oh, the places you'll go!: First Week

Yesterday marked my first week and Spain and let me tell you- I have never been on such an emotional roller coaster. This experience makes you incredibly vulnerable to even the most minor things- someone will post an inspirational video on Twitter and I'll cry for half an hour out of overwhelming feelings, I'll go past a beautiful overlook and take off with the excitement of being alive, play the wrong chord on the ukulele and spiral into a ten minute depression. As of now I've just woken up (yes I know at 11:30, gotta love Spain) so I'm too exhausted to be anything but a bleary, out of it medium.

The morning after I arrived, my host family and I went into Santiago for my first time ever, excluding a brief half-asleep lunch immediately following my arrival . Words simply cannot describe this marvelous place, and I have already fallen in love with the atmosphere, history and culture. And although Santiago must been seen for its self, I'll try and do it justice....I wrote this in my journal after a couple of days being here.

"The first thing Spaniards tell me here once I mention that I love Santiago is "Pero la ciudad es muy pequeno". And for people having lived here their whole life I'm sure it is, yet for me, coming from a small town with little under 23,000, the leap to 100,000 is perfect. I feel as though I can easily find a familiar intimacy within both the graffittied concrete of the new city and the uneven cobblestones of the old within my ten months while letting my strange new home remain an elusive adventure. I love how the two cities mingle and morph into one another, traditional Galician bagpipes echoing through out the cobble stones and to the edges of modern expanse, peregrinos (pilgrims coming from the their trek) wandering in awe across both territories, gorgeous parques overlooking both the old and the new. I love the narrow alleys that open up into Medieval plazas; I love how you can sit in a cafe with your amigos for an hour, still nursing a nearly empty Coca-Cola bottle; and I love the chic Spaniards who dominate the streets. Galicia is truly a world of its own- pine trees mingling with palm trees, the mountainous land speckled with red roofed buildings, and weather bipolarity which surpasses that of New England. I can't wait to spend the next ten months here."

Obviously that was written on one of my more optimistic days, but it surely sets the scene. So my first real morning was spent being tourists in the old city, mingling with the Pilgrims. I sure my host family were amused by my awestruck face...the history and culture was enchanting. Here are some of my many photos from that day.

just your typical Santiago street

The Cathedral!

My host family minus Victor and plus Victor Jr's friend Pedro

the light in the cathedral was so pretty

We walked in on the Sunday mass for the pilgrims. Quite famously, four priests swing incense through out the church in the beginning of service.My host father said its because the pilgrims smell so bad after walking their camino. Here's a link to a random video that displays it much better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtxuvtZqOog (around 2:30 it really gets high).

traditional monk attire (the shell is the symbol of the Camino de Santiago)

me in one of the plazas

I have to be honest, the next couple of days after that were pretty boring and lonely. Victor left for the States, my host parents were gone during the day because of work and my host brother Pablo was rarely at home / didn't talk to the weird American now residing in his house. Being alone had a massive effect on me...I got extremely homesick and Katie pretty much became my therapist via Whatsapp. Luckily I was introduced to Ane, a girl in my neighboorhood and finally had amigos! The next couple of days I hung out with Ane and her friends and also with another exchange student, Ben, from Germany.

Friday, Victor, my host dad, came back from Lugo (he lives there during the work week) and the next morning we went to the market. Oh my God, if I could live there I would. Fresh everything- vegetables, fruit, bread, fish, meat. I just kept thinking to myself this is what Europe is. Its absolutely massive, filled with gorgeous food everywhere. Unfortunately, being my forgetful self as usual, I brought my camera without a memory card, so all of my photos are low-quality from a phone. There was a vendor selling pulpo, or octopus. Galicia is famous for its pulpo, and for a good reason- its amazing! For lunch we had the fresh fish (incredibly ugly but oh-so delicious), tomatoes and percebes- also extremely unappealing looking, but tubular shellfish- a regional delicacy.

When people ask me how Spain is I immediately respond with amazing. Not that every single second of every single day is filled with beautiful, awe inspiring moments, but I think collaboratively the teary, lonely, desperate times make this experience infinitely more complex and worthwhile. There's a quote, "exchange is not a year in a life, but a life in a year", which could not be more appropriate. While this week has easily been the hardest of my entire life, I'm so grateful to have this opportunity. I know this is right for me and that I am stronger, smarter, and braver for even just surviving one week. This being an experience of a lifetime, I'm going to get off the computer now and go outside. So besos everyone! Wish me best of luck for my first day of school Tuesday.

-Katrina