Loyola Retreat

Hola!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post about the weekend, it's been a busy week! So this past weekend, I went on a retreat with my school to Loyola, in Northern Spain. We went because it is known ad the home of St. Ignatius (founder of the Jesuit religion). And because SLU is Jesuit, it is very important to our school. It was really relaxing and a really enjoyable trip. It was the first retreat I have ever been on, and although it wasn't exactly what I expected I still had a lot of fun and learned a lot about myself.

Basque Country

Green

After getting up super early to be at school for an 8 am bus, I slept most of the 5 hour bus ride. But I woke up in time to see us enter the Northern Part of Spain, known as the Basque Country (Pais Vasco). It was so green and beautiful. There were mountains and hills and valleys everywhere. It was so amazing to just watch it as the bus was driving through. At the end we pulled up to a beautiful basilica, which was right next to our retreat center. Our retreat center was super nice and really homey. It is run by nuns and they are super sweet. After we hopped of the bus, we went into the cafeteria for some lunch. We met a really nice girl named Debbie, and Megan and I asked her to room with us. She's really sweet and we got along really well. She's and artist and she drew me. I was honored. But after lunch, had group time and talked about what we were bringing into the weekend and what we wanted to get out of it plus some small group discussion. Then we headed over to the basilica and just walked around a bit, then we took a tour of the home of St. Ignatius (which was more like a mansion). It was interesting to learn about his life before he became a Jesuit. After we walked through the house, we had some free time to walk around the grounds. There were a lot of pretty little gardens and walkways. We had some fun goofing around. Then we went to dinner before having some amazing opportunities.

Megan, Paul, Ariana, Elizabeth, Debbie, Me

Debbie in our room

Meg in our room

Basilica

 Again

Alter

Dome

Outside of St. Ignatius house

A room inside

View from window

Basilica

River

Retreat center

Grounds

Pretty

Me

We went back to the basilica, and it was completely dark. The director played some music and slowly lit up different parts pertaining to what music was playing. It was kind of a surreal experience and it's really hard for me to put into words. It made me look at the basilica in a whole new light. Then we were lucky enough to be able to go up into the dome of the basilica. Easily one of the top 10 coolest things I have ever done. The view was so amazing, although it was a little bit scary because it wasn't the most secure structure. Then we were given a nice little snack of cookies before we headed back to the retreat center for bed.

Top of Dome

Meg and Audrey

Up high

Me

Again

Meg, Me, Debbie

The next morning, we up bright and early again for breakfast. After breakfast we met as a group again and just discussed different things. Then we walked over to a nearby town that has two important churches. One of the churches was where St. Ignatius was baptized. It was so nice to walk along the river with the mountains in the background. It was a beautiful view. We had mass in the other church before having some free time to explore before lunch. After lunch we had a group meeting in the chapel and just tried to focus ourselves. Then I went with a little group of people to this place nearby called the house of silence. On the way up, I talked to a Jesuit in training, named Charlie, in Spanish because I was complaining how I don't speak Spanish enough so he said we could practice. He said that I speak Spanish really well, which made me feel good because I flip flop between thinking I am really good at Spanish (basically fluent) and thinking that I suck and can't speak Spanish at all. On the way up the hill, we saw some Shetland ponies. So we all stopped to feed/pet them. They were a little skittish, but I got one to come over to me. When we got to the house, unfortunately it was locked, but it was still a beautiful view. Then we had another group meeting before heading to dinner. After dinner we did an interesting exercise. It was St. Ignatius' steps to meditation and being one with God. It was really extensive and long but was really helpful and provided me with a lot of clarity. After that, Megan, Debbie, Audrey and I just had a girls night before going to sleep.

Church

River

 Other church

Gold

Where St. Ignatius was baptized

River again

Me

So pretty

View from house of silence

Pony friend

feeding pony!

Sunday we got up early for breakfast again before heading over to the chapel of conservation (in Ignatius' house) for mass. Then we hoped on the bus and drove to a town two hours away where St. Francis Xavier's castle is. We walked around the castle and the nearby are. It was a really nice castle and had a beautiful view. Then we hoped back on the bus for the long drive back to Madrid. I napped for a little while. Then for about the last 2 hours we sang songs while Charlie played the guitar. Overall it was a really fun trip. I learned a lot about myself and gained some insight into my life. I have always known that I am so blessed but I am even more thankful than before. I have an amazing family, so many great friends and more than some people can ever hope to have in their life. I am also having the best experience of my life in Spain and I have so many opportunities. I am so grateful for everything and everyone that I have in my life.

Caslte

Outside

Smiling Jesus

View from top

Me

Plaza

Below

 Green

Castle

After this weekend I have had a pretty chill week. Yesterday, I went to go see a play with some other students in my Spanish class called En la vida, todo es verdad y todo es mentira (In life, everything is the truth and everything is a lie). It was written in the 1600's by a really famous play named Pedro Calderon de la Barca. It was a really small theatre but I really enjoyed it (what I understood). It was written in Old Spanish so I understood about a fourth of it. Luckily, you could kind of tell what was going on just based on the actors' actions. What I understood is that it was about a war hero who killed the rightful heir to the throne, and he ran into one of his enemies and his enemy's sons. He was going to kill the sons, when the old man told him that one of them was his sons, so he shouldn't kill them because he will be killing his son. Then the king starts a quest to figure out which one is his son. There was also a wizard who used magic to make some illusions. And then he did figure out which one was his son and was going to kill the other one but a girl stood up and just had him banished. Then in the end the banished man killed the king and took the throne because it turns out he was the son of the original man that was killed. Kind of confusing but fun. It was a unique experience and I was glad I went.

Cast

Class

That's about all that's new with me. I am leaving for Paris tonight so I am really excited about that. I have a lot of plans and things I want to do so it should be a busy weekend. I'll update when I get back.

Love,
Ashley