Morocco (a bit overdue)

This past weekend I took my first adventure to Africa. I went with a program called, WE Love Spain on a trip to Morocco.

  We embarked for Africa from Seville at 9:30 friday morning. I was particularly proud of myself because I'd managed to pack all of my things into my book bag for this trip. On the trip to Lisbon, I grossly overpacked. We rode for about 2 hours and then we stopped off to wander around Gibraltar.

   We had to go through customs when we arrived at Gibraltar, because it is a British territory. It was rather peculiar to see signs and menus in English after having been in a Spanish bubble for so long. We took a bus trip to nearly the top of the rock. We explored St. Michael's cave, which for centuries was thought to be the entrance to Hades. The cave winds down about 700 feet into the earth, so a portal to the underworld was a logical assumption for the Romans. After our spelunking trip, we visited with the infamous rock apes who inhabit Gibraltar. These creatures are crafty and love chocolate, a dangerous combination. I watched one monkey grab a chocolate bar from somebody's hand, open it and eat it before the kid had any idea he'd been robbed. 

   After our bus trip we mulled around in the city center of Gibraltar for an hour. Marc, Lukas and I stopped at a fish and chips place for a pre-lunch indulgence. Turns out that British food sorta sucks and is really expensive.

   We took the ferry from the town of Algeciras on the Spanish cost, to the town of Ceuta on the African coast. Ceuta is similar to Gibraltar because it is a Spanish territory mostly held for military and trade purposes. We crossed the boarder into Morocco, which took forever with 3 buses of kids and were introduced to our tour guides for the weekend.

   Our bus's guide was named Jamal. He was very kind and a wealth of information through out the trip. He taught us about the history, geography, culture, and language (Arabic) or Morocco.

   We arrived at our hotel in Tetuan that night and we had a nice dinner in the hotel. We were all exhausted from our long day of traveling and after dinner we all eagerly went to bed.

   We woke up bright and early Saturday morning and had a continental breakfast at the hotel: coffee, juice, and bread with jam. We explored the hotel and discovered the fantastic views from the back patio overlooking the Mediterranean. 

  The tour of Morocco began with a trip to the city of Chefchaouen in the Atlas mountains. It is a minor holy city in Morocco and is a site of pilgrimage. The buildings in the city are mostly white and have a blue coat of paint around their base, allegedly this keeps the insects away. We walked around the city and visited the market district as well. We were taken to a particularly nice fabric store where they sold large beautiful rugs, blankets, and cloth that they made in the store on looms. Before we left, Marc and I tried the traditional Moroccan beverage of green tea with mint, they call it Moroccan whiskey because muslims aren't allowed to drink alcohol. It was delicious.

  We rode back to Tetuan through the picturesque mountains for lunch. Lunch was absolutely phenomenal. We had a traditional Moroccan meal of soup with bread, steak kebabs, pastela, and sweet bread for dessert. The pastela was the best thing I tried all trip. It was a medley of meat and spices all wrapped in a friend tortilla. The meat inside was flavored with curry and cinnamon. it was salty and sweet and so delicious. We also had some traditional entertainment during lunch as well. There was a band who played music, some dancers, and the most interesting of all was this little old man who spun around with a tray of candles and a teapot on his head.

   After lunch we took a tour of the Medina in Tetuan, where our guide Jamal grew up. Every twenty feet he would stop and say hello to someone and introduce us to his cousin, friend, in-law, etc. He showed us the way through the complex maze of winding streets and tunnels under the semi-ancient buildings. The streets and walls were all made of stone, and since they were shaded from the sun, they were remarkably cooler than the open air streets. This is a typical Arabic technique to beat the heat and it is common in the older parts of Seville too since it was under Islamic control for 500 years.

  We stopped into an old-fashioned Moroccan pharmacy were they sold dozens of natural remedies for any ailment you can think of. We were shown a presentation of various powders, oils, lotions, spices, and other magic concoctions. Then we were encouraged to purchase things. Some people bought some of the magic potions but I think most of it was probably just snake oil and placebo.

