Morocco, AFRICA

Hello Friends,

I have just had the experience of a life time.. and that may be an understatement. Of course I'm going to forget details and such when I am writing this so if you wanna know more you may have to ask me in person some time.. or skype :) Also if you don't feel like reading a novel, you may also want to just ask me.

From the beaches of Africa :))

Sooo Africa.. yah, I was there. HA! It still hasn't quite hit me that I have been living in 3 different continents in the last 3 weeks, craziness!!!
In my previous blog I posted the potential itinerary from the trip and yah it went pretty much just like that.
DAY ONE: After classes at about 6pm we all headed out to meet for the 3 hour bus ride in Granada to Alegeciras. We stayed in a hotel that was not a far cry from the worst thing ever. Our room had two small nasty looking beds covered in stained scratchy blankets and we had a very nice wall of mold.. which made our room smell like an old boot.

Special huh?
BUT besides that.. the warm long shower was a game changer.. loved and missed that. (In Spain it's a dribble of water and warm is about as good as it gets.. not to mention my host mom likes us to turn it on and off between rinses, eep!) Anywho, we arrived at the hotel, unpacked, and a few girls and I decided we wanted some exercise so we went outside.. it was dark.. and the first 30 ppl we saw were all older men lurking in dark alleys... bad idea. SO we went quickly back to the hotel and ended up playing a card game called Peanuts? Ya! it was actually super fun, I love card games :) ...may have to incorporate this one at some family holidays. In the morning we were sposed to leave at 7:30 and for some reason our alarm didn't go off.. luckily.. I have no idea how.. Malissa woke up at 7:22 and we moved as quick as the speed of sound.. maybe.. and made it just in time to grab a loaf of bread, jam, an orange, and make it to the bus on time. pheww! From Algeciras we took a bus to Tarifa where we split into 3 different groups.. I was in group 3 aaa course :) We then had our boat journey across the Mediterranean Sea for about an hour. I fell asleep for the entire thing..The rock of the boat really did me wonders..

Malissa and I about to board our boat!

Chillen in the window seat as we cross the ocean!

Before we arrived we had to fill out an immigration form which was a first for me and also a questioner about the stereotypes we held for the Muslims and our personal thoughts about them...We then arrived in Tangier, Morocco!! The sites were outstanding. I have about a majillion pictures so if you reeeeally super bad want to see them you may have to add me on fbook to see my album or just be patient and you can see in May :)

Group picture when we arrived in Africa.

Right outside the market in Tangier.

Dirham (currency in Morocco)

So yah, DAY TWO: Once docked we walked around the market... I mean, the pictures can speak for themselves but I think I went into culture shock immediately following seeing a bunny get it's head chopped off right in front of my face. Also.. the amounts of raw meat and the smell that followed them.. just not something I'm used to.. at all. So a forewarning.. these pictures may make your tummy turn just a bit. But this is what the "market" looked like in Tangier. It was also interesting because no one in the market spoke any English only Arabic so it was the first time I have felt like I could not communicate at all.. except for body language and well maybe charades. ALSO.. there are stray nasty looking cats everywhere.. those things are just crawling with lord knows what. ickky. I don't think people there want cats as pets. So there are a TON on the streets.

Just some samples of the many things we saw in the market. Quite the variety eh?

After this delightful viewing, we went to the DARNA women's center and had informal conversation with 2 Moroccan students. This center is used for women to come and learn skills such as sewing to hopefully get a job. This is an alternative to education if they were not able to go to school for one reason or another. I wish I could spell the two student's names for you but I have no shot. We had an 18 year old girl who spoke perfect English and knew just about everything there is to know about politics around the world.. she hopes to be a lawyer one day and is the 6th girl in a family with 6 girls and 1 boy, yes the boy is the baby. She said her mom always wanted a boy. The other student was a 25 year old man who also spoke perfect English and is currently working as an international translator.. he pretty much rocked it so I'm guessing he does his job real well. We had a group discussion with them about the cultural diversity, education, and women's rights in Morocco and I learned a toooon from this. Both of them know more about the United States then I do.. which is pathetic so a new goal of mine is to actually know what is going on in our country and to watch the news. They watch us so closely it is quite interesting to hear their take on our actions and policies because they know so much. One thing that was slightly embarrassing was that they referred to us as the "SUPER country" because we think we need to protect the world and take all matters on to our shoulders. It was interesting to hear them ask us questions about why we try to feed ppl in their country when we have ppl starving in our own country. They made some really good points actually. I won't bore you with all of the information they shared with us about Worldy matters.. but like I said if you wanna know more, ASK :) OH! and also... the head wrap that you see some women wearing.. that is actually optional no one there is forced to wear it; they only have to if they want.
During this discussion we were eating lunch.. not that I wanted to after the market thing.. but we had cous-cous and it was pretty good actually. We went on a tour of the center with the two students and when we were on the roof terrace a reeeeally strange song started over head. This was the call to prayer and it happens 5 times each day. I recorded it; enjoy :) The girl student also pointed out McDonalds and told us it is seen as a luxurious place where couples go out on dates.. dad you would love it there ;) ha.

