My lack of computer has given me an excuse to put off writing about a place that is still indescrible for me. Just so different in every way. I started my trip to Morocco on the bathroom floor of a ferry. Apparently our Captain decided that driving through a hurricane was a great idea, and it took all of 12 seconds for me to realize that it was going to be a long trip. Within the first 5 minutes half of the people on board were puking, and I was soon to follow. The trip from Tarifa, in the southern tip of Spain was suppose to take 45 minutes to get us to Tanjier, Morocco. And although it took only a bit over an hour, it felt like 4. Once to Tanjier we looked around briefly and got on a night train that was taking us to the center of Morocco, to Marrakech.
When we awoke the next day, we were in a different world. After going through hell to try and find a hostel we relaxed and began to explore. As we walked into the market a monkey....yes monkey jumped right up on my shoulder. I smiled happily as I got a picture taken. After that experience I looked to the ground to see a couple cobras only a few feet away from me. Anyone who knows me. knows that snakes are about the most terrifying thing in the world to me, but I put aside my discomfort and watched as Kyle attempted to charm one himself. The pictures we got from this were amazing.
Quickly, the food was so delicious. The mint tea was amazing, as were the mushroom omlettes that I got everyday. Nothing beat the freshley squeeze orange juice that I drank about 46 times a day while I was there. It is simply the most delicious thing I've ever tasted.
We continued to explore the city for the rest of the day on Thursday, but we looked for something exciting to do on Friday, the muslim holy day, when most of the city would be shut down. Our hostel suggested going into the mountains. This was the best decision of our trip to Morocco, and probably the most amazing day of my trip. The sights I saw were so beautiful. I was in awe for my entire climb into the mountains, and the tiny berbur tribe that invited us into their homes, the camel ride, and the free meal made the entire day memorable. I wish I could say more, but we all know that I've never been too good with words, so I leave my pictures to do the explaining.
The next day, Saturday was shopping day. I was told that the Market was the largest in the world, filled with alley ways and tiny shops there is something to buy for everyone. With the exchange rate at 10:1, I was ready to make some deals. We spent the entire morning shopping, and it was a ton of fun, I got a few good little keepsakes but spent more time taking in the sights and trying to watch these people rip other people off. Afternoon I went up to the roof of the hostel and relaxed. It was amazing. I fell asleep in a lawnchair and was in heaven. Just me, my iPod, the sun, and 75 degree beautiful Moroccan weather.
Unfortunately that was the end of my trip to Morocco as that night we packed up and got ready for our 730 am flight back to London on Sunday morning. I had never taken a spring break trip before, and its going to be pretty tough to compete with this one....but I'm certainly going to try. I'm thinking Thailand next year, but we'll see how that works out.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Do You Hear the People Sing...
It has been a very busy few days for me here. And even know I don't have much time for an update, but I figure quick I'd try and wrap up the last week or so. I promise to you (and myself) that I will get to my Morocco trip soon. Anyway, classes have been really picking up, we've had a lot more assignments, papers, and projects the past few days than ever before, which sucks in itself, and it really doesn't help that I don't own a computer right now either. Other than that though, I have definitely been enjoying my time back in London. Last Thursday i went and saw Les Miserables. I really can't think of a more famous play and although it wasn't my favorite I've seen, I'm definitely so happy that I went. The production was great and the story was amazing. Last week I also went and saw a play entitled How It Ended. It was performed in a theater about the size of the living room back home. And that is no exaggeration. My class was at least half the audience and the play was performed about a foot in front of my face. And although it was short, it was just such a cool experience. This past Friday we went to the park and got challenged to a soccer game by a bunch of British boys. Admitting defeat before we began we agreed to get our ass kicked by them. Funny thing though, as we started to play, we started to win..by a lot. In fact we dominated them. Sure we got tired and the score ended up being kinda close but we won handily. Another funny thing, I am an old old out of shape man. Not only did I have to play goalie at the end of the game, I spent the rest of the weekend in bed because my entire body ached from the physical exercise.
