USA

Well, it's over. Its been a little over 3 months and Im back in the United States. I was so excited to hear English being spoken to me at the airport I didn't even realize I was standing in an unathorized area at JFK. Being back in the states feels great but I also miss Spain. There were so many things that I missed while there and now that Im back there are so many things I miss from Spain...mainly food. But the saying is so true, "You always want what you don't have."

Unfortunetly, because of the air traffic controllers strike in Spain most of my group didn't make it home with me. Only 2 out of 10 were on the plane to JFK yesterday. After standing in lines all morning for hours I was glad to get out of that country...the last thing I want to do is speak Spanish while Im frustated and stressed.

During the landing my friend and I recalled stories, memories of all the things we did in Spain and some things we regreted not getting to do. All of a sudden we looked out the window and there was New York...just like we had never left. It felt as though nothing had changed when I walked into my house and sat down at the table with my parents and brother for dinner. I find confort in the fact that no matter how long youre away you can always come home to a comfy familiar place.

So now its back to reality, facing the responsibilities and tasks I left unfinished when I took off for Europe. My adventures in Spain are done but I have a feeling I'll be back someday. Leaving my senora tearing up as she hugged me goodbye only led me to my father tearing up as he hugged me hello. One adventure ends, and another begins. ITS CHRISTMAS TIME.

Living in a different country and having the opportunity to see a different part of the world made me appreciate the country I live in. I'm happy to be home.

Hasta la Proxima, Espana...

Lisbon

My last trip of the semester: Lisbon, Portugal. My friend Lindsay and I were about to attempt the unthinkable: could we see most of what this coastal city has to offer on just 24 hours time? We were about to find out.

Praça do Comercio

We took off perfectly on time to land in Lisbon at 6:30pm. We grabbed an airport shuttle to get to the city center and quickly learned that Portuguese isn’t as close to Spanish as we’d hoped. In fact more Portuguese people speak English than they do Spanish; at least the ones we met did. Usually finding our hostel isn’t a problem, but then again every trip is an adventure and therefore there must be obstacles. We knew the stop to get off at and the address and directions so we set off walking after the bus dropped us off. We were at Praça do Comercio and walked along the Rio Tejo while taking pictures of the beautiful coastline. We walked through a quite sketchy area of Lisbon until getting to Santa Apolonia station only to turn around and go back the way we came. After asking 4 cab drivers where the street was we finally found it and opened the door to a staircase barely wide enough for one person. Up to the 4^th floor reception area we went, breathing in the smell of mouth balls the entire way up. Thank goodness we were only there for one night.

We finally got to our room and decided to turn and walk right back out. We were in Lisbon and therefore wanted to take advantage of it while we could. We walked around a little until we found a cute restaurant to have dinner. It was pretty empty so we sat down and had a typical Portuguese feast. Soup, salad, bread, some fried appetizer the waiter gave us for free, vihno verde (my personal favorite) swordfish and boiled potatoes. No dessert for us clearly. We walked around a bit more but we were tired so we headed back to the hostel to sleep. We went to bed praying it didn’t rain the next morning.

Surprise; rain. The one thing that could ruin our one day in Lisbon…rain. It wasn’t too bad so after a quick, free breakfast we were off to explore the city. There’s a common scene used in many movies where someone is having a bad day and a taxi drives through a huge puddle while the person is standing on the side of the road and the gets soaked just to make their day that much worse…now I know it happens in real life too. Except this vehicle that went through the puddle was a bus. What a day this was turning out to be.

We didn’t let the rain or our wet clothes get us down and walked around the city center for awhile. We did a little shopping and made our way walking uphill cobblestone roads to the Castelo de Sao Jorge. It had finally stopped raining so our walk up to the castle wasn’t bad. The views from the top were amazing; unfortunately it was too foggy to see very far. We met a nice couple from Madrid who lived in New York for awhile and invited us for coffee but we were on a tight schedule. We walked around the old fort for about 2 hours and decided it was time to go to the thing we had planned Lisbon around—the Aquarium.