This is where we had lunch; right outside the DARNA center.

Couscous for lunch

This was the female Moroccan student, 18 years old, who showed us around the center.

Some of the students sewing.

General seating area in the center. It was beautiful.

The view from the terrace of Tangiere.

The call to worship tower can be seen in the right hand corner.

Hopefully you can hear this.. kinda scared me when I heard it the first time.

The ladiesss!

On the drive from Tangier to Asilah we saw a graveyard. I had no idea this was a world wide custom.. but it really is. We also drove along the coast... so beautiful. AND we stopped on the beach for a surprise and rode camels, ahhh!! This was prolly the coolest thing ever, no joke. I named mine Paco and I think she was a girl.. but besides the point. It was so high up on Paco and when I was going to dismount Paco jolted me forward when her knees bent in and I nearly flew off. It was actually really awesome haha. So yah, I rode a camel on a beach in Africa.....

The graveyard.

Malissa, me, and PACO! :D

They love each other..

& I love them!

Whooo hoo!!!

Dismount... not so smooth. Check out Paco's legs!

Easily the coolest experience ever...

I even got to lead! ha

Racing to the ocean... in Africa :) eep!

After the camel ride we walked through the Medina (old town) of Asilah which was almost all white except some of the homes had blue paint on the bottom which our leader, Justin, told us represented the Jewish. There were also parts painted green which pointed out the mosks for places to go to pray when they heard the call to worship... 5 times a day. The city is surrounded by walls.. it's kind of hard to explain but it is a completely connected village of walls. After weaving through the city we ventured out onto a look out where I saw men fishing. The poles were so long! Idk what they were catching and I couldn't ask them because I don't speak any of their languages. Something impressive however is that most people there know atleast 4 languages because there are so many different dialects in the villages and we were told that they learn French in elementary and in college or sometimes high school depending on where.. they learn English. Made me feel prettty dumb that I'm only learning my second language. We then went to a cafe and had mint tea.. which was very very sweet compared to my Lipton tea in the states.. it was actually pretty good tho. This is the major drink in Africa.. well atealst Morocco because I think I had maybe 20 glasses of it while there. Alcohol was in no stores because it is against their religion to drink.. however we had many many men approach us asking us if we wanted to buy some hash.. "very cheap, very cheap for the students". yah noooo thanks man.

Justin standing in front of a mosk for prayer.

Streets of the town.. everything is connected.

View from the lookout!

Malissa and me.

 Idk what they were fishing for.. but the pole they used was so long & they fished with some sort of bread/meat mix.

After this adventure we traveled on the most ridiculous drive in a van I have ever experienced. It was a 3 hour van ride to Rabat and I think I wanted to throw up from being car sick in about 15 minutes. I thought the people in Granada drove crazy.. but the man that drove my van in Morocco topped him by sooo much. We were weaving around the mountains going faster than an interstate in the US. I thought I was going to pee my pants and puke at the same time. The sites were beautiful driving through the Rift mountains but man oh man I felt terrible. They believe that their time to die is set in stone so if it's meant to be it will be.. so they are pretty reckless with things such as driving. Also, the whole thing about the person has the right of way.. doesn't exist. I think we almost killed 12 people.. our driver gave them a simple honk of warning and didn't let up one bit on the accelerator. What a timeee! Luckily, and yes luckily.. we made it and went into this beeeautiful home. You would never know it by looking from the outside because the homes are all white washed concrete looking walls with a door and a number. That's it, simple and all connected. Here, we met our host families. Malissa, Genevieve, and myself stayed with Fatima (the most popular name for a woman) a 22 year old woman. She was absolutely the nicest person I have ever met. She spoke some English.. and was so welcoming. We then made our walk to her aunt's home where we would stay with her aunt and her 17 year old cousin Eurseala. Fatima only came to meals to try to translate for us.. otherwise there was a HUGE language barrier. It was intimidating at first, but they were so welcoming and happy to have us that we felt comfortable within minutes.

