When people ask me what my favorite thing about my study abroad experience is so far, I now have an answer. Morocco.
I just got back from six of the most incredible days of my life. I think it would be hard, as a foreign woman, to live in Morocco, but it was positively captivating as a visit. When we first got to the airport in Casablanca, everyone was wearing white, which was a huge shocker after seeing Paris's standard black everywhere for two months. We felt really out of place, were warned not to trust ANYONE besides Gabriel and Anna Maria (our resident directors), and stuck out like sore thumbs. I don't know about everyone else, but I was feeling a lot of nervousness along with my wide-eyed excitement that I had made it to Africa!
We are really lucky that we made it there, and even more so that we made it back. Our flight to Casablanca was one of the last ones out of the Charles de Gaulle airport last Thursday and the one back on Tuesday night was one of the first arrivals, since planes couldn't fly through the ash in the air caused by Iceland's volcano eruption. I'm really hoping that there will be no chain reaction, because I have flights out the wazoo these next two weeks! In fact, I'm in the airport on my way to Granada via Sevilla maintenant.
In Casablanca, we made our way to the bus and toured the city a little bit before heading to the mosque there. The mosque was the first of many things that I became obsessed with throughout the course of our stay. It is HUGE, one of the biggest mosques in the world, and it's pretty from the outside, but spectacular on the inside. I am in love with all of the detail put into Moroccan architecture. There were mosaics and carvings and a ceiling that was open to the sky but closed while we were there because it was just before noon and time for prayer. We took off our shoes when we entered and walked around this incredibly open building, listening to our tour guide, but mostly marveling at the beauty of the building and snapping as many photos as possible.
The mosque is the only big thing we did in Casablanca, so after lunch we reboarded the bus and made our way to Fes. During our bus ride, I was surprised to see that Morocco has red dirt! I almost felt like I was back in Oklahoma.
The second day of our trip, we stayed in Fes (unusual for us to stay in one place the entire day!) and went to the medina. It's the biggest area where people live but cars can't go...or something like that. It was so cool! It's a good thing we had a guide though, because that thing was huge and with twists and turns and definitely no street signs, I had absolutely no idea where we were.
The guides gave us each a flower they use to make rose water as a welcome, and supposedly they're also good luck to find a husband and serve as an aphrodisiac. They were sure big on those in the medina. It was more than a little awkward. As we meandered through the alleyways (for lack of a better word), guys were reaching out and shouting at us in English, French, Arabic...whatever language they knew and/or thought we might recognize. That part I could have done without, but I did get used to catcalls in Latin America and it's really not all that different I suppose.
In the medina, we visited a carpet place, which had gorgeous things but a bit out of my price range, being a poor college student spending all of my money on the trip itself! We also hit up a spice shop with traditional remedies, perfumes and cosmetics as well as cooking spices, a tannery and a clothing and scarf place, where we dressed up and took pictures. I bought a few things, but I can't say what because they may or may not serve as gifts...;) And after we found our way out of the medina, we went to a ceramics place and got to see the stages of pottery and mosaics there and visited the shop attached as well.
Day three was spent almost entirely on the bus, driving from Fes to Arfoud. I've never been so glad that I can't sleep on the bus, because I saw some great views! I didn't get any pictures though, because I knew I wouldn't have electricity in the desert and didn't want my camera battery to die. It turns out that I could have taken some, because I was too afraid of the sand killing my camera to use it very much, but oh well! I can just take those pics from other people.
Once we got to Arfoud, we hopped on 4X4s and took what I'm pretty sure was the bumpiest path possible to get to the desert, AKA SAND DUNES. Real Sahara sand dunes. I'm still having trouble believing that this trip actually happened.
In the Sahara, we slept on the sand. We were in tents, but we had sand blowing on our faces all night. I'm glad I somehow managed to sleep with my face under the blanket because that would have been interesting otherwise. Our toilets were glorified port-a-potties and there were showers, but it was pointless to try to get clean since you would just be covered in sand again ten minutes later. I got into the habit of wiping off my plate as best I could before eating so that there wasn't much grit, and I didn't see a mirror in 2 1/2 days, but I was completely ecstatic!
