Week 29: St. Patrick, Don Quixote, and St. Teresa of Avila!

What an exciting week this has been! Between St. Patrick’s Day, learning about Don Quixote and that whole story on Friday, and my Confirmation saint, Teresa of Avila, over the weekend, I have definitely done lots of out-of-class learning this week, and I’ve loved every second of it! Except for one moment of sadness in the middle of the weekend, it has been incredible.

Since it’s the week before St. Patrick’s Day, I did my presentation about St. Patrick’s Day in half of the classes I helped out with, which was fun because once again each teacher had their own spin to add to the lesson. We watched videos, we talked about vocabulary, and we talked about how Americans celebrate the holiday (including the Chicago river, which is a little more famous than I thought!). After my internship was over for the day, I headed over to school to work on some papers, and I also practiced a skit for my internship class with my classmates. (We had to act out a scene from the Almodovar movie that “represented a typical Spanish family of that decade.” Right.) By the time we were pretty solid on that, it was time to get home and try to get some other homework done before dinner, and so I got right to it. At dinner, my host brother Ignacio’s girlfriend Rocí came over, which is always a treat - she’s such a nice girl!, and she mentioned that she wanted to practice her English with me. Of course I agreed, and we set up a time to chat. After dinner I had more papers and homework to do, and so I quickly retreated to my room to work on those, and of course before I knew it, my eyes were closing, and so I snuggled into a deep sleep.

Tuesday was a hectic day. Not entirely busy, but definitely lots of things to do, turn in, and lots of people to talk to. I tried to get up early once again to finish some papers, but that kind of failed, and so I scrambled around trying to get ready in time. In my internship class, we finally performed our skit, which went off without a hitch, and everybody was laughing by the end. We watched a movie of the play we’re studying in my theater class, which was nice for two reasons: because it’s a movie, and because it’s cool to see an actual visual representation of theater, as that’s what it was made for (anybody who’s ever studied any kind of theater whatsoever, even just casually in English class, knows how difficult it is to read theater off a page (think Shakespeare) and try to understand everything). Then finally in my literature class, we continued analyzing poetry, which is actually one of my favorite fields of literary analysis due to all the context you have to know and how significant each and every word is. Finally, I met up with Noelia for coffee and some French conversation, which was lovely as always, and we made sure to try to hit on topics she would have to elaborate on in her writing exam the next week (the DELF). That day I also went to a bible study with some of my Christian friends, which was a cool experience even though it ended up being less about the Bible and more about sharing our faith experiences. I haven’t gotten too many chances to do stuff like that here in Europe, and so this opportunity was refreshing. After that, I once again had my afternoon free, and so I returned to my host family’s house to try to do homework. I did end up spending a fair amount of time chatting with Alex about our travel plans for the rest of the semester. I actually did get to go to Zumba today, which was probably my favorite part of the day! As always, I got to have fun while exercising and combatting stress (which I have all too much of these days). So, altogether, a great day!

As usual, Wednesday and Thursday kind of flew by, and so between classes and my internship, everything went very well! I ended up only having one hour of internship on Wednesday instead of two, and in that hour I assigned and outlined a speaking project that would count for a major grade on this term for the students. After the afternoon passed and I once again had my conversation in English with Sara and her mom, I made my way to bed, and Thursday was much the same; four classes in a row basically is still just as exhausting, but I made it through, and before I knew it, it was the evening and I was free for the weekend, which had many grand things in store!

On Friday, the Fundación had offered an excursion to the Ruta del Quijote, a cultural heritage route that contained some of the main landmarks that inspired Miguel de Cervantes to write one of the great masterpieces of the Spanish language, Don Quixote. We saw the famous windmills which the titular character mistakes for giants and into which he charges at full force, we saw a lodge at which Quixote might have stayed, and we saw different pueblos, little towns, that most likely inspired different moments in the epic novel. It was a wonderful experience, and although I had already read a tiny portion of the novel for my Spanish classes in high school, this excursion really made me want to read the whole thing and go for it all!

Architecture that has existed in this town since Miguel de Cervantes' time.

The main square where Don Quixote might have set off from for the first time. 

A watering hole (so to speak) where Don Quixote might have stopped on his journey to rest. 

Playing Don Quixote ourselves.

Flor was BFFs with this Don Quixote. 

The whole group in front of the windmills in another pueblo.

Our last stop was a castle in a different pueblo that was also connected to the story.

View of the valley around the castle. 

And more of the famous windmills for the grand finale. We actually got to learn how they used to function!

Saturday and Sunday were particularly special for me, as one of my plans I had made before even leaving the United States was to visit the city of Avila in Spain, the city where my Confirmation saint, Teresa, was born and spent most of her life. My host mom had happened to find a pilgrimage with a parish from one of the pueblos of Toledo called Argés, and since it was not expensive whatsoever and I had the weekend free anyways, I signed right up! My friend Johanna also decided to come along, since she also had the weekend free and was looking to explore Spain a bit more. After a warning from my host mom that it would be cold in Avila because it’s in the mountains, I finished packing up my things, and we left early in the morning to pick up my friend Johanna as she lives in a part of the city a bit further from us, and there were no buses that early on a Saturday. Soon enough, my host mom dropped us off in Argés, we met the priest who would be accompanying us on the trip, and then we were off!

