¡Marruecos!

I want to go back already! Okay, so for this amazing trip to Morocco I've included lots and lots of pictures for those of you out there who don't have facebook--for those who do, you should definitely go on and check out my Morocco Album where you'll see loads of pictures :). 

And now about Morocco itself: 

Morocco was everything I thought it was going to be, and everything I thought it wasn't going to be. Firstly, I was shocked at how tropical and beautiful it was. The citrus trees are lovely and scenery is amazing. Every mosque and mausoleum we saw were incredible (both old and new). 

Very old madrassa (school)

Although the first day was tiring, the weather was a bit warmer than Madrid and it was super exciting being in a whole different continent (and only an hour and a half plane ride away!!). It felt like a town on the Mediterranean instead of the Atlantic Ocean. As you can see in some of these pictures, the houses were beautifully white with blue splashes. There were adorable little kids playing soccer in the street as happy as could be, with no parents in sight!


All of the hotels we went to were great. Nothing overly fancy, but just what one would want after a long day of walking around etc. For lunch the first day I had my first Moroccan meal. Okay, I've obviously had couscous and vegetables before, but there's nothing like having it in the country that's known for it--it's like having pasta in Italy! It comes in a tagine (definitely had to go to google on the spelling of that one) which is a pyramid like ceramic structure. The most common dishes that come in tagine are chicken with veggies and lamb with veggies and of course couscous!

Beautiful (orange) trees I believe

Chellah in Rabat (what I imagine Greece might look like...)

Chellah

Helen, Ashley, and Me in Chellah overlooking the Atlantic Ocean 

Possibly the most eye-opening experience was visiting the Medina in Fez. Medina means city in Arabic, but here it refers to the old part of the city. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, ever. First off, no street names. Oh, and you know how New York is laid out in nice squares--this is the antithesis of that. I had no idea where we were the entire day. In fact, we weren't even allowed to walk around there alone during the day--not so much because it was dangerous (although I've heard it is at night) but because you will get lost, no questions asked. The poverty I saw there was overwhelming. And yet, the majority of the people were laughing and it was very hustle-bustle. Even still, some of those images (of donkeys in the streets, of the tiniest alleys I've ever seen) are indelible. 

I believe this is a guard outside the Mausoleo de Muhammad V y Hassan II

Ashley and Me

We also went to various artisan shops. One of those shops was a leather shop. The leather was of various different animals and was incredible, but the stench AH! We went upstairs to look out over where the leather was being prepped. Imagine the most awful smell in the world, and that is what it smelled like. So bad that they actually give you mint to sniff while you're up there! Basically what you see are dead animal skins and men standing knee deep in actual pigeon poop because that is what they use to clean the skins. I will not look at leather the same. 

The whole gang :) From left to right: Kate, Ellen, Anna, Chantal, Michelle, Violet, Barrie,  Ashley, Helen, Me

 I loved the ceramic store because we got to see the process basically from beginning to end--we saw a man molding the clay on a wheel, say the oven (although there was nothing being "fired" (is that what they say?) at that time, and a man painting the clay. Then, we of course saw the finished product. Happy to say this is the only place I bought something that wasn't included in the trip (that was another great thing about the trip--they said all inclusive with the price, and they meant it--I didn't pay for one additional meal, bus, nothing!) and only spend 20 euro total AH!

This is possibly some of the best bread I've ever had in my 20 years (almost 21!!! :) )

Amazing veggies!!!!

Yay Arabic :)/...French

Yes, that is indeed the skins of lambs...

Mucho pottery

I think this is the Palacio Real in Fez (Puerta Monumental) I'm forgetting already :(

Large plate...man doing...ok I forget what that's called...

Me plus scarf 

The majority of the girls + scarves
from left to right: Michelle, Ellen, Me, Kate (in the back with the blue scarf), I think that's Violet next to her, Barrie in the front in red and Ashley in the tan scarf (some of these names might be wrong because it's hard to tell who's who's!)

Fez in the background (I believe the Medina (old city))

Final Dinner
Michelle, Violet, Chantal, Barrie, Kate, Helen

Belly Dancer!

The final night we had dinner and saw a traditional belly dancing, Arabic and Berber singing, and a magician. All of a sudden during the meal, we noticed two of our classmates were gone! Then, they appeared again. One wearing a traditional Berber wedding outfit, the other traditional Arabic wedding garb and between them another customer at the restaurant who happened to be from Pamplona. Apparently, they were getting married haha. What ensued was a lot of singing and raising them up on chairs. Quite a site! 

Magician who magically took off Chantal's bra...poof!

