Study Abroad 2017: Week 9//Week 10: Oct. 30th-Nov.12th (Morocco, Africa)

Hello friends! Well, it has been an interesting two weeks. I got back from Paris and two days later, I was on my way to Africa. Needless to say, Week 9 was a short two days for me. That Tuesday, October 31st, was Halloween. Now in Spain, they don't really celebrate Halloween which is ironic because the 1st of November is actually a holiday in Spain. It is Día de Todos los Santos (day of all the saints) and no one has classes or anything. So, in my opinion, they should celebrate Halloween because they can go out at late as they want because the next day is not a school night like it is most of the time in America.

Well, I left for Morocco at 3:45am on November 1st. I took a taxi to the Portuguese consulate, which was the meeting spot, and we got on a bus and set out on our journey. We didn't arrive to our hotel in Fez, which was our first official stop, until 7:30pm that night (8:30pm Spain time), so it was a very long day. I was on this trip with my program, ISA, and there ended up being 130 people on the program. We took a bus to the port, took a ferry to Morocco's port, and then our same bus to Fez. How is it possible that we took the same bus but on two different continents, you might ask? Fun fact, we took our busses and bus drivers on the ferry, along with the 130 of us. It was pretty much an American-take over on that ferry. The second day in Morocco, that Thursday, we spent all day in the Medina. The Medina has over 9,000 streets in it and the taxis in these streets are mules. It is so deceiving as well because, walking through it, it is a bunch of narrow streets that are dirty and disgusting...but if you step inside one of the buildings, it is this massive 'palace' with beautiful architecture and a homey interior. The Medina was quite the experience. At one point, I saw a man chop off the head of an animal. It was awful. We walked through tons of streets that all looked the same and if it weren't for the tour guide, we would have been lost for days. We visited four main places: the rug place, the pharmacy, the leather store, and the scarf store. The rug place was cool but insanely expensive. It makes sense though because these rugs are handmade and dyed. It takes months or years to make them. The next place, the pharmacy, was all-natural stuff. A lot of it you probably could have gotten in America, but it's much cooler to say you got it from Morocco. And some of the stuff really did seem unique. Morocco is known for their mint tea. It is insanely good and I am convinced you can only get that type of tea in Morocco so, there. The leather store was cool, but also sad. It smelled horrible because of the "factory," so to speak, out back where people were making the leather. My host mom told me later than many of the people that work in this "factory" die or have problems by the time they are 30 because of all the chemicals. Hence, why it was a sad place. And the stench--I don't know how anyone could stand being there everyday. Lastly, the scarf store had the Moroccan dresses and all sorts of different turbans/hijabs (the name of it depends on how you wear it on your head). I have been trying to expand my wardrobe to include some red since I attend a University who's colors are Maroon and Gold. Side story, the reason I never have owned red is because of a traumatic incident my freshman year of high school where I wore a red t-shirt to a strength and conditioning camp. Well, I was new to the school but apparently red was forbidden because it represented our rival schools, Chaparral and Ponderosa. You could only wear blue (which was Legend's, my high school's, color). I didn't know that since I was new but boy did I learn that fact fast...let's just say I did a lot of EXTRA strength and conditioning that day and then, after that, my wardrobe contained absolutely no red. Anyway...so I'm trying to get some red back into my wardrobe so I bought a red scarf to wrap around my head for when we went to the desert. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to eat dinner and then back to the Medina that night for a folklore show. That was actually a blast. There were belly dancers and magicians and a band and they served us some of that delicious tea. They brought almost everyone on stage (or in the middle) at one point or another to dance with them. It was very interactive and entertaining. The next day, Friday, was another travel day. This was a traumatic day for me because we had to pee in the wilderness, not just once...but twice. Few things in life make me cry, but squatting to pee in front of a whole bunch of strangers in the middle of a fairly open area...that could be one of them. The first place we stopped was at least somewhat of a forest. But the second place we stopped...it was pretty darn wide open. Anyway, we took the bus to this Oasis, which was really pretty because it was the desert but then it was also full of palm trees so it kind of looked like a jungle. We stopped above to look at the view and then drove into the Oasis where the bus dropped us off. We were walking through the "jungle" when all of the sudden there was this building. And this is where we ate lunch. It was so weird because we were literally in the middle of nowhere. It was a nice place and it had wifi which was funny because everyone was desperate to get on their phones. I personally loved not having my phone the entire trip. And because 130 people were trying to use the wifi, it stopped working anyway. After that, we took jeeps into the desert. This was actually one of my favorite parts because there was only about six of us per jeep and we were all "four-wheeling" through the desert. It was an hour drive and it was dark out so you just saw 20 jeeps' headlights in this wide open space that was the