We woke up at 5 a.m. the first morning in the desert to see the sun rise, and after trekking over what seemed like endless dunes for about an hour, the orange horizon finally yielded to a burning ball of yellow and took away a bit of the chill that comes with desert nights. Wow.
We had a while to wait until breakfast, so we either wandered or tried to sleep again. I ended up sitting in the sand with some friends since I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. After breakfast, several of us bought turbans (duh, I was one of them) and the camels arrived! We were doubled up for the ride and the saddle that my friend Amanda and I had was tilted forward, so that was a really interesting hour or so. I was all up on her, and the precious boys leading us kept telling both of us to scoot back, but it didn't help much, as we just slid again the next time we headed downhill, if not before then. I got a little sore, but it was way fun.
We took the camels into a little village nearby and looked at another carpet place and just walked around a little, before climbing back on Daisy Duke's back (yeah, we named him.) and going back to the tents. Getting on a camel's back is easy. No stirrups necessary, since they're low enough to the ground. Buuut the camel standing is sure an experience. They bring up their back legs so you're thrown forward to the point that you're sure you'll fall off, and then stand up the rest of the way. We didn't fall off, but one girl slid right over her camel's butt on the first hill we came to. It was great.
Later that day, we had some people come to the tent, which was a good idea since we were all a little saddlesore. The first people gave us henna tats, which are decorating my hands as I type! I feel so cool. Then some of us followed some little boys to a giant sand dune to go sandboarding. Getting up that last mountain of sand was next to impossible. We were all struggling since it was ridiculously steep at the top and felt like you were doing a stairmaster--moving your legs up and up and up but not getting anywhere at all since the sand moves down faster than you move up. The little boys dragged us up the very last bit like it was no problem at all. We later saw the rest of our group taking a longer but much easier route up, but oh well--we had a cooler experience! Only a couple of people actually sandboarded down the hill, but several rode it like a sled. I would have done that, but I didn't want to climb up the hill again, especially after watching other people try! It was worth going though, just for the view from the top of the dune. And it was really fun watching everyone eat it when they got to the bottom of the hill...or a little before the bottom for some people! When they finally got back up the hill, several had mouths full of sand. Yum!
We had a little party that night during dinner, with live musicians and dancing. None of us really knew how to dance to Moroccan music, and we never quite figured out what the actual Moroccans were doing, but it was really fun. I mean, how many people can say they danced under the Saharan stars? My guess is around 30!
The last two days, we didn't do too much. Nothing as exciting as the 4 that preceded them anyway! We spent most of the days on the bus gazing at the fantastic landscape and made a stop to feed bread to some monkeys and ate dinner with the ISA kids in Meknes for the semester.
We made it back to Paris with only an hour of delay, I got three hours of sleep and headed to the airport again and now I'm in Granada! I'll wait and give you the Spain update once I leave Barcelona. Chao chao!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
I could live in the Loire Valley.
Budapest rocks. I had such a relaxing weekend, seeing some sights but mostly wandering around the city. I went to the baths and got de-stressed after my crazy weeks before the trip, and walked to the castle district, saw the Danube, met a ton of people in the amazing 10 euro a night hostel (if you go to Budapest, stay in Big Fish!)...it was fantastic! I spent two and a half days there and still had a day when I got back to Paris to do some homework so it worked out really well.
I loved the architecture of the city. I went to St. Stephen's basilica, which was GORGEOUS. I visited the first day I got there and again for mass on Easter and was really struck by how beautiful it is inside. I am so accustomed to France's churches which preeetty much all look the same, so it was nice to have a change. The basilica is home to St. Stephen's mummified hand too, so that was pretty legit. I also adored the Parliament building. I didn't have the chance to go inside, although I hear that's also beautiful, but the outside of the building, viewed from the Buda side of the Danube, is breathtaking. An absolutely striking building.
Unfortunately, I re-stressed on the plane ride back to Paris, knowing I would no longer be able to take showers since my roommate had informed me that our host lady is now monitoring that (more closely) as well. I really want to start a stopwatch before I get in and show her evidence of the time I actually spend in the shower, since she's convinced we're in there for half an hour. Not the case. I actually spend more time cleaning the bathroom than myself each time I take a shower, but whatevs. I've given up on trying to please her!
