One Chance

Last Hurrahs

Zamora y Camino de Santiago

For my last weekend of my study abroad experience I went on a last school excursion to Zamora, Spain and also to Portugal to do part of the Camino de Santiago. It was a more relaxed travel experience, with lots of free time to just explore the little towns we visited and to hang out with friends. Here are some of the highlights from the trip below:

We took a guided tour of the city of Zamora (all the buildings were beautiful except for the brown river, that wasn’t so pretty):

One of our last times in a Spanish café – I tried an apple dessert this time (delicious) and of course café con leche:

The next day we drove to Portugal and did part of the Camino de Santiago. We walked for about 3 hours on a beautiful day – my only complaint was I wish we could have done it longer! The Camino de Santiago is a famous trail that people do for spiritual reasons, you can walk it for days, even weeks!

Another highlight of the day was exploring the little town of Braganza, Portugal – we explored the castle and ate some really yummy Portugal desserts!

Our last stop of the trip was to Sanabria, Spain where we did a boat tour on a lake! There aren’t many lakes in Spain, so this is one of the famous ones – it was cool being out on the water and to think, wow I am on a lake in Spain, it was kind of like a taste of Minnesota in that way! But this lake had a beautiful scene of mountains surrounding it, unlike the ones in MN.

Us Minnesotans:

Graduation

On Wednesday, April 27th, the night before I hopped on a plane back to the U.S., we had a closing ceremony at school. It was a fun night with all of our program coordinators, professors and host families. First we had a short ceremony where we were all called up to receive our diplomas - we graduated from international school!, and then after there was a bunch of tables set up with food for dinner. It was a good way to end a great semester in Toledo. That night I had to say goodbye to some friends and the program coordinators at the Fund. Then, the hardest part, I had to say goodbye to my host family that night because I was leaving so early the next morning and had to sleep overnight in the residence hall. They promised that it wasn’t a goodbye, it was a see you later, and that I was welcome back to my home and family in Spain anytime. I tried to say thank you for everything, but I started crying so it was hard to get any words out. I squeezed Carmen extra tight and didn’t want to let her go, I cry just thinking back on this moment, but this shows once again just how great of an experience I had with them – now it is not if I come back to Spain to visit, it is when am I going back!

Mis mejores amigas – ¡Vosotras estáis la leche!