Little did we know, being in Spain and out of the US news, President Obama happened to be in Lisbon the same day as us. I wish I could be writing right now how we met him, had burgers and talked about last week’s episode of Glee but we never saw him. We did however see the hundreds of policemen patrolling every corner of the city. It started to rain again and between dodging raindrops and policemen it became increasingly hard to navigate Lisbon. We made it to the Lisbon Oceanário finally and it was nice to get out of the rain, we figured it’d stop by the time we were done.

It was amazing. Being a huge fan of aquariums I can say this is one of the best I’ve seen. There’s a huge tank in the middle with sharks, rays, barracudas and a very rare sunfish. There’s a lot more to see but you can always go back to the central tank. We probably spent 3 hours walking around inside. We expected to come outside to clear skies and a pleasant rest of the afternoon however now it was pouring. That wasn’t the only bad luck we would have on our trek to getting back to Madrid. I have done a lot of traveling over the last 4 months and what I’ve learned is a traveler’s worst nightmare is a delayed flight. Try a 2 hour delay to wait for a bus that can’t find the plane, only to walk through the pouring rain without an umbrella because it broke 20 minutes prior to wait 40 minutes on the runway. Needless to say I needed a nap.

We landed back in Madrid at 12:30am and thankfully caught the metro home. By the time I got home, settled and went to sleep it was 2:30am and our group had a trip to Cordoba the next morning and we were meeting at 7:30am. I had very little sleep only to wake up to another day full of rain. I’ve said it before but I still think our lives in Madrid would make a great reality show.

1 more week in Madrid before heading home. Trying to make it a great one despite finals.

Hasta la Proxima!

London

     I think I’m starting to get the hang of sightseeing in a large city as I’ve done it a couple of times now. To test my skills my 3 friends and I set off for London. We lucked out because Marist in London has a large group staying in flats and our friends were nice enough to let us stay there because London hostels are very expensive and not very clean. We flew in Friday morning and landed at 10am and had to take an hour train to get into the city. We then went to our friends flats in South Kensington, dropped our stuff and headed out for our first day in London.

London Eye and Big Ben

     Our friends all had internships for the day so we were on our own. Our first stop is a very famous department store that people think of when they think of London: Harrod’s. It is sort of the Macy’s or Bloomingdale’s to New York, except bigger and also a lot more expensive. Most people just go to walk around rather than buy things. They have everything, art, toys, food, decorations for your house and even real estate! We walked by all of Harrod’s windows as they were decorated for Christmas already. Next stop was the house used in the newer version of the movie The Parent Trap. We all watched it as kids so we had to go and take pictures. We then got some coffee and spent the next hour on a perfect fall day playing in the leaves at Hyde Park. Some people did give us strange looks but we were just being kids.

     Next on our childhood London-things-to-see list was Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross Station from the Harry Potter Series. We made it to the station and followed signs for Platforms 8-10 only to find out that its between 10 and 11. We took lots of pictures until we realized there were other people who wanted to take pictures too. We jumped back on the tube and got off to roam around at Picadilly Circus. This is kind of the city center much like Sol to Madrid. They have theaters, restaurants, museums, stores, bars, everything. We took one of the double decker buses back to South Kensington and sat on the top of course. We grabbed real cheeseburgers at Gourmet Burger Kitchen and called it a night. We checked lots of things off our list but there was so much more.

View from the top of the Eye

     The next morning my friends in London whom I was staying with, Bree and Carly, woke up early with me to get to Harrods by 8am. We lucked out because they were having their Christmas Parade! There was even fake snow (actually soap suds) falling on the crowd and confetti when Santa arrived. We walked around Harrods and got cupcakes and coffee and met up with the rest of our friends at Buckingham Palace. The Queen was home so we couldn’t go inside but we took plenty of pictures. Our huge group of us and our friends from London walked down towards the Thames River to see Big Ben, Parliament and the London Eye. We took pictures in the red phone booths because it’s so London cliché and got in line for the eye. It is a huge Ferris wheel that overlooks the entire city and we just happened to be on it at sunset. You stand inside a glass compartment so you can take plenty of gorgeous pictures. We had fish n’ chips for dinner then went out with our friends to a popular bar and got some rest for our last day.

