Swimming between the stars of the Atlantic Ocean

In the fall of 2014 I did the Camino de Santiago. This was the experience of my life. Six weeks felt like a lifetime and I felt forever changed. I met people with whom I felt a connection I have never felt before and a true openness I have never encountered before. Doing the Camino de Santiago was like an adventure. Every morning I woke up and had no idea what was going to happen that day or who I was going to meet. One day I found myself in the middle of a forrest with intense rain and an intense feeling of loneliness and then later in the evening I reencountered people and everything made sense again. The yellow arrows of the Camino guided me to treasures I never thought I would find. On a wall on the Camino, there is written with grafitti "The Fellowship of The Camino" and that describes the feeling really well. It is like a fellowship that connects every pilgrim despite differences like nation, belief and age. The fact that it is a reference to The Lord of the Rings only makes it that much better because in some way being on the Camino feels like being a Hobbit on the way to something important.

The treasure I have chosen to describe, I found in the Atlantic Ocean. After six weeks of sweat, tears and love I reached Finisterre, the end of the world, with people that meant a lot to me whom I had encountered in the Camino. In the night under the beautiful southern moon and the stars, I dipped my body in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time of my life. I was naked in the dark water under the beautiful night sky and I felt like one with everything. It is a feeling I had never had before and have never had after. It was like the ocean and the sky melted into one and I was in the middle of it. I felt completely weightless and empty of worry and pain. This moment I understood what it feels like to be connected and a part of this endless, mysterious universe of ours.