Mikinzie's Camino de Santiago
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Who I am
Hi there friends, family, and supporters!
For those of you who do not know me, my name is Mikinzie McCracken and I am 19 years old. I am currently a full time, second year, student at The Evergreen State College working towards a Bachelor’s of Science degree. My ultimate goal is to obtain a Masters in Teaching. I love learning, cooking, music, and any/all community building activities. I love FAMILY and FRIENDS and especially enjoy my time spent with good company. I dream of someday teaching middle school science or high school biology, I also have dreams to travel and learn from the world on a deeper, more intimate level. So far I have never been abroad, but I have been faced with an amazing, unique opportunity to travel to Spain this spring! I would love your support in achieving my dreams.
Also...
This is my friend, classmate, and travel buddy, Victoria! She is so awesome! I'm extremely lucky and grateful to have her along with me on my journey ( :
Where I come from
I was born and raised in the Pacific North West. My hometown is Vancouver, WA. I am currently living in Olympia, WA where I go to school. I share a home with four good friends. I have a large loving and supportive family complete with five siblings. I come from a low income household; although we never struggled to do well and go far with what we had. Therefore, I am reaching out to some extended family and friends to ask for an extra helping hand in supporting me to reach my financial goals to make my trip abroad to Spain truly enjoyable!
How and Why I am going to Spain
I am enrolled in a winter and spring program called, Walking to Santiago de Compostela. I am going to go ahead and attach the program description, as it captures a lot of the wonders of this program:
“As we walk upon the road we meet ourselves. And at the end, perhaps we’ll find there are no sides to take, no enemies of state, no arguments against the other. There’s only death that waits. But on this tiny planet, and in this precious moment, we have the chance to live in peace together. If only we would take a walk. - John Francis, Ph.D., Planetwalker
Overview: Winter quarter, on campus, we will study El Camino, the collection of traditional pilgrimage routes that all end in Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. Spring quarter students will travel to their chosen starting points, walk the Camino, meet in Santiago for a several days of discussion, reflection and evaluation, and then, probably, walk together to Finisterre, the “end of the world” and the site of the pagan altar to the setting sun, Ara Solis.[1]
El Camino de Santiago, “The Way of Saint James,” is a collection of traditional pilgrimage routes that end in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where, under the altar of the Cathedral, Saint James the Greater is said to be buried. A monk said, “The only thing all pilgrims have in common is an interior necessity—I must go, I don’t know why….” As we study and walk the paths to Santiago, you will learn from, not just about, the Camino. It may teach you why you had to go or about yourself or how you want to live. This Walk is a “focal activity” that makes demands and requires discipline, helps you sense relationships even when walking alone, reassures you about unknown capabilities, and, as one writer put it, gives you a “glimpse of life-giving possibilities.”
Winter quarter: We will study, first, the political history and the art of walking, and, second, the art and practice of pilgrimage. Then we will take up the historical, religious, political, and cultural background of the Camino as well as its place in contemporary Spain. Accounts of the Camino provide many takes on why people go to Santiago, what is required—physically, mentally and financially—for walking routes that vary from 60 to more than 1,000 miles (100 – 1,600 km), what “pilgrimage” might mean in our time, and the kinds of meanings people make of their experiences. Readings will range from the mystical realm to first aid for blisters, from foot care to spirit care and everything in between. This portion of the program will involve significant lecture time, guest presentations and seminars. And we will—all together, in small groups, and alone—take preparatory walks.
Integrated Instruction in Spanish: Students will have the option to take 4 of the 16 credits for Winter Quarter in “Conversational Spanish.”
Up to 50% of the quarter’s credit will be awarded for a substantial independent study that will be designed to give students a personal entrée to and a continuing connection to their walks. Projects will be designed to continue during the students’ walks in the spring. The faculty will support almost any serious independent inquiry that better prepares the student for her or his walk. Students will be encouraged, and helped, to seek supportive experts elsewhere, including in Spain.
We’ll spend time on logistics. We’ll research routes and, while students will be encouraged to walk the Camino Francés across the northern part of Spain, everyone will choose a route. We’ll read guidebooks, select walking gear, decide on walking partners (and make group covenants about what “walking together” will mean), make travel plans, obtain credenciales (the Camino “passports” that document one’s progress and that provide access to low-cost, pilgrim-only dormitories), consider food and shelter issues along with their budgetary implications, talk about how to stay in touch while on our walks,[4] gather maps, tips, historical and cultural information, and so forth.
