Easter Holiday Ideas!
Friday, 19th February 2010
Whether you just have the long weekend or are lucky enough to have longer off at Easter, now is the time to make plans that go further than stocking up on chocolate eggs and hot cross buns...
Easter is not only a perfect excuse to travel and take part in colourful celebrations abroad, it is also a great time of year to get out and about and enjoy the arrival of spring, the sun shining a little longer each day, the air filled with expectation and the scent of new blossoms as we emerge from winter.
Weekend Crash Courses
If you have already booked a trip overseas then it’s not too late to learn some of the lingo before you go. Cactus is offering 10-hour Weekend Crash Courses in London in French, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese and Arabic; at just £99 these are ideal to take as a taster, survival or quick refresher course before you head off. With five hours of class on two consecutive Saturdays, starting Sat 13th March, there is a strong communicative element to these courses, giving you the confidence to take your language outside the classroom and use it in real-life context as soon as you hit foreign soil.
Language Holidays Abroad
If you haven’t yet booked your holiday, then let the fun begin! Where to go, what to see? The world is yours this Easter – with lots of sweet treats to enjoy wherever you go! Combining your trip with a language holiday is the secret to experiencing a culture from the inside, and for many countries the festivities held at Easter are even more exuberant than those seen at, say, Christmas or New Year.
Spain
Perhaps nowhere does Easter quite as well as Spain. The land of fiesta combined with deep-rooted Catholic identity – together a recipe for merriment of the highest order. Every town in Spain marks the occasion but perhaps none quite tops Seville: the rightful solemnity of Semana Santa the week preceding Easter is cast aside as this vibrant Andalucian city erupts into the much-anticipated Feria de Abril, a week-long party of flamenco dancing, horse shows, bullfighting and more. This is truly Spanish fiesta at its best.
1 week General Spanish Course (20 lessons) in Seville from £189 / €206 >
Guatemala
The closest you can come to Seville in the Americas is arguably Antigua, in Guatemala, which always hosts extravagant religious celebrations. Easter Week sees huge processions winding their way slowly through the town’s cobbled streets and past its pastel-coloured houses - purple-robed men carrying large, heavy floats bearing the statue of Jesus and women dressed in black following the Virgin Mary. Yet most spectacular of all are the multicoloured alfombras which line the streets between processions and which are prepared weeks in advance: brightly dyed sawdust pressed through intricately designed stencils to create beautiful ‘carpets’, stunning but shortlived as they are passed over by the processions, as such to honour Christ’s death and pay penance.
1 week General Spanish Course (20 lessons) in Antigua from £139 / €144 >
Italy
Pasqua, as it is called in Italy, is celebrated - as you would expect in this country of fine dining - with a big feast of Agnellino, roasted baby lamb, and rich, sweet bread for the kids. Rome is the obvious hub of Easter celebrations, led by the Pope with Mass at the Vatican on Easter Sunday, but towns and cities all across the country have their own traditional festivities.
1 week General Italian Course (15 lessons per week) in Rome from £229 / €251 >
Germany
Let’s not forget the kids who often have a couple of weeks off school over Easter. No more boring rainy days at home – why not send them to beautiful Lindenberg, on Lake Constance, for a Residential German Course aimed at 10 to 17 year olds. From arts and crafts and drama to mountain biking, swimming and golf, there is no shortage of recreational activities to keep those restless teens entertained over the holiday period –they’ll even come back with new friends and new language skills too.
NB. Most schools across the world close for the public holiday days celebrated at Easter; please check your particular school for details. On these days there are usually local celebrations and events to take part in. Prices are correct at the time of publishing although these may be subject to fluctuation depending on currency exchange rates.
Tags: spanish, italian, spain, italy, germany, course, rome, seville, guatemala, easter, antigua, lindenberg, semana santa, feria de abril
Posted by Sarah Gooding under Experience Cultures,
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