No more complaining. My horoscope today (I was reading a magazine while waiting for my friend at the caf) said to stop complaining. It's scary when those things know what's up.
Last weekend we went to the Loire Valley with my program and it was super cool! We went to 2 big castles (Chambord and Chenonceau) and Leonardo da Vinci's crib, where some of his inventions were out in the yard and you could play with them. Chouette. Chambord is giant! It has this cool staircase in the middle when you first go in that's a double spiral, DNA-like. Way cool. I could so live there. We took these bike things around the river and such too and that was probably actually my favorite part. I hate bikes, but my friend and I got this weird pedaled golf-cart-like-thing. It was hard work pedaling that sucker around some places, but it was cool to see the castle from afar! Oh, and we had a wine-tasting the first day. Also chouette.
Other than that, I've mostly been going to classes and planning break. I went running a couple of times in the Luxembourg Gardens and discovered I'm the most in shape I've been since high school! Monday was definitely the easiest first run I've ever had and it felt wonnnderful.
I also finally got to go out out last Thursday since I wasn't traveling until Saturday. It was so nice! I went with a classmate to a bar where they had delish caramel vodka shots for two euro fifty...way cheap for here! Then we went around midnight to Mix Club in Montparnasse (walkable yay!), where international students get in for free on Thursday nights. You're supposed to get a flag of your country when you get in, but Lauren and I didn't want to sport the American flag all night, so she got Morocco and I got the EU. Tried to get Chile or Costa Rica, but no dice. People got really confused by mine since it encompasses so many countries and it was entertaining.
Now I'm finishing up packing because I'm officially on spring break! Or Easter vacation as they call it here. Even though Easter was 2 weeks ago. I'm supposed to have class tomorrow, but instead I'm leaving at 5 AM to catch a flight to Morocco! I'm waaay excited for that, and then I'm spending a night back in Paris (by a night I mean a few hours of sleeping and switching bags) and head off to Granada, Barcelona, Rome, Geneva, and Nice! I'm kind of nervous because we're flying all over and airports are so much more difficult, but I'm getting more and more excited by the minute. These are places I've wanted to go for soooo many years and now I finally get to! It's been the same with other places I've gone, but this time it's a whole bunch all at once, so it's a little different. I'm going to try to head to bed super early tonight so I'm not too exhausted tomorrow, so I'll try to update more later if I have internet along the way!
I loved the architecture of the city. I went to St. Stephen's basilica, which was GORGEOUS. I visited the first day I got there and again for mass on Easter and was really struck by how beautiful it is inside. I am so accustomed to France's churches which preeetty much all look the same, so it was nice to have a change. The basilica is home to St. Stephen's mummified hand too, so that was pretty legit. I also adored the Parliament building. I didn't have the chance to go inside, although I hear that's also beautiful, but the outside of the building, viewed from the Buda side of the Danube, is breathtaking. An absolutely striking building.
Unfortunately, I re-stressed on the plane ride back to Paris, knowing I would no longer be able to take showers since my roommate had informed me that our host lady is now monitoring that (more closely) as well. I really want to start a stopwatch before I get in and show her evidence of the time I actually spend in the shower, since she's convinced we're in there for half an hour. Not the case. I actually spend more time cleaning the bathroom than myself each time I take a shower, but whatevs. I've given up on trying to please her!
No more complaining. My horoscope today (I was reading a magazine while waiting for my friend at the caf) said to stop complaining. It's scary when those things know what's up.
Last weekend we went to the Loire Valley with my program and it was super cool! We went to 2 big castles (Chambord and Chenonceau) and Leonardo da Vinci's crib, where some of his inventions were out in the yard and you could play with them. Chouette. Chambord is giant! It has this cool staircase in the middle when you first go in that's a double spiral, DNA-like. Way cool. I could so live there. We took these bike things around the river and such too and that was probably actually my favorite part. I hate bikes, but my friend and I got this weird pedaled golf-cart-like-thing. It was hard work pedaling that sucker around some places, but it was cool to see the castle from afar! Oh, and we had a wine-tasting the first day. Also chouette.
