One week from right now, I will be making one of my lifelong dreams come true: I will be studying abroad in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Long before I decided which college I wanted to attend (and trust me, there were several in the running), I knew that I wanted to spend a semester studying abroad in Spain. Now that I am one week away from leaving, there is no way I could possibly put into words how ecstatic I am about the journey that awaits me.

Santiago de Compostela is located on the coast of northwestern Spain, directly above Portugal. It is known for “El Camino de Santiago,” a pilgrimage with several routes that span across Europe and all feed into one central path that begins in Paris and ends at the Cathedral of Saint James. Located in the heart of Santiago de Compostela, it is believed that this cathedral holds the remains of Saint James.
For this reason, the pilgrimage has great religious significance—especially in Catholicism. I remember the very first time I heard about El Camino…I was fifteen years old and sitting in Señora Martens’ Spanish 2.5 class. I have been enthralled by it ever since, eagerly awaiting the day that I will have the opportunity to walk a portion of the pilgrimage myself.

While I am in Spain, from September 6th until December 19th, I will be living with a host family. As if just being in the country itself wouldn’t help me drastically improve my ability to speak Spanish fluently, living with a family certainly will! I cannot wait to meet my family and to learn as much as possible from them. :)

I feel so very fortunate to have the opportunity to study abroad. Of course, I already miss not being at Belmont and my dear friends there, but they are all very supportive of this journey and understand how much it means to me. One of my friends, Ateia, is actually going to be studying abroad in Spain with me! I’m so happy it worked out for both of us to go during the same semester.

Well, I better go get some packing done. Stay tuned for more updates (and photos!) from Spain ~ Adios for now!