The end.

Hello everyone! I know it's not good that I was late on my very last blog post :( so I apologize. But I'm only late by one day! Yesterday I hung out with Jake most of the day and I was busy trying to arrange all of my souvenirs too, and basically by the time Jake left I was too sleepy. Trust me, it'll be better since I'm doing it today because I had wisdom tooth surgery this morning and who knows what state of mind I'm currently in. It may make it more entertaining.  I feel fine, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see when I reread this post a few days later if I'm actually fine. So yes, I am back in good ol' Grand Rapids and have been since Thursday night. This blog post will cover my last few days in Barcelona and what I've been up to since I got back.

Monday I had my very last class-related activity, being a Spanish final, and then I was officially done with classes for the year and am now a senior in college! How did this happen so quickly?  So I took my final and it actually went quite well, so I was happy about that. All the finals I have gotten grades back for have been acceptable, good enough, especially when dealing with the Spanish grading system. I believe it's a lengthy process to get my grades transferred back to the U and available for me to see, so I'll just have to wait and see how they actually turned out, but I'm not too worried. I mean they won't be stellar, but they should be good, and I had to work a lot harder for them than i usually have to! That's for sure, haha, so I'll be extra proud of them for that reason :). After Spanish, I began my quest of the week, crossing off the few remaining things on my to-do in Barcelona list before it was time to leave. This started with visiting Gaudi's Casa Batllo.  It's literally right outside the metro stop I took everyday to class and I knew there was no way I could leave feeling at peace if I didn't get to tour the inside. Cara and her studio section had their final studio review after Spanish, so not many people were available to come with me and the ones who were didn't feel like paying to get in (losers, they missed out ;)). Granted, it was definitely one of the more expensive ones at 14,55 euro per student, but it was worth it for me. That included an audio guide though, which was nice, although super cheesy at times. It was just crawling with tourists (myself included, I guess), as well as some of the other sights I saw that week, leading me to believe tourist season in Barcelona had officially started. That's okay though, it was a nice little self guided tour with the audio guide and the other people didn't bother me much, except they're in my pictures. Oh well. I wonder how many random people's pictures I'm in. I always think that's funny to think of. Anyways, it was a really neat building, I enjoyed the tour, and they even had a little exhibition at the end of furniture he had designed, which was equally as impressive as his buildings.

After my tour, I didn't really have anything I needed to do, but I didn't want to spend the whole day in my room, seeing as it was a nice day and one of my last, so I just walked down Passeig de Gracia, starting at Casa Batllo and going down to Plaza Catalunya. Psg. de Gracia is known for it's shopping, especially really expensive designer stores I could never afford, so that was fun :). I got some dirty looks from shopkeepers who knew I wasn't going to buy anything, but I wasn't bothered by it. Needless to say, I in fact didn't buy anything, but it was enjoyable, just walking along, stopping in a store every few minutes. I got to Pl. Catalunya and had lunch there at a little Italian coffee shop because I wanted pasta haha. I got tortellini and it was wonderful. After that it was time for me to head back to the apartment so I could register for my classes for next semester at 3 pm Barcelona time. (Highly preferable to the scheduled 8 am Minnesota time.) It was the most unbelievable thing, I got into all the classes I wanted without a single problem! It's going to be a busy semester. I have a semester-long architectural photography workshop (usually workshops are only half a semester), a drawing class, a portfolio design class, a thesis capstone development class, and two housing studies classes for my minor, giving me 18 credits.  After that was all done, I decided to take a nap. I blame all my finals, I think I was still exhausted from the residual stress, even though the tests themselves were done.  After my nap, it still wasn't very late in the day and it was lonely in the apartment because no one else was there, so I decided it was a good opportunity to check another item off my to-do list.

I got back on the metro (also good, because I needed to use up my remaining metro passes; by the time I left I only had two rides left and it expired that day, so it was almost perfect) and headed to the Arc de Triomf, where we had gone the very first night when they took us on that walking tour, and then walked under it to the Ciudadela Park. It's one of the few large green spaces in Barcelona and it really is huge.  I walked around for awhile, saw some cute baby geese in the pond (where you can rent a paddleboat!) and just wandered until it started to get dark. It was a nice way to spend some time and it was still a really nice evening. I got back to the apartment and still no one was there for awhile, but close to dinnertime they started to file in. That night was our last family dinner, so afterwards we got a family picture (minus Juan Jr., we had forgotten to get one before he left for Milan :( ) and Juan Sr. took a video of us saying goodbye with his iPad. We exchanged email addresses and all that and then that night we said goodbye to Helen since she had a really early flight the next morning. It was pretty sad, she had been so kind to us, even with the unexpected turn of events with Juan's accident. She never forgot about us, there was always food on the table, and she even took care of us when we were both sick even though she was still taking care of Juan. Any future host students they have are so lucky to be with that family, I know Cara and I certainly felt that way, and I'll miss them so hopefully if I ever do return to Barcelona, I'll be able to see them again.

Tuesday morning Cara and I got up and decided to make one more visit to Park Guell (also on my list, since we went there like the very first week and vowed to return) in case we had missed anything the first time we went, and really, how often in life do you live within walking distance of a Gaudi masterpiece? We had to take advantage of that one more time. It was even more crowded than Casa Batllo had been, so we were really glad we had seen most of it on our first visit. We just walked around a little in the areas we hadn't spent much time in and visited the gift shop. We weren't there for long, but I felt like it was still worthwhile. After that we headed to CIEE for a "Farewell Workshop" where they tried to prepare us to go home and gave us pizza and we did some cheesy little activities, but it was nice to see all my classmates since it had just recently hit me that I won't be seeing them every day anymore. We were apparently one of the bigger groups they've had, but there were still only 20-something of us, and as cheesy and cliche as it sounds, we really did become like a little family. I feel like that's just bound to happen when you go through an experience like that with other people; they understand and so you bond with them. After the workshop, a few of us were still hungry so we went and got tapas at a really great place that Cara and some of the others had been to before, but it was my first time.  We got to sit outside, on the "terazza" so it was fun. That was one thing I hadn't put on my list, but I hadn't done it until then and then I was happy that I had gotten a chance to because almost every restaurant has one and they're always packed with locals. After my half of the group finished our tapas, we parted ways with the other half for a trip to our favorite candy store, Happy Pills. They're so fun! I decided I should franchise one in the states and put it right on a college campus.  I'm not sure I've described them before: they're these little, all white shops, with the candy arranged in rainbow order on one wall, and there are different containers you can choose to fill, or you can get a bag and do it by weight, and you just put on a glove and choose all the candy you want! It's a great time.

I ate my candy on the way back to the apartment, where Cara and I then began the packing process, which is a lengthy one. I had more than enough space, but I was worried about weight. I brought my parents home two bottles of wine as a gift from our wine-tasting trip, and I really hope they like them, because they caused most of the problem, haha. After I gave my parents their gift, my dad asked if it was even legal for me to transport them since I'm legal in Spain, but not here. I have no idea. But I made it, so whatever haha. And they didn't break, either, which I was super worried about the entire time I was flying. So anyways, I packed the best I could for the moment, and then it was time to leave for our farewell party. It was pretty fun, we got food and got to watch a slide show of both our pictures and pictures that the staff had been sneakily taking all semester (including lots of sleeping shots, I was in one of them too).  Our professors were there, so we got to say goodbye to them as well as to all our classmates. It was really nostalgic and sad watching the slide show and there were some tears as we all said goodbye to each other. I really hope we can somehow all get together in the future, even though we're from all over the States. I'd be willing to travel for a reunion, but really the majority of us are from Minnesota, so everyone else should come here ;).

