Julie Ierubino

We arrived around 9 am in Rome. By the time we went to the bathroom to change and brush our teeth after our night train from Switzerland, found an ATM, got lost in the strange mall/train station, realized we couldn’t find even the right exit from the station that was our first step in the directions to our hostel, and then took a taxi a mere 7 blocks to our hostel, it was already 11:30 am! We checked in and dropped our bags off, and immediately fled to the streets of Roma! First we checked out the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. We stopped to have lunch (hot dogs … how Italian of us! haha) and ate on pieces of fallen Coliseum. Pretty cool seats with an even better view! After we set off to other ... read more

On Friday after I finished my program, Lisa, my friends Christina, Lisa, Monica and I made our way to Barcelona. We left around 4 pm, shortly after my last “almuerzo” (the main meal of the day, served at lunch time which is around 2:30) with my family and Lisa. She was definitely nervous about the meal in my house, but I promised her it would be great - and it was! We had chicken and some awesome patatas and gazpacho (a thick vegetable broth served cold). We arrived in Barcelona via train at 10:30 pm, and took a taxi to the hotel about 10 minutes from center city Barca. We met up with Monica and my other friend Lisa at the hotel (they took a plane). We grabbed some dinner and walked around the city for ... read more

This weekend I went to Granada with the rest of the students in my program. Granada is one of the most visited cities in Andalucia. It is famous for its mixture of three cultures: Christian, Muslim and Jewish. Granada was first settled by native tribes in the prehistoric period and was know as Ilbyr. When the Romans colonized southern Spain, they built their own city here and called it Illibris. When the Arabs invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century, they gave the city its current name of Granada. It was the last Muslim city to fall to the Christians in 1492 at the hands of Queen Isabel and her husband Ferdinand of Aragon. We left Saturday morning and traveled the three hours to the city. On Saturday we did a walking tour of “Alhambra”. ... read more

Corpus Christi was on Thursday of this week in Sevilla. Our school was closed for the holiday, but we met outside of the school and walked around Sevilla with our instructors while they explained the holiday, the traditions and showed us the processions. Center city Sevilla (where I live) was decorated with religious shrines, rosemary all over the streets, and little girls in their Sunday best. Corpus Christi is in most literal terms the celebration of the body of Christ. It is exactly sixty days after Easter and marks the day that it is said Jesus truly left earth (for sixty days he still performed miracles on earth). Every single shop was closed in the town. Everything was dedicated to the Catholic Church. It was weird to be in a country where that is even legal. ... read more

Last night for a class activity we saw the flamenco version of the opera “Carmen”. It was really cool to say the least. There was no singing besides the flamenco version of singing every once in a while (it´s a mix of bad opera and whining..) There was a band of about 20 with trumpets and drums and everything and that was really awesome. In the middle of the play a white stallion was on stage, tapping its hooves to the flamenco. There is a famous song that you would all recognize from Carmen, I´m posting a link to a youtube video of the song with the post! This weekend I am staying in Sevilla Friday night. My friends are seeing the Whales (the original Whales was Bob Marley´s band) who are playing in Sevilla on ... read more