no español: santiago!

weekend update!

greetings from spain, my friends,

last weekend i went on a trip with the school to santiago de compostela, which is in the northwestern part of spain. it was amazing and beautiful, and i had so much fun! the bus ride there was about 8 hours, and we left at 6 a.m. on friday morning. when we got there, we checked into our hotel (which was crazy.. 6 floors high and attached to a mall) and then we went on a walking tour of the city. another super old city in spain, it is very significant for christians because many of them do a pilgrimage throughout france and spain, and santiago is the final stop on the journey. the pilgrims usually attend mass and wash their sins through saint james. there were so many people with big traveler's backpacks and walking sticks.. it was really cool. we also went to a restaurant and had an AMAZING dinner.. we had empanada with tuna, and it was so delicious, and really cool because it's so cultural for that part of spain.

saturday we went to the cies islands, which has a beach that was rated the number one prettiest beach in europe a few years ago. it was INCREDIBLE!! i went for a hike and ended up seeing what felt like the entire atlantic ocean.. it was so so so breath taking. we spent the whole day on the island, and it was just so nice.

sunday we woke up, checked out of the hotel and threw our stuff on the bus, and then walked back in town to take a tour of the cathedral. it was so awesome being inside, because it was built in the 1100's. and then we got to go on the rooftops, and we could see the entire city and beyond. THEN we snuck inside the church.. there was a mass going on and the place was just flooded with people, it was nuts.

so all in all it was an incredible weekend. i am still loving it here and can't wait to share all of my adventures once i get home.