On the Tower Bridge

     We all got up early to head over to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard which is a huge procession. We met a very nice family who told us how much they love America and gave us great tips on where to go. We took the tube over to Westminster Abbey, a famous Gothic church and the burial place of many famous poets including John Keats and Geoffrey Chaucer. It was closed for visitors because it was a Sunday so we took pictures of the outside. We then headed over to the Beatle’s famous spot, Abbey Road. Of course everyone who visits wants a picture of them walking on the crosswalk yet they don’t stop traffic for you. Pictures need to be snapped fast. Then we visited St Paul’s Cathedral where Princess Diana and Prince Charles was married, saw Shakespeare’s Globe Theater and the Tower of London. We walked and took pictures on the Tower Bridge over the Thames and headed back to say goodbye to our friends and head back to Madrid.

     We didn’t get to see every single sight in London because there are just so many and we didn’t have enough time. It is a fantastic city, a little expensive but there’s always something to look at while walking around. Next on the list: Lisbon.

Hasta la Proxima!

Paris!

After 3 days in Paris I have come to one conclusion: 3 are not enough for this incredible city.  Everyone who gets the chance should experience Paris in the fall as my 3 friends and I had the chance to do over Halloween weekend. It was my favorite trip within Europe so far. After some intense stress with the airlines we finally made it to Paris a day later than expected.

Because of the infamous strike most flights were being cancelled—ours unfortunately was one. We had to quickly find a new flight if we didn’t want to cancel our trip all together. Instead of flying out Thursday night we flew Friday morning. A couple of delays and headaches later we landed at 2pm in Beauvais Airport. Honestly, it looked like a circus tent and the land around it was a lot of farming plains…we were hoping we took the correct flight to Paris. The airport was complete with one large room and a bathroom. 

We had to take an hour bus which dropped us off in the city and then took a taxi to our hostel, The 3 Ducks. We were so excited to finally be in Paris we dropped our stuff and headed out for a long walk through the city to a site visited by the Olsen twins in Passport to Paris—Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg gardens) With the colored leaves and beautiful statues the scenery was breathtaking. We had a nice walk around the park, took some pictures, walked by the Panthéon and just took it all in as we went.

We eventually made it to Notre Dame and found it was free entry because a mass was going on. We got to enter the first floor and see a live mass taking place in one of the most famous churches in the world. Since it was getting dark we decided since it’s the symbol of Paris we should go see the Eiffel Tower lighted up. We took our first Paris Metropolitan ride (their subway) and followed the spotlight beaming from the top. The first 5 minutes of every hour the tower twinkles with white and yellow lights creating an amazing spectacle that can’t be captured truthfully on film. We had a perfect spot for pictures. We walked around the tower in search of some dinner until we came upon a restaurant with a jack-o-lantern outside. We shared some pizza, pasta and salad (I know it’s not French but that’s coming) After dinner we went back to the hostel, planned out the next day and got some rest as our legs were not used to walking miles and miles.

On the agenda for Saturday morning was the Musée du Lourve. We got there at 9am to get in line for tickets early and barely waited. We went straight for the Mona Lisa first and then wandered the rest of the museum. We saw famous works such as the Venus de Milo, many paintings by Velázquez and old Egyptian structures. The museum is enormous but the architecture is amazing. We took pictures by the glass triangles and fountains where the main entrance is situated. We walked through the Jardin des Tuileries, past the Obélisque and noticed we could see the Arc de Triomphe in the distance. On our way to the arc we discovered a great thing Paris has to offer…fresh crepes on the street. We each got a chocolate/banana hot crepe and inhaled them. SO delicious. The problem is once you eat one and keep walking you continue to smell them. We found nutella crepes and just couldn’t say no. So we had another one. We had been walking all day so we had an excuse.