desert. Then, we were pleasantly surprised when we got to our campsite. It was much nicer than we expected. There were about 5 toilets, and a huge tent where we ate our food, and then tents to sleep in with little mattresses and a tiny pillow. The sand was gorgeous. I had just learned how much I didn't like beaches because of the annoying sand, but this sand was different. It was full moon so we could see quite well and we just sat on top of a dune and let the sand run through our fingers. At dinner, there was a live "band" playing and a guy who was insanely good at the drums. After dinner, the band needed a break so they asked if there were any musicians in the room. Two guys who knew how to play guitar got up there and started playing some John Mayor. We all just sat around singing for a couple hours. It was great. I actually ended up getting in bed pretty early that night because they told us they were going to wake us up for the sunrise the next morning at 5:45am. And that they did. We watched the beautiful sunrise over the desert and it wasn't as cold as I thought it would be which was even better. Did I go back to bed after the sun came up? I sure did. Later that morning, was the camel ride. This was another favorite part of the trip. I named my camel Alibaba. We were a part of a smaller group of four which was nice since you can imagine how crazy it is to have 130 students on camels. We rode for about half and hour and then ended up at this massive dune. Kellie (me) thought it would be a great idea and "easier" to run up the dune. Um, yeah...so I made it up fast, but am pretty sure I almost had an asthma attack at the top. But, it was worth the view. Don't you worry. Might not have been worth almost dying, but I didn't die, so yay. After taking lots of pictures, we went down the dune which is so much better than climbing up. Some people chose to just roll down, but I just enjoyed wading through the lovely sand between my toes, which wasn't hot like beach sand but was perfectly fine and soft. We then rode our camels again to a small town and went to a hotel-type thing with an outdoor pool. I had brought my swimsuit but it was nowhere near hot enough for me to want to jump in that freezing water. I enjoyed a nice beverage (soda) by the pool while dipping my feet in and that was perfect for me. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful except for, late that night, the weather was amazing. I was in shorts and a jacket but was perfectly comfortable sitting on a dune. Well, my friend Kelly and I were just chatting and these Moroccan men came up to us. And they sat with us and talked with us for probably more than an hour, but it was great. These "nomads" are crazy because they can speak 4-5 languages...but the even more incredible part is how they learn them. They learn them solely from having conversations with tourists. And they say they have broken English/Spanish/whatever, but it is really good. We had a genuinely great conversation and they told us jokes and made us laugh and it was fun. And that's what they do. They have a great conversation with you and then they try to lure you further into the desert or try to hold your hand and that's when you decide it's time to go to bed. The next morning was a failed attempt to see the sunrise. We did get up to check, but it was super cloudy so we decided it was more worth it to sleep. We had another long day of traveling ahead. We made one cool stop in the "Cedar Forests" or something like that to see the monkeys. They were very similar to the monkeys we had seen in Gibraltar, where they aren't friendly and they are massive. We got some fun pictures, though. Then, that night we stayed at a hotel in Meknes. I wish I could have explored this city some, because it was the biggest and 'most popping' city we had been to, especially after two nights in the desert, but I had no energy and it was late by the time we arrived. That night, dinner was the best meal I had had the entire trip. So, let's talk food for a second. They tell you not to eat anything not cooked or any fruit unless it has a peeling. So all the meals/food we ate was couscous (which is gluten and I'm nots supposed to eat but I didn't realized that until later) or rice, meat, vegetables, and cuties/bananas for desert, and bread of course (which I also can't eat). And for breakfast, it was pretty much all pastries and maybe a hard-boiled egg. Then, you also are not supposed to drink water, brush your teeth with water, or anything like that. You could only have bottled water. Well, this was all very challenging for me so I hardly ate or drank anything all week. And I did end up eating some gluten for breakfasts because I was so hungry. So, I guess that was the worst part...there is a lot of elegant and delicious food in Morocco that could be gluten free, but I didn't get that experience. I think part of it was also because all our meals were buffets because there were so many of us, so that was unfortunate, too. But anyway, back to the dinner on the last night...it was really good. It wasn't a buffet (for once) and they served us steak, mashed potatoes, and vegetables. Mm, mm. But then, the next morning was all pastries again, so darn. But then that Monday, was another long day of traveling. And we had no stops for actual food, just snacks. So that day, I had a croissant and hard boiled egg and some tea for breakfast, potato chips and soda for lunch, and a cutie and some gluten-free crackers for dinner. I was hangry (hungry+angry) by the time I got home, for sure. I got back to Seville around 10:30pm, and it was a whole other world. When I had left the Wednesday before, the weather was cooler in the nights/mornings, but it was still fairly warm. And the days were hot. No, when we arrived back in Spain...it was FREEZING. Fall has finally arrived.

