MOROCCO!!! I cannot believe I just left Morocco...it was so different than I could have ever imagined but amazing all at the same time. Ill try and summarize every little part of it.
Soo we docked in Casablanca, which is definitely NOT the Casablanca you think of from the movie. Its like a big nasty dirty city where everyone just runs through the streets and it smells like shitake. So anyway, in this country I did a trip through SAS instead of planning my own like in Spain, and Im actually glad I did because Morocco is sooooo different from any other place I have ever been. For one, its pretty much impossible to communicate with anyone if you dont speak Arabic. Maybe if youre lucky youll find someone who speaks French, but I dont speak that either so I was screwed either way. This made it nice having everything arranged already through the SAS trip so I didnt have to deal with figuring out how to get around and not getting ripped off by cab drivers. So my group got on this nice coach bus because we were spending two nights in the city Marrakech which is way more inland Morocco closer to the desert and much more authentic African. Were driving through Casablanca to get there and I realize that road lanes here mean absolutely nothing. Cars drive in the middle, the sides, 4 cars in a row across two lanes, people running through everywhere with absolutely no crosswalks and mopeds weaving in and out of everything. It was insane. So going through the country it was way more green and mountainy than I expected but it was really nice to see. It took about 3.5 hours to get to Marrakech from Casablanca and then it started to change into deserty weird area.
When we got into the city of Marrakech the culture shock realllllly hit me. Every building was the same red color, half of them were made out of mud anyway, and all the women were covered except their eyes like you see on National Geographic. Everything just looked so much dirtier and poorer than anything you have ever seen in your life. Our tour guide took us inside the ancient Medina walls in the city and we walked through all the tunnels of alleyways where people were selling all the most random shit. Think of Aladdin but dirty and scary. We went and saw some palace there and went to these tombs then ate at the tightest Moroccan restaurant where Sarah and I got to sit on couches. The food was um, interesting. It was pretty much the same thing I noticed from there on out, but it wasnt that bad. It was always served family style where everyone just eats out of a big pot in the center and it always had lamb cooked a funny way with weird vegetables or couscous and all these weird appetizer things like olives, beans, peppers, basically all this healthy crap. It was surpisingly okay, but I probably wouldnt seek it out again. The bread though was BANGIN! And you got the biggest juiciest oranges after every meal so those were bangin too. After lunch we went to the craziest place I have ever been. It was called like the Jhafar El Fna square and it was where all the crazy people go to get you to pay for things. As soon as we walked in, these snake charmers with all their snakes put a huge black cobra around my neck and took pictures of me with them. Then they wanted like 50 dollars for it and I told them hell no, so I ended up paying like 5 bucks which was fine with me. Buttt they were pretty mean about it so I had to just walk away eventually. We checked into a nice hotel and ate dinner and went back to the square at night when it was even crazier andd that was pretty much the first day...all the cultural Morocco stuff.
The second day we did all this fun physical stuff. It was a little rainy in the morning and our itenarary said we were going to do "Olympic Games" but no one knew what the hell that was all about it. It actually was 4-wheeling through a Moroccan village and through the Palm Groves outside Marrakech. Sarah and I were together and they gave everyone these blue rain suits so we didnt ruin our stuff but it was still raining and soooo muddy so we all looked ridiculous by the end of it. It was amazing though to go through the village because all the little kids would run out next to us and we would give them high fives as we went along. It looked like the highlight of their day which really made me think about my life and how many things I take for granted. So we did that and they gave us snacks in a Moroccan house and I had to use the infamous hole in the gorund toilet where you "wipe" with your hand...I just had to pee thank god. When the 4-wheeling was done, we ate lunch and went to ride CAMELS!!! I named my camel Ishmael and he was the head male of the whole train. He was pretty bad ass and it was amazing riding a camel. It really hurt your inner thighs though. We rode the camels through the palm groves and into another moroccan village where they gave us more snacks and this mint tea that I bought some to take home and then we rode them back.The rest of the day we got to go back to the Souks and buy some stuff and then that night we went out for a girls 21st birthday to a Hookah bar and got some drinks and smoked hookah which was by far WAYYYY better than any I have ever had at home. The shit lasted for like 3 hours and it was still going when we left. Anyway we went to bed late that night and had to get up early the next morning to go back to Casablanca. We got there and ate at the Ricks Cafe from the movie Casablanca and then walked around the city for a while. I bought this tight painting for like 20 bucks...everything in Morocco was really cheap. They use Dirham for their money, and 1 dirham equals 8.50 US dollars soooo I bought a good amount of stuff. But that was pretty much my time in Morocco. It was totally different from what I expected and WAY more intense than I could have ever imagined. I loved every single second of it though and I wouldnt trade my time there for anything in the world!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
ESPANA!!!
