URRRRGH.

28 hour trip = made of epic fail.

Tuesday, just after noon: After getting lost in the parking deck at Logan, we get into the terminal so I can check in. We took our time because, hey, my flight didn'tlleave for another two hours. We stand in line to check my bags and suddenly the woman is changing my flight to the one that's currently boarding and leaves in less than half an hour. This, of course, leaves me with all of five seconds to say goodbye to my parents as I run to security and then to the gate. In tears, mind you. I'm sure I looked pretty awesome. I was a wreck the entire flight to Newark.

The flight to Newark was scheduled to be 1 hour and 50 minutes. The flying itself took about 46, and the rest was spent chilling on the runway in Logan and circling above Newark. Jeez. The Newark airport is a gigantic pain in the butt, and it took the opportunity to let me know I had blisters from my sneakers. Awesome. Luckily I had my flip flops in my carryon and I was able to squish the sneakers in. The flight to Rome wasn't so awful. I watched Star Wars (even though I almost fell asleep by the end). [EDIT: Wow I'm dumb. I watched Star Trek, not Star Wars.] I didn't have anyone next to me. There was a guy I wanted to punch in the face because he threw a hissy fit over not getting to sit with his friends. By "guy" I mean he had to be at least 40 and by "hissy fit" I mean he was yelling and swearing at not only the flight attendants but also at other passengers. Yeah. Awesome. Oh, and the little kid in the row behind me kept throwing up.

The airport in Rome was also a huge pain in the butt. Getting through security was ridiculous. The airport itself was yucky. And I was one of those annoying people they have to page because the aircraft was almost done boarding. I'd been standing at the gate the whole time, but the woman had announced that business and first class passengers would board first, then economy class. So naturally I'm waiting for her to announce, "Okay, economy class now." There were still plenty of people sitting in the waiting area so I didn't think anything of it. Then she announced my name and two others. Whoops. And of course this is one of those crazy European airports where you have to take a bus from the gate to the acutual plane. But people still hadn't finished boarding by the time we got there, so it was okay. That doesn't mean I didn't feel like an idiot anyway. The plane was almost half empty, so I got my own row. I slept most of the flight. The food was awful. I think I got maybe 5 hours of sleep total between the two flights.

When I got to Casablanca, SURPRISE my luggage didn't get there. Not just mine, but half the people on the flight. They didn't explain why, just took a ridiculously long time to fill out claim forms. And they don't deliver luggage here like they do in other countries. I was ready to kill something because I did NOT want to make the 5 hour trip again (each way) to get my bags. But when I told the guy where I was going he said they'd send them to Fes, which is about an hour away from here.

As a result of my bags being lost, I had about three minutes to get to the train. I decided to forgo stopping at an ATM for cash because I didn't want to waste time. Oh surprise, they don't take credit cards. So by the time I went back through security, went back up to the ATM, and came back down, the train was gone. Which means I had to wait an hour for the next one and miss the connecting train I wanted, meaning I'd get into Fes an hour and a half after I was supposed to. Oops. Called the school to change my pickup time. And cried again out of sheer frustration. Because I am that awesome.

So there I am, silly white girl sitting on the floor in the middle of the train station, crying, on the phone. And then on the train. At no point was I ever sobbing or anything, not even leaving Boston, but I was sniffly and teary and obviously upset. An older woman and her adult son sat across from me and offered me a kleenex. Aww. We talked in French for a little while (why was I upset? Did my boyfriend leave me? [HA.] Was I crying just because I was in Morocco?). It was hard to understand the woman because the train was super loud and she had a bit of an accent. They were nice though, so I appreciated it.

That train ride was 35 minutes. They don't announce the stops like they to in the US and Europe, you just have to hope you can see the sign for the station from where you're sitting. I managed to get off at the right stop, though, and find my next train (4 hours!!). It was a little awkward at first because it was a train with compartments like in Harry Potter, and apparently you just go and sit in whatever compartment you can find space in. I stood in the hallway for a little, amazed by a sketchball who didn't understand that my pointedly ignoring him meant "go away plzkthx." One guy getting off the train was like "Hey you can sit in there where I was." So I did. And then even though I was pretty sure my stop was the last one of the train but I was afraid to fall asleep anyway. I wound up sleeping for like 10 minutes at a time before jolting awake thinking I'd missed something. Not fun.

Finally at Fes, I met up with the Student Ambassador who was picking me up, and happily ran into Laura, the other girl who's here on the Boren Scholarship, and a guy named Steve. Hour long ride from Fes to Ifrane. They drive CRAZY here. Not as bad as Turkey, I don't think, but still pretty bad. Or at least there are fewer cars on the road so it doesn't seem so bad. Got to campus. Laura and I are in the same building, yay! The rooms are HUGE, even for two people. We have a milion and a half drawers, and an actual closet, and our own bathroom! For the two people. I'm kind of excited, because I was expecting to share with a lot more. I guess we lucked out being in the newest dorm. I haven't met my roommate yet because continuing students haven't moved in, but I hope things work out. The longest I've had a roommate was 10 weeks, I think? But we had an entire apartment and Renée is pretty awesome anyway, so that was a leeetle bit different from being here for a year. Pictures will come soon, anyway.

So dinner yesterday was a little disappointing. We can't tell yet if the food is always like that or not because it's Ramadan so the vast majority of people on campus aren't actually eating when we are. Between last night and today I met so many people though. I can't remember names or anything, but hey. So far everyone has been really nice and awesome. Orientation today was boring, as orientations tend to be. Only three more days of it, yay! We get to register in the morning, huzzah. I need to try to change one of my classes. More on that later.

So the travelling here was miserable, but the being here so far is pretty awesome. Turning out different from my trip to France, but I'm totally okay with that. I broke six nails during my travels, and normally I wouldn't care except they're all broken at crazy angles and both my nail clipper and nail file are safely packed away in my suitcases. Typing is actually difficult as a result. Awesome.

No pictures yet. Maybe later. Maybe when I have clean clothes and don't think I smell funny when I go out in public.