Other than that, I've mostly been going to classes and planning break. I went running a couple of times in the Luxembourg Gardens and discovered I'm the most in shape I've been since high school! Monday was definitely the easiest first run I've ever had and it felt wonnnderful.
I also finally got to go out out last Thursday since I wasn't traveling until Saturday. It was so nice! I went with a classmate to a bar where they had delish caramel vodka shots for two euro fifty...way cheap for here! Then we went around midnight to Mix Club in Montparnasse (walkable yay!), where international students get in for free on Thursday nights. You're supposed to get a flag of your country when you get in, but Lauren and I didn't want to sport the American flag all night, so she got Morocco and I got the EU. Tried to get Chile or Costa Rica, but no dice. People got really confused by mine since it encompasses so many countries and it was entertaining.
Now I'm finishing up packing because I'm officially on spring break! Or Easter vacation as they call it here. Even though Easter was 2 weeks ago. I'm supposed to have class tomorrow, but instead I'm leaving at 5 AM to catch a flight to Morocco! I'm waaay excited for that, and then I'm spending a night back in Paris (by a night I mean a few hours of sleeping and switching bags) and head off to Granada, Barcelona, Rome, Geneva, and Nice! I'm kind of nervous because we're flying all over and airports are so much more difficult, but I'm getting more and more excited by the minute. These are places I've wanted to go for soooo many years and now I finally get to! It's been the same with other places I've gone, but this time it's a whole bunch all at once, so it's a little different. I'm going to try to head to bed super early tonight so I'm not too exhausted tomorrow, so I'll try to update more later if I have internet along the way!
Friday, April 2, 2010
It's a Danube Dream
Sooo pretty much Italy was amazing. It was wonderful to see Ale after so many years--and heartbreaking to part once again! I'm really hoping we will be able to get together some other time this semester, but I know she is insanely busy, so I don't know how well that will work. I'm keeping my fingers crossed though!
I'm pretty much obsessed with the entire Bertoli family. It is obvious why Ale turned out the way she did! We spent some time at their house, looking at Mario's art collection (he has some beautiful things!) and talking and eating--sounds like Italy, right? We also went to some lakes and wandered around Brescia and a couple of other super cute towns in the area. Our train ride back was beautiful too! We went through Switzerland and got to see a lot more of the Alps and even stopped to switch trains and grab lunch in Lausanne, so I can say I've been in Switzerland now! Although I'm going to Geneva in a couple of weeks so I will be back.
I feel like I should say more about Italy, but we didn't do a whole lot. It felt so good to just relax a little and spend time with my family, reunited once again (except for Matt). That was my kind of trip--not much sightseeing, but a lot of people time.
I did some sightseeing around Paris with my parents while they were there too. We went up in the Montparnasse tower (side note: French is taking over in my mind. I just typed tour instead of tower!) which was really cool--a 360 view of the city and a great pic op for the Eiffel. They did some tours of their own (that time I mean the English tour :) ), to Normandy and Versailles, while I was in class, but I spent as much time as possible with them, and as an added bonus, away from Mme B! The second Friday they were there, we headed to Reims in Champagne and saw the cathedral where all the kings had their coronations and did a couple of champagne tours--yum! Saturday we had a wine and cheese lunch (double yum!) and I don't remember what all else we did. They left me on Sunday so they could stay closer to the airport to head back to the States on Monday.
I didn't miss them too much before they got here, maybe just because I knew they were coming, but once they left I really did! Especially when other friends were here or when I would pass the street I took to get to their hotel. It was soo nice to have them there and also to have somewhere to go besides my apartment. I'm so stressed all the time because I have to try so hard not to get yelled at so having a refuge was a great feeling!
