SPRING BREAK: Part 1

Shukran (Arabic for thank you) to all my adoring fans who have patiently waited for me to post about my spring break adventures! To start from where I left off, Billy Elliot was amazing! My heart was bursting with joy as I left the theatre and I couldn’t wrap my head around all of the talent I just witnessed. I suggest that you all see it if you are ever in London. The main kid was so adorable. Any who, the rest of that week seemed to just fly by as I was preparing for my big trip. Hannah and I needed to catch a bus at 1:30 a.m. on Thursday morning to arrive at the airport early enough for our flight to Morocco. We got on the bus and made it to the airport in plenty enough time. Once they finally called our gate number (we flew Ryan Air which has really strange boarding procedures) we meandered through the crazy hallways of Luton Airport to arrive at terminal 1, only to be shut down. Because we are non-Europeans we in fact, needed to go to the check in desk to receive a visa stamp on our boarding pass (something that I regrettably overlooked while printing the information out). Because we missed this major step we could not board the plane. Needless to say Hannah and I were both freaking out. Thankfully a very nice woman escorted us to the entrance of the airport (yet again) and told us if we ran through everything again maybe we could make it. It was something straight out of the amazing race ahaha. We were booking it through the airport only for me to beep at the security gate so I needed extra padding down, and then they decided to do a random liquid test on my liquids. ahhh it is funny now but at the time I was thinking “shit, how am I going to pay for another flight, this is bullocks, etc…") So we continued to run through the airport all the way to our terminal, just in time to be the last 2 people on the flight. Oh, but it doesn’t end there. On the flight we randomly happened to sit next to this middle aged Moroccan man who was way too touchy. Most uncomfortable flight ever, he was incredibly inappropriate and a sad reflection on Morocco. BUT I was not going to let any of this weigh me down. Once we finally arrived in Morocco the sun was shining and the weather was hot. We took a taxi to our hostel and naturally passed out after a long journey. Our hostel, which was extremely beautiful and authentic looking, was in the middle of the old part of Morocco (the Medina) and you had to walk through the crazy small alleys full of shops to get there (The Souks). Once we woke up from our slumber we decided to eat at this café that overlooks the main square in Marrakech. The views alone were beautiful as we watched the sunset, and the square came alive. During the day, the square is filled with vendors; selling fresh squeezed orange juice (omg delish!) selling henna tattoos, playing music, charming snakes, etc… At night the square completely changes and these huge white tents come up, where they cook food (cheap dinner) right in front of you, and people try to get you to pay to hold their monkeys (no joke), games are played and music and dancing can be found everywhere. It was so crazy and I felt like I needed a camera from national geographic walking around and following me, filming my adventure. After dinner, our lack of sleep caught up with us and we decided to get to bed early. My bed happened to have a few bed bugs (nasty little things that bite and make you itch) so I had a rough time sleeping. The next morning we decided to go to this park that was supposed to be a big tourist attraction. It turned out to be an old building, with a park that you couldn’t really walk through, and a pool of muddy water. Haha- not so much what we pictured. Although the walk to and from this Park was quite long, we got some amazing views of the city. It is really neat because you are in this desert town with all red buildings, and there is this beautiful view of the Atlas Mountains covered in snow in the distance. It was breathtaking and I got a bunch of pictures, but I don’t think that any of them really do it justice. After that long walk in the blistering sun (it was in the 80s and we had to wear long sleeves and pants out of respect for the conservative nature of the country) we again were tired, well more so Hannah was. I just sat and read this book we had assigned for homework. When we woke up, we met this girl Liz who is American and staying at our hostel who was traveling alone on a mini vacation. She just recently graduated and is currently an au pair in Paris. We all decided to get dinner in the main square at those white tents I mentioned before. It was really fun and quite an experience. Afterwards, we ate gelato and took an hour-long horse and carriage ride through Marrakech (Liz’s suggestion). It was absolutely wonderful, and the city looks so much different at night. The driver only spoke French so Liz translated; it was just a really cool experience. When that was over we walked around the square a little bit (you can’t stay and watch something too long, or people will hassle you for money- and they are relentless) then we went to bed. Again I had bugs, so I got switched to a nice clean bed! In the morning we woke up bright and early to take a 3-hour bus ride to the beach town of Essaouria. We were so excited to go to the beach, only to be greeted by rain! haha. This city was so different and more laid back then Marrakech. I’m glad I went so I could see more sides of Morocco. While in Essaouira we just walked around and took some pictures. Like the town, we had a chill time just relaxing. We left the next morning, headed back to Marrakech to see some more sights. We toured the Bahia Palace, again very underwhelming- there was no information anywhere, but I could definitely admire the architecture. It took us forever to find the place because of the maze the Moroccan’s call the Souks. Once we finished walking around we met up with some of the boys in our program who happened to be visiting morocco as well. We ate at the white tents again, and passed on our great knowledge of the city (haha) to them. It was so nice to see them and have a familiar face around; I could immediately notice less harassment when we were walking with men as opposed to just Hannah and me. After dinner we again just strolled around the main square, attempting to take in all of the culture. We showed them our hostel (which had an amazing rooftop terrace that overlooked the city) and headed to bed. This time we switched to a bigger room, that lucky for me had no bugs hehe. The next morning we woke up and had some brekky (the hostel has a really good free breakfast of these crepe things, fresh squeezed orange juice, and bread- YUM) and met up with Liz again to see some more sights. We decided to go to these old tombs, which were supposedly a top tourist thing to see. Yet again, it was underwhelming and just looked like a bunch of tiles that were placed on the ground. There were no markers but apparently sultans and the like were buried there. After that adventure, we went to the boys’ 5 star resort that was a little bit outside of the city. We just lay out in the sun (ahhhh) and took a refreshing dip in their pool. It was beautiful and relaxing as their pool overlooked the Atlas Mountains. I will never forget that view. Anywaysss, we headed back into the city with them to meet up with some of their friends and head out to dinner. The restaurant we went to was unbelievable. It was very dimly lit and the dinner was pretty good (although by this time in the trip I was getting so sick of constantly eating cous cous). After food was over, some belly dancers came out and entertained us for a bit, it was so fantastically Moroccan. haha. Then a bollywood singer came onto the floor and entertained us some more. while we enjoyed some hookah and good company. It was the perfect last night in Morocco and seemed so authentic to me. After we said our goodbyes, it was off to one final night in our hostel before leaving the next morning for Spain. All in all, my trip was seriously amazing and life changing (cheesy I know). When I first got to Morocco I was so overwhelmed by the poverty. The poor beggar children broke my heart (you couldn’t give them anything without swarms of them coming up to you and hassling you more) there were feral cats everywhere (I wanted to rescue so many) and the people hassled you so much to the point of exhaustion. I knew this world existed and that I would encounter it in Morocco (it is a third world country after all), I just didn’t know how severe it was- and how much that would affect me. After I got over the initial shock of it all, I really enjoyed my time there. It was such a cultural experience and something that I will never forget. I have so much appreciation for what I have, and I feel so blessed that I have the things we normally take for granted like safe water to drink, or indoor plumbing, I don’t know- it was just a hugely eye opening experience and I am really grateful for it. Wow this is long haha. I will spare you all and write about Spain in a different entry, but I hope this gave you a little taste of my culturally eye opening, fantastic, memorable experience in Morocco. (yess I can now say I have been to Africa!) I will try to write more later!!

PEACE AND LOVE