Recap: Morocco

So as the past few posts have demonstrated, I was really not a fan of being in Morocco by the end of the semester. The problem wasn't with Morocco itself so much as the stupid school. If it were in a city somewhere it would have been much more bearable, because there would have been things to do. Ifrane was really quiet, really small, and really far away from everything, to the point that you had to take a 1-hour taxi ride just to get to a train station. And AUI was also so small and closed in and nothing happened. Having been at VCU and Savoie, where everything is wide open, I found AUI really suffocating at the end.

The food in Morocco was pretty good, the sights I saw were great. I could/should have done more travelling but that's a moot point right now I guess. I would like to go back some day, if only to take a week or two and see everything I didn't see. It's harder when you only have a weekend and everything is so far apart and you have to get back to your home in the middle of nowhere. At best you have maybe a day to see things, and you have to spend most of the weekend travelling and you wind up spending a lot of money on food and hotels and whatever. If I could just go back and plan on seeing it all and spending that money I've be perfectly happy. And I could speak French, fusha, and darija and get lower prices. =P And know where to look for the cheaper stores, restaurants, etc.

I know I complained a lot about it but I think it was more out of pent up frustration than anything. Even getting out of Ifrane for a few hours to go to Fes or something was a good time, which leads me to think that really it was just Ifrane and being stuck at AUI. I don't think I'd want to live in Morocco for an extended period of time. I could do it, but nowhere did I ever look around and think "Yeah, I could live here." I've felt that way about France and right now I kinda think that about Amman. Morocco just never hit me that way and I couldn't tell you why.

It's strange. When I left France I wished I'd decided to spend a year there instead (not at Chambéry, of course, but had I spent a year there I'd likely have spent it at a different school); when I left Morocco I wished I'd only done a semester. But then again, some of the people who left AUI at Christmas said they wished they were staying. First semester was a lot of fun so who could've known I'd get so tired of it? Ah well.

I know I could have travelled more. A lot more. But I also don't like doing tourist things, so that cuts out a lot of what there was to do. I'd rather find things off the beaten path, so to speak. Like hiking in Chefchaouen. That was infinitely more fun than just going to Chaouen and hanging out for a day/weekend. I actually didn't even like the town for the few hours we were there. So yeah, if I had the time to spend there on my own I'd probably like it more.

Okay at this point I'm just rambling it seems. Cutting this off here before I start repeating myself even more. Yalla bye bye!

Ancient Ruins! Moroccan Edition

So this post is a long time coming, especially considering how short it's going to be. But sometime in April (?) Patti and I went to Volubilis, an ancient Roman city outside of Meknes. It was a pretty cool place. Getting there was kind of anti-climactic though. I'd been wanting to go since the beginning of the semester, so there was a huge buildup of excitement and anticipation. Once I finally got there it wasn't as awesome as I'd expected. :( It was still cool, but I think I build it up in my head. Having gone to the ruins in Turkey didn't help very much, because they were so much more epic.

That said, Volubilis is pretty much just the foundations of a bunch of houses, plus two big gates and some random walls. Not very well preserved. Some of the buildings had mosaics as floors and those were roped off but were still easily accessible so they're a little worn down. I'm glad I went, but it's not something I'd jump at the chance to go back to. Ah, well.

Photos

I. Hate. Morocco.

So my plan was to be in Madrid right now, working on posts about the second half of the semester during my 11-hour layover. Where am I actually? In the airport in Casablanca. Still. Why? Because people who work for Royal Air Maroc are idiots. There are better words to use for them, but this is a family-friendly environment.

I got here at like 1 this afternoon after sharing a van with another girl. Her flight isn't til tomorrow but we had to be out of the dorms today so she was going to spend the night here anyway. So we pretty much sat around waiting for check-in for my 6:15 flight to open. By 6 it hadn't actually opened. There was nothing on the departure boards or anything at all. I asked at the information desk if it was late and the woman told me yes, it was leaving at 7:15 now. So I wait. And I call Natalie by accident because somehow her number was saved in my phone as "Mom." Okay. And then I got really confused, and then I really called Mom. And while I'm talking to her, the check-in desk gets posted so I hang up on her and grab my stuff and run. And wait. And once it's my turn to check in, the woman tells me that my ticket is not in the system because I booked with Iberia. It was a codeshare flight run by Royal Air Maroc. Okay, whatever. So I have to go talk to the manager guy, who fixes it in no time. I go back to check in and not only the lady whom I talked to first but also three other agents all get up and leave their desks. Apparently their shifts were over?