Oh and I forgot to mention the cake with the host lady incident. She had been weirdly nice for a while (didn't last for too long though) and when she said she wanted to have my parents over for dinner or at least cake, I decided to accept since I thought it would make her happy. We figured dinner would take forever so went for cake, thinking it would be maybe an hour, definitely tolerable. We were wrong. It lasted TWO HOURS and it was basically her talking the whole time, saying the same things over and over again that I had to translate to my parents. We talked about agriculture a little since she knew we lived on a farm (and has surely watched several documentaries about those) and once again about the great problems of our days, such as the fact that there will be no more fish in 10 years. This is not a joke. This is my life in France. So pretty much cake was TORTURE and I was completely exhausted afterwards since I had to translate all of it since she knows no English and my parents no French. Which was awkward as well. Since she started yelling again less than a week later, I really wish that I had declined her invitation in the first place, but you can't blame a girl for trying!
The weekend after my parents left was crazy! I had 5 different friends in and out for 6 full days, and although I didn't get to spend as much time with any of them as I would have liked and I ended up completely exhausted, it was really nice to see all of them! I went to several new (to me) museums with Jon (friend since pretty much forever)...took a picture with "le penseur" aka the thinker at the Rodin museum and pondered some modern art at the Pompidou Center. Had dinner at Hippopotamus with him and Elisa and Kerry and Christy, picked up some palms at Notre Dame--not the same kind as we have back in the US! I looked like I had a tree growing out of my pocket all day. I think the highlight of their visits though was eating Subway sandwiches and polishing off a couple bottles of wine in the garden area right next to the Eiffel with Kelsey and Elisa until the sprinkles got to be too cold. Oh and Jon and Elisa and I climbed up in the Eiffel too. I hadn't done that yet! 670 steps I think--not as bad as I thought it would be, but I definitely could feel it when I trudged up the 3 flights of stairs to my apartment that evening.
And after two weekends at home with Madame Boquet, I was in great need of a break from Paris. Sooo I headed to Budapest, where I'm currently taking in the castles and cafes and relaxing in the hot public baths! It's great to have some cheap but delicious food and big glasses of wine for 1.50 DOLLARS no matter what time of day it is! I was really excited and also more than a little nervous to go somewhere I don't speak ANY of the language (I've figured out hello means hello or goodbye, as does szia) completely by myself. I am really enjoying it a lot though. There's an anonymity that comes with traveling by yourself--no one knows where you're from because they don't hear your English, and you can just blend in and observe the life around you. I've never been one who needs constant attention, so it really is a nice solitude in the midst of a giant city. It's really amazing that I can get around by myself too! I used to think I had about one of the worst senses of direction possible, but I walked all over Pest today with just a map and made it all of the places I wanted to go AND found my way back. :) Last night I went out with some people from the hostel, but all but one left this morning, and he's here until Wednesday so not wanting to see the things I do when I want to see them, so I just set off on my own this morning, had some goulash, saw a castle, went to the baths...a very relaxing day, which is just what the doctor ordered!
I just realized how long this entry is. I'm going to stop writing now. Hopefully starting now I won't be quite as busy and can update more frequently so they won't be as long! I say this two weeks out from spring break though, so I don't actually know if that will be the case. Bisous a tous! Vous me manquez!
(Read: Kisses to all! I miss you!)
K-Dub
I'm pretty much obsessed with the entire Bertoli family. It is obvious why Ale turned out the way she did! We spent some time at their house, looking at Mario's art collection (he has some beautiful things!) and talking and eating--sounds like Italy, right? We also went to some lakes and wandered around Brescia and a couple of other super cute towns in the area. Our train ride back was beautiful too! We went through Switzerland and got to see a lot more of the Alps and even stopped to switch trains and grab lunch in Lausanne, so I can say I've been in Switzerland now! Although I'm going to Geneva in a couple of weeks so I will be back.
I feel like I should say more about Italy, but we didn't do a whole lot. It felt so good to just relax a little and spend time with my family, reunited once again (except for Matt). That was my kind of trip--not much sightseeing, but a lot of people time.