The door to the home.

The architecture was unreal.. so beautiful inside.

 These are the pillows from our beds.. which kind of reminded me of a couch.

This is where me, Malissa, and Genvieve slept.

My host sister and mom! :D Such great people!

They made us a dinner of the most wonderful salad I have ever eaten.. so fresh! and also bread (of course..) and this chicken with some sort of yummy spice sauce. It was gooood! The home consisted of a very long staircase when you first walk in, then a.. kind of bathroom.. a small kitchen for cooking, our room (looks like our living room.. kind of it was wall to wall with couches), the living room/dinning room, and their room. It was a very modest home but was nice as well. They, like Granada, don't have heating or cooling systems in their homes and they also have tile floors. We had to wear our shoes in the halls and in the bathroom and then take them off for the rugged rooms such as our "bedroom" and the living room/dinning room. Soooo, the bathroom.. in Morocco they do not use toilet paper.. that is no myth. I knew this so I brought my own but yah that was something. They actually wipe with their left hand so we were told to only volunteer our right hand for things such as a handshake or when eating. Also, like Granada, they eat in the living room with the tv on. It was kinda nice because they put on an American tv show, I think it was Grey's Anatomy, in English and just had Arabic subtitles. It wast he first time I've seen tv in English since I was home. So that was kinda nice. Since we traveled for sooo long we ended up going to bed pretty early. (they are an hour behind Spain time, so only 6 hrs ahead of Iowa) After we had all got situated on our beds/couches there was a louuuud banging on the door and a man's voice. Needless to say we were scared out of our minds because Fatima had left and we had no way to communicate. So we were all huddled up together in the corner of our room wondering why on earth they weren't answering the banging door for 10 minutes until they finally heard it and answered. Apparently that man lives there... we didn't know that so we were making all sorts of terrible suggestions as to who he might be and why he might want inside haha yaaah but it turned out to be okay in the end :) & I slept just fine. I was coming down with a cold during this whole thing so when I woke in the morning I was not feeling too hot and something else that was strange was the walls and everything were wet.. and the walls are so slick because they are that same concrete-like material just painted fun colors.

We woke to the sound of the "call to prayer" which scared the living daylights out of me as it blared over the city. We had breakfast with our host sister and her mother which was yummy! It was kind of like a crepe.. but with oil and cream cheese. Our sister tried to communicate with us by using a book she had from school. She knew a few words like morning but nothing really to make a sentence so it was like a guessing game trying to figure out what they wanted us to do. Eventually we mostly figured it out and she walked us to the meeting point where we met with the rest of our group. She gave us kisses on both cheeks like they all do and waved goodbye with the biggest smile on her face. It was awesome to know that even though we couldn't understand each other and all she knew was hello how are you? we still had a great connection.

Once all together.. yes everyone is late because as far as I can tell the US is the only country that is punctual.. we visited an NGO in Sale which was across the river from Rabat (this is where the Moroccan king lives, Muhammad the 6th). This center was originally built last August for the King and his people to use.. but no one ever used it so they gave it to this organization where men and women can come take classes. Here we spoke with 3 Moroccan men about politics, religion, and the way of life there. Again, it was very very interesting to hear their thoughts about the US and their suggestions to problems in the world. If you wanna know more, ask me :) I also noticed that even though it is forbidden to speak ill about the King, none of them seemed to like him and what he is doing.

The NGO center.

This picture was hung above the white board in every room; King Muhammad V

We also constantly saw people playing soccer in the streets.

After the discussion, we went back to our home stay for lunch which was aaaaamazing. There were about 7 other female cousins there and some could speak English, they ranged in age from 14-23 and were a blast to hang out with! They are literally just like us. They text, watch tv, talk about boys and music, ..the same things we like. The lunch meal is the biggest meal of the day so this was nuts. First we had a pasta/salad it was really yummy, then bread with a dish with "meat" and veggies and these amazing sauces along with some kind of maybe we think it was sweet potato covered in some kind of caramel type sauce. The Moroccan dishes are famous for being a mix of sweet and salty. This may sound gross but is was delish! We then watched the movie AquaMarine with the girls which was kind of hilarious because they all loved it (it's a cheesy chick flick about a mermaid) most of the things I saw them watching were like soap opera type things.. so drama shows must be the it thing for girls. ....keep in mind we haven't showered yet :(

