Camino de Santiago

At the beginning of this trip, I was not sure what to expect because this was my first time taking a class abroad. I didn’t know anyone in the class and that made me a little worried at the beginning, but I was able to get along with everyone very easily.

During our three week class, we went to many different cathedrals that each of them had something special and unique, visited museums, bridges, and many other places. All the places that we visited had meaning, they were all part of the Camino De Santiago, our topic of study. Before this class I didn’t know much about the Camino until we got to France. I didn’t understand the importance of this pilgrimage until we started our own journey of the Camino and actually experience what everyone else was experiencing. We saw lots of pilgrims during their journey and we got the opportunity to talk to others. Once we made it to Santiago, the end point of the pilgrimage, we could see how happy the pilgrims were because they made it after who knows how many days, and this leads to my favorite part of our journey.

I enjoyed going to the cathedrals, museum and even all of our hikes, but my favorite part was seeing all the pilgrims walking the Camino and how excited the local people were about the Camino. The Camino is as important for the people that are doing it and for the local people that live in the area. During our time in Spain, I was often asked if I was doing the Camino and I would tell them that we were studying about the Camino and walking small parts of it. Even though we weren’t actually doing the whole thing, the fact that we showed interest in the Camino made the local people very happy.

I was able to make new friends, experience new culture, try different foods, and enjoy the beautiful mountains and ocean views.