More Than Smooth Gliding: A Swiss Musician’s Journey Through Life’s Bumps in the Road

Nadja and her boyfriend, Sam, prepare to escort hang gliders up the mountain for a jump into the cool, Swiss air.

“Hang-gliding today, hang-gliding?” Nadja Steiner calls out to passersby on Interlaken, Switzerland’s bustling main street—the creases by her green eyes slanting upward behind her large glasses.

From Indians in multi-colored, jeweled saris lugging suitcases from the bus station, to locals strolling by with steaming coffee in hand—those walking by probably see her as ‘the hang-gliding lady’.

She’s selling tickets for excited adventurers to take a jump off the Jungfrau Mountain that towers above the valley.

But she isn’t a hang glider. Her passion is music. She’s spent hours blowing the trombone and tenor horn, accompanying her family in the Wangen Wind Band, earning her Bachelors in Music at the University of Fribourg, sharpening her vocals at yodeling club, and serving in the Swiss Army Band.

Music does not provide a secure job. So, this accomplished performer is now pursuing a Masters in Law and spending her summers in Interlaken.

“I needed something a bit more stable so I didn’t have to ‘work to work’,” she explained. But there is more. Her family needs her help. Her grandmother, who Steiner remembers as being a loving friend to her in the past, is suffering from dementia.

The two are close, with many fond memories together.

Nadja with her mother (right) and grandmother at Mannlichen, a mountain near her hometown in Wangen, Switzerland, in 2006.

But when her grandmother got sick three years ago, everything changed. “She was like a completely new person when she got sick—mean and angry,” said Steiner.

Things became unbearable for the family, and her grandmother now lives in a memory care home near Steiner’s hometown of Wangen, Switzerland.

Steiner added that her grandma is not angry anymore, but it’s like she’s not even there.

“It’s been really hard,” she said, shoulders heaving as she sighed heavily.

While coping with her grandma’s illness, Steiner began a relationship with her boyfriend, Sam (35)—the director of her wind band.

Sam is also a hang-gliding pilot, and took her on her first ride three years ago.

“I felt pure freedom,” Steiner described that first jump over the serene alps.

“It was a nice break from the situation at home to turn off my mind for a moment.”

As she works towards a career that allows her financial freedom in one of the most expensive countries in the world, she spends her summers helping her boyfriend—and helping others experience a ‘break’ in the blue skies.

Steiner greets guests walking past her paragliding booth in Interlaken, Switzerland.

Music was her life. But she’s branching out and taking adventures as they come. As she pursues her dreams, supports her family and boyfriend, and learns from trials, she’s realizing that life isn’t a straight path. It’s a twisting—yet beautiful—trail.

“I’m learning you shouldn’t be afraid to do something you’ve never done before.”

Kali Zakariasen is from Charlotte, North Carolina. She attended WJI Europe 2024.