I really dont think anyone reads my blog since I have absolutely no time to update it, but I figured I had already written this out in an email soooo why not post it.
So Espana was pretty much the best place Ive ever gone. I did so many things that I couldnt possibly describe them all to you so Ill just hit on the main parts.We docked in Cadiz and then took the train to Sevilla which is a bigger city on west coast of Spain. We stayed there for a night in a Hostel which Im assuming you know what that is. Its like a room with about 10-20 people in it, mostly strangers, and everyone has their own bed and shares the bathroom with everyone else. It was cool thought because there was a group of about 16 of us who were going there and then staying 2 nights in Barcelona so that was cool. We went to where Columbus was buried in this HUUUUUUGE cathedral which looked freakin amazing. We got some Paella which is like the big dish of Spain I guess. Its just rice and all these vegetables and seafood and meat all mixed together, but it was really good. We also saw a live Flamenco show in this little bar that looked like it was in someones warehouse. It was amazing though because it was mostly local people and the Flamenco dance was out of this world. Thenn we flew from Sevilla to Barcelona the next morning andddd Barcelona is my new favorite place on the planet. Everyone was so nice and didnt care that much that you couldnt speak Spanish so that was really tight. Butt the best part about Barcelona was the food. EVERYTHING was soooo good. I had chocolate con churros, which is basically this melted chocolate drink you dip pastries in. It was bangin. And I had bocadillos, crepes, croquettos, cafe con leche, gelato, and TAPAS!!! Tapas are the shit...whoever came up with the idea of a shitload of many different things as one giant meal is a genius. Sooo the food was bangin. We stayed in another Hostel in Barcelona that had 20 people in it, but it was so cool because everyone was from all over the world. People from London, Australia, Germany, the US, S. America, EVERYWHERE. It was so cool to live with these people in the same room for a while Then that night we went to a huuuge Soccer game in the giant stadium downtown anddd the soccer fans put U.S. football fans to shame big time. If the other team even came nea r the goal everyone stood up and flicked them off and yelled like "Bitch!" and "Mother fuckers!" in spanish...it was soooo funny. Thank god our team won though cuz otherwise there probably would have been a riot lol Sooo then the next day we just saw EVERYTHING in the city. We went from 10 am to 10 pm and saw all the Antoni Gaudi art, and the temple the Sagrada Familia was absoultely amazing. Thenn we did all this other shit that day and went to the coolest place that night. We went to this shot bar, and it was sooo crazy.They fucking lit the bar on FIRE!!!! The tops of the bar was like this rubbery weird stuff that you could just like poor liquor on lite it on fire left and right. Sarah and I had ELEVEN shots...it was amazing. But they werent like straight shots of liquor they were all cool, mixes of things. Anyway let me describe haha The first one we had was called a picasso where there were two shot glasses in this bowl of green liquor and you put tall glasses over the shots and heat the liquor and it bubbles up then you take them off and take the shot and inhale the fumes in the glass. It was so cool. Then we did one called a Georgia where you stick your thumb in the shot and light it on fire and put it in your mouth then take the shot...AMAZINGGG haha I think the best though was the Boy Scout shot. They freakin lined up all the shots and poured the liquor on the bar in a ring around the shots and lit it all on fire, including the shots, and then gave us all little sticks with marshmallows on them and you roasted them in the fire then ate it and took the shot with it. It was seriously one of the coolest places I have EVER been soo that was awesome. We flew back and took the train from Sevilla back to Cadiz where our ship was docked soo thats where I am now.
Im so happy to be doing this whole trip! Now that I have actually been to a country, it has finally hit me what exactly Im doing anddd I LOVE IT!!!