Chantal in traditional Berber wedding garb (left), random man from Pamplona who was also at the restaurant, Kate in traditional Arabic wedding garb 

Outside Hassan II mosque 

Inside Hassan II mosque (Casablanca)

The last day we went back to Casablanca (guess I should have mentioned we went from Casablanca to Rabat to Fez and then back to Casablanca) to see the Hassan II mosque (third largest mosque in the world!) We were supposed to see it Friday when we were first in  Casablanca, however almost everything was closed. Why you ask? Fiesta del Cordero (Lamb) which is one of the biggest holidays in the Muslim religion and nearly everything closes. It marks the end of Ramadan (the month of fasting). How do they mark the end of the month of fasting. Well, by each family killing a lamb, of course. Hence, the picture of the skins of lambs in wagons...not joking. Imagine the sight...

Anyway, because the mosque was closed Friday (well, at least to non-Muslims, not sure about Muslims) we had to go back to see it  Sunday before our flight (super early, but totally worth it). I believe it is the only mosque in the world where non-Mulims are permitted to enter. It is incredible! The roof even opens! It has a legitimate "pool" well, Turkish bath, in the basement, and amazing architecture. Plus, it's right on the water!

Outside Hassan II mosque on the water 

After going to the mosque, we had our last lunch together. What was great was that we had a little bit of everything throughout the four days: we saw both modern and traditional sites, rich (in Casablanca, in particular, one neighborhood was unreal) and poor areas, and ate traditional and modern food. 

As you can tell, this was probably one of the best experience I have ever had. One of the best aspects of the trip was that it really pushed me to go outside of my comfort zone. To go where there might not be toilet paper (don't worry I brought some, but important tip if traveling to Morocco...) and to try the most amazing pastries and mint tea--because that's what traveling is about sometimes. Sometimes the unfamiliar is just what you need to make you feel at home :) 

Cautionary note for those planning on traveling to Morocco: 

a) bring TP

b) bring hand sanitizer

c) DO NOT DRINK THE WATER EVER 

d) You may be confused as to what language to speak. I believe there were moments when I said gracias, thank you, merci, and shookrun (Arabic for thank you, strangely I can spell this in Arabic and not english...) So, I tried a bit of everything and one of them usually sticks :)

e) You will love it so don't freak out!

This I believe is an old mosque in Chellah, but again I forget :(

PSPSPS

Don't know what to do...total eclipse of the heart

So this week, I'm asking everyone for some much needed advice. In case you don't already know the saga of the bathroom at my homestay, I will get you up to date quickly: basically, at the beginning of the semester, the toilet clogged and our señora thought we did something to the toilet (if you need a refresher, I believe I write about this in detail in either the first or second post).

Needless to say, she had to fix the toilet...twice. The second time she had to replace the toilet completely, not kidding. Because we had been using what seemed to her to be a lot of toilet paper (maybe it was for Spanish standards, who knows) she has since been obsessed with the amount of toilet paper we've been using. Now, I have cut down tremendously on the amount I use, but refuse to feel yucky because of this situation.

Wow, I cannot believe I am dedicating an entire post to toilet paper. But this is going somewhere, promise. So now it is nearing the end of the semester (also can't believe that) and I have a choice to make: do I stay or do I go? In order to give readers an idea of the pros and cons of moving, I will make a simple pro and con list:

Pros (of staying with Elena, my señora)

1. She is an amazing cook 
2. She does my laundry and someone comes in weekly to clean the apartment
3. Her apartment is beautiful and in a great location 
4. I can practice my Spanish 
5. I am exposed to Spanish culture
6. Always (well, pretty much always) eat dinner with someone 
7. All of my things are already here
8. Did I mention the food is great
9. The evil you know is always better than the evil you don't know (or something like that, right?) 

Cons 

1. She is obsessed with the amount of tp that we use and the last time she freaked out (well maybe not freaked out about it, but got very agitated) when I asked for tp I started to cry...
2. It is more expensive than living in an apartment
3. I can't eat dinner whenever I want (and we usually eat between 10 and 10:30...)
4. I can't eat whatever I want
5. The apartment I'm looking into is closer to school 
6. I would have a different living experience
7. It would be more like my own place (but I could have psycho roommates, although I could get a new psycho roommate when Joan leaves after this semester even if I do stay with Elena...)
8. I have to cook for myself (both a pro and a con, depending on how you look at it I suppose)

Okay, so I think I've done a pretty good job at laying out the pros and cons...so please please please please give me your opinions! Seriously, I need help deciding. I promise if I get good advice I'll write an awesome blog about Morocco (I'm going this Thursday ah!) with great pictures :)

Thanks in advance!

