Week 2

This past week was much different than my week on the Camino de Santiago, but equally enjoyable. I met my group of American students in the Madrid Airport last monday, and then proceeded to orientation in Salamanca Spain. While we were in Salamanca, we visited many old castles and churches with beautiful architecture. 

This cathedral has paintings that depict scenes from
the bible. The intention was to convey the stories
to people that could not read. 

This Courtyard is part of an ancient university
in Salamanca. This part of the university
has been converted into a museum, but there
are still students in other buildings. 

This cathedral is very close to where we stayed in the city of Salamanca.  Every night we could see its towers Illuminated in the night sky.

My experience in Salamanca was full of wonderful tourism and sight seeing, but at first I was disappointed by how much English the American group was speaking. This was a shock to me, because  the first week I had been in Spain, I was surrounded by Spanish speakers the entire time, and learned an incredible amount every day. When the American group arrived, I was at first very happy to have friends again, but soon realized that I was not learning any Spanish at all. By the second day, I found a group of friends within the American group who were as intent upon learning Spanish as I was, and things began to progress in a more positive direction.

After four days in Salamanca we moved to our host families in Segovia. I think I was very lucky to end up with the host family I have here. The mother is an excellent cook, the father has a great sense of humor, and the daughter Marta, is my age, and she has been introducing me to all of her friends. This weekend, Marta and I took a trip into Madrid to be part of the celebration for her soccer team Atlético de Madrid. On Friday Atléti won the euro cup against Chelsea (of England?) and I became their newest fan. The Celebration was Saturday night, so we took the bus into madrid, and met up with some of Marta's friends to join the festivities.

Here I am with Miguel, Marta, and Laura, celebrating Atlético de Madrid's victory

The next two days, Marta and I explored Madrid. This was very useful for me because I started to get a sense of where I will be living, and how to use the metro. We went to some beautiful parks, and I also became acquainted with the restaurant 100 Montaditos, which serves food at very low prices. Marta and I were also very lucky because on Sunday we decided to go to the Palace of Cebelis, and it was the last day for free admission to the observation balcony on the 8th floor. from the balcony, we could see all of madrid. For free!

Marta and I are at the pool in Retiro Park

Marta and I on the balcony of the Palace de Cebelis

Marta and I at Parque del Templo de Debod

Today Marta needed to register for her classes at her school, so I went with her to do that. The Universities in Spain are much different than those in the United States. Firstly, tuition is far cheaper than finding room and board. The school did not seem very preoccupied with it's appearance either. this was very different for me, coming from St. Lawrence where every side walk block is perfectly aligned. Also, the students pick one career to study, and stay in the building for that career for the entire four years. This was a big contrast for me, because sometimes my classes can be all the way across campus. Despite these differences, many things reminded me very much of my  college experience, such as the dining hall with food that just wasn't quite as good as home, and thousands of excited chattering students excited about upcoming classes.

Overall, I'm very glad that I ended up with the host family I have, because I will still be able to spend time with Marta while we are in Madrid because we will both be studying and living near each other. It makes me happy that I have already met so many spanish friends my age.

The View of a palace from Parque Templo de Debod

El Camino de Santiago

I'm sorry to everyone who has been checking this blog and finding nothing. Now after over a week, I finally have an opportunity to post.

El camino de Santiago was definitely an experience I will never forget. When I first applied for the grant, I didn't really know what I was going to get out of the pilgrimage.  Now that I have walked over 100km of the camino, I think that it made me realize how lucky I am to live the comfortable life that I have.

The first day of the camino was definitely the most scenic walk. That day my friend Andrés and I walked about 23 km from the town of Sarria to the town of Portomarín. That morning we woke up at about 6:30, and drove from Andrés's grandfather's house to the town of Sarria. It was still completely dark out, and the stars were still very bright in the sky. When we arrived in Sarria, we had some trouble obtaining our first stamp in the pilgrim's passport, because it was still so early. Many of the places with stamps only opened at 9:30. Luckily we found a priest in an abbey who had a stamp, so by 7:30 AM we were on the road.

This is a little church that we saw on the way to Portomarín. The word for small town churches is ermita. 

We arrived in Portomarín by 12:30 and found an albergue to stay in. Once we were settled in, we had plenty of time to explore the city. Since it was sunday, the city was having it's weekly celebration. There was a stage set up in the center of town, and traditional dancers and musicians performed. 

