This March break, 11 students and two faculty members are traveling to Spain to explore the life and works of Teresa de Ávila, a renowned Spanish mystic. Please enjoy the blog post below from Abdullah ’25 where he recounts the group’s visit to Simancas, where they explored an ancient castle housing royal archives, experienced the life of cloistered nuns, and enjoyed a unique tapas tour in Valladolid, highlighting the rich history and culture of Spain:
Arriving in Simancas, just 15 minutes from our hotel in Valladolid, we walked up to an ancient Castle, housing one of Spain’s three national archives. Jaoquin, our guide, blessed us with a tour that felt like slowly unraveling the past, through treasure after treasure. He explained the layout of the castle, then took us up to see ancient maps of Spanish cities and territories. One of my favorites was a 16th century map of a volcano exploding on the Canary Islands.
Jaoquin then told us that we were about to go into an area not accessible to the public. We followed Jaoquin down narrow, winding stairs, passing by a wooden door with the Spanish Royal crest painted on it. This room contained the personal archives of King Phillip II and those of his father King Charles V.
In the archives of King Charles V, Jaoquin lugged up a stack of royal documents and thrust them onto the Monarch’s desk. He switched glasses and pulled out a few papers. “You can touch them”, He said “They don’t bite”. At which point we all rushed to feel that piece of history, as if we hoped to absorb its wisdom through our fingertips. One of the last two things we did was look at maps of the Americas drawn by 15th and 16th century Spanish “explorers”. The maps included places like Alabama, Florida, Maine and more.
The next thing we did that day was go to a convent of cloistered nuns from the order started by Saint Theresa of Avila. They remain in this religious community for life, not leaving unless out of necessity and only speaking to a special few. We were lucky enough to be among those special few. They spoke to us through metal bars. Abby and Jordan translated for us. One particular nun, who spoke the most, grew up in the area, always curious about the lifestyle in the convent. As children, she and her friend skipped school one day, pretending to consider joining the convent, just to find out about it. After growing up, this Nun found herself missing something and joined the convent. She has been there for 50 years now.
The final event of the day was that we met up with a large group of Jordan’s friends in Valladolid. We split up in groups of three for a tapas experience. For us, the first stop was a Japanese restaurant where we ate bull sushi. They served our food in locked chests with QR codes on them. We scanned the codes, answered a quiz question and got the combinations to the locks if we answered correctly. The second stop was a pub where we ate cheese sandwiches wrapped in plastic. We were told to eat the plastic. It wasn’t really plastic, but some edible material that looked like it, and we ate the plastic. The third and final stop was to a seafood diner. We ate potatoes in a mix of creamy and spicy sauce, as well as squid sandwiches with the same sauce. Arthur similarly enjoyed the sandwich, devouring it in just a few minutes.
This day has been deeply special to me. It makes me realize how lucky we all are to be able not only to learn about Spanish, history, spirituality and culture, but we also experience Spain first hand, the way that few others get to. I think above all that experience is the best way to learn.