Wednesday was another pretty chill day, which I was glad about. I didn't want my last few days to be hectic. We got up and went back to CIEE just quickly, so I could donate my Spanish phone, hair dryer, and hair straightener and leave my unused architecture supplies in the studio for future students. Afterwards Cara and I went to Bar Mandri, up close to where we live, for patatas bravas, which are a typical tapa, but for which Bar Mandri is particularly known. Patatas bravas are just fried potato cubes with a allioli (spelling?) and some kind of spicy ketchup sauce, so really the only difference between places is the sauce, but Bar Mandri's really was the best I had while I was in Spain. After that, Cara went to have coffee with a friend of Juan's she had met, but I didn't know him well so I decided to go check off the final thing on my list: the Labyrinth park. It was really neat. The park was beautiful and the actual labyrinth part was fun. I felt like I was either in Alice in Wonderland or the Triwizard Tournament in Harry Potter. Both things that made my little nerd brain quite happy :). After I was done at the park, I wandered around a little near our home metro stop and bought myself a picture frame so that I can print out our host family photo and put it there :). I had lots of souvenirs from lots of places, but it took until the day before I left to get one from Barcelona.  That night we had dinner with just Juan Sr. He ordered pizza and we watched the Barca game, it was a good last night.  Then we finished packing, I weighed my suitcase to be sure, we said goodbye to our host dad and left our keys on the kitchen table, and it was off to bed so we could be up bright and early the next morning to hail a taxi to the airport.

It was so surreal leaving after all that time. We got up and had no trouble getting a taxi, we were interrogated about our bags in the check-in line, but had been warned about this by Cara's parents, who had just left the week before.  Luckily, my bag was under the weight limit. I actually had a few kilos to spare and wanted to ask if I could rearrange some things because my two carry-ons were unbelievably heavy. Anyways, we were pretty early and we knew Juan would actually be flying in from Milan soon, so we waited outside security for him and finally got a picture with our host brother :). We met up with another friend from our program who was on our same flight to Newark and we all went through security. We got some food to try to use up our remaining euros and then went to the gate to wait. I was so happy to be on a real airline again after all my budget traveling. We boarded in sections instead of all at once and it was great.   They fed us lunch almost right away, which was odd seeing as it wasn't lunchtime in either Barcelona or Newark, but it was pretty good. Then I slept for awhile, read for awhile, watched two movies, then they gave us a snack. I read a little more and then the 9 hour flight was done. It was cool because on the plane everyone had their own little tv where you could watch movies and stuff and it was completely free, just like on my long flight on my way to Barcelona. And again they had the flight information option where your screen would show things like where we were on a map as we were flying, the position of the sun on the earth, the ground speed, the outside temperature, and of course the amount of time and miles remaining. I found it quite amusing and really didn't mind the long flight. I stayed entertained.

When we landed in Newark, however, things got stressful. I had 90 minutes until my flight left for Minneapolis. In that amount of time, I: deplaned, went through passport check, got my bag, went through customs, rechecked my bag, took a tram to my terminal, and went back though security. I made it literally as they were calling my boarding group. It's a good thing customs and security went smoothly, or I may not have made it.  Then when I got on the plane, I realized it was the smallest plane ever built and one of my bags didn't even fit in the overheard compartment or under my seat, so I had to take my computer out and put that under the seat instead. Then it fit above so it was all okay. That was a pretty quick flight compared to the first one and I arrived in Minneapolis around 5:30 to chilly, rainy weather. Lovely. I met my parents at the baggage claim and then we went and got dinner at Granite City, which is one of my favorite restaurants :). Then came the drive home, and when I got there I unpacked just enough to hand out gifts before going to bed.

The next morning I got up and unpacked and then at noon I had a phone interview for an internship this summer in Minneapolis making 3D computer models for a company that installs solar panels. It went really well and they offered me the internship :). It's unpaid, but I think it'll be a good experience and I'm happy about it. I also found out that I got the secretary position on the board of AIAS (American Institute of Architecture Students) for next year :). So it was a good start back, even if it was snowing. I got to see Jake that day finally :). That night we went and saw our old high school's Spring musical, Little Shop of Horrors. Emma's boyfriend was the lead role :). It was really good, I thought, and he was just perfect for the part, so that was fun.  Saturday I spent the morning looking into grad schools, which is really weird, and then I went with Jake to his little cousin's birthday party where I was reunited with his entire extended family (somewhat overwhelming). Afterwards I finally got to go see the Hunger Games movie!! I'd been waiting for almost a month and I was so excited. I thought they did a really good job, I loved it. At this point, it was still snowing. Lovely Minnesota weather, as always.  And then yesterday I looked into grad schools some more and watched Frozen Planet until Jake came over.

Technically that's the end of the week, but I suppose it's worth mentioning that then this morning I started the day with wisdom tooth surgery. I was quite nervous, never having been put to sleep before. I didn't look once at the IV because it freaks me out, and it was really weird how fast I was out. The next thing I knew I was awake and they were transferring me to a chair, which was difficult considering how dizzy I was, and there was something large in my mouth preventing me from talking very well (along with the numbness, that didn't help either; turns out it was gauze, who knew?) It was a strange experience to say the least. I got home, had a smoothie, went to sleep, had some pudding, went back to sleep. Rough life. Although it's not like it's comfortable. My face is huge, I look like a chipmunk, and I'm pretty sore. So that's fun. Hopefully I'll feel a little better tomorrow. Either way, it was a good excuse to do nothing and take the time to write my blog. My very last blog. I hope to now include these in a scrapbook somehow. Thanks for coming along for the ride and I hope you enjoyed it :). Adios!

And the goodbyes begin...

Why, hello there! I just took a nap because I'm the laziest person on the planet! It was a great time. I meant for it to only be an hour buuut it was actually an hour and a half. Make no mistake, I will study for my Spanish final. Eventually. Welcome to the second to last blog. Are you sad? I hope so because that means I've done my job ;). If, on the other hand, anyone is overjoyed by the previous statement, you can leave. To be honest, most of this week was not very exciting, but you're welcome to stay and read about it anyways :).