Luckily I finally was able to move again as Sophie and Carolyn got here. I was SO excited to see them. The past few days have been great. I really enjoy playing tour guide to my new home and showing them around the city. Tonight I took them to see Avenue Q. For me it was just as good the 2nd time around, and they enjoyed it so that worked out great. Right now I'm just procrastinating from homework, and getting ready for the big St. Patty's Day celebration tomorrow.
Luckily I finally was able to move again as Sophie and Carolyn got here. I was SO excited to see them. The past few days have been great. I really enjoy playing tour guide to my new home and showing them around the city. Tonight I took them to see Avenue Q. For me it was just as good the 2nd time around, and they enjoyed it so that worked out great. Right now I'm just procrastinating from homework, and getting ready for the big St. Patty's Day celebration tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Spring Break in Spain
I'm sitting here doing my laundry right now and I'm lucky enough to have a computer to use so I figure that now is as good of time as any to start my spring break story.
It seems like forever ago now, but On that first friday we got up and went to the airport to get on our flight to Barcelona, Spain. As we were driving there we still weren't convinced that this airplane was going to be there. We were flying RyanAir which is a discount travel service. We booked our flight and it came to $19. That's right $19 to fly to Spain. We get to the airport and sure enough, RyanAir does actually exist and we were scheduled to leave at 3. As we waited in the lobby for our plane I decide to head over to the airport casino with the 2GBP that I had left in my pocket. Since I couldn't use them at all I put them in a machine and just like that was up 13GBP. I cashed out with £10.
As we waited for our flight gate to be released we were joking about how people supposedly don't like Americans over here. An older Irish woman who was sitting next to us chimed in to simply say, "you think it's tough being an American, try growing up here Irish." Since we are all taking a history class on the topic we knew she was referring to the troubles between Ireland and Great Britain. It is a topic that I can't even begin to explain but any history channel buff knows a bit about The fight for Irish independence, the IRA terrorist organization and fighting between the Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. Everyone assumed that peace had been finally brokered 10 years ago between the two sides...that was until last Saturday night. While I was in Morocco still, two men stormed a English military base in Northern Ireland and murdered 2 British soldiers. A group of the IRA claimed responsibility. In class today our professor took the whole 3 hour period explaining the significance, and you could see and hear in his voice that he was worried about what may happen. The IRA bombed London for 24 years, and he lived through it so he was worried about what this may start. After that lecture we get home to see on the news that a bomb plot was broken up as someone from Ireland was trying to smuggle a bomb into Northern Ireland. I promise everyone that I'm safe, but it's been a strange couple days over here in that regard. Anyway back to spring break...
The flight to Barcelona went very smoothly. We landed and after searching for our hostel for a while we got all situated and I set out to find the other half of the group that was in Barcelona. I met up with them and we wondered the city for a while taking in a couple sites. The girls asked me to switch hostels and move in with them because there hostel was a bit sketchy. Since I was going to be traveling with them after Barcelona that made sense, and after all the searching moved hostels again. Just to throw some names out there for you guys. I spent my days in Spain traveling with Suzanne, Kelly, and Molly. We definitely had a lot of fun together. At the end of the night we walked down to the beach and I instantly fell in love. I decided that I'm a beach person. The waves and the sand were just awesome. As you'll soon see I spent a lot of time there. The next day we did some more touristy things. Went to the markets and then went to view the Sagrada Familia. A church that was designed by the architect Gaudi. I'm not even going to begin to try and describe this thing to you. My pictures will have to explain for me because this thing was just over the top amazing. After this I went back down to the beach in the afternoon, I convinced Suzanne to come keep my company and it was awesome. It was cloudy but I couldn't care less.