A toast in front of the Eiffel Tower

We walked the Champs-Elysées which is the famous road for upscale shopping that leads to the Arc de Triomphe. The circle of road that surrounds the monument is one of the most dangerous areas to drive in the world as there are no lanes or traffic lights. Good thing we were walking nowhere near it. After some pictures we found a small grocery store and bought a baguette, some French cheese, apples and French champagne and went to sit in the Parc du Champs de Mars in between the Eiffel Tower and the École Militaire for a picnic and a toast to a great weekend in Paris. It was a gorgeous day. We walked under the tower and along the Seine River under the gold trees on a perfect fall day. Before reaching the hostel for a quick nap my friend Marissa and I found candy apples. We had to buy one since they are super rare, especially in Madrid. That truly made it a fall day.

After a much needed rest all 4 of us got dressed up and found a nice French restaurant that had an English menu so that was a clear sign we should eat there. It was a great choice. We started with escargot for an appetizer. Yes, we all ate snails and they are actually not bad at all. They do have the consistency of chewing a deflated balloon however they were cooked in pesto garlic sauce mmmm. You have to have snails when you visit Paris, it’s too cliché not to. For my meal I had grilled duck with potatoes and a salad, my friends had scallops, steak and chicken and we all tried some of each. We walked a lot slower out of the restaurant than we walked in and made it slowly back to the hostel for some oreos and peanut butter for dessert thanks to my mom.

The next morning was Halloween, not as big of a holiday in Europe but some people were dressed up. For us it was the day to climb the Eiffel Tower…yes, climb. We got in line at 8:30am to climb the 377 feet to the second floor. Plus, the elevator line was longer than that of Space Mountain. The view is unlike anything else. We had such a beautiful day to add to the greatness. We took an elevator down to the bottom after getting good pictures of the city and walked to the train station to head to Versailles to find the chocolate festival. I learned the hard way that when your friend calls your name it means get on the train. I was trying to get a water bottle out of the vending machine when suddenly the doors to the train began closing and I missed the train and watched my friends speed off without me. Rather than being scared or mad I just laughed at myself. I met a nice older couple from Oregon going to Versailles and and we chatted on the train until I reunited with my friends.

Outside the train station was a McDonalds and we were starving for some lunch. That is usually not what you want to eat when traveling Europe but it was there and it was cheap. It’s interesting to try the same restaurant in different countries because it’s always different. While having lunch we were trying to figure out where the Chocolate Festival was being held as this was an event we planned to visit. However we quickly realized that we had mistaken and the festival is in Porte de Versailles which is in Paris, not actually in Versailles. So we took the train for nothing as there was no chocolate festival to be found. But we did wander to the Château de Versailles for some pictures but it had tons of tourists in line to go inside. We took the train back to Paris and find the actual chocolate festival. It was very close to our hostel and was being held in what looked like a convention center however it was 12.50€ just to get in so we decided to walk back to the hostel for a nap instead. That wasn’t before sharing some street food of a French baguette with a kebab of chicken, a chorizo hot dog, mustard and onions. So good, but beware of French mustard…it’s more like wasabi.

We all shared a bottle of pink French wine and chatted about all the things we did. We wandered around the hostel a little later to stumble upon a Chinese take-out place and brought it back to the hostel for a quick dinner and to pack up our stuff and say goodbye to Paris. Our adventures to the airports (that’s plural, yes) were nothing short of ridiculous.

Lauren and I had kept our original flights and were flying out of Orly Airport however Marissa and Kristy were flying out of Charles de Gaulle Airport which was on the other side of the city. We took one train all together and then had to go our separate ways. Lauren and I made it to the correct stop but had no idea how to exit the station because none of the tickets we had previously bought were opening the two metal doors. This machine was nothing you could possibly jump over and it was midnight at this point and we’re already scared because we have to spend the night in the airport. Thankfully 2 Greek guys about our age held the doors open as we heaved our backpacks and full-of-snails bodies through the metal doors and into civilization. Meanwhile Marissa and Kristy were on the wrong train. Once Lauren and I reached the outside of the station we find there are no more buses going to the airport which we had been counting on. The Greek guys asked if we’d like to share a cab and Lauren and I being lucky had a combined 5.50€ in cash. The guys offered to front it and we took a 20 minute taxi ride with the craziest French taxi driver ever. I kissed the ground when we reached the terminal. Then it was a wild goose chase for an ATM and an Air France kiosk. Neither in sigh, we stayed in communication with Kristy and Marissa who caught the last train of the night to get to the airport after being followed by a drunk French man speaking gibberish. (Their description, not mine)