It was the last full-ish (minus Monday) week of classes, and therefore, I had a lot of finals, hence the lack of excitement in my day-to-day activities. Monday, however, was still considered part of the Semana Santa holiday, so I stayed at the beach house again Sunday night, as I may or may not have already mentioned in my previous blog. Juan went home to Barcelona that night, so it was just me and the host parents that morning, but he showed up later. I had planned on just working on studio all day until we went back to Barcelona "early" (because it was the last day of vacation). You see, I've gotten smarter by now and realized that when my host parents said we'd head back "early", it would probably be around 9 pm when we left. However, around noon or 1-ish, there were more people visiting the beach house! I thought it was another family gathering, but this time it was another family who are very close friends with my host family. I had never met them before, so not wanting to be rude, I in fact didn't work much on studio during most of the day. We had appetizers and lunch, as is typical. Helen was obviously prepared, so the visit wasn't a surprise to everyone. Just me. We had lamb again, but this time the ribs, which I found very difficult to eat. (Like physically, I had a hard time getting much meat off of them. I don't like it when my food takes effort.)  After lunch, I sat outside with everyone for awhile and then after they left, I worked on studio until we headed back to Barcelona, which was in fact at just a little past 9. I had guessed well.

Tuesday morning I had to get up early, even though I didn't have class until 4:00, because my Spanish tutor chose 9:30 for our meeting...Oh well. I figured at least that way, it would make me be in studio by about 10:30 and then I could work all day. I got to school a little early and was excited because I had gotten an email over Semana Santa saying I had mail. So I went to the front desk to pick up the package from my mom that I was expecting, with a gift for my host family and a few things for me, and instead got a letter stating that said package was in fact stuck in customs in Madrid. I was quite upset and relatively distracted during my tutoring session. I was told I could go through some lengthy process and pay like 50 euro if I wanted to get it through, but that there was almost  zero chance of me getting it before the program ended and no student had been successful at it yet. So with that relatively discouraging news, we decided to just not respond and they'll therefore send it back to the States in 10 days or so.  I don't really mind about my stuff because the program's almost over and I can get it when I get home, but I am sad that our host family's gift won't get here, because we put a lot of time and thought into determining what to get for them :(. That issue still hasn't been completely resolved and they may go giftless. Quite sad. For the rest of the day, I just worked on studio for my upcoming final review on Friday, then I had class at 4. We had a short lecture and then took a trip to MNAC museum, where we'd gone before for a different class, and pretty much saw the same things, just put into a slightly different context to reflect the subject of the class. After that, I went back to school to collect my things and then headed back to the apartment where I continued to work on studio until bedtime.

Wednesday I had Spanish in the morning and then nothing else all day since one of my classes had finished, until actual studio time, which didn't really change anything since I'd be working in there anyways. I didn't make it to the school to say goodbye to the kids, instead I stayed to work, but Hailey went, so hopefully she let them know we had to head back to the States soon and said goodbye for me. For most of the day I worked on the little model of my building for the review, I had all my computer work done by this point. I avoided talking to my studio professor because I didn't want her to tell me to change anything, haha. She probably wouldn't have at this point, that would just be mean, but I avoided her anyways, just to be safe. I left my model at school that night to force myself to focus on studying for my final on Thursday instead, seeing as I had completely neglected it up to this point.  That's literally all there was of Wednesday, and Thursday was similar.

I got to school pretty early to work on my model and then around noon I went to a cafe for lunch with Cara, Joe, and Kate so we could have a little study party for our final later that day. I went back to studio after that and worked until final time. At 4:30, we had our final. It wasn't too bad, but then again I thought the midterm for this class had gone better than it actually did. So I guess we'll see. After the final, I wanted to print out the my booklet for studio that I would give to my professor and the guest critics to look at while I projected my project on a screen so that literally all I would have to do in the 4-ish hours before the review the next day is finish my model (I was so close to being done!) A few other people from my studio section were trying to print, too, and we had a heck of a time fighting with the printer and now I've somehow become the resident printer expert if the tech. guy has gone home for the day. Of course it's an added challenge because the error messages are in Spanish. We figured it out, though, and I got everything printed, literally as the building was closing.

Friday morning, Juan got up early with us to say goodbye before we left for class.  He has an exam in Milan the day before we leave and he was flying out later that day.  It was sad. It seems strange to think that he originally wasn't even supposed to be here this whole time and we barely would've seen him, but instead he literally couldn't go anywhere for months, so we all ended up seeing each other a lot and he was always there to be a sort of intermediary between us and his parents and I feel like it made the whole situation less awkward. And so began the goodbyes. Friday morning was our last Spanish class, just the final left now. We had like a competition for a box of cookies, and it was better than the average Spanish class, although my team didn't win the cookies. We held our own, though, we did pretty well, and the winning team shared the cookies, so it was all good. After Spanish, I had one final tutoring session before the final and then, as planned, I finished my model with about an hour and a half to spare. So then I ate my lunch, studied for Spanish a little, cleaned out my desk and secretly laughed at my colleagues scrambling and fighting with the printer :). Does this make me a terrible person? Possibly. Do I mind? Nope. I was just very thankful for my planning-ahead skills at that particular moment.

So then it was time, the whole semester's work came down to this, our final studio review. As I mentioned in a very early blog, I'm sure, our section's project was to design a Maggie's Cancer Center, one of which is in fact being built in Barcelona, and one of our guest reviewers was actually one of the architects working on that project. So I was pretty intimidated. Before we started the review, he actually presented his work, which was really neat. They aren't very far along in the project yet, but what he showed us was really interesting. It did put us behind in the very tight schedule my professor had planned, but I think it was worth it, and really it's not a real studio review if it's on time. That just doesn't happen. Ever. Ever. But I digress. I was put second in the lineup, which is actually exactly where I like to be, so I was happy about that. Going first is way too much pressure, but if I have to wait through everyone else's 20 minute reviews before mine, my anxiety pretty much drives me insane. So second is good because it's not first and I only have to sit through one review and then after mine, I can just chill and watch all the others. I'm not the biggest fan of guest critics, but these ones were actually both very good. The thing is, at the U, guest reviewers are often like other grad students who are friends of the teaching assistant and they're often uninformed about the project and make irrelevant comments, but this was pretty much solved by the fact that one of the reviewers was the most relevant person possible to hear our review. The other was good too. She made a few snarky comments throughout the day, but what can you do? Either way, they were both actually professionals, which is pretty cool, despite being super intimidating.

So I suppose you're all dying to know how my review went, right? Well, it went pretty well, I think. Of course, it's always hard to know. My presentation itself, like the part where I talked, was a mess. And I knew it. I should've practiced more but I just got flustered and nervous and forgot to mention a lot of things about my project, but I don't think my professor will hold it against me, because all the things I forgot are things she already knew based on my work throughout the semester. So I maybe could've gotten a more complete critique from the guests if I had presented my work better, but I don't think it'll hurt my project in the end. I think they liked my project overall, though. They said it was "powerful" and "made a statement". And the guy who's working on the actual Maggie's Center said it was a good project! (Take that, Julia Robinson!) The only negative critiques were more about technical things, like some of my drawings didn't read particularly well and things like that. Obviously, those things are important, but they liked my design! It was the first time I had ever designed a building from scratch, and it was "powerful"! I should've gotten it in writing and sent it to Julia. Obviously, there's not a general consensus about my lack of skill as a designer and she's just a mean, bitter old lady. Ha! Success. I was the only one in my group who actually had all the requirements laid out in the syllabus (hopefully my professor took note of this!), and the advanced group all kinda seemed really over it. Hopefully that's not my future. They're actually all in B. Arch programs, which is a 5-year professional degree, and it's actually made me glad I didn't take that path because they all seem pretty burned out and they still have one year to go. By that time, I doubt if they'll even still want to be architects and then their professional degree won't mean much. I'm okay with taking two extra years if I'm still happy with my choice at the end of it. Otherwise, I feel like it's really not worth it. But my future education/career choices is a whole other story, filled with lots of uncertainty, and now is not the time. Our review went until the building closed. We actually had to beg them to let us stay 15 more minutes, because we had one more presentation to do. Needless to say, we didn't have time for any sort of closing remarks (since it was the end of the class for the semester and in a studio you spend so much time on it, it's like a relationship and it's good to have closure when it ends), so we're supposed to all meet my professor for coffee after our Spanish final tomorrow and then she's going to be a guest reviewer in the other section's final review. I'm glad ours was on Friday because I had the my whole last weekend here studio free :). (And so far, Spanish free because of my lack of study ethic.) That night I packed up all my stuff to see how big of a new suitcase I'd need to buy. Luckily, I only need another carry-on for the things I've acquired these few months and won't have to check a second bag, but I'll have to be careful with the weight limit on my checked bag. However, it eased my mind a little just to know that all of my things will fit and it will all work out, somehow.