On the way, we were introduced to everyone, or at least those sitting around or near us, and we said our first prayer together as the sheet was passed around the bus. Around three hours later or so, we made it to Avila, to a lookout point a little ways in front of the city. After snapping a few photos (selfies included), we gathered in the group and said another prayer, as an opener to a day that would be filled with discovery about Saint Teresa. After starting the day off so well, we headed to the first monastery Teresa founded, San José, in the middle of the city’s historic center. We actually had mass there, and at the end, we received scapulars from the religious sisters who live in the monastery to wear and take with us as souvenirs. We then made our way a door over to the museum of Teresa’s life, which contained relics and recreations of what her life would have looked like in the 16th century. It was so interesting to gain such historical insight into her life, and this was only the beginning.

We made it! It ended up being a 3-hour journey. 

The lookout point where we prayed and snapped some photos of the city from a distance. 

The view of the whole city from the lookout point.

The entrance to the city.

St. Teresa's words about the founding of the San José monastery.

After a short break for coffee, we headed to another convent that Teresa had founded, to tour the place a bit, and and then eat our brought-from-home lunches. We heard from a Franciscan who currently lives in the place about the history of the great Saint, and Johanna and I also got a chance to meet some of the people on the trip and share a bit of camaraderie with the priest. We then went to the Cathedral in Avila, which was beautiful as most if not all cathedrals are in Europe. Later in the afternoon, we also prayed a Teresian prayer in a different church. This time it was more like a prayer service than a mass, as I don’t think it’s possible to attend mass more than once a day, but we enjoyed the beauty of the church and the service, complete with songs. Afterwards, we saw where Teresa was born, and also where she’s buried, which were all connected to the church. It was around this point that I was getting pretty noticeably cold, as I was wearing a maxi skirt and it was definitely colder than I expected, and so at dinner that evening, as Johanna and I made some new Spanish friends with the few people of our age that had come on the pilgrimage, one of our new friends offered to lend me some pants of hers, which I ended up greatly appreciating the next day. All in all, the day was spectacular! One thing was amiss though… and that was news from my family about one of our poodles, Toby.

The Cathedral in Avila.

The main part of the church.

A choir book I could fall asleep on, it was so big.

Toby had been sick for a week or so, barely walking around from what I heard from my parents, and so that night, as it was seven hours earlier in the day back home, I heard from my parents that they had decided to put him down, because he was at the point of so much suffering that it would be more merciful that way. I hadn’t been too attentive to my phone during the day, as I had been out exploring Avila with Johanna and the parish, and so when I had gotten back to my room, I had noticed that my mom had sent me a few messages detailing what would be going on. I immediately called my mom, and she was already in tears as she answered the phone. That was the first time I had cried so much in a while… I don’t know how I’m going to feel when I go home to only one little toy poodle instead of both him and his big brother. It was definitely a depressing moment in the weekend. Toward the end of the conversation, my mom mentioned that they would try to make an appointment for Toby on Monday, and so those news will be awaiting me after the weekend. At that point, I just wanted to get to sleep, if only for a momentary escape from what I knew was coming. Finally, my eyes closed, and it was a dreamless sleep.

One of the greatest dogs we've ever had. We love you, Toby.

In the morning, I resolved myself to spend the day trying to immerse myself as much as possible in the culture I was learning about, and so I dug deep and brought out all that I had as far as interest in learning about Teresa and her story. We had breakfast, which was excellent, and then we departed for a pueblo called Alba de Tormes, which is the place where Teresa died. We had mass in a monastery there, and then we visited another museum of Teresa’s life, where we saw more relics and artifacts from her life, and it was just as amazing as seeing the artifacts in the other museum. After lunch in a hotel in the pueblo, we made our way back to Avila to visit one last monastery, where we got to see an actual living convent today of cloistered nuns, and we even got a tour of the public areas. The tour guide was a very nice young lady who told us all about Teresa’s life and the life of the nuns in the convent, and how the nuns here take a vow of stability as well as the three usual ones: once they enter the convent here, they die in this very place. What commitment and certainty in God’s call must that take… my goodness. We eventually learned that our tour guide was actually considering her vocation to religious life, which made perfect sense as to why she worked in the public part of the convent. Finally, we said our last goodbyes after one last prayer in the church of the convent, and we were on our way back to Toledo (Argés), and we shared testimonials of our experience, as well as had a great time in general with the people we had met. We got back to Argés, my host mom picked me up, and we made our way home to prepare for the week ahead.

The very room where Teresa was born.

And the room where she died. 

The saint's remains. Parts of her are in other places, traveling as relics. 

The window through which Teresa and Saint John of the Cross met and talked.

A quote from Teresa. 

A statue in front of the last monastery we visited.

This week has been incredible. I have learned a lot about the saint whose name I chose to take in Confirmation, as well as the patron saint of Ireland, and what it means to lose a pet near and dear to you. I certainly have been thinking very hard about what impact each of these things has on my life, and I’ve just been blown away by Teresa and the loss that I am having a hard time comprehending what it’s all supposed to mean. On the one hand, I’ve certainly gotten used to seeing Toby around the house and snuggling with him, and so that loss will definitely be difficult, but on the other hand, I’ve learned so much about the saint who I chose to have a more personal relationship with through the sacrament that binds me to the Catholic faith, in which I myself chose to confirm that yes I believe in everything the Catholic Church has to offer. Everything I’ve seen this weekend (and, let’s be honest, most if not all of these past few months in Europe) is way older than my entire country - that’s what I reflected about in my testimony on the bus returning to Toledo from Avila; for me, one of the most amazing parts of this entire trip has just been the opportunity to experience such history, that still lives here in these places, up close and in person. What an amazing experience… certainly unforgettable, and one of the deepest impacts I’ve experienced this entire study abroad year.

And with that, I will continue on, to planning my Spring Break and other travel, and also to keeping up with schoolwork and everything else in between. I wish all of you a happy week, and until the next time - ¡Hasta pronto!