Wednesday, October 6th

POSTCARDS!!

Big accomplishment of Wednesday = finally got most of my postcards mailed!!! Who would have thought finding addresses and getting stamps would be so hard. Then finding an actual drop box for the mail?! Not to mention, it was expensive! UGH! Moral of the story, givers are receivers! If you’d like a postcard send me some mail! J

Other large feat = I skyped with my cousin Luke and finalized plans for our trip to Italy/Germany. At the end of October I have 10 days off of class so I’m meeting Lucas in Rome where we’ll stay for 3 nights before heading to Pisa for 2 nights and then to my cousin Nathan’s house in Germany for the last 3 nights! I’m super excited!!! :-D

Wednesday night was also movie night at my house! We watched part two of the documentary on Rafael (a famous Spanish singer that had Hepatitis B and therefore liver failure) on TV! I was amazed at how much I understood! :) 

Tuesday, October 5th

Top: Conchita (my senora), Teresa
(my sister), Abuelita, and me

So I was still kind of dragging today. Lack of sleep had caught up with me. I made it through the school day (9am-4pm) non-the-less. On our break between classes, Katy and I went to Casa de Lope de Vega (a famous 16th century Spanish poet and playwright). Let me rephrase that, Katy and I *tried* to go to Lope's Museum House. In reality, we wandered around the city center for about 45 minutes (who would have thought the museum would be on Cervantes Street instead of Calle Lope de Vega?!?). By the time we found the museum, the last tour had already started, so we signed up to tour the following Thursday.

my Spanish family <3 

Later that night we took family pictures. My mom and grandmother had been begging me for WEEKS to take photos of my Spanish host family. So my Abuelita got her hair done and we took family pictures before dinner. My Spanish Mommy got super into the pictures and kept rearranging us.. Here's the top three photos from our photo session. More to come :)

Monday, October 4th

So our train from Seville arrived in Madrid at 6 am, just in time to hop on the metro. I got back to my house right before 7 am, took a 45 minute nap, jumped through a shower, and headed to class. Yes. I went to class. 9 am to 6 pm. Granted I had 2 cups of coffee and a coke, but I made it. Needless to say I took a nice long nap after class, woke up, ate dinner with my fam, and went back to sleep! J

Sunday, October 3rd

cheering on Pedro, our
faithful bus driver

Sunday we woke up at 6 am, way before I wanted to, but hey IT’S AFRICA!! We ate breakfast in the hotel (jam and bread again along with a couple of other pastries options, coffee and the same “orange juice”). After breakfast we hoped on the bus and headed to Chefchaouen, typical mountain town.

The ride to Chefchauouen took about 2 hours. We stopped along the way at this super sketchy reststop with the worst bathrooms in the history of the world! There was a beautiful view from the balcony, but even this wasn’t enough to salvage the nastyness.

beautiful look out point at the
sketchy rest area

When we got to Chefchaouen, we met up with the cutest little guide in the history of the world. He was approximately 70 years old, 5 feet tall and talked like Yoda! He told us that the village was very safe and that we didn't need to worry about our bags or about walking around alone. Later we found out that the village is also known for drug trafficking since it's in the mountains.. SURPRISE! haha


All the buildings in Chefchaouen are painted blue and white. Our guide told us the colors serve two purposes. First of all, the colors keep the village cooler in the summer months. He also told us that the blue wards off mosquitoes because they don't like the color. I bought a bright blue scarf I plan to wear to test out this theory next summer! 

city center of Chefchaouen

In Chefchaouen, we stopped by a store that makes and sells blankets, scarves, and rugs. The showed us all the different patterns and taught us what some of the symbols mean. We also got to watch a man making blankets.


For lunch, we ate in another local restaurant. They served us this diced onion, peppers, and tomatoes salad thing (I basically hate all of those ingredients) and then another meat and vegetable stew. The second course was pretty decent, except there were more bones and fat than good meat again.