My programs always include significant time for reflecting on one’s work. Students will begin an intensive journaling practice and will maintain a manual, both of which will continue in the spring. At the end of winter, each of us will write a mid-program self-evaluation prompted by the monk’s comment in David Downie’s Paris to the Pyrenees: A Skeptic Pilgrim Walks the Way of Saint James: “The only thing all pilgrims have in common is an interior necessity—I must go, I don’t know why….”
Spring Quarter: Everyone will be prepared to get to his or her starting point during the first week and begin his or her Way. Everyone will check in regularly with everyone else. (Winter readings will include books by people who aborted their walks, who completed their walks in stages, and who took buses for various stages. Students should begin their walks knowing there are many ways to “The Way.”[6])
By June 8, the middle of evaluation week, everyone will send to everyone else their essays of an Academic Statement. Your prompt will be derivative of Downie’s monk’s comment: We’ll begin, “Now I am here, I don’t know why…,” and write from there. What better time than the end of a pilgrimage to reflect on the scope and arc of one’s learning on El Camino and throughout one’s entire education? (An American I met outside El Museo de arte Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid told me of a pilgrim’s report on his Way that encouraged this fellow to get on his own Way to St. James. In the shade of the museum’s garden and in a grand New York accent, he said, “This guy says El Camino is like a whole life, your whole life. You’re a baby when you start. You don’t know what you’re doing or what you need, don’t know what to put in your pack. You just start. And you get over those mountains and you’re dazed; you don’t know what’s going on. Then, after a while, it’s teenage time. There are lots of parties and everyone is having a really good time. You’re cocky. Then you get to the meseta, that high plain that just goes on and on, dry, straight, day after day the same thing. That’s middle age, isn’t it? Then come those next mountains. And there you find that you’re well seasoned, that the Way is new and challenging, but you have everything you need to accomplish what you need to accomplish. Then comes the onset of the end: beautiful Galicia rolls on in front of you, reminding you every step of the Way of the frailties you’ve acquired, of the way you’ve been beaten up even though you’re still strong, reminding you that most of it all is now behind you, telling you, kilometer marker after kilometer marker, that the end is nearer and nearer. And then you’re there. You’re in the Cathedral that is dedicated to Resurrection. But–and this is the best part–you’re not dead! You get to keep going. How ’bout dat? That’s why I’m going.”)
I will be in indirect contact with the group for the weeks everyone is walking their own Ways to Santiago. Everyone will have a phone that works in the countries students visit and everyone will have all the group members’ numbers. Beyond that, we will likely use an Internet-based site to keep track of one another. And beyond that, there is an “inter-personal telegraph” that develops informally, especially on the well-traveled Camino Francés where fellow travelers often pass messages about the whereabouts of one’s group members. On safety, Carlos Mentley, of the organization “American Pilgrims on the Camino” wrote, “It is common for people to undertake the pilgrimage by themselves. On the very first day of walking, however, every pilgrim realizes that he or she is surrounded by other pilgrims engaged in the same undertaking, and a very real community of pilgrims quickly forms. They walk and talk together, eat and sleep in the same places, and they take care of each other. Medical services, should they be needed, are always readily available—this is Europe, after all—and pilgrims are especially well cared for.”
In all my programs I aim to prepare students to go their own ways and, to that end, I always build an independent project into every program. I try to prepare students well so they can use the grounding of our common program experiences to find their ways into independent work. El Camino tests everyone but it usually gives you the chance, often second chances, to know that you are prepared to learn from its tests.
In the winter we will focus on individual and collective preparation for the trip with a special emphasis on fostering a supportive group sense, both in class and on preparatory walks. One has to prepare carefully and thoughtfully for the Camino. We’ll do lots of preparation and planning, individually and together, as the Course Description says (and we’ll regularly remind ourselves that planning and preparation can deceive one into thinking he or she is ready for El Camino). Part of our planning will be contemplating the wisdom of many other walkers that says, in effect, “Plan well and always expect your plans to fall apart!” Winter quarter will aim to prepare students so well that they will know what to do when that happens.” – William Arney (Program professor)
I will spend just over two months in Spain – Walking over 600 miles along el Camino de Santiago. Though, I plan on arriving, and spending some time, in Barcelona! This will give me the chance to spend a few days as a tourist and indulge in the art, learn about the cultural inheritance, and see the beautiful architecture that the city of Barcelona has to offer. Then, I would love to travel to Switzerland (by train from Barcelona) and see the incredible peaks of the Alps, the enchanting wildlife, and all-surrounding remarkable landscapes. From Switzerland, I plan to travel by train to St. Jean Pied de Port, France. This is where I will officially start my long walk. Once I arrive in France I will no longer be taking trains, buses, nor taxi cabs. Just me, my pack, any companions, and el buen camino de Santiago! Our class will meet up in Santiago on May 12th and take a final walk to Finisterre as a group.
