An Island in the Sun

So, although I did not go on the Belgium/Germany/Netherlands tour liked I had planned and hoped for since November (don't worry friends in those countries, it's my turn to visit you so I promise I will come back,) plans changed and in 2 short weeks I, and with the lovely help from my host mom as well as other exchange students and their families, I went to Tenerife!! If you don't know where that is or what it looks like or anything about it, allow me to help! Let's begin with some maps:

The island in general

Off the Western coast of Morocco

My flight path I took to get there

As shown by the last map, I flew from Santiago de Compostela to the airport in Tenerife Sur. Not too long of a flight and the time difference is only one hour. Fun fact, did you know the Canary Islands were not named after the birds but the dogs? Yes, there is a breed of dog called Presa Canario. Also, El Teide, the volcano situated in the center of the island of Tenerife, is the third largest volcano in the world! And, it has the highest water slide in the world! (If I had known that, I would have gone down it considering I was at the water park...) Not to mention that pretty much everyone there is a tourist, not joking. Everyone speaks English or German and even the Spanish speakers know a good amount of both languages in order to communicate. 

I stayed in Tenerife for only one week, which was for sure not enough time at all. I mainly spent my time with Abby (from Oregon,) Mary (New York,) and Alisa (MINNESOTA!) but also saw Kate (North Carolina,) and Danielle (Texas.) I can honestly say that I spent the best days of my exchange there on the island. Every day we went to the beach and were in the sun, which consequently led to my sunburn. Side note: I get sunburnt all the time, no matter if I do or don't put on sun screen. Ask me for the pictures if you really want to know more. We also went hiking and went to the Siam Water Park as mentioned earlier.

Minnesota girls :]

La Masca (canyon trail)

La Masca

Look at how clear that water is!

These are just some of the pictures I took while I was there (still currently working on uploading all of them as well as older pictures from February to my photo stream on Flickr so I apologize for the delay) and if we had decided not to go down La Masca as fast as we could, I would have had a field day and gone wild with pictures, but, unfortunately, you cannot hold onto a big camera and jump from rock to rock while maintaining a good balance/feel like you won't smash your camera to pieces. So it sat comfortably in my backpack for the majority of the way down.

However, I am not touching on the main reason why I went, it was CARNAVAL!! Tenerife has the second largest in the world, right behind Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the USA we don't have this and the closest we get is Mardi Gras, but never have I ever experienced anything like carnaval. Basically, it is like Halloween but everyone parties together in the street and such. I dressed up as someone from Greece (toga, olive branch crown) with Mary and we hopped on a bus right after going down the canyon to stay up all night and be with friends. When we got to Santa Cruz, in the North, I was greeted with streets and streets and streets and plazas filled with people dancing. Parade floats lined the streets and played different music and a stage was set up in the main plaza. I was a little overwhelmed to say the least. Mary and I met up with Kate, Danielle, and Kate's Spanish friend. Within 5 minutes, we met a group of Italians, some living in Spain and some there for carnaval, dressed up as superheros.

There were about 12 people in their group and everyone was a different hero, from Batman to Superman to Thor to Green Lantern. Overall, the night was a ton of fun, but since I love sleeping, around 4:15AM I got a little crabby and was informed the buses didn't start running until 6:00AM. Mary and I caught the first one and rode it to Abby's stop. Oh, but it doesn't stop there. Abby lives about a 30 minute walk away from the closest bus stop and since we were tired from being up all night (and took a wrong turn or two,) the half hour walk turned into an hour. Finally, at 8:15AM, we were tapping on Abby's bedroom window to let us in. So let's recap. The day started with hiking down a canyon for 2 hours, then going to carnaval and dancing/being on our feet for 8 hours, then walking another hour to get home. It felt worse than when I ran 20 miles, and trust me, that is not a pleasant feeling. Despite being exhausted and only getting 2 hours of sleep that day, it was the best day of my exchange so far: spent with good friends, beautiful scenery, a beach, dancing, and meeting new people. 

Only a day later, Alisa and I said goodbye to the paradise island of warm weather and beaches to come back to the peninsula. Fortunately, since I have been home, there has been nothing but sunshine and warm weather so the rain has gone away for now! I would strongly recommend going to Tenerife sometime in your life as it is gorgeous and even if you don't speak Spanish, the majority of the population there are English speaking tourists. Next adventure? Just waiting for Semana Santa to head back to the South and do some more exploring in Granada, Toledo, and, fingers crossed, Sevilla!

In other news, my marathon was moved to April 27 since I was not able to stay with anyone in Barcelona which is actually a blessing since I hadn't run in 3 week due to poor weather conditions. I now have another month to train and be more prepared for this race! 

This year is absolutely FLYING by. I have been here for over 6 months already and am still nailing down a date to come home but it is looking like the beginning of July. So if you want to see me, you have a general idea when I will be back. :]

For Lent, I decided to give up Netflix as my tangible thing and some of my friends also gave up intangible things which I liked so I also gave up not putting myself out there, as in I will be taking more initiative to be social and ask friends to hang out, even if it is just taking their dog for a walk or something small. Honestly, I think the Netflix thing will be harder since prior to Tenerife, I was hardcore marathoning "Supernatural" as in I watched 4.5 seasons in 10 days... Which doesn't seem so bad until you realize there are 22 episodes per season... But the whole point of Lent is to give up something that is building a wall between you and God so instead of watching 5 episodes in a day, I can "go to church," read my Bible, spend more time marveling at the world and everything in it that God created as well as do more constructive things with my time like practice guitar, go running, be more social, work on videos, etc. I have been complaining a little bit, but I remind myself on a normal basis that I GET to give something up, it's a privilege that God has given me and I can take the opportunity to snatch it up.

