“Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.”

Last weekend I went to Xi’an with ten other students on my program for spring break. Early Friday morning, a few of us journeyed to Huashan Mountain (华山, Huà shān, shān meaning mountain in Mandarin). Huashan is located in the Shaanxi province of Xi’an and is considered to be one of the Five Great Mountains of China. Huashan has five different peaks that overlook various surrounding mountains and cityscapes.

Hello!!

This past week my family came to visit me. While they were here, we went to Barcelona for a few days. Wow, what a city! First of all, the weather was pretty wonderful. I got the sunshine that Germany has not provided me yet. You better believe that I soaked up as much as I could. It is also looking like Spring over there. The trees have leaves on them and there are flowers appearing everywhere. It is really beautiful and I cannot wait for it to look like that back in Germany.

1. It’s frustrating

The sun came out for a solid three hours today! Even though I'm pretty sure I'm coming down with a pretty serious cold, I took the long way to school to maximize vitamin D absorption and enjoy a little bit of blue while it lasted. Don't worry, it's pouring again; my host mom turned to me at dinner and said: "it hasn't rained that much while you've been here, right?".

When deciding which semester I wanted to study abroad, aside from the biggest influencing decision being graduating on time, I thought about what sort of experience I wanted to have. Japan is a country with defined seasons, which means each season there are different traditions, festivals, foods, and activities to be enjoyed. For me, spring was the most appealing and obvious option because of Japan’s beloved national flower, sakura, or cherry blossoms.

As a historically Catholic country, Spain is known for their Holy Week traditions, especially for their processions, food and music. Foreign tourists, in addition to Spaniards from other parts of the country, flock to Granada on this week to witness these impressive and extravagant processions.