  When we were departing from the pharmacy I took a quick pit stop on the way out the door, which was only a minute or so. When I stepped outside, I didn't see anyone from our group in the alley. I was a bit alarmed. SOme little street peddler spotted my distress and said, "follow me follow me!, I take you to the group." I was pretty nervous about following this little man. Every Spanish person I talked to had warned me about the dangers of Morocco and not to be by yourself or trust the locals, but I didn't see any other choice. I followed this man at a safe distance for about three minutes through the winding maze of the Medina imaging how he was going to rob me or lead me to a den or marauding thieves/islamic extremists until I spotted someone from my group about thirty yards a head of us rounding a corner. I can't tell you how relieved I was. I thanked him and started to quicken my pace, and then he asked, "something for me? I help you find your people." I gave him 2 euro and he seemed pleased with his handiwork. This was one of the scarier moments in my entire life to be totally honest.

  We completed our tour of Tetuan which concluded with a quick break in a shopping district. This district had shelves and shelves of beautiful hand-made crafts. Jamal told us that soccer is the national sport of Morocco, but haggling or bartering was a close second. He told us it is just a part of buying something and you can usually talk the vendor down to about half of his original price. I have never had to haggle like this before, but I enjoyed it immensely and wished I had more money to keep buying things just so I could grapple over prices with these sly little mussel-mans. 

  We hopped on the bus after the Medina tour and went to our hotel in Tangiers, which was and hour and a half away. We arrived and all freshened up before our traditional dinner with live entertainment.

   The dinner, in terms of the food was just fine. The catch about cost of eating for this trip was that we had to provide/pay for all our own drinks, including water. So at every meal we would buy a liter of water and split the cost. They would also have coke available, and at this meal they even had beer and wine for purchase. Because alcohol is prohibited in muslim law, unlike Spain most places don’t sell beer.

  That night we went to a club, which was connected to the hotel. It was fun do go out and dance, but the DJ was terrible. I would estimate I only knew 1 of every 4 songs he played. I am not a club music connoisseur by any standard, but this guy obviously had no clue what type of music to play for us.

 The next morning we had a bus tour through Tetuan with Jamal, and then we headed for the Cave of Hercules. The cave was pretty neat and the views from the cliffs outside were spectacular as well. The highlight of this morning was certainly the camel ride. We all got to take atwo minute camel ride. The man who was leading the camels was named Abdul, and he was a riot. He just screamed his head off the whole time, and I couldn’t understand him at all at first. Then I realized he was making jokes and they were fairy clever. He would say, “Hands up! Hands up everybody! This is an Arabian roller coaster!” or “Smile real big! We make a Christmas card for momma!” 

     That afternoon we had a short layover in Ceuta, which is the less famous and equally valuable land holding across from Gibraltar. We had a quick tour of the city. We were taken to a view point where you could see the Atlantic on one side of the peninsula and the Mediterranean on the other. Not a view too many people get to see. 

  That afternoon was filled with traveling, by ferry and bus, back to Sevilla. I sat next to Carey on the ride home and we had a nice chat, which passed the time rather effectively.

Italica and Carnival

Two fridays ago, I visited Italic. This was the first Roman settlement in the Iberian peninsula (side note: the greeks named it Iberia, which translates to, the land of many bunnies). It was a dream come true. Ever since I was 9 or 10 I have wanted to visit Roman ruins. I read every scrap of information or literature about Greece and Rome when I was younger and finally seeing some in real life was so surreal. 

     The city was primarily a wealthy retirement community after the conversion from the republic to the empire. Emperors Hadrian and Trajan were born there and Julius Caesar was briefly a governor in the region. The homes of these people were massive. There were only a single story, but the ceilings were between 12 and 15 feet high (to combat the summer heat) and the dimensions of the house were easily worthy of a nice subdivision. 

     Easily the coolest part was visiting the amphitheater. We only got to walk around under the seats and on the arena floor. We did get to view the room were the gladiators waited to enter for battle. In this room, on the wall was a bronze plaque that had the gladiatorial prayer etched into it. 

