This spring, in a fit of insanity and sleep deprivation while I frantically worked on my senior projects, I decided that it would be a good idea to join my friend Anna Henschel as she hiked across northern Spain on the Way of St. James, or as it is called in Spanish, El Camino de Santiago. Ever since spending a summer in Spain when I was seventeen, I have wanted to walk this pilgrimage. Not for religious reasons (anyone who knows me would say that I have never been a religious person, although spiritual might be accruate), but for...fun.
Fun is a relative word in this instance. Fun is a little over 300km (~190 miles) of heat and dust and exhaustion; fun is blisters and post-fractured foot pain; fun is a (still) sprained ankle dealing with up to 15 miles a day; fun is walking, all day every day for almost a month. Anna and I aren't even doing the whole thing, and it will still be a huge and monumental challenge. However, there is another side to this, which is that the Camino is the perfect opportunity for me, at this huge transition in my life, to see the world in a totally new way, and consequentially (I hope) to see myself in a new way also.
Its terrifying and exciting at the same time. I am gripped with nerves about walking so much on a foot and ankle which have not entirely healed and which I fractured/sprained only two months ago (three months from when we begin). I am worried about running out of money, running out of medical tape, running out of contact solution, not being able to find Willy and Abbey* when we do get to Santiago (*dear friends of mine from Bard who are coming to meet us for the feast days) and quite simply afraid of being unable to finish. I am not a hiker or even an outdoorsy person, yet the physical challenge of this experience, in addition to terrifying me, also gives me such joy. I cannot wait to see how my body responds to pushing itself to its limits. As someone who is fascinated by human motion and physicality, this is a huge test for me, to see what may or may not be possible for my own body.
I hope to be able to find internet cafes so that I can post regularly on this blog along the way and keep anyone who might be interested updated on my travels. After Willy and Abbey meet Anna and I in Santiago de Compostela, I will be traveling for almost another full month throughout Europe (Barcelona, Paris, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, and Dublin...or at least thats the plan right now!). I needed to do something this summer that wasn't a place I knew, i.e. wasn't Bard and wasn't Amherst but was an adventure.
So, here's to adventure, and to commencement!
