn about REAL life by watching Frozen.
1. Conceal, Don't Feel is terrible advice. Although it probably saved a lot of people from being zapped by Elsa's frozen powers, Elsa is doomed until she accepts her secret. And the song when she does, Let It Go, is just awesome.
2. Fashion. I mean have you seen Elsa and Anna's clothes and hair? Style.  I'm totally being a such a girl but it's so true.
3. How to write a song. Especially the lyrics and how the feel of the song fits the emotion that the characters are trying to convey. They also have great instrumental solos and the feel of the songs for the characters and for the movie is also just perfect. The singers are also really great.
4. You can't marry someone who you've just met that day. Or so Elsa says. Basically the whole big thing that Disney was advertising about this movie is that it's no longer happily ever after when you marry a guy. There still was true love and everything, but it turned out that it was the love Anna had for her sister instead of some guy. That I think was a great message and more modern and updated then other Disney movies.
5. Magic doesn't necessarily make you special. Sure Elsa is all great and my favorite character and everything, and obviously would be pretty special without magic too, and Anna isn't like all magical and cool or anything and still goes after her sister and probably saves everyone from a certain death. Most of the characters are just normal people.
So that's it.

Life As We Knew It

This week I read Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. This was about a girl and her family, just living in a normal society. Suddenly someone tells the news that the moon is set to be knocked closer to the Earth.  The news starts small, and grows and grows. Nobody could think that it would be dangerous.
When the moon actually does get hit closer to the Earth, everybody is set up on there front lawns watching. Then everything goes wrong. The tides change, cities are dragged underwater, snow starts to fall so heavy that it suffocates the power lines; but the power already cut out a long time ago.
Life As We Knew It is basically about people trying to live normally again. It was really good, and I would recommend it for a wide variety of ages. The characters are connectible. It's not a very hard read, and I would recommend it to ages 11-15, maybe. Overall, it was really good.