So far, I have made plans to travel with a buddy from class, Victoria! We will fly together and travel together until her departure on May 19th. I will stay in Spain until June 7th. I will also be meeting up with other fellow classmates along the way, and look forward to meeting many pilgrims throughout my travel.
After my long walk, or pilgrimage, I will spend some time WWOOFing in Spain (maybe in Eastern Spain, still have yet to work out the exact logistics. I will be updating specifics often!) to finish up my independent research on Olive trees. I have already started my research on olive production and will continue my research throughout the duration of my walk; but will have some time to really focus in during my time volunteering at local farms. My research has been interesting thus far. A large part of U.S. olive oil imports come from Spain. Furthermore, there are over 600 varieties of olives! I will have the chance to explore some of these varieties, their differences, and find out preferred varieties of olives for high quality olive oil and table olives (YUM!).
When the trip is
Here is my itinerary:
4/4/16 12:58 depart Vancouver --> Dallas Ft. Worth
4/4/16 22:00 Dallas Ft. Worth --> Heathrow London
4/5/16 14:30 Heathrow London --> Barcelona
6/7/16 7:00 Barcelona --> London
6/7/16 12:25 London --> Chicago
6/7/16 17:15 Chicago --> Portland
(I will be updating trail scedules ASAP)
How the money will be used
(Estimated costs)
ITEM Costs
Study Abroad Fee $200
Passport (expedited) $170
Airfare $1500
In-Country Travel (trains) $500
Housing $980
Food $1500
Medical Insurance $100
Books $50
Total $5000
I am extremely grateful for all my supporters
Sending a huge thank you to all who have been so encouraging up to this point. I feel so grateful to be blessed with such a supportive group of wonderful people.
I am so very thankful to have this opportunity! Spain seems like a dream to me now, but the more preparation that goes in, the closer to reality it is becoming!
Please support me any way you can! Stop by and send some words of encouragement, Share/Like my posts, donate $1 or even a penny. Any and all support is very much appreciated and it all adds up in the end.
I love you ♥
Thank you!! ( :
-Kinzie
Hi there friends, family, and supporters!
For those of you who do not know me, my name is Mikinzie McCracken and I am 19 years old. I am currently a full time, second year, student at The Evergreen State College working towards a Bachelor’s of Science degree. My ultimate goal is to obtain a Masters in Teaching. I love learning, cooking, music, and any/all community building activities. I love FAMILY and FRIENDS and especially enjoy my time spent with good company. I dream of someday teaching middle school science or high school biology, I also have dreams to travel and learn from the world on a deeper, more intimate level. So far I have never been abroad, but I have been faced with an amazing, unique opportunity to travel to Spain this spring! I would love your support in achieving my dreams.
Also...
This is my friend, classmate, and travel buddy, Victoria! She is so awesome! I'm extremely lucky and grateful to have her along with me on my journey ( :
Where I come from
I was born and raised in the Pacific North West. My hometown is Vancouver, WA. I am currently living in Olympia, WA where I go to school. I share a home with four good friends. I have a large loving and supportive family complete with five siblings. I come from a low income household; although we never struggled to do well and go far with what we had. Therefore, I am reaching out to some extended family and friends to ask for an extra helping hand in supporting me to reach my financial goals to make my trip abroad to Spain truly enjoyable!
How and Why I am going to Spain
I am enrolled in a winter and spring program called, Walking to Santiago de Compostela. I am going to go ahead and attach the program description, as it captures a lot of the wonders of this program:
“As we walk upon the road we meet ourselves. And at the end, perhaps we’ll find there are no sides to take, no enemies of state, no arguments against the other. There’s only death that waits. But on this tiny planet, and in this precious moment, we have the chance to live in peace together. If only we would take a walk. - John Francis, Ph.D., Planetwalker
Overview: Winter quarter, on campus, we will study El Camino, the collection of traditional pilgrimage routes that all end in Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. Spring quarter students will travel to their chosen starting points, walk the Camino, meet in Santiago for a several days of discussion, reflection and evaluation, and then, probably, walk together to Finisterre, the “end of the world” and the site of the pagan altar to the setting sun, Ara Solis.[1]
El Camino de Santiago, “The Way of Saint James,” is a collection of traditional pilgrimage routes that end in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where, under the altar of the Cathedral, Saint James the Greater is said to be buried. A monk said, “The only thing all pilgrims have in common is an interior necessity—I must go, I don’t know why….” As we study and walk the paths to Santiago, you will learn from, not just about, the Camino. It may teach you why you had to go or about yourself or how you want to live. This Walk is a “focal activity” that makes demands and requires discipline, helps you sense relationships even when walking alone, reassures you about unknown capabilities, and, as one writer put it, gives you a “glimpse of life-giving possibilities.”