The next day was by far the best day in Barcelona, we went to the Gaudi Park and it was just beautiful. The architecture and gardens and music and mosaics were all just so amazing. I would love to show you pictures but in probably the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life...I left it at home. We then took a ride up to the top of Barcelona, a place that overlooked the entire city and visited the castle in Barcelona and then went to view the Olympic Stadium for when the Olympics were there in I believe 1992 or 1988. At night again I went back to the beach, this time I convinced Kelly to come along and we relaxed and listened to the waves. The next morning we got up and headed for Madrid.
Madrid was very different than Barcelona. We spent our two days there taking in all the sites. We spent a lot less time in Madrid but two very exciting things happened while there. On the first night the three girls were all exhausted so I grabbed my camera and started wandering the city at night. I got to take some pretty cool pictures when I stumbled upon the castle where the King and Queen of Spain live. This is when things got kinda cool. As I'm walking two police officers with what look like AK-47's jump out and scream at me to stop. I freeze as they explain to me (in spanish which I'm not very good at) that I can't go back here. I then notice a small crowd gathering around the corner I get over there and wait. Eventually I hear someone in the crowd speaking English, I run over and ask what is going on. They explain that the King of Spain just got done with dinner with the President of Russia and they will be coming out soon. I waited with the crowd and snapped some pictures as they exited the castle. I took video of the motorcades as they left and snapped some very blurry pictures of the King and the President. Talk about right place right time. The second thing that made Madrid awesome was getting to meet up with my friend Miguel. Miguel is from Madrid and studied abroad at Madison last year. As luck would have it he lived right next door to me. We became friends over the year but when he left back for Spain I was pretty sure I'd never get the chance to see him again. But, sure enough, a year later we are sitting in a bar in Madrid, talking about all the fun times we had back in the States over a mug of some horrible tasting Spanish beer. I felt bad for everyone who had to listen to us talk on and on, but we agreed to make a thing of this and at least every couple years will get back together for a bit and chat.
Overall the food in Spain was just amazing. They serve tapas there, which are basically bite sized foods. You order like 7 or 8 of them and you get to try so many different foods. I managed to have cod, potatoes, lamb, chicken, ham, tuna, and steak all in one meal. And it only cost me about $12. They also have Sangria in Spain. I drank it with dinner all week there, and had it back in the states when Miguel and the guys made it for us to try. I still have no idea what is in it, but it is just delicious. I know for sure there is Red Wine, and about 35 pounds of sugar, but have no idea on the other ingredients.
Spain was a blast. The beaches, the food, the people, the sites, Gaudi, all of it was just so cool. There is so much more to tell but the pictures will have to do that (if i ever get a computer).
That next morning we woke up and I headed to Tarifa to catch a ferry to Morocco. I'll have to save that for my next post though because my laundry is done and I'm exhausted. I'll just say though that I'm going to have to do a lot more traveling if I ever want to see something as naturally beautiful as Morocco.
It seems like forever ago now, but On that first friday we got up and went to the airport to get on our flight to Barcelona, Spain. As we were driving there we still weren't convinced that this airplane was going to be there. We were flying RyanAir which is a discount travel service. We booked our flight and it came to $19. That's right $19 to fly to Spain. We get to the airport and sure enough, RyanAir does actually exist and we were scheduled to leave at 3. As we waited in the lobby for our plane I decide to head over to the airport casino with the 2GBP that I had left in my pocket. Since I couldn't use them at all I put them in a machine and just like that was up 13GBP. I cashed out with £10.
As we waited for our flight gate to be released we were joking about how people supposedly don't like Americans over here. An older Irish woman who was sitting next to us chimed in to simply say, "you think it's tough being an American, try growing up here Irish." Since we are all taking a history class on the topic we knew she was referring to the troubles between Ireland and Great Britain. It is a topic that I can't even begin to explain but any history channel buff knows a bit about The fight for Irish independence, the IRA terrorist organization and fighting between the Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. Everyone assumed that peace had been finally brokered 10 years ago between the two sides...that was until last Saturday night. While I was in Morocco still, two men stormed a English military base in Northern Ireland and murdered 2 British soldiers. A group of the IRA claimed responsibility. In class today our professor took the whole 3 hour period explaining the significance, and you could see and hear in his voice that he was worried about what may happen. The IRA bombed London for 24 years, and he lived through it so he was worried about what this may start. After that lecture we get home to see on the news that a bomb plot was broken up as someone from Ireland was trying to smuggle a bomb into Northern Ireland. I promise everyone that I'm safe, but it's been a strange couple days over here in that regard. Anyway back to spring break...