Saturday, yesterday, I had planned to go shopping for most of the day, get some final gifts and souvenirs (and a new carry-on bag) and whatnot, but our host mom invited us to come to the beach house for lunch, since they're staying there like they do every weekend. So I had to get up and do my shopping early in order to go to the beach house for lunch, gosh what a tough life I lead ;). I failed at the first few stores, because they didn't have what I was looking for, but it ended up being a good time anyways. I took the metro to around where our school is to go to a store there and then I walked down Passeig de Gracia, one of the main streets and a very good one for shopping, to Plaza Catalunya, shopping along the way. Then there were a few stores in and around Pl. Catalunya that I wanted to go to, and then I went full tourist mode and decided to walk down La Rambla. It was entertaining. I stopped into the Boqueria market for a fruit juice and some strawberries for a snack, and it was so crowded you could barely move, so I got my fruit and then walked and ate until around 1 when Cara called so we could meet up to take the train to the beach house.

Helen picked us up at the train station and we drove around checking different markets to see if they were open so she could buy ingredients for lunch. Luckily, we caught one just as it was closing, and then we headed to the beach house and most of the family was already there. By this point, I expected a family gathering, it seems like they must just gather for lunch every Saturday. Lunch was really good, and then we just sat in the living room for awhile because it was actually a little chilly outside, although it hadn't been in Barcelona that morning. As we sat there, the family got into a rather large, heated argument and it was quite awkward. They're not some dysfunctional family, by any means, but there was some sort of drama with their (host dad and his siblings') youngest sibling and their poor mother had to sit and listen to them gang up on her youngest. I think she was quite upset, which was sad because she is literally one of the sweetest little old ladies I've ever met. Instead of listening to the argument, I watched the Spanish news and learned that the king of Spain was in Botswana hunting elephants, where he fell and broke his hip. I kid you not, I could not make this up. And I know my Spanish isn't great, but I swear, this is not a translation mistake.

To escape the argument, Helen eventually took Cara and I for a walk down to the harbor and the beach (it was a very long argument, it had been going on for probably an hour by this point). It was still pretty chilly, so we walked fast, but once we got to the harbor, we were more sheltered from the wind and it was nice. We walked along the harbor and then along the beach, where there were some people sailing and wind-surfing. It was neat :). I'm sad I didn't get a chance to swim in the sea while I was here, but it just didn't quite get warm enough. I thought it would. On the way back, Helen called one of her neighbors, who we had met the first time we visited the beach house, and asked if they'd mind showing us around their house.  Her neighbor is the great-granddaughter of the Spanish painter Santiago Rusinol, who, funnily enough, had just been on our final that Thursday! She and her husband live in an old Spanish home from the 1700s, and I am so glad we got to see it, it was beautiful. Things like that just don't exist in the States. They're the nicest old couple and they showed us around and it was all furnished from like the 1930's; it was such a neat house, and it has a beautiful garden too, with an orange tree and everything. I would live there. After our tour, it looked like rain so we hurried back to the beach house and got there just as all the family was leaving.  We said goodbye since we won't be seeing them again while we're here, and it was a little sad. It seems crazy that we're actually leaving soon. A semester sounded like such a long time and now it seems like it went so quickly. Shortly after the family left, around 7:30, the gardener came to pick up our host dad's mom and drive her back to Barcelona and we went with them. Like I said, she's just the cutest, sweetest little old lady. She doesn't speak much English, but she tries, for us, and she always calls us "guapas", like pretty girls, it's a very common expression in Spain. It started to rain on the way back and I think Cara and I both fell asleep in the car at one point, haha. Finals are exhausting! Last night, I pretty much did nothing and on my last Saturday night in Barcelona, I went to bed at 11. Haha. But that's okay, it was a nice, calm, relaxing Saturday.

Today I got to sleep in and then Cara and I headed into town to see the castellers. I've mentioned them before, when I tried to see them one other time and failed, but we saw them this time! There had been some kind of race/marathon/running event in the city this morning and there were tons of people and also a casteller competition, so we navigated the crowds until we found them. I am so glad we got to see them, it was so cool. They build these giant human towers and then a little kid, literally probably like a 5 year old, if not younger, climbs up and over the top. It was super impressive, they go so high! I don't know how those kids are so brave. What a funny hobby, "Oh, yeah, I build human towers on the weekends. No big deal." We did actually see one tower fall, and it was terrifying. It was almost done, the little kids were almost to the top, and then the entire thing collapsed. Luckily, they have giant bases of tons of people who can catch everyone who falls, and the little ones wear helmets, but still! They fell a long way! It seems super dangerous. They start with just one person wide towers, and then move to two, and so on, the biggest we saw was 5. Afterwards, we walked around a little to find a place for lunch. We found a tapas restaurant and it was really good. We shared fried green peppers and fried artichokes, because we like to eat healthy ;), and then each got one other tapa. Then, we went and got gelato :). It was a good day. Very Spanish, with castellers and tapas, and very leisurely. By this time, however, it yet again looked like rain, and by the time we got off the metro to walk back to the apartment, it was raining, despite the cloudless, sunny morning. Luckily, it wasn't raining hard, so it wasn't a big deal. After we got back, that's when I took my nap, and now here we are!

Now that I'm done with this, I do in fact have to study for my Spanish final, unfortunately. That's the last thing I have to do for my classes. After that we have a few farewell events and then Cara and I fly out Thursday morning at 10:45 (Barcelona time) and I'll be back in Minneapolis by 5:30 pm (Minneapolis time). Pretty unbelievable. My last blog post will be next Sunday, after I've been home for a few days, and then maybe I'll use these in the scrapbook I plan to make this summer. Thanks for making it this far ;), just one more to go.