Katy and I with our tour guide

After lunch our guide took us to a local market were we had a little bit of time to shop around. I bartered for two scarves and a shirt. I was super bummed when I got home and realized the neck hole of the shirt is about the size of my pinkie and therefore is impossible to get on! :( I might try to do some altering back in the states so that the shirt will fit because it's super cute and very African. 

busing it back

After our mini shopping spree, we hoped back in the bus and headed to Cuenta so we could catch the ferry back. Katy and I read A LOT of our book for school on the way back! Once in Algerceries (after the ferry ride), we spent another 2 hours riding in another bus back to Seville. It was raining in Seville, but Katy and I didn't see a taxi, so we walked for about 20 minutes in the mist to the bus station. Since our bus to Seville didn't arrive until 11 ish, and the last train to Madrid left at 9:45, we had to take a bus back to Madrid. Our bus left at midnight from Seville and arrived in Madrid at 6:00 am. So Katy and I poped a sleeping pill each (first time doing that) and passed out.

Saturday, October 2nd

fountain at our hotel

Mediterranean Sea!!!

Saturday morning we had a wakeup call bright and early! To remind us why we were up so early (and eliminate all temptation of being grumpy – as neither Katy nor I are morning people), we blasted “This is Africa” by Shakira as we got ready. To let some light into the room, I opened the blinds and discovered that we could see the Mediterranean from our hotel window! So even though the cleanliness was nowhere near my standards, the view from our room certainly deserved a 4 star rating!

this guy scared the heck out of me!

We began our day eating breakfast at the hotel (rolls with jelly, coffee, and “orange juice” – that tasted more like Sunny Delight). We finished our breakfast and headed into the hotel garden to take pictures in the 10 minutes remaining, before the bus left! The garden was beautiful, with flowers and a huge fountain! :) Since we had a couple of minutes left, we decided to cross the street and head to the sea, since it was so close! We both collected sea shells and took some pictures, naturally. 

LOVE the decorations!!

At 9 am, we loaded the bus and began our tour of Tetuan, the city we spent the night in. We drove around some of the new section until we got to the historical portion of Tetuan. At this point we got out of the bus and walked around with our tour guide and our "local tour guide" (which was actually our sneaky body guard - he literally would just disappear and reappear in random spots.. we started playing Where's Waldo with the guy because we literally would think he was behind us and then we'd pass him!)

AFRICAN COKE!!!!

Tetuan street

We stopped for a potty and soda break in an adorable little restaurant. I loved all of the Moroccan tiles and architecture! 

got a problem?
there's an herb for that!

After walking around for a little bit longer, we stopped in a local medicine shop. The store only sells natural spices and remedies. It was a lot of fun because the main "pharmacist" gave us a lecture on what different plants are used for different medical issues. As he'd demonstrate/describe how to use a certain plant, he'd walk around and let us all smell the container. It was so fascinating! Katy and I bought this plant called eucalyptus which is basically like Vicks Vapor rub, but apparently a million times better (or so said the man that sold it to us.. haha!) Eucalyptus is used to better colds, help with asthma, the flu, and to stop people from snoring. We'll see how it works out.. I'm not even sure if we'll be able to take it through the US customs. Somehow I feel like saying I got it from the African Medicine Man might not fly (literally... get it? airplane? fly?), but we'll see. 

Lunch

After visiting the pharmacy, it was time for lunch! We were all starving from walking around so much, which proved to be a good thing, since once again we had some local food. Katy and I split a bottle of water to drink. To eat first we had a bowl of pureed soup. For course number two we ate rice with carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and other veggies. Since in Spain we normally eat two courses and then a dessert, Katy and I thought we were done eating, so the two of us got up to go to the bathroom. After our potty party, we both got henna tattoos for 3 euros. They were so pretty and the girl did them super fast! She even put on sparkles and wrote our names in the tattoos!!

henna tat

When we got back to our seat, we found another platter of veggies and some sort of meat. Of course I picked the worst piece of  “bone” and couldn’t get any meat off of it! Because everyone at my table just thought I was being stupid with the meat, Reid, a boy on the trip, offered to cut my food for me. Naturally, I let him (so I could prove everyone wrong). He couldn't get any meat off either, but selected a better chunk for me and proceeded to cut that as well!! It was hilarious!

caves of hercules

During this course, we had some entertainment. A man with a plate with lit candles on his head came in and danced around. There was also a belly dancer and a two separate trios of men playing music. Lots of fun! :)

After lunch, we walked to the tour bus to head to our next location: Caves of Hercules!! The caves were beautiful! We didn't have a lot of time there, but we could see the Mediterranean Sea from inside the cave! So pretty!!

