"'Pilgrim'? What does it even mean?!"
For me, it has two meanings:
1. One who journeys in foreign lands: WAYFARER (that's a Merriam-Webster definition)
2. Someone who takes a very long walk across Spain, called the Camino de Santiago. Could be for religious, spiritual, or personal reasons.
I identify with both these definitions of the word.
In 2013, right after I graduated from Rutgers University, I did the Camino de Santiago in Spain. It was quite possibly the best experience of my life. I spent one month walking from the French-Spanish border, over the Pyrenees, across northern Spain, to the city of Santiago de Compostela, and then to the Atlantic ocean at Finisterre, the westernmost point of continental Europe.
Once you make a pilgrimage, you realize that it started before you thought it did, and you thought it had an end but it actually doesn't. That's really the best way to explain something that is wonderfully difficult to explain.
So in many ways I am still on pilgrimage as I embark on my journey to Tanzania. I'm really just walking with some people for a while, sharing stories, ideas, meals, and burdens.
That's life.
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To learn more about the Camino de Santiago, feel free to contact me, or visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago
http://www.santiago-compostela.net/
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