The weekend before last, I went to Cadiz for the annual celebration of Carnival. I was expecting it to be rather wild; it was. We arrived there at about 10:00 and we were planning to leave the next morning at 5:30. So we all knew we were in for a wild night.

   The streets were filled with thousands of young people dressed in various costumes. The costumes weren't scary as much as they were either fun or political. My group of friends and I dressed up as a mascot from our favorite restaurant, Superlunes from Cien Montaditos. We were a hit. We won the costume contest on our bus and we received a bottle of champagne as a prize.

Locked Up Abroad

I must give credit for the ever so witty title of this post to Carey Mears. You will see the humor after the following anecdote.
   This past Saturday, I woke up at about one in the afternoon after returning home very late the night before from bar hopping with friends. I woke up and walked to the kitchen and exchanged pleasantries with Pepi. I then drank a coffee, a cup of chocolate milk, and ate some toast. I was promptly in bed again by 1:30. I slept until three and woke up to take my lunch, so I thought. I went to exit my room only to discover the mechanism in the door handle was broken and I was unable to leave my room. Pepi had informed me the day before she would be away until around seven or eight that evening. I was filled with dismay.
   I evaluated my situation carefully. I had half a bottle of water, some dried cherries, a few packs of skittles, and I had a window so thankfully the supply of oxygen wasn't a limiting factor in my predicament. I ended up passing the time by cleaning my room and watching the big bang theory until Pepi returned home around  7:00. She dismantled the door knob and I was freed from my Spanish prison.
   This coming weekend I am going to the third biggest Mardi Gras/Carnival party in the world, after Rio de Janeiro and the Canary Islands. I am pretty excited and a bit nervous. It sounds like it will be a very wild experience.
  I also signed up for a trip to Morocco in a few weeks as well. My first trip to Africa! My third continent.

Lisbon: A Successful First Jaunt in Europe.

Well I have successfully completed by first adventure to another city/country in Europe. I, and seven other amigos traveled to Lisbon (Lisboa) this past weekend. We began our escapade at midnight on thursday and travelled the seven hours to Portugal's capital via bus. Normally I think this would have been an ideal way to travel but I had a very special neighbor for half of the bus trip. This neighbor earned himself the fond appellation of "meat blanket". He was an easily 350 pound black gentleman who smelled like sour milk which wasn't even the worst part. I think he must have suffered from sleep apnea because as soon as he would doze off he'd begin to breath like Darth Vader having an asthma attack; people were startled.

My new friend departed half way through the trip and I could spread out in the now vacant seat next to me.

  We arrived at 6:30 local time, there is a one hour time difference from Sevilla. We began our day with the sunrise coming over the river mouth as we found our hostel in downtown Lisboa. We were lucky to be able to check in right when we arrived and stow our luggage away for the day. I was in a six person Hostel room by myself. 

  The first day was primarily a sightseeing day. We took a free tour around two districts. Lisboa had a massive earthquake in 1755 and most of the older parts/building of the city were demolished or were razed by fire in the aftermath. As a result many of the building aren't as old as other city's in Europe but the neoclassical architecture and monuments would fool the unsuspecting traveler. 

   That night, after enjoying the hot showers and other generous amenities of our hostel (only 12.50 euro a night!!!!!!!) only Carey and I were game to explore the nightlife of Lisboa. Everyone else was too tired from the long day of walking uphill (Lisboa is all uphill) and snapshots. I wanted to just go out anyways, "you can sleep when you're dead" as they say. So we went to the bar district and walked around and had a few drinks. It was fun even though we were both haggard and returned to sleep very early.

  

The next day was similar to the first because we took a free tour in the morning after indulging in the lovely continental breakfast at the hostel. After lunch we decided to split into smaller groups and conquer our differing desire's for the day. Marc, Carey, Rebecca and I decided to find the large park we'd seen on the map and the others elected to visit the replica of the giant Jesus that looks over Rio de Janeiro which was on the other side of the river. 