The flight to Barcelona went very smoothly. We landed and after searching for our hostel for a while we got all situated and I set out to find the other half of the group that was in Barcelona. I met up with them and we wondered the city for a while taking in a couple sites. The girls asked me to switch hostels and move in with them because there hostel was a bit sketchy. Since I was going to be traveling with them after Barcelona that made sense, and after all the searching moved hostels again. Just to throw some names out there for you guys. I spent my days in Spain traveling with Suzanne, Kelly, and Molly. We definitely had a lot of fun together. At the end of the night we walked down to the beach and I instantly fell in love. I decided that I'm a beach person. The waves and the sand were just awesome. As you'll soon see I spent a lot of time there. The next day we did some more touristy things. Went to the markets and then went to view the Sagrada Familia. A church that was designed by the architect Gaudi. I'm not even going to begin to try and describe this thing to you. My pictures will have to explain for me because this thing was just over the top amazing. After this I went back down to the beach in the afternoon, I convinced Suzanne to come keep my company and it was awesome. It was cloudy but I couldn't care less.
The next day was by far the best day in Barcelona, we went to the Gaudi Park and it was just beautiful. The architecture and gardens and music and mosaics were all just so amazing. I would love to show you pictures but in probably the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life...I left it at home. We then took a ride up to the top of Barcelona, a place that overlooked the entire city and visited the castle in Barcelona and then went to view the Olympic Stadium for when the Olympics were there in I believe 1992 or 1988. At night again I went back to the beach, this time I convinced Kelly to come along and we relaxed and listened to the waves. The next morning we got up and headed for Madrid.
Madrid was very different than Barcelona. We spent our two days there taking in all the sites. We spent a lot less time in Madrid but two very exciting things happened while there. On the first night the three girls were all exhausted so I grabbed my camera and started wandering the city at night. I got to take some pretty cool pictures when I stumbled upon the castle where the King and Queen of Spain live. This is when things got kinda cool. As I'm walking two police officers with what look like AK-47's jump out and scream at me to stop. I freeze as they explain to me (in spanish which I'm not very good at) that I can't go back here. I then notice a small crowd gathering around the corner I get over there and wait. Eventually I hear someone in the crowd speaking English, I run over and ask what is going on. They explain that the King of Spain just got done with dinner with the President of Russia and they will be coming out soon. I waited with the crowd and snapped some pictures as they exited the castle. I took video of the motorcades as they left and snapped some very blurry pictures of the King and the President. Talk about right place right time. The second thing that made Madrid awesome was getting to meet up with my friend Miguel. Miguel is from Madrid and studied abroad at Madison last year. As luck would have it he lived right next door to me. We became friends over the year but when he left back for Spain I was pretty sure I'd never get the chance to see him again. But, sure enough, a year later we are sitting in a bar in Madrid, talking about all the fun times we had back in the States over a mug of some horrible tasting Spanish beer. I felt bad for everyone who had to listen to us talk on and on, but we agreed to make a thing of this and at least every couple years will get back together for a bit and chat.
Overall the food in Spain was just amazing. They serve tapas there, which are basically bite sized foods. You order like 7 or 8 of them and you get to try so many different foods. I managed to have cod, potatoes, lamb, chicken, ham, tuna, and steak all in one meal. And it only cost me about $12. They also have Sangria in Spain. I drank it with dinner all week there, and had it back in the states when Miguel and the guys made it for us to try. I still have no idea what is in it, but it is just delicious. I know for sure there is Red Wine, and about 35 pounds of sugar, but have no idea on the other ingredients.