After lunch and the movie, we met up with 2 Moroccan students, both men, and explored Rabat's Kasbah (old fort), street life, and Medina market. We named our guys "Jack" and "Eric" because we couldn't pronounce their names aaat all and they also gave us Moroccan names which was fun! Mine was something with a D.... (a gal wrote it down so I'll find out soon!) it means Universe. We sat down at a cafe and had mint tea, like usual :) We chatted about daily life and their endeavours. They are both in grad school and are going into International business. They spoke perfect English and Jack was the first sarcastic person I have encountered here. He told us he loves the American humor and he took it up himself! They helped us barter in the Medina market when buying things which was really fun! They would come up to us thinking we were stupid Americans and would pay whatever they wanted but then the guys would jump in and help us with the words to say. It was almost like a really fun game! They also bought us pink candy of some sort and another sweet that reminded me of caramelized or something sesame seed bread. Both were interesting... but it was a very nice gesture for them to buy us sweets considering they were already volunteering their time to us. Overall, great impression of the young people in Morocco. However, when we were in the streets they told us what some of the people were saying.. apparently I was asked if I would marry two different men and also received numerous compliments and suggestions... yikes. Apparently blond Americans are a big deal in Africa too.

Sugarcane Juice!

The Medina

Stopped for tea! "Jack", "Eric", Malissa, me, Shannon, Gonzo, and Tesla.

They showed us the hang out spot which was over looking the ocean; gorgeous.

This is that pink candy stuff I was talking about.

Jack bought some kinda egg, meat, burrito type thing.

Leaping Lizards!

I'm guessing the "Turtle Man" caught all these...

Spice stand.

Mom... this was stuff for their hair and soap. Wanna try it in the states? ha!

AND of course, the meat. Check out those bore heads. whooowiiie.

After a few hours we said goodbye to the guys and then this time we met up with 2 Americans who have been working in the Peace Corps in Morocco for 2 years and a girl who is working for Fullbright. They shared with us their experiences and I actually found them really interesting.... if I have time I think it'd be kinda neat to do something like that. They told me knowing Spanish could get me into a country I wanted more than likely and there are clinics I could work in. That'd be neat!

FINALLY after this we got to shower! Well, kind of. We went to the Hammam (public baths) which is where the people of Morocco bathe. The men and women obviously have separate places to do so. I was not looking forward to this experience at all considering I knew it was going to be a very umm well awkward experience but it actually turned out to be my favorite thing EVER. I'm not going to blog about the hamman because it's kind of a personal thing.. but again, if you wanna know about it let me know because it was seriously the greatest thing ever. & I felt myself grow leaps and bounds.
After the hamman we headed off to our home stay for the night. We had dinner with our family which is the smallest meal of the day. We had Moroccan soup and bread which was something that has a tomato base, beans, noodles, and I don't know what in it but it was yummy! We then again settled in for the night and slept for well maybe 6 hours. We forgot about the time change in the morning and woke up an hour earlier than we needed to and rushed to get our things together to meet our group at 8am. The only trouble was is that our host mom and sister weren't up so we thought we weren't going to get to eat. Well, we finally figured out that we screwed up the time and had an extra hour. So finally after numerous pointing gestures at the clock we understood our mistake. Breakfast consisted of a crepe like flat circular bread with cream cheese, and olives..along with tea. I really wanted some water but the water in Africa is not good to drink so we had to rely on Justin for bottled water when we met up with him.
DAY THREE: After breakfast, we were already packed up so our host mom and sister walked us to the meeting point. Upon departure, my host sister gave me kisses on my cheeks and then gave me the biggest hug ever and said "I love you" in English to me with a huge smile on her face as she walked away waving. It was absolutely heart melting.
 After breakfast, we were already packed up so our host mom and sister walked us to the meeting point. Upon departure, my host sister gave me kisses on my cheeks and then gave me the biggest hug ever and said "I love you" in English to me with a huge smile on her face as she walked away waving. It was absolutely heart melting that she said that. It just goes to show how big of a difference a short amount of time spent with someone can impact them. We couldn't communicate and we come from two different worlds but those gals changed my life forever and I know I impacted theirs as well. Breaking the stereotypes I have for so long built up. I mean yah, there are some bad Muslims but there are some bad Americans too. Just goes to show that you should never judge something before you have actually experienced it for yourself.
We then visited the Roman Ruins (many pictures) and the Mausoleum of King Muhammad V

Roman Ruins

Yah they actually do hurt when you touch them...