Finally an ATM was found and we paid back the Greek guys and bid farewell and good luck only to realize it was us who needed good luck because neither Air France nor our flight was anywhere in sight. We figured out we were in the completely wrong terminal and had to walk 15 minutes to the other one. Walking outside an empty airport in the middle of the night probably looked suspicious. Of course it’s cold outside and 1 out of the 60 doors into the correct terminal was open and it just happened to be the last one we tried. We find Air France and camp out for 6 hours, sleep for 2 and get woken up by the flight attendants coming into work. Lauren took a 25 minute adventure to find a vending machine for water and came back with a chocolate bar. Why I gave her 2€ and the freedom to roam the airport I don’t know. So, parched and hyper on chocolate we’re still waiting. 6am rolls around and we figure out we’re on the wrong side of the terminal, walk to the correct gate, wait in line to check bags even though we didn’t need to, get frisked in security and find a seat near the gate. Again, Lauren wanders off with money to buy water. This time she comes back with a croissant, a small chocolate cream pie and a bottle of Orangina. I didn’t even ask what was going on through her head because she shared the pie with me.

We finally got on the flight and landed back in Madrid at 9:30am after Kristy and Marissa made it back. We did so many things through our time in Paris and still didn’t see everything. I was exhausted but I am willing to call my trip to Paris one of my favorite adventures ever. Getting back to my señora’s house I realized today is November 1^st. One month left. Better make the rest of my time here count!

Hasta la proxima!

Morocco

It’s been about a week since returning to Madrid from Morocco. It’s crazy to think that I have now been to Africa twice in my life, the first time being to Morocco as well however it was only for the day. This trip consisted of a rigorous 4-day schedule in which our group traveled to 4 different cities. We started our journey waiting in line for our flight to Tanger, eating sandwiches and discussing what we all thought Africa would be like. The truth is most in line for the flight looked as though they were flying home and gave us the strangest glares as we downed huge double-decker sandwiches of chorizo and tortilla Española. (Most of our señoras still think we are growing children) But when we finally got settled on the plane we realized we didn’t really know what to expect. All we knew was that the number one thing on the packing list was toilet paper…and that wasn’t a comforting thought.

We landed in Tanger an hour and a half later with our faces pressed against the windows of the plane. We all went and exchanged our now familiar euro to the Moroccan durum. 1€ is worth about 11 durum so walking around with 200 durums in your wallet made us all feel pretty rich. We met our program guide, Alicia, who led us to the bus that would be our source of transportation for the weekend. Alicia is originally from Montana who first came to Morocco after joining the Peace Corps. After her 2 years of service she decided to stay, get married and begin her life in Morocco. Pretty big jump for a girl from Montana.

We finally arrived at our first stop, the Darna Women’s Center in Tanger. Here is where we had lunch (cous cous and beef with vegetables) while discussing Moroccan culture with 2 students, one male, one female. We then had a tour and were able to take pictures. In the center the women learn to read, write, sew, cook and basic computer skills. Next we hopped back on the bus and drove parallel to the Atlantic Coast for a couple of hours. The scenery was beautiful. We even got to see a heard of camels resting on a beach. Just as we saw them however the bus stopped…we got to ride them. It was very scary being hoisted up onto a strange animal’s back and if that wasn’t bad enough when he finally stood up you were about 9ft in the air. A very cliché activity, riding a camel in Africa, but I’m glad to say I’ve done it.

Back on the bus for a little and our next stop was Asilah, a small town once fought over by the Portuguese. The walls they built on the coast to protect the city are still there. Alicia took us on a tour under the stars and then it was back on the bus for a 3 hour ride to the capital city, Rabat. Bus rides are always fun with our group. Mostly they consist of the group forcing me to tell funny stories about my childhood or everyone going around and saying their most embarrassing moment. We always have a great time together.

