Late August, I made both the most exciting and terrifying promise of my life. It was after classes when the Unikum members had gathered to talk about the October edition, and the column “Unkium tries ___” was brought up as an example. For those of you who don’t know what that column contains, it means someone from Unikum tries something they have never done before, it can be everything from knitting to skydiving, as long as it’s new. Well, I was reminded of how a little over a year ago two of my friends went bungee-jumping at Juvet, a short 25-minute drive away from Kristiansand, and talked about how everybody should experience bungee-jumping at least once in their lifetime. So, of course, me being me, I loudly claimed I would try bungee-jumping for the newspaper, which I immediately regretted saying. But said was said and I’m far too prideful to back out. Which is how I found myself a 1000kr poorer, and one bungee-jump richer after the meeting. The jump was scheduled for September 13th at 15:00, and approximately 30 seconds after I got the confirmation mail, I totally forgot about it.
I went on with my days as if death wasn’t going to be knocking on my door pretty soon. Days turned into a couple of weeks and suddenly it was September 12th, and I realized I was actually going to bungee-jump the next day. That evening was the most anxiety ridden evening of my life. The majority of me wanted to back out and not do the jump. Thoughts such as puking during the fall, passing out midway, and my feet slipping ran through my head and kept my anxiety up. I will admit that the only reason I didn’t end up backing out is because I made a promise to the Unikum members, and the thought of letting them down made me more nauseous than the jump itself. Therefore, to calm my nerves enough to fall asleep I decided to do some “practice” jump from my bed, and, surprisingly enough, it kind of worked.
The next day I woke up at 10:00 and felt eerie calm compared to the night before. Looking back at it, I think it was my brain numbing the fear I felt to keep me under control. I decided on a light breakfast to keep the risk of puking to a minimum and put on a cute outfit, so if I died, at least I died pretty. Glancing down at my phone, I saw a message from Juvet Bungy:
“Hi🙂Because of the thunder later today around 14:00 we try to get as many as possible earlier than planned, would it be possible for you to come before 13:30?”
… Great, just great, as if that wasn’t almost two hours earlier than what I had planned. Meaning I would have two hours less of mental preparation, in addition to maybe running into a thunderstorm. If this wasn’t a sign from the universe telling me not to jump from a cliff, I don’t know what was. However, as usual, I ignored the universe’s sign and sent a reply back saying it was fine, together with another message to my friend, who was joining me for emotional support, if she could come earlier.
We had decided on taking an Uber as there were no buses going to Juvet Bungy on weekends. Little did we know there were zero drivers who wanted to take us up to the site, so while we ordered a ride at 12:30, we didn’t leave before 13:15, meaning we would arrive late and closer to the thunderstorm. Luckily for us our driver seemed to be a speeder, so we managed to arrive around 13:35 and made our way up the top of the cliff. As we were walking, it had begun raining lightly and my fear for the jump was rising again. What if the rain made the rope slippery and I slipped out? What if lightning struck the bridge and I got electrocuted? What if we walked all the way to the top only for the people to say I can’t jump because of the rain, and I would let down my other Unikum members?
When we arrived, I quickly realized that the rain would pose no problem as someone was already midway in their jump. I was taken away to sign a waiver, and with that my life away. They strapped me up in record time, some around my waist and the rest around my feet, and led me to the platform. I remember being up there, looking down and my whole body tensing up. The fear was so overwhelming my body stopped feeling anything and all I was left with was numbness. I’m pretty sure the instructor was trying to tell me how to jump, but I could not for the life of me focus on what he was saying. And believe me, my life was on the line. The only parts I remember him saying are “tense your body” and “jump as if you are diving so you fall horizontally.” I stood with half of my foot off the platform and leaned forward until I couldn’t anymore and then he counted to three.
The feeling of jumping is hard to describe. I remember vaguely thinking “I’m falling” and all that came out of me was a huge scream. Have you ever had that feeling where you wanted to scream your lungs out but couldn’t because you were in public or afraid of someone hearing you? Yeah, that doesn’t apply here. That scream came from the deepest depths of my soul and left my throat sore for the rest of the day. It was definitely a scream that only comes out when your body thinks you are going to die. I couldn’t really comprehend what was happening, and I know for a fact if I ever fall out of a plane or find myself in some kind of free fall, my brain would most definitely not manage to come up with a survival plan. Then, suddenly I wasn’t falling anymore, instead I was flung a little upwards, except it felt more as if I was being shaken up and down for a couple of seconds before it finally ended. Subsequently, the feeling of pure terror was replaced with pure relief and a whole lot of cursing. What I just did had finally registered in my brain. The quick change of emotions must have made me a little delirious because I unexpectedly started laughing and felt an extreme amount of happiness.
Back up at the platform they sent down another rope for me to fasten and hoisted me up. The whole experience from when my feet left the platform to when I was up again lasted a maximum of 3 minutes in total, but felt much longer. If you asked me right after the jump how long I thought it lasted, I would’ve said maybe 10 to 15 minutes.
As we were heading back down, the workers at Juvet Bungy were kind enough to offer to drive me and my friend back to Kristiansand so we could get home, instead of us having to order another Uber, which we eagerly accepted. When I arrived home, I quickly traded my rain drenched clothes for some pajamas and immediately fell asleep.
The big question is then, how was trying to bungee-jump? I have been incredibly dramatic about the whole experience throughout this article, so I find it only fair to you who are reading this to finally be a little serious. And in my opinion? It was spectacular. The feelings of happiness and euphoria that hit mid- and post-fall was overwhelming. The immense feelings of anxiety, dread, joy, relief, and accomplishment that come with, leave you so raw and open. And I’m truly not exaggerating when I say the clouds parted to let the sun shine through when I was being lifted up to the platform. Being hoisted up with nature all around me and a waterfall under me while being high on adrenaline was wonderful. I will say that I have always been chasing some form of adrenaline and love doing scary things, so that might have impacted how I perceived it.
So, if you were to ask me if I recommend bungee-jumping then my answer is absolutely! It is definitely something to experience at least once in your lifetime. I would also suggest paying for the Go-pro option. There is nothing quite like watching your own face morph into the reincarnation of fear as you fall almost 60 meters. It was definitely worth the money.
And good news for those of you who are students! They happen to have a 20% student discount, you only need to send them a message on Instagram, and they will inform you of the code to use on their website.
This whole experience is something I’m very delighted to have tried, and proud of myself to have accomplished, even if the journey there was filled with a lot of fear.
As a matter of fact, I liked it so much that I will most definitely be bungee-jumping again in the future.
