Retreat!

I know what you are thinking... I'm already in a beautiful place right on the water and I'm living in Europe and having a crazy time..but yes we still went on retreat. Out of everything that I've done so far, retreat has to be one of my favorite experiences since I've been in Europe!
Our trip started early around 6am to packed up the cars and drive to the other side of the island. It was about an hour and a half to drive, then a two hour hike to get to the house. When we started the hike it was EXTREMELY windy and the wave were huge! But it was all worth it to come to our own little house.

The house is not near anything so we pretty much had out own private beach!!

The house also did not have any electricity so at night we would all hang out around the fire. It was a great way to bond with everyone.

One of the biggest highlights was the food that we ate. One of the students just happens to be a chef so we had some incredible meals!

Other activities we did were a volleyball tournament, playing cards, hiking, swimming, and playing man hunt!

I also had the privilege to spend my birthday during this trip. Who could ask for a better birthday on a their own private beach with all their friends. It was certainly a birthday I don't think I will ever forget.

They wrote Happy Birthday Jaime in rocks on the beach!!

There was no city near us so at night we were able to see more stars than I have in a very long time! We saw a couple small shooting stars, then I decided to say a little prayer. I prayed for a big shooting star to go across the entire sky. Maybe about 20 seconds after I prayed, a star shot horizontally across the sky. Even though it was a small thing, it was a great way to be reminded that God hears us when we pray and cares about the little things in our lives.

The hike back was much more pleasant because the weather was so nice. The water was crystal clear! I only wish that I could go back.

Extreme Hike!

Every semester they always take this hike through a valley on the Island. They call it the Extreme Hike! We start up high and then travel down through the valley and make our way to the sea and that is where we get picked up.

This semester they were considering not having the hike because we had a lot of rain just days before the hike, so a lot of the valley was flooded with freezing cold water. But after a while they decided to have the hike anyway but made sure that we knew that it was going to be hard. I was definitely thinking about not going on the hike but I knew I would regret it if I stayed, so I decided to go.

All of us ready to hike!

They were not kidding when they said that it was Extreme!! Being a smaller person it made it quite a bit harder because jumps were further and steps were longer. But thanks to my friends at our school I had a lot of help. I think I would have died if it weren't for their help. Haha

The hike was about 6 hours long. Usually it would never take this long, but because of the water that we ran into it took a lot longer. Our pastor Raf and leader of the hike did not expect any of the water to be that deep and only expected to run into water in one or two places. But we ran into water at least 5 times. Most of it was over our heads. (All of it was over my head) At first we would try to walk through in our swimming gear holding our packing above our heads. But by the time we got to the third flooded area we all went in with our shoes and clothes on so we would not have to deal with the hassle of changing. 

In the very deep areas was when we became a team and formed an assembly line to pass our packs across the water. This was very difficult!

It was a real team hike, we all had to rely on each other, if we didn't we would not have been able to get through it. It was a team forming and group bonding experience. It was an amazing feeling of accomplishment when we got to the end. When we saw the sea it was a sign of victory! It was beautiful by the way, and a great reminder that we made it!

We did it!!