Submitted by MaryVictoria Barr on the 2014 spring semester study abroad program in Granada, Spain…
Our spring break was this past week because Holy Week ended yesterday. I arrived back in Granada yesterday morning after a long ten days, five in Ibiza (a Spanish island in the Mediterranean) and then five days in Rome. Ibiza was just a normal beach town, we spent everyday on the beach and there wasn’t really any historical value to the trip, but since it was our spring break, we wanted to get to the beach. Rome has become my favorite European city, I absolutely loved it. It had just enough American influence, like in the style of clothing and language, but the buildings and streets maintained the European appearance with the winding paths and colorful buildings. During this past week, everything has bloomed, so all the trees were bright green and there were flowers all over the place which definitely added to my appreciation of the city. I saw the Colosseum, which was so cool because its amazing to me that all of that is still standing, the Vatican, (although we couldn’t go inside the Basilica because the Pope was in there for Holy Week festivities)the Pantheon, and the Sistine Chapel. All of it was just incredible, especially because these monuments are such a part of world history and have made such an impact on not only Europe, but world history as well. The Sistine Chapel was breathtaking, the way the ceilings were painting just amazed me. I can’t comprehend how all this art and architecture was possible without the use of machines and technology that we have today.
Even though the vacation was very fun and I got to see so much more of the world, I am very happy to be back in Granada and in the house I am used to as home now. My host family was very happy to have me back and it was good to be sitting around the lunch table again having conversations with my funny host siblings.