Entry 1: The Journey to Spain and a Brief Stay in Madrid (June 3rd – June 7th)

In typical airport fashion, our group’s trip to Spain did not start off on the right footing. After we cleared security in the RDU airport, we were informed that our flight to Philadelphia was going to take off late and thus affect our remaining flight from Philadelphia to Madrid. Therefore, we had no choice but to take the later flight and have ourselves re-routed from Philadelphia to Munich, Germany and then from Munich to Madrid. We were all terribly excited at first to hear this news; we were going to Germany! However, after approximately 10 hours of total flight time and only a glimpse of Munich that we strained to see from the airport, we were ready to reach Madrid. Thus, when we arrived in Spain’s capital city, we collapsed in our beds at the Hotel Tirol for several hours before going out for dinner in the Plaza Mayor, the most famous plaza in Madrid. I was especially excited for a typical Spanish tapas dinner of jamón serrano, queso manchego, olives, calamari and empanadas because I had just been in the country in January and missed the cuisine so much! After dinner, we walked around the city so that Doctor Thomas could show us some of its most important monuments. I especially enjoyed strolling through Madrid at night because the city lights were like twinkling crystals illuminating an incredible backdrop of buildings and foliage.

The following day, we woke up to discover that we were going to visit some of the most historical and cultural monuments Madrid had to offer: the Palacio Real (the royal palace), the Prado (one of the world’s most famous art museums), and the Reina Sofia (a contemporary art museum). The Palacio Real was simply breathtaking; the white stone of the building contrasted beautifully with the blue of the Spanish sky and the green and pink of the flowering plants. The sheer expanse of the building made me dizzy, but within its walls I discovered two rooms that I especially enjoyed. The first, the Throne Room, had an incredible fresco on the ceiling and red velvet walls that complemented the gold of the two thrones, various mirrors, and side tables. The other, the Smoking Room, had beautiful hardwood floors and a Japanese blue and yellow motif. After our visit to the Palacio Real, we made our way to the Prado. There I was stunned to find many of the works of art that I have seen in my textbooks while at Meredith. The most important to me were Goya’s The Family of Charles IV and Velázquez’s Las Meninas. Finally, our last stop of the day was the Reina Sofia. There I saw perhaps the most important work of art of the last century: Picasso’s Guernica. I was amazed by the sheer size of the work, for it covered an entire wall of the museum. More importantly, however, I was able to witness the tragedy of the Spanish Civil War through this piece of art.

Our final full day before arriving in Santiago de Compostela was spent in Toledo, one of Spain’s most historic cities for its mixture of Spanish, Moorish, and Jewish cultures. While in Toledo we visited two synagogues and the Museo Sefardí, a museum with artifacts portraying the history of the Jewish people in Spain. Toledo is also one of the most famous cities in the world for its marzipan desserts, so of course while we were there we tried several different types. But we could not fill up on these sweet treats, for when we returned to Madrid we had a final group dinner that included numerous tapas, a main course of fish, and candied fruits for dessert. The following day, we woke up early to catch our plane to Santiago de Compostela, and our incredible stay in this city of pilgrims began.

Entry 2: Our First Two Weeks in Santiago (June 7th – June 22nd)

As our plane landed at the Santiago de Compostela airport, I began to feel the first waves of nervousness coursing through my body. In approximately one hour I would meet my host family, the individuals with whom I would be living for the next six weeks. Would they like me? Would I be able to communicate with them effectively in Spanish, my second language? Would my apartment be close to those of any of the other Meredith students? However, once I stepped out of the taxi and meet my host mother, Antonieta, and my host brother, Nicolás, all of my fears washed away. We chatted the whole way home from the university, and as we walked through the main park of the city, the Alameda, I caught my first glance of the cathedral whose architecture is known the world over. Little did I know that I would be living in a third-floor apartment about 100 yards from this majestic site, but I soon found out!