Are vacations supposed to be this exhausting? (Part 2: A Whirlwind Tour of Southern Spain)

And here is (the much anticipated, I'm sure ;)) part 2 of my Semana Santa blog post. So we left off on a late flight out of Morocco. After finally getting on said flight and arriving in Seville, we needed to hit up an ATM asap and then we went down to catch the bus into the center of the city. We thought there was no way we were going to get on the bus because there was already a huge crowd standing at the stop when we got there, but somehow we miraculously got on the first one, which was good because they only came like every half hour. We couldn't take the bus all the way to our hostel, so we had planned on just taking it into the city (the airport is a ways outside the city) and then walking the rest of the way.  Our plans changed when it started pouring rain as we were on the bus, (especially since some of the girls obviously had not checked the weather and therefore had not packed a raincoat or umbrella) and we got into taxis instead. We told our driver the address of our hostel and he just says "No es posible."...and apparently felt no need to offer an explanation, so Cara asks "...Por que?" and it turns out the Semana Santa processions cause a lot of issues as far as driving in the city, because main roads get shut down, and so we asked him to just get us as close as he could.  When he let us out, we had no idea where we were or how much further we needed to go. We had a map, but it apparently sucked because we even asked some locals to show us where we were on it and they couldn't find it (keep in mind, it is still downpouring). Eventually, thanks to Cara's sense of direction and navigation skills, we got it figured out and walked about another 10-15 minutes to our hostel.

The unpleasantness of the walk was made up for slightly by the fact that it was a really nice hostel.  It was actually part of a chain of hostels and had a lot of different amenities and services for the people staying there, so it was good.  We checked in and went up to our room and met up with another friend of ours who had gotten to Seville and checked in earlier. There were 6 of us, meeting up with number 7, in an 8 person room. We were hopeful that no one else would check in while we were there, but no such luck. More on that later. After settling in, we decided to go get dinner, since it was already pretty late.  We asked the hostel for recommendations, but all of the restaurants they named were closed, along with many others, because of Semana Santa.  It was definitely a blessing and a curse to travel that week.  We got to see a lot of really cool stuff we wouldn't have seen otherwise, but it often made things inconvenient as well, which I somehow neglected to expect or even consider. Along the way we ran into some interesting architecture that we had learned about and then forgotten was in Seville and we all had our little nerd moment together (it's fun traveling with other architecture students :) haha). We eventually found a place that looked good, an Italian restaurant (give us a break, we can't eat Spanish food every night!) and afterwards we went to a place called Yogurtlandia (I kid you not) and got delicious frozen yogurt :). That night we just hung out in the lobby of the hostel and met some really weird, awkward guy who worked at the hostel to earn his room and board.  None of us wanted to talk to him much, so we went up to our room, where we met our roommate: a man of about 60-ish years who spoke zero English from what we could tell, in a room with seven 20-something year old girls. I guess it was a little awkward for us, but really I just felt bad for him. My friends can get a little loud.

The next morning was a busy day since it was our only full one in Seville and there was a lot we wanted to see.  We got up early-ish to go on a free walking tour through the hostel and met up with our guide, a funny little (really, he was like my height) Italian named Philippo (which I have no idea how to spell). It was kind of funny that the tour wasn't given by a Spaniard, but he was very knowledgeable about the city.  The highlights for me were the Cathedral (even though we only saw the outside :( ), the Gardens of Maria Luisa, and Plaza Espanya, but we saw a few other places as well.  I very quickly came to the conclusion that Seville is an absolutely beautiful city. Plus: it smells like orange blossoms! The whole city! Much better than the smell of Morocco.  It was interesting how different it (and all of Andalucia that we saw) was from Barcelona.  It was just a completely different feeling and atmosphere, and really Andalucia is what people typically picture when they think of Spain (bullfights, flamenco, tapas, little white houses, etc.) so that was really fun to experience. After the tour, our guide obviously had a deal with a local restaurant and pulled the whole "Oh, I'm going to go eat here, if you come too you get a discount for being with the tour!" So we went, but after looking at the menu, we weren't impressed. Seville is known for its tapas, but the menu there looked pretty standard, so we just got drinks and then went in search of a better restaurant.

We found another restaurant and sat outside to enjoy the rare sunshine we were getting (it didn't last), and it, on the other hand, had very good tapas. As we were sitting there, we had a good time watching all the adorable little Spanish kids in their Sunday best outfits, the siblings matching of course. I guess since the whole week is a religious holiday, they have to wear their church clothes the whole time? Either way, it was really cute. Everyone was heading in one direction and we thought maybe it was for a procession, so after finishing lunch and getting ice cream (of course) we headed over there, but it seemed as though we had missed it.  It turns out it was just cancelled because of the possibility of rain, like they all had been since we'd arrived and were the whole time we were there.  However, we did still see some of the people walking around in the costumes, so that was pretty cool. They're creepy. I took lots of pictures of them. I was kind of surprised they cancelled the processions because of rain. I thought that because of their religious significance, they would occur rain or shine, but that was not the case.  It wasn't actively raining, but once we realized we weren't going to be able to see a procession anytime soon, we decided to do a little souvenir shopping and see some more sights. We tried to see the inside of the cathedral, but they closed the doors literally as we were walking up to them :(. We considered taking a horse carriage tour of the city, they were everywhere (just adding to the charm, of course), but decided against it in the interest of money.

Instead, we went and visited the Alcazar palace.  Two of the girls didn't go because they didn't have their student IDs on them (silly girls) and didn't want to pay full price. To be honest, I feel like they missed out and it would've been worth the full price. The palace itself was huge and absolutely beautiful, and the gardens were probably twice the size and just as stunning.  And on top of all that, there were peacocks roaming the gardens! I would expect nothing less.  Unfortunately, we probably barely saw an eighth of the gardens before we saw some storm clouds rolling in that obviously meant serious business.  We called the other two girls and we all decided to just meet back at the hostel (as it was already thundering menacingly) before the storm started.  We literally made it back just as it started to rain, and it stormed ferociously for an hour or so.  We hung out in the hostel while we made dinner plans.  We had two more friends arriving in Seville via train that night and they wanted to meet us for dinner, but only Cara, Vanessa and I wanted to go. The hostel was having a paella event that night for 5 euro, so the other girls ate that instead. The three of us willing to brave the rain (not really, we took a cab) headed to the restaurant and Joe and Ava met us there. It was a good restaurant, but the really exciting part of the night was afterwards.

We met up with the other girls (and our new roommate, Diego, who was not in his 60s and who the girls had befriended) at a bar for a flamenco show! I was so excited, and I was not disappointed.  We were advised to arrive early and the place really filled up by the time the show started.  There were three people in the performance: a guitar player, a guy who sang and clapped, and a woman who sometimes clapped as well, but also danced :). It was incredible, I was so impressed. I've never heard anything like flamenco before, and the typical flamenco of Seville is really like intense and sad-sounding.  It gave me goosebumps, for sure, and in the words of Joe, the dancer was "so fierce!" I'm really glad I got to go, it was one of my goals to see an authentic flamenco show. After the show we headed back and went to bed because we had an 8 am train to Cordoba to catch the next morning and our busiest day of the trip ahead of us.

