Easter Weekend!

Things I did for the first time this weekend:
1. Eat ostrich meat—tastes mostly like beef, but absolutely delicious!
2. Learn to drive a stick shift—I got to drive in circles on an empty soccer field, quite exciting
3. Have egg liqueur and ice cream for Easter breakfast (mmmmmm)
4. Climb dune 7, the highest of the sand dunes outside of Swakopmund. It was sad how difficult it was, but was a lot of fun and gorgeous to see, despite being covered in sand for the next two days!
5. Jump out of an airplane at 10,000 feet. (!!!) Many of you know one of my biggest fears is heights, so this was quite an accomplishment (I think). I was terrified but after a beautiful 10 minute flight along the coast, I jumped (strapped to a professional) out of the plane. The first 5 seconds were absolutely awful, I was convinced I was going to die and had that awful sinking feeling in my stomach that you get on roller coasters for longer than I thought possible, but after that it was incredible. The chute opened right on cue, we did some turns in the air, and we landed without a glitch. It was a pretty amazing experience.

The weekend overall was incredible. It began with three friends (two vols and a girlfriend) coming and spending Thursday night at my house, which was wonderful, since they are two of my favorite people and I rarely get such unrestricted access to them. It was a fun night, mostly just full of chatting. We then drove down to Swakopmund to meet up with the rest of the group (we were ten in all) and spent the weekend walking on the beach, eating too much, talking, and doing the above activities. It was a ton of fun, as always, and we worked very well as a group, even with so many people. It just made it hard to come back!