Camino de Santiago Trip Offers Course Credit along with Lifetime Memories

Backpacking through the same Basque Pyrenees that Caesar once walked; exploring the trout streams fished by Hemingway; experiencing a 1000 year old traditional Gregorian mass… Camino de Santiago Study Abroad offered all experiences and upper-division Spanish credit in only 25 days.

The Camino de Santiago de Compostela or The Way of St. James is a set of old pilgrimage routes that stretch across Europe. Its namesake comes from the legend that the remains of Saint James the Great are buried along the trail. All of these routes end at the Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain. The popularity of this pilgrimage is increasing, with over 93,000 people making the trek in 2005₁. The Camino is more than 1,000 years old and was named a World Heritage Site in 1983 by UNESCO (United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

This past summer 11 Texas A&M students discovered this non-conventional classroom for themselves as they walked the camino and visited the cathedrals, museums and monasteries along the way. The students received credit for Spanish 489 The Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela through the Middle Ages and Spanish 411 Contemporary Hispanic Society and Culture. This unique study abroad combined backpacking, Spanish culture and the legendary "Camino" or path, which has been trekked by great figures in history such as Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon.

Through introspective daily journal writings in Spanish, discussions of political and social issues of Camino and much more, Texas A&M University students gained cultural and social insight. They also receive their “Pilgrim’s passport,” official documentation of the journey stamped by each monastery, government and cultural site from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela. Camino de Santiago offered opportunities for students to improve their oral and written Spanish fluency as well as cultural perspective as they interact with a diverse range of foot-travelers embarking on the same ‘pilgrimage’ path.

Along the Camino students also had the opportunity to visit a few of the “Campus-Stellae” universities such as Universidad de La Rioja, Logroño; Universidad de Burgos, Burgos; Universidad de León, Leon; UNED, Ponferrada; Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago.

Study Abroad is often cited as one of the most rewarding experiences of a student’s time in college, when they have an opportunity to visit places such as these. Just ask John Tyler, a senior biology major at Texas A&M, one of the 11 students who participated in the Camino de Santiago program. He said the most fascinating thing about his experience was observing the differences in history and culture of each region of Spain.

“These differences included the language, the food and wine, the ethnicity of the people, the landscape and geography, and the industry,” Tyler said. “It seemed as if we were traveling through different nations along the Camino, but we were treated
with hospitality and welcomed in every region.”

Thanks to his study abroad, Tyler has improved his Spanish language skills.

“My experience on the Camino not only educated me in the history and culture of Spain but, more practically, improved my ability to communicate with Spanish speakers,” Tyler said. “It has been very rewarding to be able to communicate with those people who I would not have been able to before my trip.”