Over the last week I’ve spent about $130 $160 on things for the camino – socks, rain gear, first aid stuff, ANOTHER camp towel (worth the extra $$). I have inserts for my boots, a bar of soap that I can use in my hair as well as on my body, and a small borrowed pack that is going to work fabulously. And I’m starting to get anxious. Shane had a taste of this today – we were at Champaign Surplus and I started feeling frazzled a la “is there anything I’m forgetting?!”.

One of my professors mentioned my camino to some visiting Spanish researchers, who replied that if I needed an emergency contact, I was welcome to look them up – so I have a business card in my pack for the Universidad de Valladolid.

The woman I’m staying with in Porto emailed me this week to say she could pick me up at the airport on Wednesday, and that she’d love to join me for a day or two.

No luck lining up a couch in London yet, but I’m still looking.

Last night a friend told me that I’m an inspiration to her – being bold enough to go do something like this, even if it is scary and I feel unprepared.

My parents keep giving me stern talks about not going to bars with strangers.

I’m going to miss waking up with Shane and Basil, and the mornings that we (not Basil) go to breakfast and stare dazedly at each other over the first cup of coffee. Shane’s applying for a dream job in New York, and I’m trying not to think about what that might mean for us. I haven’t talked about this relationship much here – and that is deliberate – but the last 10 days have been really good, and I am going to miss him.