MOROCCO!!!!!

hola,

this weekend was certainly a crazy, fun, exciting weekend for me. four of my girlfriends and i met up at the barajas airport on friday morning and flew to tangier for the weekend. it was so incredible there!

the weather was nice all weekend.. it was hot out, but not unbearably so. friday we walked all around the town, stopping at both tents and little side vendors, buying souvenirs and taking in all of the moroccan culture that the city had to offer us. it was truly incredible interacting with the people there. if you showed any sort of interest in something in their shop, they would bargain with you until it was nearly impossible to say no! it was a good way to get things for cheaper, but sometimes i just wanted to look at something without being bombarded. but that is their culture, and it was certainly very interesting to see how they reacted to foreigners.

saturday, we woke up early and walked in town to get breakfast before starting our day. morocco is two hours behind madrid, so it wasn't hard waking up because it felt later than it actually was. the hotel we stayed at hooked us up with an awesome taxi tour, so we split the 60 euro taxi five ways and settled into the car. our driver took us all around tangier, the outskirts, and into another town not too far away. we also went to the caves of hercules, which was incredibly interesting. once we got back, we went to a little restaurant with genuine moroccan food.. best couscous i have had in my whole life! then we went down to the beach for awhile and hung out, and eventually made our way back to the hotel and stayed in for the night.

on sunday we got up early and had breakfast at the hotel. we checked out and decided to spend a little while on the beach until we headed back to the airport. my friend ana and i had really wanted to ride a camel all weekend, and we saw some on the beach. so we walked down and found them, and we got to ride them back to the rest of our friends. it was so fun! they are very tall though, so it was a little scary for me, too. but overall i loved it and i am so glad ana convinced me to do it. then we went back to the airport and hung around until our flight.

overall, it was a fantastic trip. i learned a lot and saw a ton, and definitely want to do more research on morocco and find out more about its' ways and customs. it was a very interesting weekend and i had so much fun. i am already excited to do more traveling!

hope you enjoy the pictures!!!





sunset in tangier.. so beautiful!


i'm not sure if i was allowed to take this.. but there were tons of people praying in there.


a little bit of the city.


a section of side vendors! this is where we did a bit of shopping.


view from our hotel.. so insane!!



sunset on the beach over the hotel part of the city.


the view frm inside the hercules caves.. they told us that it looks like africa, which it kind of does!


view of the mediterranean sea.

settling in.

this week is the second week of classes and my second week of being here. i am loving it more and more every day! i am really enjoying all of my classes so far.. a few of them will be more labor intensive as we get further into the semester, but all of my professors seem really awesome and in general classes should be fun, i think! i am finally feeling totally settled here. i love traveling on the metro and i have been exploring a bit more, though there is still so much more of the city i have yet to stumble upon. i am going to morocco on friday with a few of my friends.. even typing that is completely surreal for me, but i am SO excited and i think it's going to be a blast! my host family is totally sweet and i really like them a lot. they try to help me learn some new spanish every day, which is nice because i do want to learn it, and i am trying. my host mom also makes some delicious food, but nothing will ever able to replace a home cooked meal by mike and mary. i am still a little homesick, but i am making more friends and becoming more involved, and being busy makes the days fly by! i know that pretty soon it will be november, and before i know it i will be heading on a plane back to maine. i can already tell that this is going to be a life-changing experience, and although i was doubting myself for the first few days, i know that this is exactly where i'm supposed to be. it will be very tough at times, but i know that in the end i am going to grow so much. speaking of growing.. i also think i am going to lose weight while i am here. i walk EVERYWHERE! not that i am complaining, i am loving all of the walking and exploring and discovering. it's just so neat to get to know this ancient city. i am loving it so much.

i will post some pictures from this weekend when i get back on sunday! :)

picture time!

hi all,
just thought i'd post a few pictures from our trip to salamanca last weekend!




this is the plaza mayor. it is the town center, and all around the outside are tons of shops and restaurants to hang out in and explore.


looking down a street in salamanca.. all of the roads are pretty narrow, and they all share the same tall, gorgeous buildings.


inside the cathedral.. HUGE ceilings and with the light shining in through the stained glass windows, it's just incredible.


a shot of the roof. the giant pillars are in each ceiling "section" to help support the weight from the roof.




this is part of the cathedral! it's kind of far away but you can see how beautiful it is.




that's all for now!

salamanca!

hola! sorry that's been a few days since i've written, i had an absolutely crazy weekend! suffolk took us to salamanca for the weekend!! we left friday morning and we got back about an hour and a half ago. we stayed in dorms at the Universidad Salamanca which was soo gorgeous and built in 1218!!!! on friday we went on a tour all around the plaza mayor, which was so gorgeous. we saw the Catedral Nueva de Salamanca, which was built sometime during the 12th century!! it was probably the most beautiful building i've ever been in. that night i decided to go out with a few girls that i really bonded with this weekend. we left the dorms at 11:30, but the clubs didn't even start getting crowded until well after one a.m. people stay up SO late here! we got back at about 3:30 (way too late) and just crashed. saturday morning we got up and drove to finca valverde, which was a little farm about an hour away. we went horse back riding!!! it was my first time ever and it was so incredible. and we also took a little tractor ride around the farm and had some down time. then we had a delicious lunch. after lunch, we learned all about the history of bull fighting, which was so interesting. the owner's of the farm have a son who is a nationally ranked bull fighter, and he was actually about to go out as his parents were teaching us, so his mom called to wish him good luck. they brought us into a pen and we got to play around with a baby bull for a little while, which was cool. and finally we went back to the dorms. that night we went out to a club again and danced for a few hours, and once again we got home way too late. the next morning we woke up and went to la torrecilla, which was another farm outside of salamanca. here we played some competition games and then we played laser tag! and after another delicious lunch, we went back to the dorms once again. then four of us decided to go to a little art museum we found in salamanca, which was so intriguing. we learned and saw a lot. after dinner that night, we walked up to the plaza mayor and got some ice cream and sangria. we sat at a cafe and talked for over three hours, and it was just such a nice, peaceful night. this morning we woke up and we got to go on top of the cathedral in the Catedral Nueva de Salamanca, which was soo incredible. i will post pictures soon! then we made our trip back to madrid, and now i am back at my host family, taking it easy until dinner and going to bed early tonight. :)

i was feeling sad when i first got here but things are much better now. i have made some friends and things are going much better now. i start classes on wednesday which i am so excited for! and i am really starting to settle down and adjust to things here. i think it's going to be an amazing few months.

that's all for now!

the beginning

well, here i am. day one of my life as a spaniard. it is ten past 11, and i just had dinner with my host family and roommate. i am completely exhausted and i will probably be heading to bed pretty soon. between the gigantic time change and all of the traveling i have been doing, my body really needs it. today has been pretty overwhelming. i am just surrounded by so much that i know nothing about! but i am excited to be able to learn as much as i can. tomorrow i have orientation stuff all day, and friday we are going to salamanca for a few nights which should be incredible!! i am really excited for everything that's about to happen. i can't wait to just start meeting people and feel more comfortable in my general surroundings, and pretty soon i will be speaking spanish and everything. :)

so anyways, i just wanted it to be known that i have arrived safe and sound and i am ready for things to begin!

adios.