The room we stayed in at host families house

We got to Rabat at around 10pm and everyone was ready to eat their itinerary. We were all a little nervous too, because we were about to meet our host families. Alicia told us every family had at least 1 person who spoke English so they could translate. Myself, and 2 other girls in our group were paired with a younger family. The mother didn’t work but stayed at home to take care of the 2 boys, Sahd (2) and Sofei (5). Their father was a personal guard to the king of Morocco. They had a very lovely home and were overly welcoming however there was one problem, no one spoke English. Both parents spoke 2 dialects of Arabic and French; no English, no Spanish. Although communicating was hard we made it through our first dinner alright. We had cous cous again (Moroccans love their cous cous) and Moroccan spaghetti. The first word I learned in Arabic was “cooli” which means eat! Our host mother said it every 5 minutes trying to make us eat more and more. We finally got some sleep only to look forward to breakfast the next morning and our first cup of Moroccan tea.

I will never drink Moroccan tea again. We were so excited for the first cup but after the first one, you never look back. Along with the tea for breakfast we had some bread with jam, olives, popcorn, coffee, and dates. Breakfast of champions, I know. We met with our group to swap stories of what we had for dinner and what our families were like, and then got back on the bus to head to a group discussion point. We were welcomed into the home of Mohammed, a student specializing in languages. Our group formed a circle in his living room as he and 5 of his friends were mixed in among us Americans. We introduced ourselves and then began asking questions to each other about culture, life, movies, society, religion and family. The conversation turned to September 11^th at one point, which was inevitable being that we were in a 95% Muslim country. We discussed the media and its influence on our viewpoints of Muslims and knowledge about the religion and how that horrific event played a huge role in the world’s opinion of Muslim nations. All in all it was a very eye-opening discussion.

AnnMarie, Lucy, Me, Kristin and Sofei

We then went for a visit to the Roman ruins in Rabat called Chellah and the Mausoleum of King Mohammed V. If it hadn’t have been raining it might’ve been more enjoyable but both places were beautiful still. We had a 2 hour break to have lunch with our home stay families where I and the 2 others living with me met Lucy. Lucy is a study abroad student from GW University in DC and is living with our home stay family for the semester. She speaks English and Arabic, thank goodness, so now we had a translator. We had lunch and then got to try on traditional women’s robes and dance around with our host mother to Moroccan music. After our break we re-grouped and met different students who took us in smaller groups to visit Rabat’s Kashbah (old fort), an open marketplace, have tea and just spend time talking and exchanging information about each other. After, we met back as an entire group and set off for an experience I don’t think any of us were ready for—a hammam.

If you ask someone who knows Moroccan culture what a hammam is they’ll simply say it’s like a bath, however it is so so so different. A hammam is a place, much like a locker room, where people pay to get clean. Most Moroccan homes do not have showers so usually people go once a week to a hammam. After walking around in the rain and being dirty for 2 days we all wanted to be clean so we all agreed to go together. Men have a separate hammam away from the woman so all of us girl headed out together not knowing what to expect. They gave us olive oil soap, a rough glove, and the rules—we had to go topless. This was definitely not something any of us were expecting to do in Morocco. We all go to school together and have become such close friends, but the 11 of us sucked it up and did it. It’s like a sauna and you have a bucket of hot water. That’s pretty much it, unless you want to pay to have someone scrub you down. I kept to myself. I will say I did feel pretty clean after, and all of us walked out of there a little bit closer.