Spain was a blast. The beaches, the food, the people, the sites, Gaudi, all of it was just so cool. There is so much more to tell but the pictures will have to do that (if i ever get a computer).
That next morning we woke up and I headed to Tarifa to catch a ferry to Morocco. I'll have to save that for my next post though because my laundry is done and I'm exhausted. I'll just say though that I'm going to have to do a lot more traveling if I ever want to see something as naturally beautiful as Morocco.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
I'm Home...but Computerless
Hey everyone, I'm back from spring break now, and I had the time of my life. I was able to see and do things that I never thought I would ever get to do. I would love to tell you all about them right now, but as you may have heard, my computer decided to go and die on me. So rather than steal a friends computer for a couple of hours to write everything down on here right now, I'm just going to wait for a bit and write about all of it when I buy my new computer. It will probably be a few days still but not a whole lot I can do about it right now. All is going well over here and I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things in terms of classes. Talk to you all soon.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Just Checking In
Hey everyone, I'm on spring break right now in Morocco. It has been just amazing. I don't have time to talk about it all right now, but coming to Africa has without a doubt been the most amazing experience of my life.
I promised Mom and Dad that I would check in as soon as I got here but I can't get a phone to work, and even if I did I'd imagine that it would cost about $50 to connect a call. I'll be here until Sunday and will talk to all of you soon. So don't worry, I promise I'm alive and safe.
I promised Mom and Dad that I would check in as soon as I got here but I can't get a phone to work, and even if I did I'd imagine that it would cost about $50 to connect a call. I'll be here until Sunday and will talk to all of you soon. So don't worry, I promise I'm alive and safe.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Spring Break Countdown: Morocco!
Just wanted to take one last chance to rub it in to everyone back home that I'll be in Africa in a few days. I know I'm a jerk but I can't help it. I promise to take lots of pictures of the Atlas Mountains out in the desert and be sure to take some great shots when I visit the coast and the Atlantic Ocean. The city I'm staying in is called Marrakech. It is just a beautiful city that boasts the worlds largest outdoor evening market. The center square in the city is very Europeanized (from my understanding) but after sundown the true cultural differences between Europe and Africa come out. Dancers and snake charmers line the streets as music plays. There are some beautiful mosques that I plan to visit as well. It will definitely be a remarkable trip, and I still cannot believe that I'm actually getting to do this.
On a side note with Ash Wednesday today and the start of lent I decided to give up fast food for lent. After i stuffed myself last night for fat tuesday I definitely need to take a break from the McDonalds and Burger King anyway. The mass today was just excruciating. The ash ceremony lasted forever because there was only one person distributing ashes to a church that was packed from front to back. I definitely miss American church where they move quickly, talk with rythem, and the priests actually announciate their words.
ONE MORE DAY!!!!
On a side note with Ash Wednesday today and the start of lent I decided to give up fast food for lent. After i stuffed myself last night for fat tuesday I definitely need to take a break from the McDonalds and Burger King anyway. The mass today was just excruciating. The ash ceremony lasted forever because there was only one person distributing ashes to a church that was packed from front to back. I definitely miss American church where they move quickly, talk with rythem, and the priests actually announciate their words.
ONE MORE DAY!!!!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Spring Break Countdown: Spain
So I leave for Spain in 2 days now, and yes I'm definitely excited. Spain is going to be a great time. We are starting in Barcelona for a couple of days of relaxing on the beach, sitting in the sun and going out to some world famous dance clubs. On Monday I make the trek over to Madrid where I will tour Madrid for a day, and then head down to Toledo. In Toledo I will see the former head of the Holy Roman Empire. As well as a street where a church, mosque, and synagogue all live and survive peacefully side by side. It will be a great day. From there, Wednesday is my lost day to travel as I leave Madrid and head to the South as I get ready for Morocco.
Countdown: 2 Days!!!
Countdown: 2 Days!!!
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