adventure: bungee jumping

After my wonderful trip to China, I was prepared to deal with the not so wonderful side effect: "quarantine." My school decided that since I was putting myself at a greater risk for H1N1 by traveling abroad, I would not be allowed to work for a week after my return. I was pretty upset about this, given the loss of income. I sat down with my boss with facts, showing that there are more cases of H1N1 confirmed in South Korea than in China, and I'm really at no greater risk traveling than I am taking the subway here in Seoul. However, H1N1 is not something to be messed with here.. so the decision remained.

Another coworker, Jake, traveled to Japan over the holiday, so we decided to take the week to do things in Seoul we don't often get the chance to do. We went to a university one day to have lunch and see what campus life is like, we hiked a bit on a mountain in the city, and best of all: we went bungee jumping.

Bungee jumping has always been on the "things I want to do" list, but I am not sure why. I was terrified by the concept and honestly, still am.  I'm not sure I ever would've sought out the opportunity to do it, but a lot of my friends have bungee jumped here in Seoul and its relatively inexpensive. We went on a gorgeous day, and from the ground, the platform didn't seem too bad. I was excited as I was putting on my harness and getting ready to go. Once I was in the elevator to the top, and saw how high up we were going, I started shaking.

I reached the top, listened to the instructions, and walked to the end of the platform. Once there, I looked down, and decided there was no possible way I could do it. The concept of jumping was an impossibility. I looked at the guy and said "sorry.. I can't." He didn't speak much English, but he responded with "I go to count from 5:   5....4...3....2...1" and I jumped! I'm not sure what came over me, but I was able to do it.

I kind of expected the jump to be terrifying but the fall itself to be amazing. That wasn't exactly the case. Free falling was an intense feeling. After I got back to the ground, it took about 20 minutes for me to fully calm down. Afterward, I was exhilarated. I had faced a fear and survived it.

Now that I conquered that one- I really want to sky dive next :)