Reflections from the Bernese Oberland Region

Where to start, how to start, what to say? I guess I will begin by echoing the sentiments of every other person who has ever visited the Swiss Alps: Switzerland was a technicolor dreamland. I cannot emphasize enough how awe-inspiring this region of the world is. You know when you look back on something and realize, “that was one of the coolest places I’ve ever been,” well I didn’t have to look back on it, I knew right then how special my experience was. The town we stayed in, Wengen, sits above the Lauterbrunnen valley, surrounded on all sides by starkly perpendicular, limestone cliffs. It is a formidable sight. As I write this from home, I cannot comprehend that it still exists even now, and will continue to exist whether I am there to admire it or not.

Seeing nature on such a grand scale makes me feel inconsequential in a way that calms my mind. I often equate the way my thoughts feel as a radio rapidly jumping between stations. It can be a deeply uncomfortable place to exist at times, but being in nature seems to turn down on my anxiety and allows me to feel blissfully insignificant. I have come to realize in recent months that I care deeply about how other people perceive me, primarily in an intellectual sense, but standing on a mountain ridge looking out at three unmovable peaks helps remind me that I am unimportant and people really don’t think about me much at all. Putting it this way might sound negative or callous, but logic comforts me in its own strange way.

I’ve gone down a bit of a rabbit hole that I hadn’t originally intended with this post, but I am glad that I let myself do so. This entire blog is meant to be a space for myself to explore and document different avenues of thought.

Now cow pictures for all…