Your confused friend,

Thought I'd add this photo to show the good times I've had with the best roomie ever :)

Megan

Toledo and A Final Meal with the Buonomos

Toledo is beaauuuutttiiiffulll!!

 So, Doctora and Señor Doctora have left and Spain is now sad as can be :(. I had such a fun week with them! I loved showing them around the neighborhood where my school is located and  having them over for tapas at my homestay. I especially liked meeting them at the Prado where I had my art class this week. I was thrilled they could hear the explanation provided by my professor. I guess now is a good time to say thanks Señor Doctora for putting up with all of the Spanish. I must say it had to be frustrating not being able to understand my señora, professor, or many other people this week. And if you guys read this, thanks so so so so much for dinner on Saturday night with my friends. They all loved you and were so grateful! Thanks for such a great week! ¡Regresad en la primavera!

You may be wondering why I included this man in the photo--he followed our group around most of the day I'm convinced he was in love with our tour guide ;)

As for Toledo...well I'm sure you can see how absolutely beautiful the city is. The professor that I have for my Prado class was my group's guide for the trip and she is so informative and adorable. I was so grateful to have her. Walking around the cathedral was breathtaking and the views were amazing. We also lucked out by having fantastic weather. As I mentioned in the caption under the picture with the random man with the camera. Well...when we were in the cathedral, he asked our professor if he (and I think his wife...?) could follow us around and listen to her explanations, yep she's that good. At one point we were sitting on the pews listening to her and he sat right next to her in the first pew, because supposedly he was a bit hard of hearing (I think he just had a thing for my professor). Anyway, whatya know? We walk over to see the view of Toledo, and there he is again. Oh these Spanish adventures.

Me and Toledo perfect together

Helen Me Blair...oh and a bus

Can't have too many pictures of Toledo!

Arabic graffiti in a mosque in Toledo

From left to right--Ashley, Meghan, Joan, and me at dinner with the Buonomos 

There's nothing like a Trip to Toledo and a great meal with friends to make your weekend :). What's more...no school on Tuesday yay :)

I am not worthy, an ode to Wayne's World?

Okay, this isn't really an ode to "Wayne's World" (a show which I occasionally quote with my mom, but I now realize I have never really watched a full episode of this show--well not really an episode because it's a sketch on "SNL") but I really wanted to make that the title this week. I guess what I'm trying to say is...thank you Madrid for the following:

1. Sun practically every day (seriously, I think it's rained maybe three times since I've been here and for about 10 minutes each time)

2. Amazing people who, if you are lost, will literally walk you to where you have to go. Okay, this needs elaborating

3. My señora lives here

4. My señora's food is here

5. A relaxing environment

6. Clean subway car and stations

7. Beautiful parks

8. Corte Inglés

9. A great academic program at NYU in Madrid

10. The fact that I can take Arabic...in Spanish

11. And now...¡Doctora está aquí!

Chirimoya!!! (a fruit...looks like brains...it's delicious)

Sancho Panza and Don Quixote

Actor who played Cervantes now playing a student at Universidad Alcalá y Sancho Panza now playing a student, too

Doctora and me next to Don Quixote 

Oh, my Halloween costume that I only wore in my room...

Joan's Halloween costume that she only wore in our room...

And now for something very different....
¡El tren de Cervantes!  You may be asking yourself, what is the Tren de Cervantes? Well...it's a themed train that goes to Alcalá. But it's no ordinary train. Throughout the twenty minute train ride actors perform various scenes about Don Quixote and Cervantes. It's fantastic! They include the children in the scenes, hand out candied almonds, and really make an effort to get people on the train involved.

Once you arrive in Alcalá, you're split up into groups and each group has a tour guide. Throughout the day you see the university, and  Cervantes's home, among other sites. They give you plenty of time to each lunch and explore on your own, too. The day starts at 11:00AM and you head back on the train at 8:00 PM. All for only 20 euros (not including lunch).

Okay, and now another switch. I must must must blog about my dinner last night with my señora Elena and my roommate Joan. It was possibly one of the best dinner conversations...ever! We had a whole discussion about why we don't have boyfriends (I won't get into the details), but trust me this is a very interesting topic to talk about with your Spanish señora, over dinner, and in Spanish, of course. Then, when she asked us what we were doing after dinner (so around 11:30 pm) and we told her we weren't going out for Halloween, she called us old ladies...in English!

Anyway, that's why Joan and I decided to put on our costumes --hence the pictures (I really just had wings and a mask and Joan only really had Halloween socks, spandex shorts, and a bandana, but who's keeping track?)--so we could at least pretend we did something for Halloween. Whatever, the wings and mask aren't going bad. Halloween will come again next year.