I can hardly believe that I come home in less than three weeks! I can’t wait to see everyone for Christmas. I will miss Spain very much, but I know that I will be back. If there’s anything I have learned over here, it would be that Spain is a country that needs to be rediscovered every day. There is always something new to see and new people to meet!
Here’s a little recap of what’s been happening on this side of the pond for the past month.
*First, my grandparents came all the way to Spain to visit!
*Second, I went on a pilgrimage with my friend Anny in Galicia!
*Lastly, I explored my Irish heritage in the lovely land of Cork!
Dwama and Dwampa Fish:
Dwama and Dwamps Fish would be the names I used to call my grandparents when I was little. I’m brining the name back Gram! ;) My grandparents arrived in Toledo on Nov. 12th and stayed the entire week. They had quite the journey from Chicago to Toledo. Since I wasn’t sure which bus they would manage to hop on, I waited in the main plaza for a while so I wouldn’t accidentally miss them. While I was sitting on one of the benches, I bumped into a friend from St. Norbert who is studying abroad in Madrid and just happened to be exploring Toledo and happened to be in the exact plaza as me. He was supposed to come the day before and we were going to explore together, but he ended up not being able to come. So I was super excited to bump into him. Since he was traveling alone, I think he was quite stunned to hear his name being shouted across the plaza in a foreign country. What a small world we live in.
I called my grandparents before they left the states to give answer any last minute questions they might have and I ensured them that Toledo is a very tranquil city so they shouldn’t have too many problems. Of course there happened to be a very large protest/walk starting at about the exact moment they got off the bus to meet me in the plaza. It was a bit difficult to meet up with them in the plaza, especially because my grandpa had mistaken a protestor as myself. My grandma said he was absolutely convinced that it was me. After this little incident, we headed to the apartment that we stayed at which is owned by a friend of my host family. My host family gave us the grand tour and welcomed my grandparents with Spanish hospitality. I tried my best to prepare my grandparents for the road ahead (i.e. cobblestone, EVERYTHING uphill type deal); nevertheless, it was a bit difficult at first. They were quite the troopers though! Later in the trip, I think my grandpa may have even been trying to race me…or so it seemed.
Grandma wanted a picture of the cobblestone as proof of their accomplishments!
My grandparents married at the age of 18 and moved to Germany directly after when my grandpa joined the military. They lived in Germany for one year, and ever since this my grandpa has been promising my grandpa that they would be back in Europe. About 45 years later they made it, and I could tell they loved every minute of it! My grandma was like a little kid in the candy store during the entire trip…stopping every ½ second to take pictures of everything, and stopping at EVERY store to buy Christmas presents. Between my grandma and I, I think we may have covered every street of Toledo with our picture-taking. Although the majority of my pictures have the back of my grandpa’s head in them, since he was such a speedster down those streets. :) Thanks Jess for letting me borrow the camera…after about 2 months of not taking pictures, I think I went a little picture crazy.
Grandpa leading the pack
ATTENTION TO EVERYONE WHO IS A FRIEND OF MY GRANDPARENTS: Grandma and Grandpa slept in PAST 10am two nights in a row!!!! I was in shock! If you know my grandparents, you know that they are always up at the crack of dawn. My grandma told me that that was the first time she slept in to that time since she was a teenager. As you can see, they adjusted very quickly to life in Spain.
We had mostly gorgeous weather in Toledo. I loved showing my grandparents all of my favorite little places. They even discovered a few of their own. My grandma was practically best friends with a woman who owned a cute hand-made jewelry/accessories shop. I guess it’s not hard to make new friends in Spain when you practically buy out the entire store. Oh typical grandma. If you are reading this blog, chances are you will probably receiving a present from this store from my grandma. All in all, my grandparents loved the city and commented on how unique it is. My grandpa and I passed the nights watching old Western movies (in Spanish of course), and I helped my grandpa learn useful phrases in Spanish from the dictionary.
