El Camino… el, el camino.
So, my first official week in Santiago has come to a close… (well, atleast the classes have.) I survived! Woo hoo! No, its been really fun, and really good for me to be pushed as much as I have. I fee like I will hopefully improve tremendously by the end of the term here. It is crazy to think that I have been gone for two weeks already! Time FLIES. Although, I am sure for those of you waiting anxiously at home, you are thinking quite the opposite. ;)
Anyway, so classes this week… lets just update you on what it is like. I go to class from 9:30am to 2:00pm everyday. From 9:30-11:00 we work on elements in the Spanish language… things like grammar, new vocabulary, proper tenses… etc. What fun. ;) Then we get a 30min break to snack, hang out and just take a mental break from all this Spanish… (atleast that is what we use it for..tehehe) Then we continue from 11:30 to 1:00 with more language activities until a quick five minute break to prepare our minds for the cultural part of our schooling. Everyday we have a one hour block about a specific cultural topic native to Spain… or what have you.
This week: El Camino de Santiago. It is a Christian pilgrimmage that has been around since the Medieval Era. It is the third biggest pilgrimmage in the world next to the ones that go to Rome and Jerusalem. Pretty cool huh? I thought it was pretty interesting. And it makes so much sense why there are rugged, overly-tan looking mountainmen (and women) that loom in the streets around here with their over-sized backpacks. ;) They are pilgrims! :) There are seven different “Caminos” that people walk on, and they all end up at the Cathedral in Santiago. The legend behind this is that a man followed a star through the forrest and ended up finding the remains of the body of one of the Apostles: Santiago. So at the Cathedral, his “tomb” is in the heart of it, and people from all over the world, walk, ride bikes or horses in order to come and be blessed by the apostle’s tomb. The cool thing is, the caminos are marked with yellow conchas (shells) and yellow arrows. The shell is the symbol of the routes that lead to the center or the ending point, The Cathedral in Santiago. :) The pilgrims that travel these routes carry passports and get stamps along the way to show where they have been and where they are going. You only need to complete 100km by foot or 200 by bike/horse or 40miles by a nautical means in order to receive the offical “certificate” of completion of this pilgrimmage. Pretty interesting huh?
Anyway, we have been studying this all week, and tomorrow our professors are taking us to a part of one of the caminos to walk 4km of it… which isn’t much at all, but it will be cool to get a feel for what it would be like…. (which one day, I think it would be neat to actually do… I will add it to my bucket list…) So that is the plans for tomorrow. Tonight we have talked about going out for a little bit, but since we have to walk tomorrow we probably won’t be out for too long… You know, night life over here doesn’t really even start until 2am! I am ready for bed by then! Crazy. No wonder it is custom to take siestas… I can see why they would need them ;)
Sunday, we are planning on going to the beach, but Santiago’s forecast predicts rain…(which is typical for this part of the country) So dad, my new raincoat will come in handy! ;)
Next week, we are supposed to have more international students join our classes, so that should be interesting. Japanese students speaking spanish? Who knows.
Anyway, I love you all and miss you all so so so much!
Hope everything is going well in the states. :)
Te amo,
Madison
