Blogs from Navarre, Spain, Europe - page 23

When I jumped on a 7am train to Pamplona, bleary-eyed after 1 hour sleep from my stay in Madrid´s sweltering heat, I was pumped. I´m going on the Camino, a centuries old pilgrimage through the north of Spain, and this is the first stage! After a day wandering around the quaint old town of Pamplona, including a turn down the Encierro(where the bulls run), this electricity in my veins turned into anxiety...uh, why am I doing this? After looking at a map of the entire length of the trail, 700km to Santiago de Compostela, it seemed a little overwhelming for little Carly to be attempting, ´solita´....but never mind....... just be on your way, and deal with whatever comes at you. The next morning at 8.30am, thats what I did. Día 1: Fresh blue sky, and lots ... read more

Two weeks ago, I experienced the most chaotic, wild, crazy, odd, enormous, cultural festival I could have ever imagined possible. ( and that is STILL an understatement!) Nothing could have possibly prepared me sufficiently. The week before the "Running of the Bulls" in Pamplona I learned all about the San Fermin Festival in my classes. It is a week in July to honor the San Fermin (Each town has a patron saint and for Pamplona-it's Fermin!) Each teacher and my host parents all had the same expression before I left..."poco loco....ten cuidado" which means, its a little crazy, be careful. HA. My two friends Natalie and Kate joined me on this adventure, and we consider ourselves very cultured and brave after making it back safely to tell the tales. We hopped on a bus that was ... read more

Two weekends ago we went to Pamplona with our University group from Madrid to partake in what is the most unbelievable cultural event in the world. The actual festival is called San Fermin, a week long celebration from July 7-14 every year to honor the patron saint of Pamplona, San Fermin. The main event of this festival is el encierro, the running of the bulls. The running of the bulls takes place at 8AM each morning during the week long festival. People begin lining the streets at 4AM for a place to observe, or for the brave ones, a place inside the route to risk their lives and run with the bulls. At 8AM sharp the gun shot sounds and 6 wild, dangerous bulls are released from their corral and begin running a 850km. (about 1/2 ... read more

Pamplona - incredible! The local soccer team played Real Madrid, and won 2 -1 as the underdogs. We went out into the city and it was ridiculous with everyone singing and dancing and cheering. We´ve done 6 days now, and have gotten into a sort of routine - wake up at 6 (if we could sleep in, we would, but everyone else wakes up and it´s hard to sleep in) eat a quick breakfast in the Albergue or on the road, stop around 10 for a snack, pass people or get passed by new friends and have a quick chat, get to our new Albergue around 1 or 2, shower, wash clothes, take a siesta (all the stores and restaurants are closed so there´s not much to do), wake up, meet people for a drink or ... read more

Hey Everybody, I know that it’s been far too long since I updated, so I just wanted to make a quick post to let you all know that I’m still alive and doing just fine. I just completed my third week of classes and for the most part they are going well. I’m in three Spanish for Business Use-type classes, a Literature class that I absolutely love, Translation, and a more intensive Grammar class. Those are all geared towards foreigners, and on top of that, I’m in one class within the regular university called Spanish Politics and Justice. That’s kind of a toughie because of both the level of Spanish spoken in the classroom and the fact that everybody else, being Spanish, already has somewhat of a base in Spanish Politics. Luckily one of my classmates ... read more