Grandma, Grandpa, and I on the San Marín bridge
On Tuesday, we woke up at 4am to take the 5 hour bus to Granada, Spain. Granada is in the southern region of Spain and is home to the famous Alhambra palace. The city of Granada played a crucial role in the history of Spain. During the Reconquest, Granada was the last Moorish city to be captured by the Christians in 1492. The Alhambra palace highlights the power that the Moors once held in Spain. As is customary, my camera died as soon as we made it to the Alhambra palace. My grandparents did take pictures though. Pictures cannot do justice to this incredible palace. Granada is one of my favorite cities that I have visited in Spain thus far.
On Thursday night, my grandparents and I said goodbye to Toledo and slept overnight in the airport. I met up with my friends who went on the pilgrimage with me at the airport. My grandpa is so sweet. He stayed up all night while my grandma and I slept on the chairs to watch over us. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for visiting me. It’s not the same without you two here with me. I walk our same route to the plaza now and wish you two were here with me. The Iro lady got her new shipment in Grandma! :)
THE PILGRIM DIARIES:
*Albergue 5 euro
*nutella: 2.50 euros
*hiking boots: 15 euros
*camino: PRICELESS
DAY 1: 11/19/11
One would think that starting a pilgrimage after sleeping on an airport bench isn’t the best start to such a journey. However, I was very surprised that I felt very well rested and alert the next day. For the first time, I actually fell asleep on a plane. This never happens. I woke up suddenly upon realizing that I forgot my pilgrim passport that certifies that I am seeking to complete the pilgrimage. It gives one permission to sleep in the church-operated hostels called albergues. I am usually not this forgetful, but luckily I was able to purchase a new one once I made it to Sarria (our starting point for the pilgrimage).
We started off in Sarria with 113km (70.2 miles) ahead of us. We knew we only had 2.5 days to complete this challenge. Once we got there, we took off. We kept up a very fast pace and realized after the first mile-marker that we would have to keep up this crazy pace for the entire camino if we wanted to make it to Santiago de Compostela without missing our flight. I think my friend Anny and I get along so well because we both like to do crazy (not dangerous) things. Anny lives for challenges. We are a good combination, but when you get two people together who like to defy the odds, you’re sometimes asking for trouble. To be honest, at times I doubted that we would be able to continue at such a fast pace, but we encouraged each other the entire way. We kept telling each other to try our best and forget the rest.
Just 80km more to go!
I believe we walked about 20 km the first day since we didn’t arrive in Sarria until 2pm and it gets dark at 6pm. It also rained for the second half of the day. Thanks to my host dad, the rain didn’t stop us. The first night we slept in a church-operated albergue for only 5 euros. We were not aware that blankets were not provided. We had to use our jackets to cover up and managed to get a descent night of sleep actually. We picked up some food for the rest of the journey (nutella and bread of course).
DAY 2:
We woke up with sore bodies and began the entire process all over again. It was more difficult to start day 2 since we knew we had a long journey ahead of us. We knew that if we wanted to complete the pilgrimage and receive our certificates, we would have to hike a total of 40 km on day 2. We stopped every 10km for a 5 minute break to collect our sanity.
I would describe our daily routine like so:
1) We wake up extremely sore from the day before and question our sanity and if we should even do this.
2.) Once we start covering some ground with the fresh mountain air surrounding us, our spirits pick up a bit.
3) We make it to our first major kilometer-marker (every 10km), and we literally jump for joy (actually more like a hop since we were pretty sore). The end feels a little bit closer and our positive thoughts return.
4.) Ok now we’re at about a little less than the half-way mark for our day’s goal. This would be the most difficult time. This is when we start focusing our attention on our newly formed blisters. We’re not quite half way and our bodies are not doing too hot. This is usually when we each gave our personal pep talks. As the kilometers dragged on, the pep talks became even funnier.
5.) Once we made it past the half-way mark we were running on adrenaline all the way to our albergue where we would sleep for the night.
