それからを休暇と捉えるのか、いや、楽しいから休暇のように感じられていたまるっと1年を特別な1年と捉えるのか。

Question

The context is someone recalling memories of overseas study exchange program and graduation.

アメリカでgraduationがあったのが2月の14日。 もう7ヶ月。それからを休暇と捉えるのか、いや、楽しいから休暇のように感じられていたまるっと1年を特別な1年と捉えるのか。

This is my own translation (probably inaccurate):

My graduation happened on 14th of February. It is now July. Do I perceive then as a holiday? No, I had the feeling like it was a fun holiday and I took it as a special year for me.

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1. それからを休暇と捉えるのか

Does the を in それからを treat それから like an object? so それからを捉える means "perceiving then"?

How と particle used? I listed it's various uses in a previous post I would like if someone pointed out which category it fits in within the list. Is it used like それからを休みとは捉える?

Why is のか used? What does it mean?

2. 楽しいから休暇

Why is から used? I could only interpret in English it as "Holiday from fun" or "Because fun, holiday" which doesn't make sense.

3. 感じられていたまるっと1年を特別な1年と捉えるのか。

I don't understand why 感じられていた is used. is it 感じる ---> 感じられる (passive) ---> 感じられている ---> 感じられていた continuous past passive?? Why is the continuous past passive form used, what does it mean?

What does まるっと mean?

And again, what is と捉えるのか?

Any examples used to help me understand and a piece by piece breakdown of the grammar would be greatly appreciated. I am still not too confident with a lot of grammar, and consider myself beginner. But I would really like to understand more complex sentences.

Answer 1

もう7ヶ月 is "It's been already 7 months (since then)" rather than "It's already July". ～ヶ月/～か月 always refers to a length of time.

それからを休暇と捉える is "to regard this period (the last 7 months) as a vacation". ～から/～まで can work as a noun meaning "the period from/until ～" (e.g., 明日からが大事だ, 10月までを休暇とする). This と is not a quotative particle but a particle that works like English "as". For details, see: Can を used with だ/です and Difference between だと vs と before 認める

楽しいから休暇のように感じられていた is a relative clause that modifies まるっと1年. This から is simply "because". This 感じられる is not passive but something called "spontaneous" (自発). See: Why is the passive form used in this sentence? and What is the relation between the two verbs 思われる and 思う?

まるっと is a colloquial way of saying 丸ごと meaning entire or whole. So まるっと1年 roughly means "this entire year", but I'm not sure what this actually refers to. Seven months is usually too short to be called まるっと1年, so it may also include several months before graduation.

それからを休暇と捉えるのか、いや、楽しいから休暇のように感じられていたまるっと1年を特別な1年と捉えるのか。
Should I regard this period after the graduation as a (mere) vacation? Or should I regard this entire year — (although) it looked like a vacation to me because it was fun — as a special year?