I did some sightseeing around Paris with my parents while they were there too. We went up in the Montparnasse tower (side note: French is taking over in my mind. I just typed tour instead of tower!) which was really cool--a 360 view of the city and a great pic op for the Eiffel. They did some tours of their own (that time I mean the English tour :) ), to Normandy and Versailles, while I was in class, but I spent as much time as possible with them, and as an added bonus, away from Mme B! The second Friday they were there, we headed to Reims in Champagne and saw the cathedral where all the kings had their coronations and did a couple of champagne tours--yum! Saturday we had a wine and cheese lunch (double yum!) and I don't remember what all else we did. They left me on Sunday so they could stay closer to the airport to head back to the States on Monday.
I didn't miss them too much before they got here, maybe just because I knew they were coming, but once they left I really did! Especially when other friends were here or when I would pass the street I took to get to their hotel. It was soo nice to have them there and also to have somewhere to go besides my apartment. I'm so stressed all the time because I have to try so hard not to get yelled at so having a refuge was a great feeling!
Oh and I forgot to mention the cake with the host lady incident. She had been weirdly nice for a while (didn't last for too long though) and when she said she wanted to have my parents over for dinner or at least cake, I decided to accept since I thought it would make her happy. We figured dinner would take forever so went for cake, thinking it would be maybe an hour, definitely tolerable. We were wrong. It lasted TWO HOURS and it was basically her talking the whole time, saying the same things over and over again that I had to translate to my parents. We talked about agriculture a little since she knew we lived on a farm (and has surely watched several documentaries about those) and once again about the great problems of our days, such as the fact that there will be no more fish in 10 years. This is not a joke. This is my life in France. So pretty much cake was TORTURE and I was completely exhausted afterwards since I had to translate all of it since she knows no English and my parents no French. Which was awkward as well. Since she started yelling again less than a week later, I really wish that I had declined her invitation in the first place, but you can't blame a girl for trying!
The weekend after my parents left was crazy! I had 5 different friends in and out for 6 full days, and although I didn't get to spend as much time with any of them as I would have liked and I ended up completely exhausted, it was really nice to see all of them! I went to several new (to me) museums with Jon (friend since pretty much forever)...took a picture with "le penseur" aka the thinker at the Rodin museum and pondered some modern art at the Pompidou Center. Had dinner at Hippopotamus with him and Elisa and Kerry and Christy, picked up some palms at Notre Dame--not the same kind as we have back in the US! I looked like I had a tree growing out of my pocket all day. I think the highlight of their visits though was eating Subway sandwiches and polishing off a couple bottles of wine in the garden area right next to the Eiffel with Kelsey and Elisa until the sprinkles got to be too cold. Oh and Jon and Elisa and I climbed up in the Eiffel too. I hadn't done that yet! 670 steps I think--not as bad as I thought it would be, but I definitely could feel it when I trudged up the 3 flights of stairs to my apartment that evening.
And after two weekends at home with Madame Boquet, I was in great need of a break from Paris. Sooo I headed to Budapest, where I'm currently taking in the castles and cafes and relaxing in the hot public baths! It's great to have some cheap but delicious food and big glasses of wine for 1.50 DOLLARS no matter what time of day it is! I was really excited and also more than a little nervous to go somewhere I don't speak ANY of the language (I've figured out hello means hello or goodbye, as does szia) completely by myself. I am really enjoying it a lot though. There's an anonymity that comes with traveling by yourself--no one knows where you're from because they don't hear your English, and you can just blend in and observe the life around you. I've never been one who needs constant attention, so it really is a nice solitude in the midst of a giant city. It's really amazing that I can get around by myself too! I used to think I had about one of the worst senses of direction possible, but I walked all over Pest today with just a map and made it all of the places I wanted to go AND found my way back. :) Last night I went out with some people from the hostel, but all but one left this morning, and he's here until Wednesday so not wanting to see the things I do when I want to see them, so I just set off on my own this morning, had some goulash, saw a castle, went to the baths...a very relaxing day, which is just what the doctor ordered!
I just realized how long this entry is. I'm going to stop writing now. Hopefully starting now I won't be quite as busy and can update more frequently so they won't be as long! I say this two weeks out from spring break though, so I don't actually know if that will be the case. Bisous a tous! Vous me manquez!
(Read: Kisses to all! I miss you!)
K-Dub
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