Simply amazing.

Those birds made the strangest snapping noise, nothing like a bird I have ever heard before.

Some Muslim man threw bread in the pond so the eels would come out; sahweet!

Three Muslim women.. I just really liked this picture.

Mausoleum of King Muhammad V

Yepp got a pic with the guard :)

The grave site of the previous King.

This once was completely covered but many years ago they had a terrible earthquake which destroyed the entire mosk but they ended up putting all of the stands back up, but not re-creating the entire structure.

They had guards everyyyywhere around this thing.
Unfortunately I had to get back in that darn van for a 3 hour drive in the Rif Mountains. This was gorrrrgeous. It easily topped Colorado which is saying something because I LOVEEE it there. But seriously the view was unreal. Finally after nearly losing all my breakfast multiple times we arrived at a family home in a mountain village. This was far different from our experiences in the cities so far. These people live waaaaay out in the middle of nowhere and things are harder for them to access such as school. They have the greatest views ever but the homes they live in look pretty rough.
We had lunch here and it was great! I thought the food was gonna be gross but it was all delicious. The family we had lunch with consisted of a man, his wife, and their 5 children. Many of the children were out working in the field but his oldest, Muhammad a 20 year old, and one of his other sons, Alas who was 6 years old were there helping. They rolled out a mat right next to the mountain for us to have lunch. I got to help peel vegetables (Grandma you would have been proud) for our meal that consisted of tons of fresh fresh veggies, fruit, bread, cheese, nuts, and tuna. Yah okay I didn't eat the tuna but the rest was out of this world! I was basking in the sun on the side of the most beautiful mountain side I have ever seen eating delicious food. It was just surreal. We had a translator with us and we got to visit with the man, Muhammad (most common male name). He asked us about our lives and we asked him about his. His life is very simple and he loves to work his land with his sons. In his free time (he told us he only has a free day when it pours rain) he likes to lay down and maybe watch some tv. He also explained marriage for most Morocco people: the man is older (28 or so) and the woman is younger (20-23) this is because the men need to have a steady job before they can take on a family. They also don't really date there... he told us that if you like a girl you usually know her through family or meet her at the market and you ask to go to her house (kind of like courting) and really after a short time you ask for her hand in marriage. He said that it depends but most women have atleast 6 different dresses for the celebration and the celebration is over a 2 day span; slowly dwindling from friends to family to immediate family, and then finally just the couple. There is more to this.. but honestly there was so much to take in that I forget some.. sorry!

This is what their crops looked like in January.

One thing that was hard to see when we were driving in the country was the condition of many of the homes.

Yah.. people seriously live in there.

But the views were incredible.

Checking out the view of the Rif Mountains... just doesn't get better.

This is the home of Muhammad where we had lunch at.

Their shed for the animals.

The cows and livestock in general are sooo skinny here.

This was taken right before I got a sloppy wet tongue in my hands. :)

They had chickens, sheep, cows, and a donkey from what I saw.

Preparing lunch!

Eating lunch in the sunshine next to the edge of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen. Surreal.

So healthy and gooood!!

Me and Katie diggin' in! mm mm good!

Muhammad, Alas, and his wife pouring us mint tea.

Playing a little soccer :)

After lunch and discussion they showed us around his land... he didn't know how much he had but I think he pretty much owns 2 mountains... the view was indescrible. I just can't even think of words to describe the natural beauty and the pictures can't either. Go to Africa people!

Alas and his donkey :)

Riiight before this stupid animal stomped right on my baby toes. :(

The pictures simply can't show how beautful this view was.

Mohamad and me!

What a ham :) haha

Enjoying the experience to the MAX!

I was soooo sad that we had to leave Mohammad's home.. but we had to keep moving on. We fit so many things in to a short period of time, wow! We then..... had to turn and turn and turn like crazy people in the mountains (which by the way.. no rails or anything for the gravel roads in the mts) on our 2 hour drive to Chefchaouen. I'm so happy I survived that man's driving. Holy cow.

Once we reached Chefchaouen we took a short walk through the Medina. Many of the vendors knew some Spanish words or Enlgish words so communication here was a bit better. However everyone was trying to sell us hash and followed us along the streets trying to tell us about their "deals for the students.. come, come! I have cheap scarfs". I think I will never forget that considering I heard it a majillion times. Also, this was the first time I had a little boy try to steal from me. There was a popcorn stand for 1 durham and well yah I missed popcorn so I went in my pocket to grab out money and a little boy tried to steal it. That was something new for me.. not cool tho. The popcorn was delish :) mm! After exploring for awhile we went to our hostal which didn't seem all too bad. There were people smoking hookah in the lobby so that was strange. Malissa and I ended up sharing a bed in a room along with 2 other gals who had their own beds. We settled in for the evening and then met our group again for dinner.

