Hi!
I realize it's been a while since I've updated. I don't have anything super exciting to write about but I figured I'd update anyway. Last week was pretty much a blur of babies, missing Ben, craving American food and things like that. The babies are still as precious as ever. Lace and I took our cameras and got some pictures of the orphanage and the nurses but they stuck to the no pictures of the babies rule. We may have snuck a few.. shh.
We also started our souvenir shopping. Everything is so cheap when you convert it to US dollars, it's hard to resist buying tons of things. Luckily I have a space limitation so I won't be able to deplete my bank account haha. Friday Lacey, Chelsea and I got pedicures. They also got massages but I opted out on that one. The pedicures were really nice. It was only about $12 and they spent like 45 minutes doing them. My feet were as soft as a baby's bottom afterward! Then Friday evening after dinner a bunch of us went to get gelati since it was some of the volunteers' last evening. It was delicious as usual. Saturday was a sad day because we had to part with Chelsea. The three of us pretty much spent all our time together so it was sad to see her go. She's with her family in Paris for the week.
Lacey and I decided not to travel anywhere this week end because we were kind of traveled out. Also, we didn't really want to spend the money. We had a lot of down time but I found it relaxing to just sleep in and read and such. Then the new volunteers arrived in the afternoon and evening on Saturday. 23 of them!! It's weird having a new group of volunteers here and only 6 total from the group that started with us. It feels like a bunch of strangers staying in my house haha. I guess we kinda get to see what it's like for Mohamad and Khadija and the rest of the staff to always have volunteers coming and going. Most of the people seem really nice, it's just quite crowded now (our room is at max capacity with 8 instead of the 3 we were used to). It's funny how they all think of us as the experts. I don't really feel like I've been here long enough to give them advice but I'm going along with it haha. I guess we do know more than they do at this point. Lacey and I have kind of been hermits in our room. Of course we've been talking to the new volunteers a lot but since we're only here for 4 more days theres not much point in building lasting friendships. Also since it's their first week they're doing all of the first week things that we already did.
Since there's so many volunteers at the orphanage we have to take two trips now. Theres an earlier one (8 to 12) and a later one (8:30 to 12:30). Lacey and I chose to do the earlier one. It's nice getting home a little earlier and for some reason the day went really fast today even though we were there the same amount of time. I'm not looking forward to having to say bye to the babies but I'm trying not to think about that yet... we still have 4 days with them!
And I continue to have anxiety about missing our connecting flight in Paris since we only have an hour and 15 minutes to get to an entirely different terminal (assuming our flight from Rabat is on time). Hopefully checking my suitcase all the way through will make things easier, even though they'll probably lose it. I just really don't feel like having to wait until Sunday to get a filght home if we miss it.
I think those are all of my updates for now. I will probably post only one more when I get home this week end. Unless something crazy happens this week. See you all soon!

Sahara Desert

baby monkey!
monkey with one eye :(
hangin with the monkey
he's playing hard to get. ;-)
Chelsea and I with our Berber camel tour guides who also played drums and cooked haha.
In the morning after our return!
Camel shadows.
Beautiful sunrise.
Beginning of sunrise.
Lacey at night when it started getting windy.
meeeee. Pitch black everywhere!
Our tent!
On the camels. They smellllllled!
Ripples in the sand.
Our camel procession.
HANK!!!
bahahahaha.