Two days passed by quickly (as I learned all the days do in Spain), and I was anxious again, this time because I was preparing myself for my first day of classes at the local university. I remember feeling as if I had been transported back to kindergarten. Would all of the students like me? What about my professor? What was I going to be studying for the next six weeks? Again, my fears were abated as soon as my placement test was finished and the class rosters were announced. I found myself in a class with two other Meredith ladies, one of Meredith’s librarians, two English girls, a Swedish man, another American, a Finnish woman, and a Belarusian woman. Imagine my surprise at this class composition! However, I had already met individuals from the United States, Canada, and Scotland earlier in the day, so I was not as shocked as I probably would have been otherwise.

Our class time passed by fairly quickly, as we were involved in many conversational Spanish activities such as visiting the local market and performing skits. We also worked on two group projects these first two weeks. One involved designing and constructing our own tour guide of Santiago for international students. The other (my personal favorite) allowed us to produce our own class newspaper. My class’s, purposely titled La Remolacha (The Beet in Spanish) was a spoof of the popular American periodical The Onion and included several true but many more fictitious articles. In the afternoons after lunch, the university usually had cultural activities in which we could participate. These activities included taking a guided tour of the cathedral, going to the movies, and visiting museums. Such a busy schedule of classes and afternoon activities ensured that we were never bored.

Even though we did not have class on the weekends, there was still plenty for us to do. For instance, the university arranged an excursion to A Coruña for the entire international courses program on our first weekend in Santiago. This trip included a visit to the seaside town and several of its monuments, including the Tower of Hercules, the oldest functioning lighthouse in the world. We also had the opportunity to spend several hours at the city’s gorgeous (and hot!) beaches. The following weekend, the Meredith group embarked on a weekend Camino walk. The Camino de Santiago is the route followed by pilgrims from numerous countries who visit Santiago de Compostela every year. Our group chose to follow the Camino Francés, or the French Route, from the easternmost reaches of Galicia westward towards Santiago. Therefore, we traveled east by bus and stopped at a monastery and in Lugo, where a Roman and Celt festival was taking place. Finally, we arrived in O Cebreiro, the first stop of the Camino Francés located in Galicia. After staying overnight in a centuries-old inn in this town, we began our Camino walk. Although we only managed to complete a total of 12 kilometers because of several more stops, this journey was one of the most significant of my life. Not only was I able to see the beauty of rural Galicia, but I was also able to bond with my fellow Meredith ladies and discover my own inner strength.

Entry 3 - ¡Somos los campeones! (June 23rd – July 6th)

The beginning of our second two-week period in Santiago began with the departure of both Doctor Thomas and Judy Schuster. Now we found ourselves alone in a foreign country, but too many exciting events were occurring in Spain for us to be too concerned. The first of these celebrations was the Night of San Juan, which took place on June 23rd and included bonfire jumping and sardine eating. However festive this night was, it paled in comparison to the celebrations surrounding Spain’s winning the Eurocup. This soccer (or should I say fútbol) event is held every four years, and Spain had not won the competition in over forty years. The national team was the underdog from the beginning, but because of a goal by Spanish soccer star Fernando Torres in the final against Germany, Spain won! The celebration that night in Santiago was incredible. Thousands of people crowded Plaza Roja, where the game was projected on a huge screen. These citizens were jumping into the fountains, setting off fireworks, and chanting “¡Viva España!” at the top of their lungs. And of course, my university friends and I were caught right in the middle of it all, sporting our Spain jerseys and getting drenched from the buckets of water people were dumping from their apartment windows. The sea of yellow and red and the immense pride of the Spanish people due to their team’s victory are two images that I will never forget.

Of course, after such celebrations we believed that our classes at the university would be terribly boring. However, our professors enticed us with two more group projects on which to work, one concerning the Camino de Santiago and another that involved shooting a class video. I especially enjoyed this last project because my class chose to produce an announcement for a telenovela, or a soap opera. I was cast in the leading role as Tesora Flores, a twenty-something gold-digger married to a man almost three times her age. Unfortunately, Tesora is involved in a car accident and loses her memory, but luckily she is able to find love again with her handsome doctor, Juan Carlos de la Vega. All in all, it was incredibly entertaining to shoot our video and share it with the other classes!