Caves of Hercules

Next we went to ride the camels, the part of the trip I'd been looking forward to the most. WHAT A JOKE!!! First of all, the price was NOT included in our package like we'd been promised (it was only an extra 2 euros so I wasn't going to cry over it). Second of all, the darn camel ride was less than two minutes long. I seriously wanted to punch the agency that we booked through because they totally made it seem like we were going to be riding camels through the desert, not making a circle around our tour bus!! Oh well, it still was a fun experience to get on the camel! And it was so high in the air!!! I was terrified getting down because the camel was kind of jerky and didn't want to kneel down! I was like I'm not jumping down from here mister!!! 

Caves of Hercules

After the camel rides, we drove to Tangier, where our hotel was for the night. We had some free time before dinner, so Katy and I decided to first explore the hotel. We were super excited because it said there was a swimming pool on the roof. What it DIDN'T say was that the pool was closed for the winter and therefore empty of water and full of construction! It was so creepy up on the 8th floor! We couldn't get out of there fast enough! 

camel ride

Since our hotel failed to entertain us, we decided to walk around the city to the market our guide told us about. Either the market was a joke or we misinterpreted the directions, either of which is a great possibility! Either way, the market we found had more shampoo and bananas than scarfs and souvenirs, and more than enough creepy middle-aged men, so we left. On our way back to the hotel we stopped in an art museum (I knew my Grandmother would be proud). To clarify, we thought it was an art museum, but to be completely honest I'm not sure what it was! It had a lot of propaganda and I think all of the art work was trying to teach us a message about something. The message was lost to us though. Oh well, it was a fun little side trip.

Next to our hotel, Katy and I found a little bakery with all sorts of cakes and sweets. Being the sugar addicts we are, we each bought a dessert to split. I got this really yummy chocolate cake (kind of reminded me of a hostess cake) while Katy got a really nasty pistachio nastyness. Clearly she's disqualified from choosing our desserts from now on. 

Since we we still had just under 2 hours until dinner, and were fresh out of ideas for adventures, we each took a shower, blow dryed our hair, and did some homework. I know, I know. Homework in Africa should be a crime.. We watched The Matrix with Arabic subtitles if that makes it any better..

reading Dona Perfecta

Dinner was again in our hotel, and was about as delicious as the other meals. First we had the trendy pureed vegetable soup. Next we had french fries, "green beans" (the were nasty!), and fried fish. The fried fish was just so greasy, but I pulled off the breading and ate the fish by itself and that was pretty good. For dessert we had flan again. 

After dinner Katy and I crashed. We were so sleepy from walking all day, and our wakeup call was scheduled for 6 am! 

Friday, October 1st

Katy and I on the AVE

Today Katy and I were bad students. We didn´t go to school. We probably could have gone for about a half an hour, but our teachers said it wasn´t worth it because we wouldn´t have even been there for an entire class. Our train to Sevilla left the Atocha train station at 11 am, so we met at 10:15 in order to have plenty of time to get lost, find the platform, board the train, etc.

At the Plaza de Torre de Orro
in Sevilla - aka our meeting
spot

During the two and a half hour train ride, they showed the movie "Clash of the Titans". Although it was a decent movie, I was so sleepy I fell asleep half way through. I woke up during a fight scene, but have no idea who won and what happened in the end!! Regardless, the train was very comfortable!! :)

When we got to Sevilla, Katy and I had a time and a half trying to find the Plaza de Torre de Oro, where we were meeting our tour group! We met a backpacker from Wales and together finally found a bus that was headed in the correct direction (after waiting for over a half an hour). Sevilla buses are different than the buses I´ve experienced in Madrid. The don´t stop only at the designated stops. The follow the same path, but the passangers can push a button to make the bus stop wherever along the street that they´d like. For this reason, we were quite lost because we´d counted our stop being the 3rd, but the bus stopped more frequently than the sign said. Together with our map and the help from some locals, we made it to our stop, and walked to our plaza.