We got up around 6 to head to the train station and had breakfast there while we waited for our train.  It was a really fast train and we got to Cordoba in just a little over half an hour.  We only had a few hours to spend there so we headed right to the main attraction, La Mezquita mosque/cathedral. I've always thought of it as a mosque, and it was a mosque first, but technically now it's a cathedral.  Brief, somewhat accurate history lesson time (for context): Spain used to be completely controlled by Arabic people, many from Morocco, and it was during this time the mosque was constructed from an old Christian church. Then during the reconquest of Spain, the Christian conquerors decided, after reclaiming the city, to keep the mosque and just plop a cathedral right in the middle of it, and that's how it stands today. Yes, there is a cathedral right in the middle of the mosque, and both parts are actually really beautiful and stand alone as such, but the history makes it more interesting, I think :). After our visit to La Mezquita, we decided to go see the old Jewish quarter of the city, and the old Medieval synagogue (one of only three remaining in Spain), and then we took care of our mandatory souvenir shopping and had lunch. By then, our time in Cordoba was up.  It was a really cute city, but there's not much to do there and we were aware of that; we had visited just for the mosque and it was totally worth the detour.  Now it was time to head to the bus station for our ride to Granada.

It was really cool because it was a really nice bus.  When you got on they handed you a bag with water, snacks and headphones, I had chosen a seat on the side where the row was only one seat across, so I got to sit by the window and the aisle :), and the bus had wifi! It was a little sporadic, but still, wifi on a bus! It was about a two hour ride, and I slept for awhile, but the scenery on the way was so pretty! There were rolling green hills and snow-covered mountains, and little hilltop villages and the whole landscape was covered in groves of olive trees (the Spanish sure do love their olive oil). It was just like a postcard, it was so picturesque. When we got to Granada, we had to hurry because our tickets to La Alhambra were for 6:30, we were advised to be there at 5:30, and our bus got in at 4:30. So we left our bags in a locker at the bus station and taxi-ed straight to La Alhambra, with, again, a little trouble due to Semana Santa processions. We got there with plenty of time and even got to check out some of the gardens before our entry time into the palaces.  I was seriously giddy, I was so excited to be at La Alhambra. It was number one on my list of things to see in Spain, so I felt like a very accomplished tourist afterwards.  Some people from our program who had already been had said it was overrated, but I didn't think so at all. I loved it. Maybe I'm easily impressed, but I don't mind. I'm happier that way. It was kind of a bummer because one of the most iconic parts was under construction :(, so I bought a postcard of it instead like any good tourist would do. After seeing the palace, we went and saw the Alcazaba, which had been the military defense area, and the views of Granada were beautiful. We found out later that what we were seeing was the Albaycin, which was the Arabic neighborhood and it was full of pretty little white houses. (The next day we were up there and saw the opposite view of La Alhambra :).) And finally, I went and saw the rest of the gardens that we hadn't seen earlier.  We went back to the bus stop and collected our things and then took a bus to our hostel. Again, it didn't take us all the way, but this time it wasn't raining so we were able to walk. After not being able to see any processions in Seville, it totally made up for it when there was one passing by literally directly in front of our hostel when we arrived.  It was nighttime and it was almost completely silent and very somber, so it was really neat. We checked into our hostel and it, again, was pretty nice, but very different  from the one in Seville. It was called Funky Granada and we had a whole little apartment to ourselves. We went and got dinner and then went to bed.

The next morning we got up and went on another free walking tour through our hostel.  I've decided I really like free walking tours because they're a good way to kind of get acquainted with and oriented within a city, especially if you only have a short time to do so.  Like I mentioned before, the tour took us up to the Albaycin and we walked around that neighborhood, slowly making our way up the mountain. When we got to the top, there was a great lookout and we could really see how huge La Alhambra is, it was impressive.  Afterwards my group decided to split up.  Two others and I wanted to go see the Sacromonte neighborhood, which is comprised of gypsy caves, since it's up on the mountain with the Albaycin and it made sense to go then when we were already up there. The others decided to go get tapas and do some shopping in the main part of town. Ava and Joe hadn't been impressed with Granada, but we couldn't see why. We all really liked it and thought it was a really nice, cute city. Sacromonte was pretty neat. You couldn't always tell that the buildings were built into the mountain, but sometimes it was more apparent. It was just very different from anything I've ever seen before, it was cool. Afterwards, my half of the group went back to the Albaycin for lunch and then headed back down towards the city.  On our way, we were walking down little streets full of shops and teahouses that were all very Moroccan-inspired.  We saw a lot of knock-offs of the things we had seen in Marrakesh, but of course they had some neat things too.  The weather kind of sucked, again, so we decided to stop into one of the really cute little teterias (tea-shops) and we had some tea and crepes. Afterwards we met up with the rest of the group and it was time to head to the airport. We got there pretty early and had dinner there.  We were a little worried about our flight because there were some really dark clouds rolling in and a flight to Madrid was delayed, but ours was okay, it only left like 15 minutes late.  We got back to Barcelona around midnight, took the Aerobus part-way but then had to take a taxi because the metro stops running at midnight.  I got back, unpacked, and went straight to bed, I was so exhausted from our trip.

However, it was totally worth it. I absolutely loved it and had a great time. I saw so many things I had wanted to see and it was a lot of fun, even if we had terrible weather. I think Seville might be my favorite city in Spain, it was just so pretty and green (unlike Barcelona) and it smelled so good! Emma, if you read this, it smelled just like your Tocca perfume! You would love it. I wish we had had another day or two there, but we had to do our traveling quickly because Cara's family flew into Barcelona for a visit on the same day we were getting back, so she needed to get back to Barcelona by Thursday. They're here now and they're staying until Friday.  I spent most of the day on Friday alone in the apartment (host family was at the beach house, Cara was with her family) just organizing my photos, getting them on Facebook, and writing the first half of my blog, but then I got to meet Cara's family when they invited me out for dinner, it was fun :). She has two younger sisters and one of them could be her twin. Her family is really nice, I like them :).

I got to see them again yesterday when our host family invited us all to come to lunch at the beach house.  I met Cara and her family at Plaza Catalunya and we got on a train to take us out of the city to the beach house. When we got to the station, Juan and Juan were there to pick us up.  It was a really nice day, so we sat outside and had appetizers and then went inside where Helen served the paella.  I've had her paella once before and it's very good, if you like seafood.  She knows I don't however, so she just gives me the rice with some calamari, which I don't mind (I mind the ones that are whole creatures still looking at me!) It was a really good meal and afterwards we went for a nice little walk around the villa that the beach house is part of and then Cara, her sisters, Juan and I let the adults keep walking while we went to the garage and had a ping-pong tournament. I'm pretty terrible. I lost significantly to Cara's younger sister and was out. The championship match was Juan against Cara (Cara had beat both her sisters to get there, Juan was just there automatically) and Juan won. Then, Cara and her family headed back to Barcelona and I decided to just stay here at the beach house rather than be in Barcelona alone (Cara is staying in another apartment with her family). I did some homework and we had dinner (not much, since we had eaten so much paella for lunch) and then at like 10 pm, my host family decided to watch Avatar, a 2 and a half hour movie, in Spanish. So that was super fun, I went to bed immediately afterwards, I was so tired (I think I have a bit of a cold and it's making me super sleepy).

