I have just started in Trinity College Dublin. To me it is a Camino of a different sort. I decided to think of the four years as four parts of the Camino: St. Jean to Pamplona, Pamplona to Burgos, Burgos to Leon and Leon to Santiago. As a mature student I had a week of IT at the beginning of September. I just could not keep up with the very much younger mature students and these were skills I would absolutely need. The next week of orientation for mature students was overwhelming with so much information being given to us hour after hour. I just could not manage to log into the computers. I kept ending up in the wrong place. Freshers week was a culture shock altogether. The 3-4 hours travel each day was also taking its toll. I said to myself ,"This is going over the Pyrenees, it has to get easier".
Then one day in the foyer to the Arts Building a young man says at me,"Aren't you the woman from Santiago?". I answered, "Why do you say that to me?". He said "Didn't I meet you in Santiago?
It all came back to me. I was walking home after my morning shift in the Pilgrim's Office when a young Irish pilgrim asked me the way to Roots and Boots albergue. He was hoping to get a job there after finishing the Camino. On later days I would meet him standing outside the Pilgrim Office handing out leaflets advertising the albergue.. So I knew for certain that the four years will be a Camino as I travel through and explore Philosophy and Theology and the library of books which we call the Bible, meeting such people as Plato and Aristotle, Agustine, Thomas Aquinas,Hans Kung, Yves Congar and so many many others.
Now with one week of lectures behind me, I joyfully set off each morning with a little rucksack on my back not knowing what challenges I will meet this day but knowing that God is at my side.
Buen Camino to you all..