At this point it's like 6:25. I stand there looking exasperated in a line with no agent, and another passenger comes over and starts asking me where I'm going and when and whatever. And he takes my passport and receipt and hands it to the nearest attendant (they were playing musical desks, too; the two who were left kept running around from one desk to another) and tells him I need to be checked in because my flight is leaving soon. The guy comes over, freaks out over my bags (two of them, which I am actually allowed but he was apparently unaware) because they're too heavy (which they're not), runs around and says he needs a supervisor or something. Then when he finally figures out what's going on, he tells me he can't check me in because the system already closed it and the plane is boarding and it's too late. And I should wait 5 minutes til the supervisor comes back. The supervisor comes back twenty minutes later, during which time I've been standing at the check-in desk crying and therefore being stared at by RAM employees and passengers alike. And in the meantime there's a woman loudly berating another attendant in darija and a little French because something similar happened to her and she missed her flight as well. That was fun.

Attendant man takes me into the supervisor's office, supervisor looks at the flight on his computer and tells me there's nothing they can do because the plane has already left. It's 6:50 at this point. I told him two different people told me it was leaving at 7:15 so why has it already left, and he shrugs at me. Attendant man tells me the next RAM flight to Madrid leaves at 9 am. Which is great, considering my Madrid-London flight was scheduled to leave at 7. Then he says I can fly to Heathrow with them instead, except I'd be landing at the exact time my flight to Boston should leave. And then he says it's okay, I should just call British Airways and tell them to hold the plane for me til I get there. Uh... yeah. I'm sure they'll be happy to. I'll get right on that.

So I go to the RAM ticket agency, while on the phone crying to Mom. She calls Iberia while I'm in there. The guy is a complete tool and is incredibly patronizing. He tells me- tells me- "Oh you missed it because you were late." This after I've explained to him that I was watching the boards for two hours and ran to the counter as soon as it was posted. And the entire story. And he still tells me it must be my fault. I can buy a flight to Boston through JFK on RAM if I want, but I have to pay for it. Or I can go to the Iberia desk and work it out, but they're closed til tomorrow. Or, okay, he can try to call Iberia for me and arrange something, but first I have to call and make sure I can change my British Airways tickets. And I just stared at him and asked if he were serious. And repeated that this is not my fault. And he still doesn't care. It's not their fault either and they're not going to pay for it. So I was like, fine I'll go call British Airways. And he tells me that first I need to "settle down" because I'm "too emotional." Gee, ya think? After I've been sitting there crying and telling him I've been here since August and I just want to go home and I have no money with which to buy a new ticket. (Exaggeration? Maybe. But it probably would have helped were I dealing with someone who had a soul.) This guy was an enormous jerk and no help whatsoever.

So I call Expedia and they tell me I need to deal directly with BA. I don't think they really understood my problem either; they kept telling me I hadn't missed my flight (from Madrid) because it wasn't leaving til tomorrow morning. I called BA, got a 5-minute spiel about how disappointed they are that the union is striking and here's what to do, and then the call ends. I have no idea what happened. Mom called me right then anyway, and said the women at the Iberia call center could see, on her computer, that I had gone to the right place and tried to check in. Are you kidding me?? Lots of crying and angering later, and after finding out it would cost $2k to change my BA flights, I have a ticket home through Paris tomorrow because Mommy and Daddy love me. I'm supposed to leave here at 7:50 am, have a 2-hour layover in Charles de Gaulle, and get home at 3:05pm, which is only 1.5 hours after I was initially supposed to be there.

I have another ticket home leaving here on Thursday at like 1:45 am and I was ready just to stay here til then. Which is a really depressing thought. Ugh. But I should be home in 19 hours now. Insha'allah. British airports are now closed from 1am to 7am because of ash. Hopefully Paris won't close at least until I get there. If I get stuck in Paris, so be it. At least it won't be Morocco.