Today (Happy Easter/Feliz Pascua!) a bunch of family members came over for Easter lunch.  We had lamb (which I had never had before, to my knowledge) and potatoes, and cake for dessert. (Another plus of staying with the host family instead of in Barcelona alone: the food is much better.) It was a typical family gathering where I sat quietly and tried to follow their rapid-fire Spanish conversations. I do feel like I've improved, though, since my first family gatherings here. I still just struggle a little when they all speak at once, as is typical of Spanish conversation, and a lot of times they talk about things I can't really contribute to (Spanish politics, economics, family members or friends I don't know) so I tend to zone out a little and then Juan (Jr.) asks me if I've understood and depending on how ambitious I'm feeling I either just nod enthusiastically and say "si!" or I'm honest and tell him no, and then he explains it to me. After lunch, everyone sat outside a little longer as it was another beautiful day, but I hid inside and did some homework (after asking Juan to make sure his family wouldn't think I was being rude). I only have 5 days of class left, but I am going to be super busy up until the last. Juan went back to Barcelona tonight and my host parents are out to dinner with friends (they invited me but I needed to stay and work, plus I'd feel like a party-crasher, plus I'm way too tired). So it's just me here. I did some homework and watched some American tv shows dubbed into Spanish. Good times. Now it's time for bed.

Thank you again for reading this and congratulations on making it through another novel of a blog post. Only two to go! How sad. I mean, I could continue blogging, but then the title would be irrelevant and plus I don't really want to ;). Happy Easter, friends and family! I wish I could've been there, but I'll see you all again pretty soon, only 11 more days until I fly home!

Are vacations supposed to be this exhausting? (Part 1: Moroccan Adventures)

I'm back! After writing everything in my journal during my vacation so I'd remember it all, I realized it was quite a lot of writing and it would be best to split this blog into two parts. The first three nights we were in Morocco and the last three we were in southern Spain, so I feel like that's a reasonable way to break it up. I'll write about Morocco today and then southern Spain and since then (so today and tomorrow) on Sunday. That way I'll be all caught up and on schedule :) hooray!

Bright and early on Friday morning, we took a cab to the airport for our flights to Seville, and then Marrakesh. (When you buy a ticket to Morocco it has to be round-trip and therefore we had to fly out of the place we wanted to end up in after Morocco, hence the connection in Seville.) Let's start out by saying, I was pretty nervous about going to Marrakesh. It hadn't been my idea, I just went along with it, but then the night before we left Helen and Juan (Jr.) were telling us all these things like brush your teeth with bottled water, never get ice cubes, only eat fruit with a peel you can take off, Helen gave us toilet paper in case there wasn't any and medicine in case we got food poisoning, etc. At that point I was thinking, if we had had this conversation with them a few weeks ago, I would not be getting on a plane to Marrakesh in the morning. Luckily, we followed their advice and no one got sick and the toilet paper actually did come in handy, especially when we were in the desert, but I'm getting ahead of myself. We got to Seville and had a few hours before our next flight, so we got some food and then hijacked all the benches in the (then) empty airport to take a nap (it was still like 9 am).  When we woke up, it was a little disorienting because there were people everywhere all of a sudden, but we collected our stuff and waited in a series of various lines until we were on the next flight. I was nervous to fly through Ryanair because it has such a bad reputation for being really cheap and really strict, but we didn't have any problems.

We landed in Marrakesh about 15 minutes late, but that was nothing compared with what was to come. By the time we got through passport check, used the bathroom, exchanged our euros for dirham (1 euro = 10 dirham; I had planned to just take some out of an ATM, but there weren't any in the airport) and all that, our taxi that we had arranged through the riad (like a hostel, just Moroccan) to pick us up had been waiting for probably an hour and a half. I felt really bad, but they were really nice and didn't even charge us extra for having to wait so long.  I was really glad we had arranged that taxi ahead of time, though, because there's no way we could've just figured it out on our own. It was pretty funny when we got into the taxi, because the first song they played was Hotel California, followed by some old school Missy Elliot. It wasn't quite what I would've expected, but it was entertaining nonetheless. So like I said, we stayed in a riad, which is a building that used to be an old Moroccan courtyard house, but is now used as a hostel instead of a family home. The interesting thing about riads (that I'm glad I knew ahead of time or I would've been nervous) is that they look totally nondescript on the outside, you could easily miss it, but then inside there's just like a pretty little oasis. When we got to our riad, we were all really impressed. It was really pretty and the staff were so nice. We had to fill out some paperwork and the guy who worked there gave us fresh mint tea (it's really popular in Morocco and now with me as well) and showed us where to go on our map.

We checked out our rooms, which were really nice, and then headed to the main square, which was really close to the riad.  Marrakesh is so overwhelming. We only spent time in the old part of the city, which was really neat, but oh my gosh, literally the only word I can think of to describe it is just plain overwhelming.  I've never had to be so constantly aware of my surroundings before, it was genuinely exhausting.  The thing is, these old, narrow streets are so crowded with people, vendors, mopeds, and even the occasional car that it's dangerous to let your focus slip.  On top of that, it's like Barcelona as far as pickpocketing goes, the street vendors are aggressive, and men called to us a lot (even though we were dressed conservatively and completely covered up) because we stand out so much, so there's just a lot going on.  Not to mention, once you actually get to the square, it's hard to know if you might be standing in the middle of a road, there are men with snakes and men with monkeys who come up and try to put the animals on you (supposedly so they can somehow ask you for money), women trying to grab your hand to start doing henna (so they can charge you an exorbitant amount later, thankfully we were warned), and all kinds of insanity.

Of course we weren't the only tourists, but we stood out just as much as any of them. In Morocco they speak Arabic (with each other) and French (with tourists), but luckily most people knew English as well. We learned a lot in those first few hours in Marrakesh, including that you can't take pictures of the street vendors or performers unless you pay them. They will come at you demanding money, guaranteed. It is seriously the most chaotic experience I've ever had. We tried to go to an ATM to get some more money, since we hadn't been prepared and a few of us hadn't had many euros to exchange, but the ATM was out of money, a local woman told us. But we had enough money for lunch/dinner though, so we went to a restaurant with other tourists at it (we all agreed we were perfectly okay with just being tourists in Morocco and felt no need to go off the beaten path in any way) and had cous-cous, which is typical Moroccan food, and more mint tea. It was really good, and food (well, everything really) is really cheap in Morocco.

 After eating, we headed into the maze that is the market. You can literally get lost in there, quite easily. We bought lots of souvenirs, and the interesting part is that there, you bargain. Unless there's a set, written price (almost never) you bargain for what you want. It made me anxious and I don't think I'm very good at it, but I did my best. I bought a scarf and a little ceramic bowl that I thought were pretty. A few of the girls went all out. Yes, things are very cheap in Marrakesh, but it adds up when you buy the whole market, no matter how well you bargain. A lot of the things they were selling were actually really nice, although you couldn't show interest unless you wanted a super-aggressive vendor after you. It was stressful, they're good at what they do. After that we struggled to locate some kind of supermarket and ended up just buying a box of unsweetened cornflakes to share for breakfast the next day, since we'd be leaving too early to eat at the riad.  They tasted the way Morocco smells, which isn't particularly pleasant, and we ate them dry out of the box throughout the day, haha. That night, I was awakened by a literal cat fight, which, once I figured out what I was hearing, I found entertaining in my half-asleep state, because it sounded just like the cartoons with hissing and meowing and all that. Then, at around 5 am, I heard the call to prayer. It didn't seem as if many people in the city actually stopped what they were doing to get out their rugs and pray, but a few people did (from what we saw for calls to prayer at other times of the day). I really didn't mind it waking me up, I found it really intriguing. It's such a unique sound, the way they sing. It's really very pretty, I think, and a little haunting in a way, especially at 5 am when everything else is quiet.