  After walking for about an hour we ascended the peak of the park; the whole park was uphill. We enjoyed the expansive view at the top. Marc came up with the excellent idea to jump from the balcony of the terrace that overlooked the city at the park's summit to create the illusion that we were hovering over the city. This proved to be a fun little exercise and the pictures are quite entertaining.

  That night at dinner will be one of my fondest memories of the trip. We ate dinner at the hostel and it was cooked by "Mama" the owner/operator of the establishment. The food was good and the Sangria was the best I'd ever had (it had a dash of cinnamon in it, que rico). We made some new friends from the hostel at the table and sat around for about an hour reminiscing on the weekend's adventures.

  We went on a pub crawl that night which turned out to be a wonderful investment of 13 euro. The first bar had a reggae band that also played a ton of 9's american rock along with Bob Marley. The next bar was bottomless beer and vodka drink for one hour with our wristbands; we took advantage of this VIP status with a strict consumption schedule. After this bar we were all prepared to enter the loud discotecas of Lisboa for dancing and whatever else such an atmosphere inspires. The first club was very fun and the music was great. The second club had a great light show with the DJ's music and was arguably the better club.

  The next morning we all rose at 10:00 sharp to check-out of the hostel. We got out on time, but they agreed to keep our belongings for us so we could enjoy the city a bit more until our bus ride at 2:00. We split up into smaller groups again and sought out lunch options of our choosing. 

   The ride home was restful and uneventful thankfully. We returned in time to watch the Super Bowl that Sunday evening.

The silence is broken

I guess it has been a while since I last posted on my blog. I think this is a good indication of how time feels here. Sevilla almost feels like home now. I think this can be attributed to the strong sense of community I have with the other exchange students. We have all grown very close since we've been here; we are united by a small subconscious sense of trepidation I think.
The other night I posed this question to the tappas table, "If you had to pick one city to live in for the next 2 years, which city would you select?" Nearly everyone said they'd live here! This may be a bit pre-mature on our parts but it does demonstrate the bond and at least infatuation we have with the city.

I met up with the Spanish girl from the other weekend this past Saturday night. She showed me and my friends a new little cluster of bars on Calle Alfalfa. She was fun to hang out with, but she is what some would call a chain-smoker. She is also a bit crazy I think. I think we will just be friends and she did offer to tutor me in Spanish if I needed the help. I may need to take her up on that offer later this semester.
   I met another girl through a mutual friend named Julia who has been very fun to hang out with. She has a room mate named taylor who is also an interesting person. Together they are quite the pair.
   On sunday night, my friend Scott, Taylor, Julia, Carey, Alicia, Marc and I went out to a bar. Once we had settled in and bought a drink we began to observe some interesting details about the bar. I am almost certain we were hanging out in a gay bar. We had fun because everyone was dancing and the music was ok.

Started class yesterday. I am taking: Spanish Art History, Spanish 201, History of Spain, and Ecology of Iberia. I think they will all prove to be very interesting and a bit challenging too. I want to try and be very promptly about turning in and completing school work so it doesn't interfere with traveling or my social life.

La Plaza de Espana

We went for a stroll around the plaza de España today. They filmed some scenes for star wars and Lawrence of Arabia there. It was magnificent. We were all speculating on when it was built. I initially thought it was modern and built in and older style, but I eventually settled that it was built after the Renaissance  maybe; I was way wrong. It was built in 1928  for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929! After I read this I immediately thought of the town hall in Munich that was rebuilt after the war in a Neo-Gothic style to appear much older than it was.



On Monday we went to a Bar called Montaditos. They have a deal where you can buy 2 pints and a bowl of nachos for 2 euros. So of course being the incredibly intelligent and savvy investors we are we capitalized on the bargain. While we were chatting in the dining room and man approached us to say hello. He said his name was Robin and he was from southern England but grew in Sevilla. He told us about Sevilla in his youth when it was still under Franco's rule and some other funny stories. It turns out he was the half owner of the bar. We told him his deal for Monday beers was fabulous and he informed us that Mondays was still their worst day for business. I am glad we made a friend with Robin. He may prove to be a wealth of knowledge and an interesting friend to have in the city.