In my opinion, I think our daily journey is comparable to the daily life. It taught me the importance of taking breaks for silence and stillness in my daily life (even if only for a very short time). Even though our 5 minute breaks every two hours seemed very small, we strived toward those little breaks with every muscle in our body. These short breaks did wonders for our spirits and energy. In real life, I’m guilty of taking the least breaks when I’m the most stressed until it piles up and I forget the meaning behind what I am putting all of my energy into. Now I realize that breaks are essential. Stillness and silence is what I have been missing most post-pilgrimmage. We stopped for a few minutes just to listen to the stillness of it all. Without the swishing of our jackets, it was so still. Although I don’t think about it much, this is pretty rare to find since if you live by a city you are bound to hear cars and other shenanigans going on at all hours.
...see what I mean about the peacefulness
We were directed by yellow arrows. Usually, they were just painted on trees and concrete. The shell is the symbol of the pilgrimmage
I’ve always loved nature and I’ve always been a nature-girl (minus the bugs and insects). Since I’ve lived in the beautiful state that is Wisconsin for mostly my entire life, I’ve been fortunate to get out into nature frequently. What I loved about the pilgrimage was how close we were to nature and how much we depended on it. I would not recommend doing the pilgrimage if you are afraid of dogs…especially dog slobber. My jacket started off a crisp, clean blue and did not end this color with all the dogs that slobbered all over me. Every farm had at least two dogs running around herding the cattle. We even got to follow a herd of cattle for a while on the trail. We saw sheep too…I believe this was my first sheep encounter. The colors of the entire camino were strikingly beautiful. We definitely had our fix of beautiful sunsets setting over lush green hills and rolling mountains. The peacefulness gave us much time to think deeply without the normal everyday distractions or frustrations that get in the way of things you really want to ponder in life. Not that this is what I really want to ponder in life, but my head was so clear that I thought of the perfect Christmas presents for a few people on my list this year. We were not silent the entire time, although there were a few times where we were both so beat that we had 0 energy left for talking. At the beginning of the camino at the height of our energy peak, I learned all about Anny’s interesting life. She is from Taiwan but went to high school in Alabama and currently goes the same Alabama college that was in Forrest Gump. I am so impressed with Anny because she is able to keep 3 languages straight in her head (Chinese, Spanish, and English—and Southern English to add!)
On the camino, cows have the right of way :)
waiting patiently for the herd to pass
We met such kind-hearted people on the camino. One woman was feeding her chickens and insisted that we use her bench to get readjusted before finishing up the day. We also kept running into another pilgrim who slept in our albergue the night before. Although he took restaurant breaks, he always seemed to catch up with us. I was quite impressed! We also met a British man who was teaching at the Univeristy of Santiago de Compostela.
When we went to bed on day 2, we slept well knowing we reached our goal for the day and only had 49.5 km to go. I purchased a foot massage for 2 Euros…BEST purchase of my life!
DAY 3: 49.5km to go!
We started off bright and early on Sunday morning. Actually, it wasn’t too bright outside and it was drizzling. In a short while, the rain went away and the sun came out. It is a strange feeling when you can see your breath yet you are sweating. We started off each morning wearing many layers and ended up taking off almost all of our layers leaving just a t-shirt and pants after about an hour each morning. Taking off layers is easier said than done when you look like a stiff elderly woman. This was a painful experience. The last morning we learned our lesson and started off with less layers.
Our last major day seemed to fly by! We covered our goal of 40km for the day and I felt in better shape then the last two nights. Poor Anny developed serious blisters on the bottom of her foot during the last 10km of our Sunday trek, but she didn’t let them bother her! Go Anny!
Since we knew day three was the last difficult day, we were in pretty high spirits. Day three really made me miss my home state of Wisconsin and all of its beauty. If anyone knows of any Wisconsin pilgrimages/ bike journeys across the states, please contact me J I now have a new appreciation for Wisconsin farmers and all farmers who work so hard to give us delicious food. We talked Spanish with various cows on day 3. We finally made it with only 9km more to go on Monday morning and slept VERY well! My feet weren’t doing too hot, but we gave our feet the royal treatment once we made it to our lodging. After almost an entire bottle of lotion, they looked a little better. Anny took pictures of her feet to show her host family, but I didn’t want to put our relationship in jeoparday. I promise they were that ugly!