~Ashlyn

P.S. If you want to see my videos from Tenerife, I only have two out so far with probably two more to come. The first vlogging one can be found at http://youtu.be/WKqKmi03EFc and also on my channel is the cracker challenge which Mary, Abby, and I participated in. Or, feel free to subscribe to my channel, TTime, and get emails or notifications when I upload a new video! Nowadays, I am doing more on my YouTube interface than writing in my blog, so keep updated there for weekly videos!

[Insert C.S. Lewis Quote]

So I realize I haven't done a proper written post in a while (ever since I started making weekly videos.) Although my videos are a good supplement to my blog, not everyone can watch them because they are at work or somewhere of the sort or don't have time or etc. Not to mention some people just prefer written posts to video-made ones! So here is my proper post for... Probably a while.

I saw this quote yesterday on Tumblr and it took me all of two seconds to decide that I needed to download it and have it as a file on my computer and my phone. This quote just spoke to me, like it summarized a lot of what I feel and have a hard time explaining to people back home; my days have their routines: wake up, get ready, eat, school, eat, nap, maybe go running or painting or play guitar or watch Supernatural/Netflix or clean my room, maybe have soccer practice or my guitar lesson, more guitar or Netflix or Skype (not very often though, usually just weekends and every other weekend), eat, shower, sleep. They are a little monotonous, but I have a routine which is perfect for me since I need to be organized all the time and I like to have a schedule to go by. On weekends, of course things change, but overall still the same: wake up, eat, go running or soccer match, shower, eat, sleep, Netflix, maybe Skype or hanging out with friends if they aren't studying, eat, sleep. Rinse and repeat. I do other things too, like reading, writing, plan my next adventure, "go" to church (watch the week's teaching on YouTube,) and more. But day to day, things don't really change and they haven't changed for a while. 

I am now starting to look back, as my 6 month anniversary is next week, and I can't believe the changed that have happened. I remember my last day in the States when I was on the brink of tears and calling it all off because it became so real that I was going to Spain and leaving everything behind. I remember my first few months here and how hard they were, having really no friends and not able to cope with the amount of rain we get here (subsequently, not able to handle the lack of sun.) I remember being self conscious over my Spanish and what I looked like every day and if I blended in well enough. I remember getting upset if the trips that I went on changed and didn't go according to plan (this one can still be a problem, but I am significantly better at handing it now.) I remember seeing all the pictures of my friends on Facebook hanging out over holiday breaks and saying, "I wish I could be there." I remember a lot. Looking back in my journal only helps further the point made in the picture: when you look back, EVERYTHING is different. I was confident in the states, but it has taken me almost six months to fully come out of my shell and really stop caring what people think of me too much (example: yesterday I wore my PJs to school since it was dress up day only to realize none of my classmates would change into them, if at all, for the first two hours of the day. Was I embarrassed or did I care? Not at all.) I was also very outgoing back home, if I had to talk to a stranger, no problem (in fact, I would do it for fun sometimes, asking random people on the streets of Excelsior for words for my Madlibs.) Here, again, it has taken me six months to really get to that point. When Rotex say to future exchange students, "Just say yes to anything and everything," I understand what they mean. Although I am not always best friends with the people I hang out with, saying yes to when they ask me to spend time with them means I get to know them more, even if I am terrified that I won't have anything to talk about or that they won't want to hang out with me again. Looking back, I can't even imagine my life without Spain and it's hard to think of a life only involving living in good old Minnetonka. 

It isn't only me who is noticing these changes, my host mom has told me on multiple occasions that she thinks I have changed (she said "más grande [bigger]" and I made the argument that it's probably because I have gained exchange student wait, hopefully not) and she says I look more mature, more like a woman than the timid young girl that initially came to Spain (my phrasing, not hers.) My Rotary club is always surprised when I come to a monthly or bimonthly meeting because I act more confident as shown by my shoulders back, straight backed stature, and that my language is amazing now. I don't see these changes as much, but people point them out to me and it's nice to know that my fluency is way better than when I first arrived. 

In James 1:4, it says "let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." God does not call his child to remain like children, but He wants our faith and His work to make us mature, to gain wisdom, to be complete in Him so that we don't lack anything, so that we are ready for battle against sin and the Devil. This year has put me to the test in every way possible: physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. When I return back to Minnesota, I am praying that I don't lack much and that God gave me wisdom to impart on those around me. 

~Ashlyn

P.S. Next adventure update: carnival starts today! WOOOO!! The USA does not have carnival, but it is like Halloween but with more dancing and partying and less scary costumes (everyone dresses up though.) If you want to know what it's like, go watch "Rio." Yes, I know it's a movie about a bird, but it takes place in Rio de Janeiro and has some scenes pertaining to the carnival there. ANYWAYS! Where I was going with this is that I haven't had an epic adventure away from my Spanish home in a while, so... I AM GOING TO TENERIFE!! For those of you who don't know where that is, it is in the Canary Islands (Spanish islands) off the coast of Western Africa. So on Monday, I will be hopping on a place for 3 hours and going to meet some other exchange students there and spend the week with them! Carnival there is world renowned, so it's going to be amazing! And then the weekend after I get back, I will be running my marathon in Barcelona if all things work out! Please pray to keep me safe in these journeys and that my race would go as well as I have been training it to be (since November!)