Only a few hours after the call to prayer, we headed out back to the square to meet our group for the camel ride.  We got in the van with the other group members and away we went, without a single clue where we were going or how long it would take to get there (the itinerary on the website was extremely vague), maybe not the smartest thing I've ever done, but it turned out fine. I naively thought we would just have to get a little ways out of the city and then we'd hop on our camels and be off. Wrong, Megan. It ended up being about a six hour drive, including a few short stops for pictures, an hour long walking tour, and lunch.  At the first stop, we were a little worried because it was cold and cloudy and we had dressed for a sunny desert.  However, we were up in the mountains at this point and it was in fact quite warm once we got to the other side of them.  Most of the drive was through said mountains; it was really pretty and we were on these little mountainside roads almost the whole time, it was neat.  Our longest stop was at a little Berber village that's now a UNESCO world heritage site (I don't think they told us the name) where quite a few movies have been filmed, like Indiana Jones and Prince of Persia. I haven't seen any of the movies that were filmed there, so I guess now I'll have to. It was really cool, it was old and made of mud and straw and you could see it when you looked at the buildings.  We got a walking tour around there from a man in a traditional Berber outfit, which I'm guessing he had to wear simply for our benefit. Every time he spoke Arabic to the locals, I wondered if he was complaining about the obnoxious group of tourists he had to show around. (He wasn't crabby or anything, he seemed like a nice guy, it was just kind of an odd situation.)

We had lunch just outside the village and then hopped back in the van so that we could be on our camels by sunset.  I think we were a little  late, because we didn't see that much of a sunset, but it was still very pretty and quite entertaining to ride around on camels. It was fun, but I felt kind of bad for the camels because they were tied together by a rope that went around their mouths and I don't think they liked it. Camel is not my preferred method of transportation. My butt was sore for days and camels are pretty smelly, but it was worth the experience, and hey, now I can say I've ridden a camel in the desert.  I named my camel Bert. When we got on the camels at the very beginning, there were all these adorable little children (I don't know where they came from) asking us for food and money and it was really sad. Some of them followed us and one tried to take Lindsey's shoes. Locals waved and called out to us and I just kind of wonder how ridiculous we looked to them, paying money to ride camels out into a little camp in the desert where they live. The whole time I was in Morocco there was just a little undercurrent of discomfort or tension, for me. We didn't belong there. We knew it, they knew it. Children especially stared at us a lot and I wondered how old they are when they learn what a tourist is and how their parents explain it to them. It was the first time I had traveled to a country with a significant difference in wealth from the United States and to me it felt very apparent and made me feel like a was buying this underprivileged country for my entertainment, like with the guides dressing up for our entertainment like I mentioned and all that. It was a lot of fun, but there was an underlying awkwardness that I couldn't ignore.

Anyways, back from that tangent, we rode camels for about an hour before we got to our camp. It was actually really nice, the tents were big and the six of us got one all to ourselves, they even had mattresses. The one thing lacking was, of course, bathroom facilities. I'm not the type of girl who pees outside a whole lot and I was not happy about it, but what can you do? There were actually quite a few interesting bathroom situations during our stay in Morocco, you really never knew what you were going to get, but Helen was right in that they rarely have toilet paper, so like I said, I'm glad she sent us off prepared. When we got to the campsite, they had dinner for us, typical Moroccan food, and it was really good. After dinner we had a bonfire out in the sand dunes and the guides played drums and sang for us in Arabic and it was really neat.  In the middle of the night we were all awakened by the sound of some kind of wild dogs/coyotes barking and howling and it freaked me out. In my delirious, half-awake state, I was convinced that Lindsey moving around next to me was one of the dogs that had gotten into the tent and was sniffing around. I think my heart stopped, I was so terrified. As I woke up more and realized I was being ridiculous and that my life was not in danger, I was able to sleep again.

Our guides woke us up at 6 for breakfast, which was just bread and tea, but they had really good bread in Morocco. We were back on our camels by 8 and probably back in the van by 8:30.  I was glad the camel ride was shorter that time because it was blowing sand and I'm pretty sure my butt had a bruise. The novelty had worn off as my discomfort increased. I literally wore my scarf covering my entire face.  By the time we were done, I've probably never felt so gross. I hadn't showered, smelled like a camel, and was pretty much covered in sand. It was quite attractive, if I do say so myself. This time when we got off our camels there were more adorable children trying to sell us necklaces they had weaved from grass. I didn't buy one and still kind of wish I would have. They were just so cute and they made me sad. We didn't stop as much on the way back, but we did stop in a town for awhile for lunch and we did a little more shopping there. There was this guy who wouldn't leave us alone, though, and he wanted us to pay him so he could give us a tour of the city. Like that's not sketchy. He even waited for us outside the stores we went into. We tried to just say no and ignore him, but he was creepy. I inadvertently got a really good deal on a bracelet in one of the stores. I had asked how much it was and he told me 180 dirham (18 euro) and I realized it was out of my price range, so I was going to just leave it and look for a cheaper one, but I told him how much money I was able to spend, (60 dirham/6 euro) and by the time I was about to leave without buying anything, he was willing to sell me the bracelet for 60 dirham. So I got it for a third of the original price (Helen had told us to ask for half, so I though that was pretty good). On accident! I wasn't even trying to bargain! Haha. After that we escaped the creepy man because we had to get back to our van and we were back in Morocco around 6, I believe. We did some more shopping in the market and then got dinner.  We bought some henna of our own and tried it out in the riad that night. Mine turned out alright, but it's almost gone by now. Some of the other girls weren't so lucky (it didn't turn out well and it didn't fade quickly, haha). We still have a lot left, so we'll have to have a henna party before the program ends.

The next morning I finally showered (it wasn't really worth it the day before because I knew I'd just want to shower again in the morning) and was so happy and sand-free. We had breakfast in the riad, which was good, and then took the same Hotel California taxi back to the airport (they actually did play the song again). We were on time for our flight, but our airplane wasn't. We just hung out in the airport for a few hours, got some food, and by the time it got there, we were supposed to be in Seville already. However, this marks halfway in my journey and therefore, I will stop here.  Overall I liked Morocco and it was an incredible experience, I've never been anywhere like it, so I'm glad I went, even if I had been nervous at first. I've now been to Africa and therefore 3 continents! Woohoo! I'm enjoying all the new passport stamps I'm getting :). On Sunday I'll write about the second half of our trip, which includes Seville, Cordoba, and Granada :), see you then!