This is kind of a neat photo of me and the other two girls from Presbyterian College in Sevilla with me. Carey Mears is on the right and Rebecca Settle is on the left. I am enjoying their company immensely and am glad we are becoming good friends fast.

First weekend...checked off with success.

   I was a bit anxious about this weekend because I'd heard many things about going out in Sevilla that were a slightly intimidating. I heard that the party doesn't really start until 2:00 am which is true. The discotecas didn't really get crowded until 1:30 or 2:00 but many people were in there bars prior to the discotecas though. The local kids who don't want to pay for drinks in the bars buy liquor and beer from the store and drink along the banks of the river which runs parallel to the major bar street calle betis. I think this  street would be equivalent to "the strip" in say Panama City or Myrtle beach in that there are many people there but it isn't a local hot spot. I really want to find the more local locations. For example one of the rules we have about sitting down at a restaurant or bar is that if it has english on the menu we don't go there. The bar tenders and bouncers on calle betis speak English and hand out little flyers or promotions for their drink deals in English.
   Friday night was the more intense of the two nights because all of us were very excited to go out for the first time. I checked the weather at 10:00 before I was leaving to go and saw it was going to be about 40 degrees so I wore layers in anticipation of walking back. As a result of my preparedness for my walk back I was drenched in sweat vey quickly after 20 minutes in the discoteca which was lovely. At around 2:30 I walked Carey back because she asked me too and she should walk alone at night anyways. When I got back everyone had for gotten I'd left to walk her home and they were calling me and really worried. We found a mcdonalds (the aussies call them mackers) still open at three thirty and quickly approached for the kill in our desperate and famished state.
   We all parted paths after the meal was complete and rebecca and I walked home since we live in the same district. It was fun walking home with her because we got to debrief and chat about the happeings of the night with our German friend and Australian friend kissing being the hot topic.

   Despite Paul's insistence that we continue to "wage this night" we all wanted to take it easy Saturday night. Plus the 3 chinese girls who live with me came out with us and they aren't really what you'd call party animals. They did enjoy the experience immensely to my relief. They danced at the discotecas and the bars and all had one sangria to drink. They stayed out with us until the bars closed at 3:30 and walked home with me and Rebecca.
  I had my first close encounter with a local Saturday night. I was at this bar and kept making that sort of awkward eye contact with the same girl, who I thought was pretty cute and obviously Spanish. So after a few deep breaths and rehearsal  of possible conversations I could maintain in Spanish (a pathetically small arsenal) I approached with caution. I walked up next to where she was standing at the bar and ordered a beer and a sangria. She just finished her drink as the bartender handed me my order and I handed her the drink and said hola. She said hello and thanked me for the drink. to my surprise and relief she was fluent in English so I was able to speak Spanglish with her. I asked for her number after a while when it looked like we were parting ways and she complied. I hope to see her again next week?
  Sunday had big plans for a day on the town that fell through due to rain. So i spent the day doing a good deal of nothing which is very difficult and frustrating when you are in Europe.

This was taken in the courtyard of the cathedral.