Hello!
It's been about a week since I've updated. Last week was kind of boring, that's why. I had to stay home from the orphanage on Monday and Tuesday because I was still too sick to be of any use. It was slightly boring and a little frustrating but I eventually got better after sleeping for hours and hours. The rest of the week at the orphanage was pretty typical. We took the toddlers out one day (2 each) to the playground. I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to give my toddler a chocolate coated cookie. She was such a mess! And the rest of the week we were back with the sweet little babies. Who are quite stinky in the morning, by the way.
This week end we went to the Sahara Desert! It was sooo fantastic-- it definitely made up for not such a great week end in Fes. Friday afternoon we were picked up at our homebase by Hamzah (the guide) and Said (the driver). Our program director Mohamad also joined us for part of the trip because his mom and brother live in a town near the desert, so it was nice to have him come along. Friday we drove for about three hours and stopped in I'Frane just to check it out. There's a university there where Chelsea might be studying abroad in the Spring (she gets to choose there or Meknes). It was such a beautiful, clean city. Actually it seemed more like a town. It didn't seem like it was in Morocco. After a short stop there we headed on to Azrou where we stayed Friday night. The hotel we stayed in was really nice! I felt like we were kind of robbing them because we were paying so little. (The entire week end was about $200, food, accomodations, camels, basically everything included.) There's not much to do in Azrou so we just hung out in the hotel. There is a "restaurant" in the basement. More like a kitchen and eating area and a woman who makes really delicious food. We had soup (of Ramadan- it was soo good) and tangine (chicken and such). By the time we were done with dinner it was pretty late so we just hung out in our rooms. We also had a huge family room thing just for us. No one else was staying in the hotel that night.
Saturday we woke up around 7 and showered and had breakfast and then hit the road. We stopped at a few places with nice views to take pictures. The roads winded through the Atlas mountains and then it got really flat and deserty. Some of the roads were very bumpy and the driver didn't exactly go over the bumps slowly so there were a few where we got some significant air time. It was funny and surprising. At our stop for lunch we dropped off Mohomad who was picked up by his brother. Then we ate sandwiches and were back on the road. We got to our destination (the town of Merzouga) around 4:00 (it was a little desert hotel, also where the camels were kept and the desert guides lived) and had a little bit of time to clean up, have tea, and take a short nap while we waited for the desert to cool down a little. Around 6:00 we were ready to go. One of the guys showed us how to wrap our scarves around our head. It was funny to see everyone looking so Arabic. I couldn't stop laughing, especially at Lacey :). Then we boarded the camels!! We gave all of our camels names: mine was Hank, Lacey's was Herman, Chelsea's was Doug, Nicole's was Sherman, and Liz's was Henry. Kay and Caroline's camels remained unnamed. All of the camels were strung together by rope and the two desert guides led us through the desert, winding around the dunes since it's easier for the camels and less painful for the riders. Let's just say camels aren't the most graceful creatures. They're not really spastic or anything but they're really lanky and take long loping steps. The uphills weren't bad but the downhills were a bit rough. The only way I can think to explain it is you know when you're walking down a flight of stairs and you think you're at the bottom but there's actually one stair left so when you step it's a really heavy, clumsy step? Well that's what every step was like when the camels were going down hills, even if they were small hills. But it was still a really awesome experience!
We got to our campsite around 7:30 or 8 I believe. We trekked up to the top of this massive dune... Nicole, Hamzah and I were the only ones to make it all the way to the top. The sunset wasn't very spectacular since there were some clouds. We met some guys from a military school in Virginia who were in Morocco studying Arabic. The one I talked to was actually from the Chicago suburbs which was cool and surreal that we found a bunch of Americans on top of a dune in the middle of the Sahara Desert. They were also camping there for the night in the campsite right next to ours. After that we headed back down and had some dinner in one of the tents. The dinner was surprisingly good. It was a simple meal- bread, veggies, tangine and oranges for dessert. After dinner the two camel guides brought out their drums (bongos?) and played for us. They were really talented! Our favorite song was "Vamos a la playa". We were able to communicate with them with bits and pieces of Spanish. Then they handed the drums to us and asked for American songs which was funny. I'd say we failed miserably at playing the drums. We sang them a few songs very poorly but they clapped anyway haha.
