Spring Break
Well, I’ve been back from spring break for a few days now but with catching up on homework, planning trips for the next few weekends, starting to study for midterms, and thinking about classes for next semester, I haven’t had much time to blog. But now I’m pretty much caught up with everything so I can write a little about my spring break adventures. My parents got here (Granada) on Friday (without luggage, but you can talk to them about that) and we spent the weekend seeing the sights of Granada. On Friday they came over to my apartment to see where I live and meet my Spanish family. Luckily everyone was home, so they got to meet Carmen, Nikko, and Pablo. I had quite a job translating for everyone, but I think it went pretty well. After that I showed them around Granada a little: my school, some of the main plazas, etc. The next day we took a walk up to the Albaicín and saw a good view of the city and the Alhambra. That night we did a little tapas bar-hopping so that they could experience the wonder of free tapas in Granada. On Sunday we went to the Royal Chapel in the morning to see the crypts of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel and in the afternoon we had tickets for the Alhambra. That evening we saw our first of several Semana Santa (Holy Week) processions. These are a huge tradition in Andalucía and people come from all over to see them. The processions are like a parade with hundreds of people: penitents dressed in outfits with a striking resemblance to the KKK, marching bands, women in all black carrying rosaries, and probably about 30 men carrying a huge float-type thing with a statue of Jesus or the Virgin Mary. They walk all throughout the city and go on for anywhere from 6-12 hours, sometimes into the very early morning. There are usually 5-7 of these every day during holy week and they last from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. I thought it was really interesting to see since it’s a tradition that’s so different than anything in the United States.
We left early Monday morning on a bus to Sevilla, the city in Spain with the most famous Semana Santa processions. We went to the cathedral, which was good because I got to see a lot more of it than when I was in Sevilla the last time. We also went on a boat tour of the Guadalquivir and walked over to the Plaza de España. We were able to see a few of the processions here, too, but there were so many people that it was sometimes hard to see and hard to get around the city with so many roads blocked off.
On Tuesday we flew from Sevilla to Paris and made our way on the metro to our hotel, which was very close to the Eiffel Tower. That first night we walked to the tower to see it all lit-up, which was really pretty. We decided not to go up in it that night, though, because it was really cold and windy and we weren’t exactly prepared for the weather. The whole time we were in France, though, it was pretty cold and windy (and sometimes rainy, too), not quite as nice as it had been in Spain (sunny and in the 60s or 70s). On Wednesday we took the train out to Versailles to see the palace. It was pretty spectacular and full of wealth and luxury. The gardens there were huge, too, but it was too windy to spend too much time in them. That night, when we were back in Paris, we went back to the Eiffel Tower and actually went up in it. It was really pretty to see the whole city lit-up at night.
Thursday morning we bought the 2-day Paris museum passes, so we spent most of the next two days hopping from one museum or monument to another. On Thursday morning we went to the Rodin Museum and Napoleon’s tomb, which was really impressive: a huge wooden coffin-like monument right under the church’s dome. After that we went to the Orsay Museum, which had a lot of interesting work from the impressionist period and around. We also walked over to the Arc de Triomphe but weren’t able to go up in it because of a worker’s strike. This was our walking day, so the next day ended up being our metro day (we learned that things seem closer on the map than they really are). Friday we started off with a trip to the Louvre, and we saw the famous pieces like Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. The museum was so big, though, that I don’t know if we even saw a third of it after being there for about 3 hours. After this we walked to the smaller, and much more manageable, Museum de l’Orangerie, which houses Monet’s water lilies and other impressionist art, included a little of Picasso. Next, we took the bus to Notre Dame where there was a service going on since it was Good Friday. The church was really beautiful but it felt a little odd walking around with a camera in hand while there was a service being held. After leaving the church we decided not to go up into the towers because there was a huge line. While on the island in the Seine where the Notre Dame is, we stopped in the Conciergerie, the prison where people, including Marie Antoinette, were held before being sent to the guillotine. After this, we took the metro to the Montmatre area and walked up to the Sacred Heart church were there was a great view of the city. We then walked down the hill into a slightly sketchy neighborhood full of sex shops and cabarets in order to see the Moulin Rouge.
Saturday afternoon we headed back to the airport to catch our flight to Madrid. We didn’t do a whole lot that day in Madrid because it was a little rainy and cold, but we walked around a little and saw a few of the main plazas, the cathedral, and the royal palace. Sunday morning (Easter) we went to a catholic church near our hotel for mass. It was interesting to experience a catholic mass, but the service was a little hard to understand (especially for my parents who don’t know Spanish). After this, we took a walk to the park Buen Retiro, a huge park in the center of the city. It was pretty to see and there were a lot of people walking around and performers playing different instruments. I caught a bus back to Granada that afternoon and my parent’s flight left the next morning. Overall, spring break was a lot of fun but it went by so quickly. It was great to see my parents and Paris was really amazing to see. It’s interesting how Spain and France are so close but their cultures seem so different. It was a little hard to get back into the swing of classes this week, especially with mid-terms starting, but I guess that’s to be expected after a week of vacation. This weekend I’m off to Prague to visit Kelsey and Marissa, my two friends who are studying there. I’m very excited to see them but it’s hard to belief I’m leaving Granada again. I guess that’s what happens when you’re studying abroad in Europe, though – I want to visit all the different places I can while I have the chance.