What am I doing in Morocco??

Right now I am in the middle of what we might call my first "stressful" week here in Toledo. Midterms. Yes, even here in slacker-ville, Spain, we do have midterms. I'm not actually that stressed out though, I just know that I have a lot to get done before Friday (i.e. PARIS). Probably adding to my knowledge-of-things-needing-to-be-done (I will not call it stress) is the fact that while everyone else was here in Toledo, dutifully studying... I was off in Morocco for the weekend! I justified this decision because I do not have class on Mondays, and Tuesday (today) we did not have a test/class, instead we have to turn in a paper by Friday. So why the heck not go to Morocco?

We literally just flew to Tangier with no idea of what we were going to do there. I was pretty sure that this would not be like any of my previous trips, and I hit the bulls-eye with that one. This was not quite Granada or Lisbon, where we could grab a map and wander around the city, marveling at cathedrals and beautiful palaces, take a bus or metro from one location to another, or even communicate easily with the locals... this was more of a trip where I had to step back and open my eyes and my mind to a very different culture, I really had to go with the flow and be comfortable with being uncomfortable! Luckily I can keep a cool head in almost any situation and I can go-with-the-flow with the best of 'em ... but let me tell you from first-hand experience, not everyone has this ability!

The flight was very short, and with the two hour time difference (Really? Two hours? We could see Spain from Tangier...) we landed "earlier" than we left... weird. The airport was tiny and so close to the ocean that we were pretty much hovering just above water before landing! Also, this was my first flight since arriving here in Spain and not once did I feel sick! I got a little scared with the bumpy landings... but no dizziness! In the airport, we changed our Euro for Moroccan dirhams, which is almost 1:10, so we felt super rich running around with 200 dirham-bills. Then our group split up and went to our respective hotels/apartments. The only way to get around is by taxi, so we hopped in some guy's car (I thought for sure I was going to get Taken, and Becca wasn't there to save me!) and when we got to the hotel we ran into our first language-barrier incident. "¿Cuanto questa?" we ask... the cab driver responds "Parlez-vous français?" Crap. He kept saying numbers in french, which we did not understand at all... until we finally resorted to writing it out in the dust on the car. Phew. For some reason we had assumed that people here would speak Spanish... Nope. Mistake #1.

Then we got into the hotel, which was beautiful. It was no 4-star resort...but it was gorgeous, and it even had a pool. We got settled into our room, and then we realized we had no idea what to do. We had assumed that somewhere we would find some tourist information, perhaps at the airport, where we could pick up a map. Nope. Mistake #2. So we had no idea where we were, although it was quite apparent that we were not really IN Tangier, more like the outskirts, and we did not have a map to guide us. We wanted to wander around, but we were afraid of getting lost. What do scared, lost, confused Americans do in this type of situation? They find something comforting, something that they know and love. Good thing there was a McDonald's (or as they called it there, McDos) across the street! Now, I haven't eaten an actual meal at McDonald's in YEARS, and I felt dirty doing so, but it tasted so good! They also taunted us with giant Toblerone McFlurry signs. From there we wandered around the strange strip-mall area we found ourselves in, desperately searching for somewhere we could buy water. Finally we found the enormo-supermarket and stocked up on water, snacks and sandwich materials.

YUM!

By this time, our friends had decided to come join us at the hotel, we took them to the supermarket, and we found a place to eat dinner. We spent the majority of the time trying to pronounce french words on the menu, cracking up every time someone said "boeuf!" or "l'eau!" Being two hours earlier than Spain-time, but essentially in the same location, it got dark super early, so we retired to the hotel bar for a nice chill night.

Saturday, we got our act together and asked the front desk for a map. Of course they have a map! The receptionist showed us where the hotel was, and he advised us to go to The Old Medina in the city. Enlightened, we met up with the rest of the group again and crammed 6 people into a taxi, destination: Medina! We arrived in the main plaza (the Grand Socco) outside of Medina, and were greeted with a much different environment than the bleak suburbs of the hotel! We headed into the Medina and found ourselves in the traditional Moroccan marketplace. All around us were shops selling clothes, shoes, knick-knacks, food, spices, etc! And everywhere we went, someone would come up to us and practically shove their wares in our face trying to sell it! We just wandered around for a while, bartering, getting hassled, eventually buying a few things (I got a Barcelona soccer jersey for approximately €8! But I'm afraid to wear it here for fear of being exiled by my host family!!).

Grand Socco

More YUM!

Then we trekked up the hill to find the Kasbah, an old building situated on the highest point in Tangier, that served as living quarters for the ruler, as well as a means of defense if the city was attacked. Now it's a museum, and while it was definitely no Alhambra, it was pretty cool. After, we had lunch on the roof of a restaurant with the most amazing view! We almost didn't make it to this restaurant because one of our market friends (who had sold some of us soccer jerseys), came up to us and told us that this restaurant was for private guests only, we should go to his friend's restaurant. BS. Eventually we got rid of him and went to the very-open-to-the-public restaurant where we tried a variety of delicious Moroccan appetizers!! We spent most of the afternoon there, and although we wanted to make it to the beach, we were just too tired! So we headed back to the hotel (where the rest of our group stayed the second night), and relaxed a little more before getting dinner (it may have been McDos again...) and heading to the bar to watch some fútbol! Andrew and I even got to represent our teams, both Real Madrid and Barcelona played!

Represent!

The next morning we took advantage of the free breakfast and made our way back to the airport for the flight home! Overall, a great weekend! Definitely a different experience, but worth it. I was uncomfortable at times and I felt overwhelmed in such a different culture, but I think it is important to do things like this that are way out of your comfort zone!

Now I have to get back to studying/writing papers so I can finish up this week and jet off to Paris on Friday and see Emilie!!!!