Winter quarter: We will study, first, the political history and the art of walking, and, second, the art and practice of pilgrimage. Then we will take up the historical, religious, political, and cultural background of the Camino as well as its place in contemporary Spain. Accounts of the Camino provide many takes on why people go to Santiago, what is required—physically, mentally and financially—for walking routes that vary from 60 to more than 1,000 miles (100 – 1,600 km), what “pilgrimage” might mean in our time, and the kinds of meanings people make of their experiences. Readings will range from the mystical realm to first aid for blisters, from foot care to spirit care and everything in between. This portion of the program will involve significant lecture time, guest presentations and seminars. And we will—all together, in small groups, and alone—take preparatory walks.
Integrated Instruction in Spanish: Students will have the option to take 4 of the 16 credits for Winter Quarter in “Conversational Spanish.”
Up to 50% of the quarter’s credit will be awarded for a substantial independent study that will be designed to give students a personal entrée to and a continuing connection to their walks. Projects will be designed to continue during the students’ walks in the spring. The faculty will support almost any serious independent inquiry that better prepares the student for her or his walk. Students will be encouraged, and helped, to seek supportive experts elsewhere, including in Spain.
We’ll spend time on logistics. We’ll research routes and, while students will be encouraged to walk the Camino Francés across the northern part of Spain, everyone will choose a route. We’ll read guidebooks, select walking gear, decide on walking partners (and make group covenants about what “walking together” will mean), make travel plans, obtain credenciales (the Camino “passports” that document one’s progress and that provide access to low-cost, pilgrim-only dormitories), consider food and shelter issues along with their budgetary implications, talk about how to stay in touch while on our walks,[4] gather maps, tips, historical and cultural information, and so forth.
My programs always include significant time for reflecting on one’s work. Students will begin an intensive journaling practice and will maintain a manual, both of which will continue in the spring. At the end of winter, each of us will write a mid-program self-evaluation prompted by the monk’s comment in David Downie’s Paris to the Pyrenees: A Skeptic Pilgrim Walks the Way of Saint James: “The only thing all pilgrims have in common is an interior necessity—I must go, I don’t know why….”
Spring Quarter: Everyone will be prepared to get to his or her starting point during the first week and begin his or her Way. Everyone will check in regularly with everyone else. (Winter readings will include books by people who aborted their walks, who completed their walks in stages, and who took buses for various stages. Students should begin their walks knowing there are many ways to “The Way.”[6])
By June 8, the middle of evaluation week, everyone will send to everyone else their essays of an Academic Statement. Your prompt will be derivative of Downie’s monk’s comment: We’ll begin, “Now I am here, I don’t know why…,” and write from there. What better time than the end of a pilgrimage to reflect on the scope and arc of one’s learning on El Camino and throughout one’s entire education? (An American I met outside El Museo de arte Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid told me of a pilgrim’s report on his Way that encouraged this fellow to get on his own Way to St. James. In the shade of the museum’s garden and in a grand New York accent, he said, “This guy says El Camino is like a whole life, your whole life. You’re a baby when you start. You don’t know what you’re doing or what you need, don’t know what to put in your pack. You just start. And you get over those mountains and you’re dazed; you don’t know what’s going on. Then, after a while, it’s teenage time. There are lots of parties and everyone is having a really good time. You’re cocky. Then you get to the meseta, that high plain that just goes on and on, dry, straight, day after day the same thing. That’s middle age, isn’t it? Then come those next mountains. And there you find that you’re well seasoned, that the Way is new and challenging, but you have everything you need to accomplish what you need to accomplish. Then comes the onset of the end: beautiful Galicia rolls on in front of you, reminding you every step of the Way of the frailties you’ve acquired, of the way you’ve been beaten up even though you’re still strong, reminding you that most of it all is now behind you, telling you, kilometer marker after kilometer marker, that the end is nearer and nearer. And then you’re there. You’re in the Cathedral that is dedicated to Resurrection. But–and this is the best part–you’re not dead! You get to keep going. How ’bout dat? That’s why I’m going.”)
