Ashlyn has so much to celebrate

Today is Saint Patrick’s Day! I’m super excited to celebrate. My freshman year I was in Louisiana, last year I was in Mexico, and this year I’m here. Next year I’m going to have to keep up the tradition of traveling on Saint Patty’s Day. I love celebrating holidays, and this year I feel like I have a lot to celebrate. Being in South Africa has shown me how blessed I have been in life. Everyday I walk to my internship on streets lined with tiny houses. I think about how houses that small don’t even exist in my town, yet those same houses are seen as a privilege in South Africa because so many people don’t have permanent housing. This year as I honor my heritage I’ll also remember how honored I’ve been.

The past couple of days have been great and I have so many things to be grateful for. On Saturday I partook in Holi, which is the festival of lights. Holi started as a Hindu religious festival but has become popular among non-Hindus. The festival involves throwing colored powder into the air and listening to good music. Holi was held on the Parade (a center of downtown Cape Town) and I really enjoyed getting to meet new people there. This past Sunday I also went sand boarding, which was a great experience. Sand boarding is basically the Cape Town version of snow boarding. I didn’t like going fast down the dunes so I would throw myself down whenever I sped up. Most of the time on the dunes we were goofing off however. We spent some time burying Jill in the sand and jumped down the dunes (which to my surprise was very entertaining).