After that we headed into the tent to sleep. It was divided into 2 parts so we slept 4 on our side and 3 on the other. It was a bit warm even with one whole wall open so everyone except me moved their mattresses outside to sleep. However it was extremely windy outside and Lacey's mattress blew away so she had to go chasing after it-- probably one of the funniest things of seen (well, heard) in a long time. But the sand was blowing everywhere so Lacey and Nicole ended up coming back in the tent after all that. Kay and Chelsea were the only ones who slept outside, wrapped in sheets looking quite dead. They said they saw some pretty amazing stars though (it had been too cloudy when we went to sleep which was a little disappointing). We saw some when we woke up before sunrise but didn't get the full effect. Yes, that's right, we woke up before sunrise, around 5 am I think. Lacey and I peed behind a tent since there were no bathrooms at the campsite. Luckily we were smart enough to bring our own toilet paper!
After gathering our things we got back on the camels who had been sleeping a short distance away. First of all, I thought my butt was sore after the Florence bike tour-- that did not even compare to how sore I was when I had to get back on that damn camel this morning. I thought I was going to die. I ended up sitting cross-legged for a while because it was less painful, but then I had to perform a serious balancing act to avoid falling off. It was worth it though. Lacey's camel was totally wearing its cranky pants this morning. It was making all kinds of grumpy noises. Plus since she was the last one it kept coming up to the side of my camel since we were right in front of her. It was a bit scary having it's head and big mossy teeth right next to my leg. I think it even slobbered on my foot a bit. I was about ready to kick some camel ass after a few minutes of that crap. Lacey found it really funny and encouraged the poor behavior.
The sunrise was very beautiful so we stopped briefly to take some pictures. I'm not exactly sure how my butt didn't fall off but don't you worry- it's all still there. The ride back seemed shorter than the ride there. Chelsea had the fabulous idea of taking showers (we had rooms back at the little hotel in Merzouga). The water was cold and came out slightly more pressurized than a trickle but still it was really refreshing and a very good idea before our long journey back to Rabat. They also had breakfast waiting for us which was really nice. After that we parted ways with our camel guides and headed back to the van with Hamzah and Said. We drove through the bumpy roads for a couple ours, dozing off since we had a very short night's sleep. We picked up Mohomad at the same spot we left him on Friday. That's where we parted ways with Hamzah, who was from a town nearby so he didn't need to come all the way back to Rabat with us. Hamzah was a really cool dude. He spoke English but was really enthusiastic about improving it. He asked Kay questions since she's an English teacher (how can some one be "well" but they can also get water from a "well", what does this word "breeze" mean? etc etc) It was very cute and he was a very kind person. He asked our permission to get off at the town rather than continuing to Rabat. We teased him that he had to stay with us the ENTIRE time. But anyways, after that we continuted on a few ours and stopped for lunch around 1:30. Lacey, Liz and I got some Kefta (beef) dish but the beef seemed really rare so I didn't eat much of it. I'm not trying to get deathly ill again. Good thing it came with fries though :). After lunch we continued the longggg journey back (9 hours total). It actually wasn't that bad because the scenery was so different from what we're used to. Plus I don't mind time to listen to music and think and just be with myself in general. Also, I really enjoy the company of the people I've been traveling with. We all get along very well.
So we made it back to the homebase around 7 I think. Lacey, Liz and I ordered pizza from dominos because we were craving some American food! It was pretty good I have to admit. Now we're just hanging around, resting our aching bodies haha. All in all, I'd say this week end was a success. It was so interesting to see the desert, a massive ocean of sand so to say. It was really peaceful.
Oh! I almost forgot to mention the monkey forest we stopped in on the way back! Literally just a forest right off the road where a bunch of monkeys hang out. I sat next to one that only had one eye. It seemed pretty calm with me being so close. It turned its head swiftly at one point and I got startled and fell over haha (I had been crouching down). (See pictures above^^). We also saw a baby monkey. Very cute.
I think that's all for now. Back to the orphanage and the adorable babies tomorrow :) We're going to ask the nurses if we can take a few pictures so hopefully they'll be okay with that because I really want to show everyone these awesome kidsss! Maybe it will convince you to become a Muslim and adopt one ;-). Okay, bye for now! <333 onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">