Malissa and I trying to eat come Vitamen C to get rid of our colds. This is our hostel.

The city of Chefchaouen!

We went to a cafe that was outside and had a fireplace it was really beautiful. I didn't end up ordering the right things tho.. because I got a salad except it was mostly onions and tomatos and I also got chicken (it had a special name.. Tagine) which we had at our home stay.. but here it was prepared differently. As in it was mixed with liver and olives.. oh my dear lord. no. But the dessert was strawberry yogurt which was soooooo good! I haven't had yogurt or strawberries in too long, yumm! After dinner we settled back in our hostel.... where we found our bed covered in black long and short hair. It was quite possibly the nastiest thing ever. Lik ever. Malissa and I slept like mummies with our hoodies on, it was quite commical. We were both already sick so a cold and uncomfortable night sleep wasn't all too great. But, thus far the experience had actually been really awesome so this was a minor set back.

Genveieve, Griffin, me, Malissa, Tesla, Gonzo, and Nic.

The salad..

The main dish that was tossed in liver and olives... ahhhhhhh

and dessert!! Strawberry yogurt, ohh myy yuuum!

DAY FOUR: We again woke up an hour early.. not that we were sleeping anyway. We heard the call for prayer at 5:30am and were up anyway. We went downstairs of the hostel to try to use the computers but got hissed away by the manager who was asleep on the couch. It was interesting.. So we went and sat in our room until 7am. Ha. We met up with some of our group and walked through the Medina one last time and then hiked! yes hiked!! We climbed the Rif Mountains and looked down at Chefchaouen from outside the city gate. The view was breath taking once again and I got great pictures.. I even did the Bernie just for you Ross! haha We had fruit and nuts while sitting on the edge of the mountain. So so surreal I can't believe it actually happened. I mean, I was sitting on the side of a mountain in Africa watching the sun rise. Sheer beauty.

Watching the sun rise from the top of the Rif Mountains.

Watching the sun rise over the city.

haha The BERNIE! ..just for you Ross :)

The gals: Katie, Me, Fatima, Shannon, Anna Marie, Malissa, and Genvieve

A fresh stream of water poured down from the mountain here so this is where the women from the town came to do their laundry.

After our hike we had breakfast (same crepe like bread with honey this time and the greatest orange juice on the planet) at a local cafe that was seated outside on a terrace.

Breakfast :)

Then we again packed up and drove through the mountains, fields, and cities until we reached Ceuta. This was about a 2 hour drive and luckily I slept through most of it and only awoke when our driver almost killed someone.. again. We drove along the coastline for hours which was intense; mountains on one side and ocean on the other... hello heaven. When we reached the Moroccan border we had to fill out immigration papers again. Being an American we have crazy privledges because the first person flashed their passport as we walked across the border and the rest of us literally did nothing. They trust Americans that much. We have a Moroccan looking gal and a Mexican in our group and both of them were stopped for identification, it was ridiculous. The "customs" there were also a joke. I walked through a screening thing like in an airport and that was it;There was one officer standing by. After all of us had successfully crossed the border into "Spain" which is actually still part of the continent Africa (something new I learned..) we borded on to another giant boat across the Strait of Gibraltar. Unfortunately I sat down and immediately fell asleep for the entire ride until Malissa woke me up at the port. So I missed all the views but I was soooo dead tired and felt pretty crappy at this point along with the fact that I felt nasty dirty. Once we reached Algeciras, Spain we got a free drink on Morocco exchange and chilled for a bit until we met up with one of our Granada program leaders who led us to our bus to take us back to Granada! whooooo :) The bus ride seemed like forever and I couldn't sleep but we made bets on what time we would get back and the time I guessed... was exactly on the minute when we arrived, haha so that was neat!

I couldn't WAIT to get off that bus after traveling all day long. 7 hours of riding in a bus/van plus the hour on the boat was juuuust too much. We fit a TON of stuff in our 4 day trip to Africa and saw many many sites. It was one of the most empowering experiences I have ever had in my life! :)

Classes have now started here in Granada so soon I will update you on those.

--Courtney