Our group of about 50 paragliders from all around Romania ended our day in Targu Mures in a banquet hall where we ate a strange cake-like substance, gnawed on sunflower seeds, drank free beers (I didn’t drink any, but everyone else did) and were told who the winner of the paragliding competition was. I didn’t win the competition (or come anywhere even close to winning), but I did receive a special certificate award for being “The paraglider from furthest away” – meaning I was not only the least experienced paraglider in the room, but the only paraglider that was not from Romania.
When Jigo announced that I had won an award, I thought he was saying that I had won an award for being “the paraglider who landed furthest from the target.” But I quickly realized that my award was not for being the worst paraglider in the group (although that was likely true), but instead for being “the pilot that came from far, far away.”
Honestly, I still can’t believe that I participated in a paragliding competition after only 8 days of training. It was so much fun and I would totally do it again!