Whatever you do, do not breathe through your nose..

Oh Fes. That's really all I can say haha. It was an interesting weekend. Friday at the orphanage I started having stomach cramps but I didn't think it was a big deal so I went on the week end trip anyway. Friday night we ate at a pretty sweet restaurant. The food was okay but I was feeling kind of nauseous by then. By Saturday morning I was kind of a mess. I'll spare the gross details haha. Anyway, our tour started really early so that we could see the main tourist things before it got too crowded. But in Fes they bring all of the products into the medina in the middle of the night so in the morning the streets are filthy with donkey poop and unbagged garbage and stray cats and millions of flies. This did not help the me being sick situation. I almost passed out/vomited on the street at one point but I was able to pull myself together thank goodness. And then the guide took us to a tannery. Oh. my. God. I have never smelled anything so horrible in my entire life. It literally smelled like death. It was really cool to see the process and the big baths where they wash the skins and everything. I have no idea how people work there every day. Our guide tried to tell us that the smell was good for our health. Ok buddy, I might believe that. I was actually relieved when we were able to get back into the stinky streets and out of the tannery.
After that we went to a place where they make blankets and carpets out of sheep wool and camel fur and cactus fiber and things like that. Everything was so beautiful. Lacey and I bought cactus fiber blankets. They're really light and more for decoration but they're so beautiful. Mine is purples and blues and Lacey's is reds and golds. Also, it was a nice break from the heat and all that. After that we went to a jewelry store and then to a pottery store but I didn't buy anything else. Except at the pharmacy I got Immodium and stomach medicine which helped a lot. Then we went back to the Riyad and everyone went out to lunch but I didn't feel like eating at all so I stayed in and napped. Later we went to a cafe for dinner that had some more American options and such so a bunch of us got grilled cheeses. I thought I would be okay to eat but I took 2 bites and then had to sprint to the bathroom (up the steepest stairs) and made it just in time to vomit like 90 gallons of water that I had drank previously (too much detail?). On the bright side, I felt a lot better after that, at least for a little bit. Fail on the eating part though.
Today when we woke up Chelsea and Lacey also weren't feeling too hot so the three of us decided to just head back to Rabat rather than stopping in Meknes with the rest of them. Unfortunately they wouldn't let us trade in the tickets bc there was some confusion so we just bought new ones which were only like 15 bucks a piece. The train was like 110 degrees no joke. For some reason the air didn't go on until we were two minutes from Rabat. Psh. Anyways, we survived... just barely. And we took freezing cold showers and then slept the rest of the day and felt sorry for ourselves and wished our mommies were there.
So in conclusion, being sick sucks. Being sick away from home sucks more. But being sick away from the homebase sucks the most I think. Fes was a cool city. The medina was interesting to see and unlike anything I've ever seen before. All in all, it wasn't a horrible week end. As long as I didn't breathe through my nose :)
I'm hoping by tomorrow I'll be completely better because I don't want to miss a day with the babies!