enjoying my lemon slushie

Once we got there, we said goodbye to our new friend, and headed to the group of students sitting in the plaza. They were also going to Morocco, but booked their trip through a different agency so we thought we were in the wrong spot. Turns out we were all in the same group, but Katy and I looked around frantically for 45 minutes for another tour guide. In the end, we almost had heart attacks (because we thought we got ripped off), but it worked out just fine! Oh and we bought these delishious lemon slushies, which made the frantic searching a lot better!!

the pretty ferry

After the rest of the group *finally* showed up, we headed down the street, climbed on a bus and rode for another 2 and a half hours or so to Algeciras where we got on a ferry, crossed the Mediterranean Sea and entered Cuenta (Spanish territory in Africa). Now just for you Chautauquans, I would like to make clear that this was no Grafton Ferry (which I had pictured riding an hour on)... This was like a yahct! It was gorgeous, complete with a gift store and dinning area! So much fun! :)

on the back of the ferry

Once in Cuenta, we drove on another bus to the customs check point, got our passports stamped, and drove another 25 or so minutes to our hotel. At this point it was nearly 11 pm Spanish time (9pm Moroccan time).

After getting our room keys we went to dinner in the hotel. For dinner we had this pureed vegetable soup, lemon chicken, and flan for dessert. It was all  super different tasting and I wasn't a huge fan of any of it. None-the-less, Katy and I ate it like champs! Our senoras would have been so proud!! :)

with our Africa passport stamps!!!

After dinner Katy and I were anxious to check out or rooms.. Let's just start off by saying 4 star Moroccan hotels DO NOT equal 4 star American Hotels. Not that I was expecting a palace, but the place was dirty and sketchy. I totally wore my flippy floppies in the shower!!! We brushed our teeth with bottled water and crashed! :)

best hotel in the world.. NOT!

yup.

Thursday, September 30th

scared of the airplanes

Today in class there were a bunch of airplanes flying outside our window. At first we are kinda freaking out (because we just received an email the day before about heightened terrorist alert in Europe from the US embassy), but second teacher explained that there is a festival in a couple of weeks and during the festival there is an air show, so the planes were practicing for it. Acceptable.

After class Katy and I went to the train station to buy tickets for our Africa trip. Long story short, the last train on Sunday night leaves before our tour get´s back to Sevilla, therefore we have to take a bus back to Madrid... leaving at midnight, getting in at 6 am!!! Should be a *blast* haha! :)

last tinto pic with Antonia :(

After our train station trip, Katy, Antonia, and I went out for a snack at 100 Montanditos because it was Antonia´s last weekend in Madrid (and Katy and I were leaving in the morning). Naturally we had tinto de verano and hamburgers, our traditional meal! :) I´m going to miss Antonia so much!! She was so much fun and I loved talking to her only in Spanish!! :-\

Katy, Antonia, & I in Sol

After our snack, I went home to meet up with my intercambio (my senora´s brother). We walked around the neighborhood and ended up going out for a coke. He taught me a lot of colloquial phrases like ¨cara dura¨ which doesn´t have an exact translation in English, but it basically means someone who is very selfish and just does whatever is best for them. Instead of saying ¨cara dura¨you can also just smack your face, which I thought was hilarious! :)

me and my intercambio

After getting back to my house, Katy and I skyped and packed for our trip! What the heck do you wear in Africa?? hahaha.. oh to be a girl.. :)

In the middle of packing, my senora called me to dinner.. During dinner my abuela announced that yesterday was my one month anniversary living in their house. Being silly, I asked when my party was going to be. My sister Teresa responded saying that they were throwing me one on Sunday, but too bad I was going to miss it in Africa.. One thing led to another and we ended up having a MASSIVE pillow fight throughout the apartment, which ended in the two of us literally rolling on the floor laughing in her bedroom. Thank goodness we didn't break anything (although the poor dancing girl from Holland came close!!)