This must be Pamplona!
As I awoke from a seemingly short but actually 3 hour long nap on the bus, I opened my eyes to see us driving through a beautiful city. I looked at the time and it was towards the end of our journey on the road, so I thought: this must be Pamplona! The first thing I noticed was how many parks there were with green open spaces and playgrounds with children on them. Also, I noticed that there seemed to not be many people walking around and many businesses were closed. Most shops had small storefronts with big iron bars pulled down over them, and I was wondering why everything was closed so early in the day (it was early afternoon when we arrived). I later came to find out that on Sundays, most businesses are closed for families to relax and spend time together. This was most evident as we later walked around the city and saw some couples and families sitting on the grass in the parks, and the benches in the city’s plazas. Everyone was enjoying the day, and they gave off this calm & tranquil energy that only a Sunday in Spain can bring.
Our orientation was led by one of our faculty leaders Professor Raffa of the University of Navarra (UNAV), as well as other faculty and students from the university. Professor Raffa as well as a Spanish student from UNAV showed us around the beautiful campus and the various classroom buildings. The campus was absolutely stunning with is manicured lawns, modern architecture and lush mountain as the background. As a matter of fact, a portion of the famous pilgrimage route “Camino del Santiago” runs right through campus! We were able to see some travelers with gear and walking sticks completing the journey there. In the orientation we learned that each building has some sort of café or small sandwich shop inside, which speaks to the culture here in Spain. With the midday fiesta and later eating times, cafés act as a center of university and community life, which was evident in our tour around campus. Also, our student leader told us that students in Spain dress nice/ more formal for class than in the United States. After observing some of the students, I noticed this fact to be true as many girls were wearing dresses or jeans and a blouse, rather than the leggings and sweatshirts girls usually wear at home. This emits a sense of respect for the university and the level of higher education that the students are receiving, which I think is a notion that is not realized by many American students. In Spain, higher education seems to be distinctly recognized as a privilege and an opportunity that is meant to be respected and cherished. So far the university looks amazing and the orientation and tour made me so excited to take my classes here! My language professor is very friendly and I look forward to improving my Spanish in the next few weeks.