DAY 4: We made it to the Cathedral!
We finally arrived at the cathedral with about 1.5 hours to spare and explore the city. We made it to the cathedral, snapped a few photos, and I had to run to catch a bus to make it in time for my flight. Anny’s flight was later than mine so she hung out for a little bit longer in the city. Amidst all of the craziness, I forgot to get my certificate of completion. 0-2 for me! I did pick up a postcard though so it all works out in the end :)
In front of the Cathedral with some of my rain gear from Manolo :)
I took a bus back to the aiport which was about 15 or so minutes away. It was really cool to see how much we walked just that Monday while driving. Then it was back to reality. Although I had quite the pile of homework waiting for me at home, I seemed to have a new sense of focus and managed to finish fairly quickly (for me at least).
And what have I learned from this experience? I think that this experience is one I will reflect on frequently. I do find myself thinking back on it already now that it is final exam time. I keep telling myself that if I could get over my own weaknesses through the camino, I can persevere through exams. Above all, I keep reminding myself about the importance of breaks, silence, and just time to be free and enjoy the beauty of each day. During the camino, we had to pretty flexible and this is something I hope to improve in my hectic college life. I still enjoy writing out my “to do lists” that help me reach my daily and personal goals, I am realizing that it is not the amount of things you can accomplish, but the way in which you can accomplish them. The camino reminded me that relationships, not personal accomplishments, are most important. It is helpful to be reminded that the main thing in life is to keep the main thing the main thing (the main thing being relationships).
CORK, IRELAND:
And now to completely switch gears…Ireland! I returned from the pilgrimage late Monday afternoon and left for Cork, Ireland very early Wednesday morning. I was bit tired. I fell asleep on top of my clothes while starting to pack and woke up to my friend calling me to wake me up. Her host mom offered to drive us to the airport and they were already waiting downstairs for me. I quickly threw a pile of clothes in my backpack and grabbed my passport, boarding pass, and toothbrush and ran outside. Lucky for me I have sweet friends who let me borrow some essential items. I actually managed to pack a few matching outfits…I probably could have done without the Real Madrid jersey in Ireland though.
I traveled to Ireland with the greatest travel companion Laura. We both slept on the entire plane ride. From the airport we had to catch a 5-hour bus from Dublin to Cork. The entire ride was through the countryside. We saw SO many sheep! I attempted to work on homework on the way there, but it was difficult since the whole driving on the opposite side of the street thing made me quite car sick. Although I was too car sick for homework, I did make many lists. Maybe the car sick thing was just an excuse not to my homework. In any case, I wrote down everything I want to do for and with host family if possible during my free week with them. When I return from Prague on Dec. 12th, I will have an entire week with my host family without any schoolwork or other commitments. They told me that I can do all the cooking that week because they want to try American food. I also made a list of everything I still want to do in Toledo before leaving. Why does time have to fly by so quickly? At this point I was on a roll, so why not start a bucket list? A bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die. We even watched the movie Bucket List in Ireland.
We visited two friends from St. Norbert who are studying in Cork, Ireland. I hadn’t seen these girls since the end of sophomore year. I was so happy to finally get to see them in person. They took us out to “fish and chips” the first night. Chips are what we consider fries, and I had chicken. We splurged and got the chips loaded with garlic sauce and cheese. Those chips probably had more calories then what I burned during the entire camino. Well worth it! We spent the first night catching up. It was wonderful.
They made us a Welcome sign :)....Don't worry we do know how to spell Thanksgiving. Katie was distracted at that moment
The next day was Thanksgiving! Although I missed my family, we had a splendid day. The girls gave us a tour of their campus, took us to the little grocery store, we watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, we witnessed another Packer victory, we ate a Thanksgiving dinner sponsored by the church, got to see a view of all fo Cork from their roof, and we finished the night off dancing all around the apartment to Christmas music. Our friend Laura is the biggest Christmas music fan (she started before Halloween).
Katie and Jenny at their University. Notice how no one is walking on the sidewalk through the grass. It is said that if you walk on that sidewalk you will fail!