From the top of a peak on the Rif Mountains

Dinner was with our home stays that night, Moroccan soup and plenty of bread YUM. In the morning we had more olives and tea and had to say goodbye to our families as we were heading off on a drive to the Rif Mountains. It was a gorgeous, yet dizzying trip up and around the mountain. We took a short hike to the top of a peak and got amazing pictures. We then got to speak with a family who’ve lived there through generations about their lives and we got to ask about their impressions on Americans. Life in a mountain village of Morocco is very different to that of the family we stayed with in the capital city of Rabat, so it was interesting to see both. After having lunch with the family and getting a few more pictures in we were off to spend our last night in Morocco in Chefchaouen. (pronounced Chef-chawin)

an ally in Chefchaouen

The name of the city literally translates into “look to the horns” because the city is in the mountains and the two peaks closest look alike to horns; however the arquitecture of the city as a whole is all blue, therefore I was hoping it meant the blue city. It is fairly touristy so most venders spoke English and/or Spanish. We were staying in a hostel which we had all to ourselves since our program guides know how loud and obnoxious we are. After dropping our stuff off we had free time to go shop and blow all 200 durums we had, which went faster than we all thought. We met back up around 9 to go have dinner at a place called Casa de Aladdin, which we all thought was funny considering it means Aladdin’s house and we’ve all seen the fake-Arabic Disney movie.

After dinner we went back to our hostel, got dry and warm and had a pow-wow like meeting with Alicia to discuss our time spent in Morocco. We went around the circle and everyone got to share thoughts, surprises, feelings, opinions and anything about the trip. It was a nice time to just reflect and hear everyone’s point of view and what we had all learned. Bright and early we were awoken to the sound of the morning prayer (Muslims pray 5 times a day) So we got out of bed and went on a hike through the city and up the mountain a ways to get a birds-eye view of Chefchaouen at 7am. We then shared a Moroccan breakfast together and headed back to the Tanger airport to say goodbye to Alicia and to Morocco.

I learned so many things during my 4 days in Morocco; mostly about the Muslim culture, the personality of Moroccans and their views on Americans. I’d say the only downside of the trip is that everyone in our group got sick and most of us missed some days of school after returning to Madrid but eventually that goes away. The knowledge that we all took from experiencing first hand a developing country that is so different than the one we have lived in all our lives will stay with us forever. And it’s something we can pass on to others as well. And the toilet paper really came in handy. Hasta la próxima.

Barcelona!

…and now back to reality. Fresh off the plane from Barcelona the only things I can think of are the insane events from the past weekend and not of the homework due in six hours. While rummaging through my purse I find things that remind me of my weekend in Cataluña.

First, I pull out all of the receipts and cards from restaurants and bars I grabbed and threw into my purse. A card from the restaurant, Foc, where we all had lunch by the beach. Their website is called Focyou.com (clever I know.) An empty candy bar wrapper which served as my ticket to the chocolate museum…yes the chocolate museum. They gave you a bar of chocolate when you pay to enter and you can enjoy it while you browse the museum. A card from the fairytale bar off of Las Ramblas where the inside is full of trees, fairies and drinks.  And then I found a ticket from a cable car ride we took over the city. You can see the entire city looking one way and the Mediterranean looking the other way. It was a breathtaking view.

When I reached back into my bag to find something else I come across something I hadn’t realized had gotten into my bag…sand. Escaping from the Mediterranean coast I found some grains of sand settled at the bottom of my bag and I can’t help but remember how amazing the weather was when we had a girl day at the beach. You get past all the old women going topless after seeing a couple. I remember how sweet the coconut tasted that we bought to snack on while lying in the sun and staring at the clear blue water. The beach is an advantage Barcelona has over Madrid. It was an amazingly relaxing day.

Next out of my bag was an orange peel. Without me saying I bet you would wonder why the hell I would have an orange peel in my purse…allow me to explain. There is a very well-known bar in Barcelona which is simply called “Chupitos” which simply means Shots. The bar is the size of my room in Spain, which is insanely small but up on the wall is a list of the 200 shots they offer. Some examples include: President, el ultimo, snoopy, tarzan, and lou lou. My first, obviously, was a Harry Potter shot. It consists of orange liquor and vodka. The bartender then puts an orange slice on top with some sugar then lights it on fire. The fire caramelizes the orange so when you eat it its warm and tastes like candy. I wanted a souvenir from the shot which carries the same title of my favorite books so I put the peel in my purse; I just forgot I’d done that. Oops.

