I recently woke up in my own bed in Paris after not sleeping very well because I couldn't lie on my right side because of my huge, riding-in-a-jeep-driven-by-a-crazy-Moroccan-guy-through-the-Sahara bruise and I couldn't lie on my left side because of my Barceloneta sunburn. This combination pretty much sums up the last two weeks of vacation. During almost two months of no blogging, I have been to Segovia, Sevilla, and Barcelona (again!) in Spain and many cities in Morocco (again!).
I'm just finishing my spring break, but during American spring break, my friend Matt from home came to visit! We went to Segovia, a small city really close to Madrid, so he could speak Spanish and see a bunch of people from his school at home who were studying there. It's an adorable place where everyone is really friendly, speaks Spanish, and doesn't switch to English when they know you're American like in Paris! It has mountains, a castle, and an aqueduct that you can see from almost anywhere in the city! We had tapas and stayed at a hotel that had just opened and got the whole tour--in Spanish! I think this was the first time I noticed how similar French and Spanish really are. I can usually understand most of what people are saying in Spanish, but I can't answer them--anything I try to say comes out in French! Each time I've gone to Spain, it has taken me a few days to stop saying merci, so it comes out as m-gracias! I guess those five or six years of Spanish when I was little didn't stick. After getting from Segovia back to Madrid to catch our flight back to Paris, Matt and I saw on the departure screens that our flight was leaving an hour earlier than we thought and we had half an hour to run through the metro station, into the airport, through security, and all the way to the gate. We were the last people on the plane before the security guy, and we made it back to Paris in time for Matt to make his flight back to Minnesota the next morning.
About a month later, during my spring break, I went to Sevilla, Spain, on the way to Morocco! I loved Morocco so much the first time I went in the fall with ISA that I had to go back! I was lucky to have my friend Liz from home studying in Barcelona with ISA and going on the trip too. I met her and a few other people in her group in Sevilla so we could leave from there with all of the ISA Spain people to go to Africa! We arrived during Semana Santa, the week before Easter. We saw a very solemn parade at night with candles, a huge float with a crucifix on it, and lots of people with the traditional, Klu Klux Klan-like-looking hats and robes. Then it was time to get up at 5 in the morning and find the bus that would take us about 3 hours south to the Strait of Gibraltar and then on about 40 hours of Morocco's roads during the next 6 days.
All together, there were about 60 of us going to Morocco, and I was the only one studying in France. I met people studying Spanish in Barcelona, Sevilla, Madrid, Bilbao, Salamanca, and Valencia, to name a few places. After the first bus ride, we got our passports checked and, along with the two buses, boarded a ferry that would take us across the Strait of Gibraltar. On the hour-long voyage, I couldn't see land except the Rock of Gibraltar, which is just a really big rock. I couldn't even spot any of the famous monkeys. I took pictures on the way back but was too scared on the way there because no pictures are allowed at the border and the border police will take your camera or make you delete your pictures right then and there.
Then we got back on the bus and went to Fes where we stayed for two nights and visited the ancient medina again like the first time I was in Morocco. We visited the spice shop, the carpet shop, the tannery, and the same restaurant for lunch. I almost got run over by a few donkeys, and I got asked, "You with Obama?" a lot. We had more of the amazing mint tea that I need to learn how to make when I get home! That night, we went to another traditional folk show like the first time too. This time, I was not allowed to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. I was picked randomly out of the audience with a few other people and taken upstairs to a room where Moroccan ladies dressed me up in a traditional robe complete with a headpiece that looked like the top of a nun's habit and must have weighed twenty pounds! Then they took me back downstairs to the tables full of people watching and put me in a seat that they lifted up above their heads and spun around a few times. I also might have gotten married. No one knows.
The next day, we went to the desert! We left the bus and got into the jeeps driven by the Moroccan guys again. If you think driving across the road-less, sign-less desert is hard, try texting while driving like our driver! Who knew they even got cell phone service out there? The ride was just as bumpy and unpredictable, and this time I got a huge bruise on my shoulder when I slammed into the side of the jeep. Worth it. The first night in the desert, everyone slept in the tents. It was cloudy and we couldn't see any stars at night, but it was still my favorite part of the trip. We got up early to see the sunrise, which was amazing again. Then we climbed the dunes and rode camels all day. The second night, it was really (and I mean really!) windy. If you leaned into the wind, it could almost hold you up. We were experiencing a Moroccan sandstorm! I think it would have been cool to sleep in the little tents, but almost everyone else decided to drag their mattresses and blankets into the big tent, which was less likely to blow over I guess. It was like the world's biggest sleepover! It also kind of looked like we were in a refugee camp, but it was fun!
The next morning, it was already time to leave the Sahara behind and drive to Erfoud and then to Meknes. We stopped to have a picnic lunch and met a boy riding a donkey. We tried to talk to him, but he didn't answer when we spoke to him in Spanish, French, Arabic, or English. We gave him some food and a bag of clothing--our good deed for the day! Then we got back on the bus and back on the ferry and back on the bus again to drive to Sevilla and say goodbye to all of our new friends from all over Spain. Liz and I stayed at a gorgeous hostel that had just opened a week before so I took lots of hostel-y pictures and got made fun of as usual. We only stayed there for a few hours to sleep because we had to get up early the next morning to fly back to Barcelona, Liz's home and my vacation for the next week.
It was my second time in Barcelona because I loved it so much the first time. I went back to my favorite places like Parc Guell and the beach at Barceloneta where I got sunburned but only on one shoulder. I was there for a holiday called St. George's Day, which is kind of like Valentine's Day only guys give girls roses and girls give guys books...to make them smarter I guess. I stayed at a residencia (I was a resident of Barcelona!) where they only spoke Spanish, so thank goodness Liz came with me to translate! Then just as I was getting used to living in Barcelona and saying gracias instead of merci, among other language faux pas, it was time to go back to Paris, go to Disneyland Paris at the end of my break, and get ready for my mom's second visit of the year!
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