Field Trips

Although it has only been two weeks into this amazing dialogue, I have already gone on so many interesting excursions and seen so many new things for the first time. My favorite landmark or historical site in Pamplona is not actually a monument, museum, or stationary landmark. It is the path of the Camino de Santiago that runs through the entire city and through our university campus as well. It is marked on the ground by silver scallop shells or by posts that have the telltale blue and yellow arrows marking the way for the pilgrims. I particularly like this landmark because you never know when it’s going to show up until you feel a bump under your foot and see a shell. The Camino is especially meaningful for me as my group did an “etapa” or portion of the Camino last Saturday and walked 25 kilometers (about 15 miles) from an outskirt city into Pamplona. While this journey was filled with beautiful landscapes and wildlife at every turn, it was also physically exhausting and eye opening. It truly gave me a new perspective on this pilgrimage and an increased respect for the pilgrims who make that same 25 km journey (or sometimes more) every day for weeks on end. Now when I am walking to class and I see the people with their backpacks and hiking boots or am sitting at a café enjoying a coffee and see someone at the table next to me massaging their aching feet, I now have a small taste of what they are going through and admire their strength and perseverance.
While I still have many more excursions to embark on and sights to see, I have a few places that have really stood out and experiences I will never forget. This past Sunday a group of us went horseback riding in a quaint village outside of the city and I don’t think I have ever felt more peaceful and immersed in the nature around me. I have ridden horses before so I had a general knowledge of what I was doing, but my horse was particularly testy and it took a little to get comfortable with him. After a few minutes along the trail I felt more relaxed and the breathtaking mountains he was leading me through made me forgive him for his occasional outbursts!
Our group has visited San Jean de Luz, France and San Sebastian, Spain, and although they are both “beach towns”, it was interesting to see the notable difference between France and Spain. San Jean de Luz was an incredible and slightly less touristy city by the beach with an abundance of crepe shops (my favorite part!). The buildings had similar architecture to each other with a neutral color scheme of white, brown, peach, and black that complemented the bright blue water perfectly. The small square where the cafes and marina were actually looked extremely similar to the “France” section in Epcot at Walt Disney World, so the town almost felt familiar to me right from the start. San Jean de Luz had many more “take-out” shops and places with to-go options so we could sit and enjoy our crepes on the beach. In San Sebastian, the beach was much larger and similar to the beaches you see in Florida (however much more beautiful-sorry FL!). The city was more commercialized as it had a McDonalds and Starbucks (which I visited just to get a taste of home) and had a large shopping area for the many tourists there. The beach was absolutely stunning as its rounded ocean front, appropriately named La Playa de la Concha (or shell), was surrounded by mountains with homes that one could only dream of being able to wake up in every day. This sentiment is actually something I thought a lot about throughout my time in Pamplona and visiting these awe inspiring landscapes and beach spots- how lucky people are to actually live there! This envy is coupled with a respect for the people who call these places their home, which is a notion that many tourists forget. So far every place I have visited has blown my expectations out of the water (pun-intended) and I can’t wait to continue exploring with my new friends!