So Espana was pretty much the best place Ive ever gone. I did so many things that I couldnt possibly describe them all to you so Ill just hit on the main parts.We docked in Cadiz and then took the train to Sevilla which is a bigger city on west coast of Spain. We stayed there for a night in a Hostel which Im assuming you know what that is. Its like a room with about 10-20 people in it, mostly strangers, and everyone has their own bed and shares the bathroom with everyone else. It was cool thought because there was a group of about 16 of us who were going there and then staying 2 nights in Barcelona so that was cool. We went to where Columbus was buried in this HUUUUUUGE cathedral which looked freakin amazing. We got some Paella which is like the big dish of Spain I guess. Its just rice and all these vegetables and seafood and meat all mixed together, but it was really good. We also saw a live Flamenco show in this little bar that looked like it was in someones warehouse. It was amazing though because it was mostly local people and the Flamenco dance was out of this world. Thenn we flew from Sevilla to Barcelona the next morning andddd Barcelona is my new favorite place on the planet. Everyone was so nice and didnt care that much that you couldnt speak Spanish so that was really tight. Butt the best part about Barcelona was the food. EVERYTHING was soooo good. I had chocolate con churros, which is basically this melted chocolate drink you dip pastries in. It was bangin. And I had bocadillos, crepes, croquettos, cafe con leche, gelato, and TAPAS!!! Tapas are the shit...whoever came up with the idea of a shitload of many different things as one giant meal is a genius. Sooo the food was bangin. We stayed in another Hostel in Barcelona that had 20 people in it, but it was so cool because everyone was from all over the world. People from London, Australia, Germany, the US, S. America, EVERYWHERE. It was so cool to live with these people in the same room for a while Then that night we went to a huuuge Soccer game in the giant stadium downtown anddd the soccer fans put U.S. football fans to shame big time. If the other team even came nea r the goal everyone stood up and flicked them off and yelled like "Bitch!" and "Mother fuckers!" in spanish...it was soooo funny. Thank god our team won though cuz otherwise there probably would have been a riot lol Sooo then the next day we just saw EVERYTHING in the city. We went from 10 am to 10 pm and saw all the Antoni Gaudi art, and the temple the Sagrada Familia was absoultely amazing. Thenn we did all this other shit that day and went to the coolest place that night. We went to this shot bar, and it was sooo crazy.They fucking lit the bar on FIRE!!!! The tops of the bar was like this rubbery weird stuff that you could just like poor liquor on lite it on fire left and right. Sarah and I had ELEVEN shots...it was amazing. But they werent like straight shots of liquor they were all cool, mixes of things. Anyway let me describe haha The first one we had was called a picasso where there were two shot glasses in this bowl of green liquor and you put tall glasses over the shots and heat the liquor and it bubbles up then you take them off and take the shot and inhale the fumes in the glass. It was so cool. Then we did one called a Georgia where you stick your thumb in the shot and light it on fire and put it in your mouth then take the shot...AMAZINGGG haha I think the best though was the Boy Scout shot. They freakin lined up all the shots and poured the liquor on the bar in a ring around the shots and lit it all on fire, including the shots, and then gave us all little sticks with marshmallows on them and you roasted them in the fire then ate it and took the shot with it. It was seriously one of the coolest places I have EVER been soo that was awesome. We flew back and took the train from Sevilla back to Cadiz where our ship was docked soo thats where I am now.
Im so happy to be doing this whole trip! Now that I have actually been to a country, it has finally hit me what exactly Im doing anddd I LOVE IT!!!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
It's Time For a Change
It feels like yesterday when I heard about this trip from a friend and sent all of my application info to the SAS staff. And yet somehow that was nearly a year ago. I cant even believe how different things are now from when I first began planning for this trip, and I cant imagine how different they're going to be after. But if there is one thing Im certainly glad of, its the fact that Im LEAVING! Never have I felt such a surge of excitement and anxiousness for something that I am about to do. Usually whatever it is Im looking forward to lasts a few days to a week, tops...but this is an entire semester! Im nervous about rooming with a complete stranger for the first time in my life...stressed from all the money, forms, packing and endless planning that has taken over the past month of my life...anxious to see all of the places that most people only get the chance to look at in books...and more excited than Ive ever been to meet new people who all have the same interests as I do. I feel like this is one of the most important moments in my life because Im getting the chance to embark on a completely new journey. I really cant fathom how big of an impact this trip is going to have on my life, but I know that in the end I am going to come out of it better than I could ever hoped for. Everyone always says, "God I wish I could just leave and go somewhere where no one knows who I am and start completely over!" Well I am about to do that, and I have never been happier.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