B is for Baby

Hey!
So I've been in Morocco 6 days now and it's going pretty great. First of all, I absolutely love my volunteer placement. The babies are so adorable. Every day I go I'm surprised by how tiny some of them are! And it's so sweet to see their faces light up when you walk up and smile at them in the morning. One of the boys who is in the 6-9 month room always starts to cry when he sees me so that I'll pick him up. He is so snuggly and often falls asleep in my arms. It's so cute to tickle them and hear their little baby laughs. Okay, can you tell I'm a little obsessed?!
Today the nurses pulled me out of the room and handed me a kid that looked about 2 and 1/2 years old. They tried explaining something to me but I had no idea what they were so saying so I just followed the nurses downstairs. We also picked up another volunteer, Kate, and two more kids on the way. Then we got in the orphanage's ambulance and went to the hospital. Well actually I think it was the doctor's office across from the hospital. I know they take some of the kids there sometimes for check ups and things since the orphanage doesn't have all of the equipment. Anyway, I learn that the kids are there to have blood taken. And you probably know how well I deal with blood. The little kid is sitting on my lap screaming his head off because they're like sucking all his blood out and then I get really light headed and have to have Kate come in and sit with him. Luckily I found a couch and was able to lay down so I didn't faint. When the kid was done he ran up to me with his arms out. I hope he didn't think I abandoned him for no reason. He probably doesn't need anymore abandonment issues. Anyway, they gave us coffee and cookies while we waited for the driver and he was like the happiest kid in the whole world. And then we headed back to the orphanage where my little dude in the 6-9 month old room fell asleep in my arms. Love him.
Today after lunch Khadija gave us a cooking lesson. We made some sort of chicken with saffron, cumen, parsley, lemon, onions, garlic, all cooked in loads of oil. It smelled delicious. I think we're having that for dinner. For tea time today we had these little biscuit things that resembled English muffins and they had honey all over them and then you put jam on them. yummm.
And tomorrow 9 of us (Me, Lacey, Chelsea, Liz, Michelle, Nicole, Kay, Caroline and Chris) are heading to Fes by train. It's about 3 hours away. We're staying in a Riyad which is pretty much just a guest house hostel type thing. It's really cheap but other volunteers have said it's pretty decent. And Saturday we're getting a tour of the medina. It's one of the biggest and oldest in the world and apparently it's really easy to get lost if you don't have a guide. So I plan on doing some serious bargaining for some sweet souvenirs. I'm excited. Then Sunday we're taking the train to Meknes and checking out some Roman ruins that are about 20 minutes from there. Then we're heading back to Rabat in the afternoon. Should be a really fun week end and I'm sure we'll be pretty tired for the orphanage on Monday. But it's okay, I'm pretty exhausted everyday anyway.
I think that's all of the updates for now. I need a shower so bad. And possibly an afternoon snooze :). Later.

Hna hna (=we're here)

street in Rabat
Lace and me in some garden in Rabat
spice store in the medina
the medina (marketplace) in Rabat.
kitten!
outside gate of homebase.
the homebase!
the living room. Mohomad, Nicole, Caroline, Chelsea.
the kitchen, lunch on the counter, and Aicha the cook.