Next on the list was a package of cookies which I stole from the hostel’s continental breakfast for sometime in the day. This was the first time I’ve ever stayed in a hostel so it was interesting. The 10 of us stayed in a 12-person suite with 2 other college kids traveling for the weekend. There were communal bathrooms and we had to buy a towel and sheets. There were lockers for us to lock our stuff in every time we left. In all honesty we weren’t in the hostel much so it worked out. It was a lot cleaner than I had thought and it had an amazing roof-top terrace which we sat and relaxed on during siesta time. I met a lot of other students doing the same thing we were doing: visiting Barcelona for the weekend. I met a girl who went to Conard high school on West Hartford and is studying in Italy. All in all the hostel was clean, in a great location and was pretty comfortable.

El Parque Guell

La Sagrada Familia

Together all those things make up my weekend in Barcelona. Some great food and cool sites like Sagrada Familia (cathedral designed by Gaudí) El Parque Guell (popular spot for tv shows and movies) occupied my days. My good friend from Marist is studying in Barcelona and was able to show us around. It worked out perfectly. Although Barcelona was great, it’s nice to be back in Madrid. Madrid isn’t as touristy as Barcelona-great for vacation, but not for school. I am happy with my choice to be in Madrid.

Hasta la próxima!

Aventuras sobre Castilla La Mancha

It’s been yet another 2 weeks here in España and things just keep getting better and better. I am getting a lot more used to their way of living here, especially their schedule. Typical meal times consist of 8am piece of toast and coffee, 2pm huge lunch, 10pm dinner. I think I have finally trained my hunger when meal times are. I miss omelets.

Enough talk about food. Classes have gotten into full swing and I am more into the routine of being back at school. The university is about a 40 minute commute from my host mother’s apartment but it’s a pleasant commute. I have gotten closer to my Señora as we learn more about each other when we have meals together and talk. She used to work at a very prestigious news station in Spain and has met people such as Neil Armstrong, Truman Capote and 5 Nobel Peace Prize winners. Needless to say, she has great stories. She loves movies, especially musicals and comedies so when our soap opera ends at 11 she usually puts on a movie that she always claims as “mi favorita!” (my favorite) But shes 72, so every movie is her favorite. They’ve all been good so far so I trust her judgment in movies.

This past week has been hectic with events. A friend in my group had a birthday this past Thursday so we tried to think of something fun to do that none of us had done before. Our solution? A drag show. Now, they’re definitely not for everybody but for a group of fifteen 20-year-olds it was hysterical. There was an emcee named Shana and 4 different acts. One even picked a girl from our group and danced with her! It was a blast.

Our group spent the last 2 days in Castilla La Mancha, which is where the epic Spanish novel Don Quixote is set. The route he takes in the story is marked around the region and we followed some of it. We saw the huge windmills he fought in a famous part of the story in which he believes them to be giants. We also saw the jail cell where the author, Miguel de Cervantes was held when he wrote Don Quixote. We visited a farm where they produce manchego cheese, which is common throughout Spain and is made from sheep’s milk. We saw how it was made and were able to try the 3 different kinds. We then went to our hotel to have a siesta (break in the middle of the day) and then had a tour Almagro, a part of Castilla La Mancha. We saw an outdoor play and then had tapas for dinner. The next day we were up early for a hike around a different part of  Castilla. This part of the town was full of mountains and lagoons formed from limestone and rain water. There were tons of beautiful waterfalls and small coves of water that looked like Jacuzzis. We saw how the water comes up, yes up, from the soil in the mountain and runs down the side and into the lagoons. It’s ironic since La Mancha actually means dry land in Arabic so having a part of it with tons of water is a blessing to its citizens.

We then went to have lunch at a restaurant situated around a lot of Don Quixote gift shops. Castilla La Mancha is dedicated solely to Don Quixote; it is much like any boring town with one college in it. You can get Don Quixote anything…even underwear.  In all it was a very enjoyable trip. Castilla La Mancha is much more calm then the hustle and bustle of Madrid. It was nice to relax for 2 days but it’s good to be back. This coming weekend is booked for a 3 day trip to Barcelona! Just need to get through classes this week! Hasta la próxima!