Canary Islands Reunion

 Day 1- Friday morning was my first time flying on the infamous Ryanair airline. This company does not assign anyone seats (unless you pay extra) and has comparably cheap flights that fit a college student’s study abroad budget. I looked up flights, as directed by my longtime friend Elena, and seized the opportunity to go visit her in the Canary Islands! She has lived in the Canary Islands her entire life, but her family in the United States is extremely close to my family. She and I met years ago at a party with her family while she was visiting the US. We kept in touch ever since so now that I am studying in Madrid, I get to visit her! My Ryanair flight went smoothly for the most part excluding the few bumps encountered. Elena picked me up from the airport and we headed on our way! It was weird being in a car with someone driving manual transmission, but then again that’s how things are here in Spain. We cruised down the highway listening to popular Spanish and American songs on a CD she made as she pointed out specific points of the islands. When we arrived at her house, she showed me around and introduced me to her dog, Molly, since everyone else was still sleeping. 

 After that, we both went back to sleep as I was up since 5am that morning. The nap felt good. Elena’s mom, her sister Laura, and I dropped Elena off at school around 2pm, then headed to the market to buy some food. Yes I said market and no this is not the same thing as a supermarket. Buying food this way is a lot cheaper because it goes through less people/companies. When we arrived home, I went and sat by their pool (which they recommended) and took a small nap, again. The sun felt amazing, but the pool was too cold to swim in. After that, her mom and I went to visit her grandmother, who I have not seen since probably before high school. Unfortunately, her grandmother did not remember me, but it was still nice to visit and attempt to communicate in Spanish. Then the two of us said goodbye and went into town to explore while we waited for Elena to finish up class at 8pm. To pass the time by, we had churros, chocolate, and coffee and browsed through a few clothing shops (where I wanted to buy EVERYTHING) and picked up some more groceries. The town was cute and probably only had one tourists, me. It was neat to see one of the true sides of the Canary Islands other than a tourist spot. Once Elena finished classes, her mom left me with her and some of her friends in town. We all went to a crepe and gelato place which was phenomenal.

 I used my Spanish to converse with her friends because most of them could hardly speak English. Eating and chatting concluded, so Elena and her friends took me to the cathedral which dates back a long time ago. 

Anton, Elena and I in front of the cathedral

Soon enough, we got bored standing outside of it and went to another restaurant just to sit and chat some more. Something that NEVER happens there is rain. Except of course it decides to rain multiple times while I was visiting. The heaviest rain occurred while we were all sitting at this restaurant lucky for us we were sitting under a huge umbrella. Everyone else scurried and scampered for shelter. It was pretty funny actually. One family took their yellow lab dog inside the restaurant. Our night ended here with the rain. It was fun living the life of a true 20 year old Spaniard! Everyone is so laid back and not in a rush to go anywhere. I could get used to it!