Salam!
I have made it to Rabat, Morocco safely! I would like to type every detail of everything that has happened to me the past three days but I think I could write an entire book so I will spare you. But I am warning you-- this is going to be a long post.
So I got to the Paris airport and checked my bags and found Lacey very easily (we happened to get to the bag check area around the same time). Then we went to our gate and found some other CCS volunteers who are all really nice. Our flight was a little less than 3 hours. I fell so sound asleep that the guy next to me had to wake me when our meal came bc I didn't hear them put it in front of me haha. Then Mohomad, the program director in Morocco was waiting for us at the Rabat airport when we arrived. Along with the driver. Mohomad is such a cool dude. He was in the Peace Corps for 7 years! And he speaks 5 different languages. English is his 5th and he speaks it almost perfectly. He's really easy going and humerous and you can tell he really loves his job here. The home base is really cool. The living room is huge with a sofa that wraps around the room and tons of pillows and ottoman chairs.
The food is also really amazing. Like any foreign food, it definitely takes some getting used to. Everything is really really healthy and fresh. They don't use much butter or cheese which is sad sometimes haha. The cook Aicha cooks three meals a day for everyone, along with the help of the two housekeepers. We also have tea time around 4 pm every day. Mint tea with some sort of pastry, yumm.
Most of the other volunteers are all really nice. There are 3 guys and about 18 girls so that's lame. But there's a wide age range so it's not too bad. Lacey and I are in a room with 4 other girls and we have a huge terrace and bathroom and we each have our own closet.
So Sunday was orientation. We walked around and checked out the neighborhood and the shopping mall close by. Lacey and I went to get some snacks at the store. Then we had an Arabic lesson. I concluded I will never be fluent in Arabic. "Do you speak English?" sounds dangerously close to "Do you have a bloody nose?" in Arabic. hah.
Today was our first day at our volunteer placements. The majority of us are working at the orphanage. We learned that these kids aren't orphans in the sense that their parents are dead. Basically, many young women come to the city from other parts of the country to work and then get taken advantage of by their bosses or other men and end up getting pregnant. But since they're not married, it would bring too much shame to their family so they can't bring the baby home. So they usually leave it on the street or at the orphanage door or at the police station. This home for abandoned children is PACKED. There are about 300 children there.
Lacey and I decided to work with the babies (theres babies, 2-6 yr olds, and the disabled all ages). So they placed us with the newborns. They are so precious. We started in a room with about 20 newborns and 2 nurses. I was worried because I didn't want to be a nuissance to the nurses but we basically just dove in and started helping. They started tossing babies at me and I changed them into clothes while Lacey changed the sheets on their beds (more like plasic bins like in the hospital). The nurses in that room are so sweet. Honestly they must be angels. Mohomad told us later that they only make 1000 dirhams a month (the equivalent of 120 dollars!). And they were so loving to the babies, maybe a little rough but babies aren't as fragile as they look. After that we helped them feed the babies. And the nurses laughed at our attempts at Arabic and French but told us that the three words we knew were good. They don't speak English but smiling and laughing at each other can go a long way. That and charades. After that the babies were good to just chill in their beds for a bit so Lace and I headed to the next baby room where the 6 month olds were. They have a huge playpen so we took our shoes off and hopped in with about 12 babies. They were adorable, and that's an understatement. I'm not sure if they should be crawling at that age but most aren't yet. So they would just cry at us until we picked them up. I mastered holding 2 babies at once and still giving a third one attention. One of the boys was teething so he was whiny and he kept nawing on my finger. But it wasn't a gentle nibble, this kid was chompin down. And every time I put him down he would burst into tears. Actually most of them did that. Anyway, he ended up falling asleep in my arms while another little girl fell asleep in my lap. But when I tried to transfer them to the floor to pick up other crying babies they would whimper haha. These babies are smart. So then we changed all of their diapers and headed back to the newborn room to change their diapers and feed them again.
I wish I had like 8 extra arms to hold all these crying babies. As soon as you give them attention they are all smiley and giggly. The four hours we were there went by extremely fast but they were also exhausting. I don't know how the nurses do it the entire day. They seemed really appreciative of our help. And they called me Majjjie which was cute.
Today after work we had lunch and then a feedback meeting where we talked about our days. Then Khadija (the house manager) took a group of us on the bus to the city center and the medina. It was really cool to see and less nerve wracking with her guiding us.
The pictures I'm posting are of the home base and our tour through the medina and other parts of Rabat.
Oh also there are little kittens at the house that hang out in the garden. They're so cute but they're afraid of us. Also, I hit my head really hard on a granite counter yesterday because its behind the sofa and the pillow wasn't as high up as I thought it was. I have a huge bump on the back of my head and I was worried that I was bleeding into my brain. But I woke up this morning so I suppose I'm okay. Just dumb.
The other funny thing is that one of the guards in the mausoleum we visited in Rabat had a cell phone that rang and the ringtone was "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". I found that comical since he was most definitely Muslim. Probably didn't even know it was a Christmas tune.
Now we're all just lounging around. The weather is so beautiful here. The orphanage is a bit warm. One of the volunteers threw up today bc it was hot and he was working in the disabilities section which apparently also smells really bad. Which reminds me when we first got to the orphanage we were greeted by this handicapped child about 13 years old. She was mesmerized by my lip ring. Or actually just confused. She kept pulling her lip so I would pull mine so she could see the inside. Then she rummaged through my pockets so I gave her a tissue and she wiped her nose haha. She was cute. Some of the other volunteers looked startled by her but she was harmless. She gave us all a firm slap on the back when we headed upstairs lol. I don't know if I would be able to handle working in the disabilities ward. One of the other volunteers, Brian, who is working there says that they are really severely handicapped. It makes me sad that these children/young adults may live their entire lives in this place because no one will adopt them. The oldest right now is 25.
So, in conclusion, I will bring everyone home a baby as their souvenir. You can choose the gender. All you have to do is become a Muslim by July 4th.
Laterrr.

