Santiago de Compostela!

What a fun trip! We just came back from our big excursion to Santiago de Compostela, a few hours west of Oviedo in the province of Galicia. Santiago is the final destination of the pilgrimage to visit St. James (well, mostly final - some pilgrims continue on to Finisterre, from finis terrae, or "land's end") and we are lucky to be so close to it.

We left Oviedo yesterday (Thursday) morning at 10am and once we arrived we spent the day checking out the huge cathedral, nearby shops and cafes, parks, and the fantastic pilgrimage museum. The weather was great and I know the students have tons of great photos. It is a really beautiful city, especially the casco viejo, the old part of town near the big cathedral. I've got a few pictures below, but I know your students will have many more.

Last night we had a group dinner and a couple of little surprises. Juan and I ducked away from the group a little early while they were finishing up at the museum, and we went to pick up a cake we had ordered to help celebrate the 4th of July. We also blew up a bunch of balloons and decorated the restaurant a little bit to make for a patriotic dinner. Aline even painted some American flags on some student's faces and I think everyone enjoyed the small gestures, a quick reminder of home...even though we continued to speak Spanish throughout!

But that wasn't all! After dinner, we tacked on another surprise and went to a nearby karaoke place. The students had so much fun singing all their favorite songs in Spanish. Before we got started we gave the students one chance to operate in English, and they sang the national anthem loud and proud.

This morning (Friday) we had breakfast and then left Santiago and headed to a beach town named Foz. We got really lucky with the weather again, and we had a fantastic time. We got back to Oviedo around 7:30pm, and everyone headed out with their host families. I'm sure they'll get into some fun stuff this weekend - I've heard chatter of some sort of medieval festival in town tomorrow, and at least a couple students mentioned birthday parties they'll be attending with their respective families. I'll write again next week after a day or two of class and afternoon activities. Hasta pronto!

P.S. My apologies, once again, for the photos all being a little out of order. I can't seem to figure out what I'm doing, but when I download them from my phone to my computer they always seem to get a bit jumbled up...but they're all here!

Profes in front of the cathedral in Santiago

Patriotism as we wait for the bus to leave (I told them to do an American Gothic-style pose)

After getting settled in the hotel, gathering in the lobby to head out

Guided tour of the Pilgrim museum (this guide was so great! We were lucky to have her)

4th of July dinner

Breakfast before leaving Santiago

Heading to the beach!

The water was COLD

Doing pilates?? (that's what they said they were doing *shrug*)

Karaoke!

Some views of Santiago