Those Irish ladies cooked up a storm! We mostly ate in and made home-made meals together. We also made home-made dessert every night as well. My favorite dessert was Katie’s famous cookie crumble. You know how there is the crumble part on top of Apple Streudl? Well, imagine an entire bowl of just the warm, crumbly part! AMAZZINGGG! We also ate something Irish everyday since Katie invented the 25 days of Irelandepic where we must do something epicly Irish. During our visit this was all in the form of food which was fine with me.
The amazing chefs making ze meatballs
We also went to the Blarney Castle and kissed the Blarney stone that is supposed to give ladies elegance. I told my host family about the stone, and they said I have to get over my fear of eating fish first to be elegant. My host dad likes to make fun of me because I don’t like fish, pop, or ketchup.
beautiful Ireland
The gang at Blarney
Cork was so Christmasy! Everything was decorated and playing Celtic Christmas music. One of my favorite places was the English Market. It was a food market kind of outdoors where they sold all fresh produce, meat, dairy, etc. We bought fresh eggs and meat from here.
After five days in Ireland, we had to say goodbye to girls. We helped them study for a test before they left which was very entertaining. We were all a little bit stressed about the work we had put off while enjoying ourselves in Ireland. And when Katie Riesterer is stressed about schoolwork, she is hilarious! We left after a grand goodbye. Katie and Jenny dropped us off at the bus station and shouted goodbye ot our Spanish names “Laurrddaa” and “Leeeesa.” It was hard to say goodbye to the girls after such a great time in Ireland! Laura and I took the bus again to Dublin and had to sleep in the airport since our flight left at 7 in the morning.
Until next time Ireland...
My new favorite song "Galway Girl" : http://youtu.be/i3V-oXwCWL4
JUST IN CASE THIS BLOG ENTRY ISN'T LONG ENOUGH...
This week has been my week of goodbyes. I taught for the last time at the school I help out at. I was only there for 2 months, but it was still sad to say goodbye. I honestly don’t know how I am going to handle goodbyes as a teacher. I stink at goodbyes. I am thankful for the experience to help at a school in Spain. It was an unforgettable experience. I also had to say goodbye to one of my intercambios. I will miss her very much. For our last time together, she wanted to see where
Third Graders :)
My intercambio Elisabeth and I
Lots of great news! I got into all the classes I needed to next semester. I will be finishing up my Spanish major next semester. My host sister just switched her major to English and said she is seriously considering studying abroad in America! My host mom said that my host sister can live with my family and help take care of the babies since she lovessss babies. I showed my host family pictures of a Wisconsin snow storm and my sister really wants to see a white Christmas.
Next week is finals week and I have all but one of my finals on Tuesday Dec. 6th. I have my last final on Thursday morning. I am brining my things to that final because directly after my final I am hopping on an airplane to visit a good friend named Vaclav and his family in the Prague. I cannot even express how excited and thankful I am to have this opportunity to visit him and his family. As you know, my Tuesdays are a bit carazzy. So each Tuesday, I have this little tradition where I do a little victory dance when I walk out of the door of my school. It’s nothing great, but I think this Thursday when I am completely finished with classes and am on my way to visit Vaclav in Prague I may have to do a big victory dance!
I have been pretty adventurous over here for the last few weeks. I tried liver and FISH!! I ate the entire bowl. Robin Wabalickis and mom if you two are reading this, I would appreciate that $10 ;) It was quite the event. My host mom cheered me on and my host sister and dad took pictures of me. I don’t where it came from, but I just wanted to prove to them that I could do it. They were very proud, but now I only worry that my host mom will want to make fish more often now. My sister gave me the best reward: a Cola-Cao MILKSHAKE! I’m glad that she waited until I’m almost going home to introduce me to this heavenly drink or else I might not have been able to fit in all of my clothes. I shall be brining A box of Cola-Cao home for winter break.
and here's the proof mom! Maybe just maybe I'll try it when I get home, but NOT lobster!
Less than 3 weeks until I’m back in the homeland and get to see you wonderful people!
Blessings,
Alyssa