This is my last leg, been awake for days, in a minute I'll die of starvation

Hello hello.
So I'm sitting on my hostel room in Madrid. It's about 10:00 am. I have to check out by 11:00 but my overnight train to Paris isn't until 7 pm. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do since I'll have all of my luggage and such. I'll probably get some food and then find a grocery store to get some snacks and then get to the train station ridiculously early and read my book. Julie has already left for the airport to catch her 1:00 flight home.
Madrid has been pretty great even though we were only here for a short time. Wednesday, when we arrived, we walked around the city a bit and saw the royal palace and plaza mayor and a few other things. Then we came back and napped and went to dinner at some generic chain restaurant. Then I had a conference call for my Morocco program at 9 which took about an hour. There were 8 people on the line that will be in the house while I'm there as well as our adviser who will not be in Morocco with us. She has been so helpful though as far as helping us prepare for this trip. I suppose that's her job though! But she's a really sweet person. It was kinda strange that only like 3 of the volunteers on the line including me were talking during the conference. The others were more or less silent the entire time unless asked a question directly. But it was still good to get any last minute questions cleared up. I found out we're not allowed to take pictures in the orphanage which is kind of disappointing but it's good that they are protecting the children in that way. Also she said they won't tell us what to do because they see us as guests and don't want to give us a list of chores, so basically we just have to help out in any way we see fit-- folding laundry, changing diapers, feeding babies, giving them love and attention most importantly. But it's also good because even if they did tell me what to do I probably wouldn't comprehend it since I don't speak a lick of Arabic or French. I'm hoping to learn some vital phrases while I'm there though. We also learned that if we go to the beach we will be harassed endlessly by the men there so I don't think I will be taking any beach trips unless a large group of us go. And Sharon, our adviser, made us all promise not to do hashish while we were there. I was the dumb one who had to ask what this was, but I'm not really embarrassed about my lack of drug knowledge. Now that I think about it, is this where the word hash comes from? hmm... well anyway I obviously won't be purchasing any drugs, not trying to go to African jail among other reasons. Also I don't understand why some one would go volunteer in a country and then do drugs. That's just dumb.
So yesterday in Madrid we walked around the city a bit more. Went to some more plazas and a huuuuge park called Retiro which was really cool. There was a big pond, tons of fountains, a rose garden, and a book fair going on. We spent quite a while in the park. I decided I would really like a rose garden. I'm not sure if roses are difficult to grow though. I don.t exactly have the greenest thumb in the world. Anyway, then we came back and got cleaned up and went to a "tapas experience", it was basically a bar crawl type deal but to different tapas restaurants. It ended up being really good and well worth the money (only 14 euros). We got a free drink and some tapas in each of the four places we went. The first place had the best sangria out of the three we tried. It was amazing. I realized later it probably had like less than an ounce of wine in it and mostly just sugary juice. We also met this couple from the US, Phil and Laura. They just graduated with chemical engineering degrees from Perdue University (shout out to meg woo!). And they were really sweet. Laura is from the Chicago area and Phil is from Rochester, New York. They're both heading to different grad schools in the fall and getting paid to go! Smartypants. It made me sad for them that they will be across the country from each other (Berkely and N Carolina). I'm having a hard time being apart from Ben for 7 weeks so I can't imagine such a long distance relationship. But anyway, after the tapas experience we went back to the first place with them and got more sangria. Then they headed off to go to the bar crawl and Julie and I went to a chocolateria and got cups of chocolate (literally) and churros. I suppose it was a bit of a sugar overload because I felt very nauseous later and ended up throwing up a bit. And yes I'm sure it wasn't from the alcohol because there was barely any in the sangria. But I felt much better after a good vom session hahah.
The weather in Morocco is in the 70's at this time of year so I'm very excited for that. It's especially good since we can't really wear legit summer clothes unless we want to totally disrespect their culture. I'm sooo freakin excited to get to the house tomorrow and meet everyone and start volunteering on Monday. I'm not so much looking forward to all of the travel that needs to be done before tomorrow afternoon. But hey, that's part of it. I guess it's pretty cool that I can do this by myself. It's giving me a sense of independence. Not that I didn't feel indpendent before though.
It's strange that the Europe part of the trip is coming to an end, something we've been planning for months and months. It's a bit sad but I really am exhausted from all the traveling. I think all in all it was a success, especially considering that it was our first time traveling in Europe. Of course, theres things we would have done differently (taking buses rather than trains from city to city in Spain for example and using backpacks rather than suitcases) but we also did a lot of things right. And we avoided any major disasters. But let's not speak to soon haha. Also I met some really great people during the Europe part which makes me even more excited to meet my fellow Morocco volunteers. It's sad kind of, knowing that most likely I will never see these people again and we probably won't keep in touch since I only spent less than a day with most of them. But they are one of the main reasons the trip was so awesome.
Ok I think I have finished with my contemplation of our Europe trip. I will probably update again on Sunday after orientation.
Lovvvve.