Afternoon and weekend activities also abounded, and during this two-week session I was able to visit the exposition of a famous Spanish painter, Sorolla, learn about the beginnings of the University of Santiago de Compostela through a tour of its historic buildings, become immersed in Galicia via a 3-D exhibit, and discover the world’s pilgrimage sites through a visit to Santiago’s pilgrimage museum. Also, on the 28th of June, a Saturday, many of the university’s international students spent the day on an excursion to the Parque Nacional de las Islas Atlánticas. Specifically, we remained on Ons, an island in the Atlantic Ocean. Even though I got terribly sun burnt due to the lack of shade on the island, my pain was worth the trouble because of the incredible views of the island we saw while on a guided tour.

However amazing the views of Ons were, they could not compare to my stay in Portugal the following weekend. One of my university friends, Isabel, was from Porto, one of Portugal’s major cities. She kindly invited anyone interested to come home with her for the weekend, and I (along with four other friends) gladly took her up on the offer. Although the train ride from Santiago to Porto lasted approximately six hours, by the time we reached Porto we realized that it had been worth it! While in Porto we visited the cathedral, climbed the highest tower in Portugal in order to get an amazing view of the city, and even took a jaunt across the Douro River to participate in several port wine tastings. We also visited several museums and found our way to the city’s beach, a beautiful expanse of sand, surf, and rock guarded by an aging fort. Although it was too cold to go swimming, Maribel Oñate and I made sure that Meredith was represented in Portugal by taking numerous photos of our onyxes on the beach and inside the fort. For me, this weekend was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will be hard to beat!

Entry 4 – The Time of My Life (July 7th – July 19th)

After returning back to Santiago from Portugal, we found a new group of approximately 90 students ready to begin their studies at the university. To welcome these new students and several more professors, a July course inauguration was held on July 15th. This event included a conference given by Doctor Jacques de Bruyne, who gave an interesting speech about the greatest book of all time, which he though to be Cervantes’ Don Quixote. This inauguration actually attracted so much media attention that I found a picture of me and several of my friends listening to de Bruyne’s speech in one of the local newspapers the next day! Due in part to the new students’ arrivals as well, our class schedule at the university changed slightly. For one hour we now participated in weekly conferences, which during my stay examined the Spanish theater of the Siglo de Oro (the 17th century) and the political transformations of Spain following the rule of Francisco Franco.

The days continued to slip stealthily by, and before I knew it, my last day of class was upon me. This day was at the same time the best and worst day of my Santiago experience. For me, it proved hard to say good-bye to the people that had become my close friends during my time at the university. Needless to say, I kept my sunglasses nearby the whole day in case my eyes began to well with tears (which I will admit happened numerous times). However, the day was also filled with many fun activities. During my class time at the university, we watched the film Like Water for Chocolate and took a brief guided tour of the Galician parliament. After an amazing last lunch with my host family that included copious amounts of chocolate ice cream (my favorite), I walked one last time to the university to watch the international students’ soccer game. When the game ended Adriana Samaniego, Maribel Oñate, and I met my professor, Carmela, and her husband, Jovi, at Café Casino, a restaurant on my street, in order to say our good-byes. We did not end up parting ways there, however. After wandering down the street, we found a street performance about to begin in the Plaza Platerias, one of the plazas which surround the cathedral. Intrigued by fire and a miniature motorcycle, the five of us sat on the plaza’s steps until the performance’s conclusion. We then reluctantly said good-bye to Carmela and Jovi and made our way to Plaza Quintana for one last dinner at the amazing crepe restaurant located there.

After dinner, Adriana, Maribel, and I met up with some of our friends to attend a concert located in the Plaza Obradoiro, the plaza where the cathedral’s main entrance is located. Thousands of people were gathered there to listen to the energetic music of Carlos Baute, a popular Venezuelan singer. The concert started with a literal bang, as numerous fireworks illuminated the night sky. My friends and I danced the night away to the lively music of the concert, all the while surrounded by the illuminated cathedral. This lovely sight was how I chose to end my Spanish study abroad experience, and I would not have had it any other way!