Just under two weeks ago, all 25 of our group members left Denia for our spring break to experience more of Europe (save for Professor Bierling and Neal who stayed here to enjoy the visit of some of their grandkids and children!) We were ready for a break, as most of us had just taken a history midterm and all of us had been at the daily grind of school for a while. The last few days were a bit hectic, between packing, studying, printing out boarding passes, and trying to find some time to take in the sun that has just come out in Denia. But we got that all taken care of, and well, it was quite the exciting spring break for us – it’s not every year that we get to go gallivanting about Europe! Our trips were varied – some kept as close as Spain, for one group, in hiking the famed pilgrimage, the “Camino de Santiago,” and for another group, in taking in the sunshine of the beaches of the Canary Islands, a European holiday favorite. All the while, others went as far as Denmark and Norway to visit family and friends! The rest of us were somewhere in between – a few made it up to the UK and the Netherlands, while a good majority of us hit up Italy and/or France – and as far as I know from what I’ve heard – they were all amazing! We also had good traveling companions: members of our own Spain group, family and friends that came from home, family and friends that live in Europe, and new friends made along the way that hailed from places like Valencia, Italy, Ireland, Eritrea, and the US. (A few guys even got to meet up for coffee with one of our Spanish professors in his hometown in Northern Spain.) It is quite idyllic to be able to say to a friend, “let’s rendezvous in front of the fountains in Rome!”
Speaking for myself, I had a ton of fun and learned a lot, too. I went to the south of France, Paris, and Cinque Terre, Italy. There were some awesome moments, like visiting old friends, experiencing the beauty of God’s creation through hiking and kayaking in Provence and Northern Italy, and seeing sights I had always dreamed of seeing, like the Eiffel tower and the Louvre. It was cool to see how what I had learned in my classes in Spain applied to my travels in other countries: for example, seeing Notre Dame in Paris was much more meaningful because I had studied gothic architecture in Spanish art history class. Even though our examples had been the cathedrals of León, Burgos, and Toledo, the same concepts still applied in France. (Some of our group members went to see the very cathedrals we studied in that class, like the ones in León and Santiago de Compostela.) But these trips included hard times too: for one, it was lost luggage, for another, it was a passport predicament, and for me, it was the French train strike on the day I had to make it from Paris to Cinque Terre, Italy, all by myself. Most of my connecting trains were canceled, and it ended up being a pretty stressful day. But if there’s anything that international travel teaches you, it’s flexibility – and coming to realize that things like a train strike are not the end of the world. God provided, and things worked out in the end. I can see his faithfulness in how he took care of me that day and throughout the trip, and I am confident that many of my group members have stories like this one. God is faithful, and he has blessed us so!
Well, safe to say that this spring break was a blast, and now, as my grandparents would say, “all of the chickens are back in the nest.” Despite one group member who got delayed in Barcelona coming home, we have now, at last, all made it back to Denia. It was interesting and almost surprising to see how much Spain (and Denia, specifically), felt like home when we got back. For my travel mates and I, landing in Alicante and hailing a taxi was so refreshing, easy, and comfortable – “hey,” we realized, after having been in Italy, “we speak this language [Spanish] pretty well!” Our corner of Spain has become a home to us. And having experienced other cultures and environments on the voyage, we now have refreshed eyes to see Spain in a new way. So now we are hopefully all refreshed, energized, and (some of us) rested to head into our last 5 weeks in Spain. The adjustment back to doing homework and studying for tests will not be easy, but we’ll get through it, just as we always do. :) Thanks so much for your prayers and
support!
--Written by Emma DeVries
Hiking in Cinque Terre National Park, Italy
Celebrating Easter in France with brothers and sisters in Christ from 6 countries. Celebrating Easter in various places was really cool, as we got to see the traditions of believers from many cultures!
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