I know it's been too long. I guess I have writer's block.
Call it what you will, it just feels like life is all hitting me at once. people ask me everyday when I will go home and then express their disappointment when I say I'll be leaving at the end of June. Right when summer begins, which is apparently the best part of the year here.
That's 2 months. To me it still seems like a lot of time. I don't want to be reflecting and thinking back on my year yet. I'm not ready for that. But yet I'm trying to rationalize and relate my two lives to each other. It's just so complex; it boggles my mind.
People in the US generally don't care too much about the Spanish culture. Let's be honest. But people here in Spain are FASCINATED with the United States. They all want to be Americans. They tell me how cool it is that I am American and how they wish they could live in the US too. I just kind of nod and smile. Yeah, the United States has got some good things going. But so does Spain. I really don't see either culture as better than the other. Especially now that I really feel affiliated with them both.
In some ways I'm excited to be going back. One of the reasons is the comfort of my first language again. Something that I experienced alot in my experience (I want to emphasize that everyone's is different) was an underlying feeling of inequality. I can't speak at the speed of the Andalusians or with the perfect Spanish accent, so people wouldn't want to talk to me. There are those who kind of smoothly ignore me..It's one of those not-so-great parts of my year that has certainly caused me to not always be so eager to talk. I have honestly met some really nice people though that have showed me true kindness.
Of course, I don't worry about that. I can't blame them. More than anything, it's been a learning experience for me as I have become so humbled and I will look at foreigners in the US speaking English completely differently. I know all the hard work and courage it takes to be surrounded by natives and speak their language. Those people deserve serious respect. If there's one thing I've learned from my English class here in Spain, it's that English is pretty challenging. Phrasal Verbs are confusing.
So those are just my random thoughts from today. Sorry for the lack of structure :)..
Besos, Lani.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
Camino de Santiago
"The Way" or "The Holy Spanish Road."
It rained. And we walked. And talked. And as it rained some more we kept walking. Until we got to our hostel for the night. Where we ate huge dinners. And we talked until the wee hours of the morning, until finally closing our eyes, exhaustion enveloping us.
That's what everyday of this trip would look like on paper. 46 kids from all over the world in Spain, who joined together to make this crazy journey. Over 70 miles, and every inch of ground covered on foot. It might not seem like a lot, but trust me it was.
But those were some of the most incredible days of my life. 5 days filled with every emotion imaginable. Exhaustion, Hunger, Determination, Pain, Joy, Happiness, Relief, Pride...just to name a few. And being endlessly wet. We forgot what it was like to not have water falling from the sky.
Wanting the Difficulty and Pain to end... and Sadness when it was finally all over. Those people mean so much to me. I was in the best company that whole Camino.
Lemme tell you about my journey:
I left early in the morning on March 19th, from Huelva, Spain. I took a bus (on my own!) to Madrid. Madrid for three days was where I began my trip, and it deserves a post entirely in itself. So stay tuned for that!
This entry I want to dedicate entirely to El Camino de Santiago.
El Camino de Santiago or St. James' Way as it's called in English has quite a bit of history. From what I understand, it's typically a spiritual journey. And if you want to know all the information about that, I would lead you to Wikipedia. But this post isn't about history and theory, but about friendship and emotions.
So, we begin in the Madrid Airport. Autumn, Erik, and I arrive at 1 am to try to get a few hours of sleep on the cold, hard airport floor and then catch a flight that leaves at 6 am. I don't remember whose idea it was, but we decide to put some music on and dance in the middle of the airport. There's almost no one there, except the cleaning lady driving back and forth on her floor-mopping machine. (The looks she gave us were hilarious!)
Dancing in the Madrid Airport
We get on the flight and everything without too many issues (except my maybe-slightly-oversized-and-overweight backpack may have caused some problems, but that's another story), and arrive in Santiago at 7 am in the morning. We spent almost all day there, just walking around the city and discovering an amazing cheap sandwich place; until getting on the bus to Sarria where we were to begin the walk the next day. I saw so many wonderful fellow AFSers again after 7 months, we were reunited.