So that was my trip to Africa. I've had tons and tons of people ask me how it was and my best response is: "It was an adventure." I'm so thankful I went because I think it was an opportunity I never will have again. I already appreciate it much more than I did during my time there. But I am glad to be back in Spain and it felt good to be "home." The next day, Tuesday, I had to jump right back into things with teaching at the bilingual school in the morning, class afterwards, and then tutoring later. I'm telling you--you probably won't believe me--but I was a whole different person on Tuesday. I was so motivated to be healthy. I figured since my stomach had shrunk from not eating all week, I would keep my stomach that size and just eat smaller portions. I also was motivated to run 4 times a week and workout. It was a busy Tuesday, but even my host mom thought I was a whole new person. I forced my roommate to go on a run with me and do a hard workout after. My garmin watch said we burned 600 calories. I was just in the best mood...until--dun, dun, dun (dramatic sound effect)--after dinner on this past Tuesday night (the 7th). My stomach started hurting really bad and I couldn't figure out why. I felt nauseous, like I could throw-up. I decided to just go to bed and hope that I would feel better in the morning. Well, that didn't go well. I was super sick all day on Wednesday. I had to stay close to a bathroom, and whenever I stood up, or even sat up, I had to take deep breaths to keep from throwing-up from the stomach pain. I forced myself to go to class because I had two quizzes and I wasn't about to go to the doctor just to get a note to excuse me from class. The only funny part about this day is my Sports Psych professor told me I have the perfect voice after I answered a question of his. How complimentary that my voice is smooth and coaxing, confident and affirming, (because I guess those are the traits in your voice that you need if you are a psychologist), even though I'm very sick. After my classes, I tried to go to lunch and eat but that was a terrible idea. The rest of the night I spent in bed, curled up in a fetal position. I didn't go to dinner and just decided to rest and avoid food as much as possible. I talked to my mom for a couple hours, which was great but made me wish she was with me. Talk about missing your mom--I have never wished harder for a teleportation system. I finally was able to sleep for a few hours and felt a little better...until I stood up. Then I was doubled over in stomach pain again. I didn't know if I just had the stomach flu, or if it was something I ate, or something from Morocco, or the gluten. I think it was probably a mix from everything though, to be honest. However, my stomach felt super inflamed so I am almost certain eating so much gluten had a lot to do with it. I have decided that if it comes to eating gluten or starving, I'd rather starve if it keeps me from feeling like I did on Wednesday. Which, technically is better for your intestines anyway when you have celiacs. It's just a difficult thing to avoid gluten when you are in Africa, especially since I was in such a big group. Well, Thursday came around, and I made myself go to class again. I only had one class which was good and then I finally told my host mom I wasn't feeling well so she fixed me "un vaso de caldito" (a cup of broth) for lunch, which reminded me of my grandma's amazing chicken-noodle-soup, just without the noodles. Then, she started giving me tons of instructions and was thoroughly concerned and helping me in any way she could. Thursday was so much better than Wednesday, but my stomach was still shaky so she told me not to eat any solid foods for awhile. I think I was pretty hungry though, because I hadn't really eaten since Tuesday night, and so my stomach was growling a lot. Well--I wanted to be healthy. I guess this was just a part of my diet. Friday, I didn't have any plans which is almost worse because then I just want to lay around all day. I told myself I have an excuse because I'm sick, but I'm not as sick as I was on Wednesday, so is that really an excuse? My roommate got really sick though and was throwing up. Maybe she was having sympathy pains for me... My friend from Denver who is studying in Salamanca ended up visiting Sevilla Friday night so I finally decided to take a shower and go out to meet her in centro (downtown). I felt so much better after taking a shower and getting ready. I had eaten lunch too, but I think it was a little too heavy for my stomach. Anyway, I met her and her friends, and Mary Jo met us too, and we went to a rooftop bar to look out over the city as the sun went down. It was beautiful. Then after, we went "tapa bar hopping" in Triana, which is a pretty neighborhood on the other side of the river. It was a great time catching up with Lauren. We had so much to talk about. Well, then I got home and woke up on Saturday feeling awful. My roommate felt awful too, so we decided to just watch movies in bed all day. I tried to eat some lunch but it didn't feel right. So we laid in bed and stopped eating the rest of the day. I finally realized that my stomach was swollen so I called my parents--who were enjoying a nice lunch at Olive Garden (jealous)--and they did some research. You gotta love your parents. So they ended up concluding that because I ate so much gluten last week, my intestines were super swollen which was stopping the food from digesting properly so my stomach just kept getting bigger and bigger because my digestive valve isn't working properly or something like that. Anywho, just not good stuff and so today is now Sunday and I am thankful I feel better, but I can still tell my stomach is swollen. My roommate asked me how far along I was in my pregnancy. 😅 That makes a girl feel good...but I can at least get some work done today hopefully! On the road to recovery I'm praying... but I think my stomach has also shrunk by now since I really haven't eaten normal in two weeks (since before Africa) so, my host mom keeps saying, "Es tu dieta" (it's your diet). Because I had told her when I got back from Africa I needed to eat healthy to recover. Little did I know how true that was. I am just so very thankful that out of all the weekends, this was the one where I got sick because this is my last weekend in Seville until finals. God takes care of me always. :)

So back to a normal class schedule this week and then I have Portugal this weekend, Italy for Thanksgiving, Amsterdam after that, and Valencia to conclude my travels before finals. Ahhh! Well, thank you all for reading and hope you all are doing very well. It's getting closer to me coming home and I can't wait to see all of you! It's almost the Holiday season with Thanksgiving right around the corner. Have a fabulous week and I will talk to y'all soon. Hasta luego!

P.S. I am adding a few photos here, but there are tons more from Africa on Facebook!!