After the end of course trip, I went to Galicia with some of my fellow AFSers from all around Spain to do the last five steps of the Camino de Santiago. In total, we walked 112km, about 20 km a day, excluding the second day where we walked almost 30. The routine was wake up, eat breakfast, walk, collapse from the happiness of finally arriving at the hostel, eat lunch (some days we ate during the walk), take a siesta, do a few activities with the volunteers for an hour or so, relax, eat dinner, sleep and repeat. The experience overall was amazing. We walked from 5 to 8 hours a day, talking amongst our group, getting to know eachother, walking in silence and observing our beautiful surroundings. My favorite day in terms of scenery was the first, where we really walked through Galician countryside and everything was so green and the air was so fresh (although it wasnt too much of a change, living in the basque country, but coming from new jersey, I always appreciate it). I had a lot of time to think and reflect as well as look ahead, and I actually got so used to walking that two days after we finished it felt weird not getting up and starting the day off with a long walk. I would definitely consider doing it again, possibly alone and a longer distance.
After arriving at Santiago (seeing the front of the cathedral was such a relief, we all starting hugging and actually tried to get everyone to dance the macarena) we all went out to lunch, and I actually got into quite an interesting philosophical conversation with some of my fellow AFSers. I felt like the group dynamic between all of us was really good, and that if you wanted to join a conversation with people you didnt know from before (most people did know at least one person from their region from beforehand) everyone would welcome you to join. Even the volunteers felt like a part of the group, like friends. There was just an overall understanding between all of us, a certain similarity that even though some of us were very different in terms of personality, we all shared.
Returning back to the host family , we actually went to Catalunya to spend the rest of break there. I got to walk around Barcelona, see the Mediterranean, and I got to know what its like to have the car break down in the middle of the highway on your birthday. Overall, it was a great experience.