Mis Primeros Sevillanas Noches

 It is very surprising how quickly a new language is required when I have to speak it 70% of the time. Every day I come home for lunch after my classes (in spain lunch is around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon) and I try to apply what I learned in my conversation at lunch. Pepi  asks me about my class and my plans for the afternoon and each day my limitations of communication are less and less. t is very gratifying to see improvements so soon.
 Today Pepi's granddaughter came over for lunch and she is absolutely adorable. I think she was afraid of me because I am so tall and I probably sound funny to her. I gave her some skittles  from home to try and win her over but she took them and ran off screaming and giggling. I t is easy to see thet she is such a delight to Pepi despite her  mania and refusal to drink her juice with her lunch.
  I went out with my new German and French friends tonight. My language class has three Germans, one Frenchman, and one girl from the Faroe Islands (between Iceland, Norway, and Great Britain). Tonight we all met for a drink at one of the many plazas of Sevilla. For the third night in a row we have gone to a very "touristy" bar to my displeasure; the restaurants had English on the menu after all. I have been wanting to find a real local bar deeper in the city but I don't think the girls are brave enough to venture this far yet.
 I should tell you about my classmate Paul. Paul is the lone Frenchman in our class. The first day he said to the teacher, who was speaking lots of english, "I don't speak much English or Spanish. I only speak French and no one else is French." He seemed very sad and of course the girls in our group immediately took a liking to him. So tonight the entire class went out for a beer or wine for the first time. Paul was easily the most excited of our group. He was scheming about our weekend activities the entire time. He told everyone he would buy 3 shots for all of us if he found an apartment tomorrow (he still hasn't found a flat to stay in and his hostel kicks him out tomorrow!). I hope he finds a flat but not because I want 3 one euro shots.
 The girl from the Faroe Islands is very good at spanish which is her seventh language I believe. She is going to begin Arabic this Spring...wow! I am struggling with 2 languages and here she is try to master her seventh before she begins her eighth! My language problems suddenly seem miniscule.
  I am very excited for this weekend and I can't wait to see what it has in store for our small but diverse group of friends...

one last note:

It is really absurd how quickly one makes friends here, but today Paul told me he was very sad and wondering if he made a mistake by leaving his girlfriend, friends, and family behind in France. Then I surprised him because I looked at him and said, "Aqui y ahora somos nuestra amigos y familia" (now we are each other's friends and family) but then I told him there was no way I would be his girlfriend while he was here and he laughed and I think a little relieved to have made a few friends.

The First Day of Class

I woke up at 6:00 am this morning and couldn't go back to sleep... so I practiced my Spanish in my head while laying in bed. I reckon it helped because my Spanish today was much better than yesterday.
  I went to school for the first time today to begin the language course, WHICH IS FOR A GRADE!!! This was a surprise to me. I took the placement exam and I exempted elementary and intermediate 1 and began my instruction in intermediate 2. This is a classic example of the maxim, "pride goeth before the fall," because intermediate 2 proved to be a serious challenge despite my pleasure of being so advanced. I elected to move down to intermediate 1. I informed my teacher that my brain could keep up with what he said but my tongue was too slow for his class. This professor spoke little to no english and spoke like an auctioneer with a seriously contested antique.
 The intermediate 1 class proved to be a bit more relaxed. The teacher told us the first 2 days would be used to assess our abilities and then we would proceed accordingly. This class is much more elementary but I fell it is pertinent to pursue this avenue of action because I actually need the review of the basics to proceed.
 I came home for lunch and had a lovely conversation with Pepi. I told her I thought I was very lucky because my other friends' host mothers didn't speak with them very much. She was very surprised. She told me that Spanish is learned in the school and mastered in the home. She then showed me pictures of the five children of the first girl she hosted 20 years ago!! She told me her family has grown to be very large because the students that have lived with her have remained her family.
 Pepi and I were watching T.V. and a short piece about Elvis Presley came on and she told me this was her favorite!!!!!! How cool right? My host mother likes The King!
  I am certain Pepi is the best host mother I could ask for. So my momma doesn't need to worry because I am in good hands here in Sevilla.

Me and the Girls from P.C. (Carey and Rebecca) met up with some new acquaintances from class today after lunch and walked around looking for a place to buy power converters. I swear we walked in six circles and five figure eights before we found the store selling the converters. Once we completed this mission we returned to a bar where we discovered a sweet deal. The bar had a monday special where 2 pints and a bowl of nachos cost 2 euros...that is about $2.75 which is insane!! Our group of about ten students stopped and capitalized.

I am not sure what about drinking outside along the sidewalks is so lovely, but I promise enjoying a beer with a few friends street-side is intensely satisfying. The world the Sevillans use to describe their city is tranquilo, which I have personally translated into "chill."