This is the first Albergue we stayed in. The albergue in Portomarín was nicer, and the one in Arzúa was worse, but they were all relatively clean and pleasant. 

These are the traditional dancers that we saw in Portomarín.  Andrés said that he, and most people that grow up in Galicia know most of these dances, and most of the songs that they played on the bagpipes (gaita)

The next day we walked from Portomarín to Palas de Rei. These 23 km were a lot more painful than the 23 we had walked the previous day. We arrived in the city around 12:30, and were lucky to find a very nice albergue there. We made friends with one of our bunkmates, named Carmen. There were also many rambunctious Italians staying there, much to the chagrin of anyone interested in taking a siesta.

The third day we walked with Carmen 14km to the town of Melide. She stayed there for the night, but we coninued on another 16 km to the town of Arzúa. Many pilgrims stop in Melide, like Carmen did, and then walk the next 16km the next day. Since we were taking all of the distance in one day, we needed to call ahead to reserve a spot in an albergue because the pilgrims that only needed to walk 16km would take all of the spots hours before we arrived. 

This is our friend and fellow pilgrim, Carmen. This picture was taken in Melide, where she and many other pilgrims stopped for the night before continuing to Arzúa

I had initially intended on finishing el camino in 5 days, splitting the last part of the walk into two 20 km sections. Unfortunately for my feet, Andrés met a south korean pilgrim who intended on finishing the camino the next day, by walking over 40 km from Arzúa to Santiago de Compostela. By that evening, Andrés was convinced that we were going to complete the same feat.  The next day we did walk about 43 km to the city of Santiago de Compostela. That day was probably one of the most irrational feats I have ever attempted and completed. It took us about 8.5 hours to walk the distance, and by the time we recieved our compostelas (certificate's of completion), we were somewhat delirious, and our joints barely moved.

This is the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.   Inside the Cathedral there is a statue of Santiago (St. James). The tradition is to give tribute to the saint, by walking up to him and hugging his statue. I did not know about this tradition originally, but learned it from Andrés and his father.  I was amazed that the Spanish government let anyone and everyone come up and hug this incredibly old and historical statue.

That evening we had dinner with Andrés' father and brother David, who is a famous Galician singer, and David's family. We returned to Andrés' abuelo's house that night, and gratefully slept well past dawn.  

Leaving Tomorrow!

I'm leaving for Spain tomorrow at 3:39 PM.  Last week I was definitely feeling some nerves, but now I think I'm over it. My friend from St. Lawrence, Andrés is picking me up from the airport in Barcelona, and we will walk El Camino de Santiago (a historic trail in northern Spain) together. Packing for El Camino was definitely a challenge, but luckily there were many example packing lists that I found on the internet.

I fit everything I will need for El Camino in my Backpack, seen below.

Here is my sleeping mat. Although some albergues will have beds with mattresses, I want to be safe, because I know I will not sleep well on a cement floor.

This sleeping mat can be rolled up to be just a little bigger than my hiking boot, which is a very convenient feature. 

This Osprey Water bladder is a relatively recent acquisition. My dad bought this for me last summer for a hiking trip, and since then I have never left it at home. Instead of sloshing around in the backpack making the weight distribution uneven and uncomfortable, the water bladder slides into a pocket against the frame of my backpack. It is very comfortable to carry, and it holds three times as much water as a regular Nalgene water bottle.

Similarly to my sleeping pad, my sleeping bag rolls up to be just a little bigger than my hiking boot.

Here is all of my other gear, which is relatively self explanatory.

Headlamp

 Hiking Boots

Compass and Whistle

 First Aid Supplies

Duct tape: The temporary solution to almost any problem

Long Clothing

Hiking Shirts

Rain Poncho

Warm Outer Layer

Socks and Underwear

Camp Shoes

Shorts

Hopefully I didn't forget anything major, but I'm sure that if there is anything, I'll be able to find what I need in Spain.

I'm not sure of the next time I will be able to post, but I'm sure I'll have pictures from Spain!

Love, Jenny

Starting off

I've never had a blog before, but as I am going to Spain in a week, and there are many people that will want to vicariously enjoy my adventures, I've started one.  I hope that everyone will enjoy my stories and photos.