I will be in indirect contact with the group for the weeks everyone is walking their own Ways to Santiago. Everyone will have a phone that works in the countries students visit and everyone will have all the group members’ numbers. Beyond that, we will likely use an Internet-based site to keep track of one another. And beyond that, there is an “inter-personal telegraph” that develops informally, especially on the well-traveled Camino Francés where fellow travelers often pass messages about the whereabouts of one’s group members. On safety, Carlos Mentley, of the organization “American Pilgrims on the Camino” wrote, “It is common for people to undertake the pilgrimage by themselves. On the very first day of walking, however, every pilgrim realizes that he or she is surrounded by other pilgrims engaged in the same undertaking, and a very real community of pilgrims quickly forms. They walk and talk together, eat and sleep in the same places, and they take care of each other. Medical services, should they be needed, are always readily available—this is Europe, after all—and pilgrims are especially well cared for.”
In all my programs I aim to prepare students to go their own ways and, to that end, I always build an independent project into every program. I try to prepare students well so they can use the grounding of our common program experiences to find their ways into independent work. El Camino tests everyone but it usually gives you the chance, often second chances, to know that you are prepared to learn from its tests.
In the winter we will focus on individual and collective preparation for the trip with a special emphasis on fostering a supportive group sense, both in class and on preparatory walks. One has to prepare carefully and thoughtfully for the Camino. We’ll do lots of preparation and planning, individually and together, as the Course Description says (and we’ll regularly remind ourselves that planning and preparation can deceive one into thinking he or she is ready for El Camino). Part of our planning will be contemplating the wisdom of many other walkers that says, in effect, “Plan well and always expect your plans to fall apart!” Winter quarter will aim to prepare students so well that they will know what to do when that happens.” – William Arney (Program professor)
I will spend just over two months in Spain – Walking over 600 miles along el Camino de Santiago. Though, I plan on arriving, and spending some time, in Barcelona! This will give me the chance to spend a few days as a tourist and indulge in the art, learn about the cultural inheritance, and see the beautiful architecture that the city of Barcelona has to offer. Then, I would love to travel to Switzerland (by train from Barcelona) and see the incredible peaks of the Alps, the enchanting wildlife, and all-surrounding remarkable landscapes. From Switzerland, I plan to travel by train to St. Jean Pied de Port, France. This is where I will officially start my long walk. Once I arrive in France I will no longer be taking trains, buses, nor taxi cabs. Just me, my pack, any companions, and el buen camino de Santiago! Our class will meet up in Santiago on May 12th and take a final walk to Finisterre as a group.
So far, I have made plans to travel with a buddy from class, Victoria! We will fly together and travel together until her departure on May 19th. I will stay in Spain until June 7th. I will also be meeting up with other fellow classmates along the way, and look forward to meeting many pilgrims throughout my travel.
After my long walk, or pilgrimage, I will spend some time WWOOFing in Spain (maybe in Eastern Spain, still have yet to work out the exact logistics. I will be updating specifics often!) to finish up my independent research on Olive trees. I have already started my research on olive production and will continue my research throughout the duration of my walk; but will have some time to really focus in during my time volunteering at local farms. My research has been interesting thus far. A large part of U.S. olive oil imports come from Spain. Furthermore, there are over 600 varieties of olives! I will have the chance to explore some of these varieties, their differences, and find out preferred varieties of olives for high quality olive oil and table olives (YUM!).
When the trip is
Here is my itinerary:
4/4/16 12:58 depart Vancouver --> Dallas Ft. Worth
4/4/16 22:00 Dallas Ft. Worth --> Heathrow London
4/5/16 14:30 Heathrow London --> Barcelona
6/7/16 7:00 Barcelona --> London
6/7/16 12:25 London --> Chicago
6/7/16 17:15 Chicago --> Portland
(I will be updating trail scedules ASAP)
How the money will be used
(Estimated costs)
ITEM Costs
Study Abroad Fee $200
Passport (expedited) $170
Airfare $1500
In-Country Travel (trains) $500
Housing $980
Food $1500
Medical Insurance $100
Books $50
Total $5000
I am extremely grateful for all my supporters
Sending a huge thank you to all who have been so encouraging up to this point. I feel so grateful to be blessed with such a supportive group of wonderful people.
I am so very thankful to have this opportunity! Spain seems like a dream to me now, but the more preparation that goes in, the closer to reality it is becoming!
Please support me any way you can! Stop by and send some words of encouragement, Share/Like my posts, donate $1 or even a penny. Any and all support is very much appreciated and it all adds up in the end.
I love you ♥
Thank you!! ( :
-Kinzie
Organizer
Mikinzie McCracken
Organizer
Olympia, WA