"I'm feeling a bit delicate this morning"

Hi!
We're at the end of our stay in Valencia. It was so awesome here! We met some really cool people. Steph was traveling with two friends but got mugged at a music festival in Barcelona so her friends continued their travels but since she had no access to her money they bought her a plane ticket for this morning. So she hung out with us yesterday and we walked around the city a but. Shes from New Zealand but lives in London. Then we met G who is from Quebec and traveling Spain for vacation. Then we met Becca who is from Liverpool and was teaching English in France and is now traveling around. The five of us hung out on the hostel's terrace and then went out to a tapas bar. It was a lot of fun. Today we all (minus Steph who had to go home) went to the beach. Our roommate Carolyn from Holland also joined us. Valencia is a smaller city but it's really nice here. Yesterday Julie Steph and I ate at some restaurant and the food turned out to be really gross. We got paella but the chicken in it was so nasty. I guess you win some and you lose some ya know? Tonights dinner was amazinggg though. We got chimichangas and nachos and crepes. Yummm. Also Julie exploded her coke bottle on a couple that was sitting on a bench 8 feet away. I was laughing so hard I cried. The waitress thought it was hilarious too as well as the guy on the bench but the girl he was with didnt seem too amused. Oh well. Ive never seen coke explode that far. Impressive.
So now we're just hanging at the hostel because we have to get up early to catch our 9 am train to Madrid. I can't believe tomorrow we're getting to the last location of our Europe trip. It went really fast but at the same time it feels like I've been away from home for ages! Weird.
K bye.

Hola!
So I've been slacking a bit on the updates!! Friday we left Rome. A bus, two metros, a taxi, a plane, another bus, two more metros and a short walk later we arrived at our Barcelona hostel. It was a long day of travel so we walked around the city a little, ate dinner and went to sleep kinda early. Our hostel was pretty decent. We had our own room and private bathroom which was nice. Saturday we saw Sagrada Familia, Las Ramblas and Park Guell. We also went into a market on Las Ramblas which was really cool-- there was tons of fruits, veggies, dead animals, candy and other things. Then saturday night we went to a tapas bar that Chelsea recommended. It was really good! We got Sangria and a bunch of tapas. My moms boss texted me and he was in Sitges which is in Spain... apparently about 20 miles from Barcelona. He wanted to meet up and drink but the train we would have had to take was expensive and we didnt know how to go really and it was already 10 pm.
Sunday we walked to the beach which was about 10 minutes from our hostel. It was sooo nice out! And unlike the Rome beach, there were no annoying people trying to sell us their crap every 30 seconds. Then we got cleaned up and went to a restaurant near Las Ramblas.
Today we woke up early and caught the train to Valencia. It was a relaxing trip, the train was spacious and we got breakfast and such. So we just checked into our Valencia hostel which seems pretty cool. I'm sitting in a room with 3 British girls. I think one of them was a spice girl. A different one got mugged last night and now she has no money to get home. She doesnt seem too happy, but thats why you gotta be careful when you get shitface drunk in a foreign country!
So J and I are gonna relax for a bit and then walk around Valencia and eat dinner and then maybe drink wine on the terrace (I really dont understand why people think we're a couple lol).
Free internet here, wahoo. :)
Later.