And at 7 am the next morning, we were ready to begin the journey. Here's a random vlog from the end of the first day:
End of 1st Day- Camino de Santiago
And this is the video that I made to describe the entire journey. Enjoy!
El Camino de Santiago
A really cool part of the trip that I wanted to mention was that people from all over the world come together to make the journey. And everyone talks to each other. There weren't a ton of people on the Camino since it's really not the prime season, (people usually do it in summer) but we still met a lot of other foreigners. There were Spanish, lots of Germans, Irish, English, more Americans, Turkish, and so many more...
I'm not going to include too many photos since there's already millions in the video, but here are some of my favorites:
After finishing:
One of the best weeks of my life. Thanks for reading about it.
Besos, Lani.
It rained. And we walked. And talked. And as it rained some more we kept walking. Until we got to our hostel for the night. Where we ate huge dinners. And we talked until the wee hours of the morning, until finally closing our eyes, exhaustion enveloping us.
That's what everyday of this trip would look like on paper. 46 kids from all over the world in Spain, who joined together to make this crazy journey. Over 70 miles, and every inch of ground covered on foot. It might not seem like a lot, but trust me it was.
But those were some of the most incredible days of my life. 5 days filled with every emotion imaginable. Exhaustion, Hunger, Determination, Pain, Joy, Happiness, Relief, Pride...just to name a few. And being endlessly wet. We forgot what it was like to not have water falling from the sky.
Wanting the Difficulty and Pain to end... and Sadness when it was finally all over. Those people mean so much to me. I was in the best company that whole Camino.
Lemme tell you about my journey:
I left early in the morning on March 19th, from Huelva, Spain. I took a bus (on my own!) to Madrid. Madrid for three days was where I began my trip, and it deserves a post entirely in itself. So stay tuned for that!
This entry I want to dedicate entirely to El Camino de Santiago.
El Camino de Santiago or St. James' Way as it's called in English has quite a bit of history. From what I understand, it's typically a spiritual journey. And if you want to know all the information about that, I would lead you to Wikipedia. But this post isn't about history and theory, but about friendship and emotions.
So, we begin in the Madrid Airport. Autumn, Erik, and I arrive at 1 am to try to get a few hours of sleep on the cold, hard airport floor and then catch a flight that leaves at 6 am. I don't remember whose idea it was, but we decide to put some music on and dance in the middle of the airport. There's almost no one there, except the cleaning lady driving back and forth on her floor-mopping machine. (The looks she gave us were hilarious!)
Dancing in the Madrid Airport
We get on the flight and everything without too many issues (except my maybe-slightly-oversized-and-overweight backpack may have caused some problems, but that's another story), and arrive in Santiago at 7 am in the morning. We spent almost all day there, just walking around the city and discovering an amazing cheap sandwich place; until getting on the bus to Sarria where we were to begin the walk the next day. I saw so many wonderful fellow AFSers again after 7 months, we were reunited.
And at 7 am the next morning, we were ready to begin the journey. Here's a random vlog from the end of the first day:
End of 1st Day- Camino de Santiago
And this is the video that I made to describe the entire journey. Enjoy!
El Camino de Santiago
A really cool part of the trip that I wanted to mention was that people from all over the world come together to make the journey. And everyone talks to each other. There weren't a ton of people on the Camino since it's really not the prime season, (people usually do it in summer) but we still met a lot of other foreigners. There were Spanish, lots of Germans, Irish, English, more Americans, Turkish, and so many more...
I'm not going to include too many photos since there's already millions in the video, but here are some of my favorites:
 |
| Soaked. |
 | |
| My friend Marianne from Norway with this Spanish woman- I just think this is adorable. |
 |
| Love this. |
After finishing:
 |
| Shannon, one of my best friends. |
 |
| Love this kid. Plus we are about as happy as can be. :) |
 |
| From Germany |
 |
| Siobhan <3 |
 | |
| I made it. |
 |
| No, WE made it. :D |
One of the best weeks of my life. Thanks for reading about it.
Besos, Lani.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)