Bah.

I hate this school. I can't wait to get out of here. It's Friday of the week before finals and the internet is down across campus. Wireless and wired. I have a paper due Monday and one due a week from tomorrow and surprise, I can't get anything done because I can't do research. Granted I have some books from the library but those only go so far because they only mention my topic in passing. I can't even make productive use of my time right now and pack or clean my room or something because it's after 1pm and my roommate is asleep. All she ever does is sleep and it's ridiculous. She'll disappear late in the afternoon or evening and not come back til 3 am (or later), make as much noise as she possibly can, and then sleep until well into the afternoon. She complains that she's doing badly in her classes and can't afford to repeat any of them, but she never goes to class. It's ridiculous. I'm so sick of this place and all of the idiot people who populate it. I'd like to say this wasn't an awful choice but now that I'm at the tail end of it, I don't know if I can honestly say that.

The hilarious part is that AUI is supposed to be the best university in Morocco. If that's the case, no wonder the country can't figure out up from down. AUI students are supposed to be the best and brightest but it's all a joke. They're more worried about the clothes they're wearing (if you can call them clothes) and having the newest (fake) designer purse or about going out to the (seriously awful) clubs in Ifrane and picking up guys/girls.

I'm not going to feel guilty anymore about not liking it here. I think we all feel that way. Morocco is great, but you know what? My day-to-day routine does not involve Morocco, it involves the stupidity of this school. When you tell people you're studying in Morocco they're all like, “You're going to have a great time! It's so exotic! You're going to learn so much about the culture and the people and it's going to be great and you're going to remember it for the rest of your life!” and all kinds of other things that make you feel like you have to like it. And you know what? I don't. I HATE this school. And this school makes up most of my Moroccan experience. So no, I'm not enjoying it here. And if I remember it it will largely be because it's so horrible. The internet is entirely unreliable and doing any kind of work is a challenge because you never know if it's going to cut out on you. Skype is a joke; what kind of phone call is it when you have to reconnect every three minutes? The library has the most ridiculous hours; it doesn't open til noon on Saturday (then closes at 6) and 2pm on Sunday. When they say it closes at 6, they mean they start kicking people out at 5:40 so they can leave at 6 if not before. Books are never where they should be. And even though finals don't end til next Saturday? All books are due back on Tuesday and can't be checked out after that date. And yes, they're serious. Not to mention that no one seems to understand the concept of being quiet in a library. Talking on the phone is not ever a quiet thing. Even the staff aren't quiet. There's almost no point in going, except since we can only check out SIX books at once, it's generally all but required to sit there and collect a pile of books if you want to get anything done. And then you have to hide them or recollect them the next day if you don't finish with them. It's awesome.

The food is barely worth talking about. It goes without saying that college food is low quality, but this place is sub-par. None of the food has any nutritional value (the vegetables are mush) and a good bit of it is fried. On the weekends they close two of the restaurant options, leaving us to choices of fried things or more fried things. There's no variety at all and when there's fruit, it looks rotten. What's the point?

The health center is anything but. They don't listen when you tell them what symptoms you have, insist that you have some other ailment, and if they give you medication at all they pull it out of a drawer full of medicines, give you a sheet of pills without telling you what it is or why you're supposed to take it, and tell you to come back only after you've finished the medicine if you've not gotten better. I'm pretty sure I'm anemic right now, and when I went to the health center after spring break they gave me a steroid “to fight fatigue”and told me to come back in ten days. And by steroid I mean when I Googled the name of it it was actually being sold on websites that cater to bodybuilders and is used to be able to prolong your workouts and get better results. I went back and told them I wasn't taking it, and they put it right back in the magic drawer. Are. You. Serious? And the best part is I won't even know whether or not I am anemic or if it's something else til I go home because they can't even do the simple blood test here! I'd have to go to Fes early in the morning someday to get it done. And it may not be the best life choice not do get it done, but you know what? I'm not going to a hospital anywhere in Morocco. I avoid AUI's health center as much as a possibly can; there's no way I'm going anywhere near any other supposed medical institution. Not a chance.

And then there's the fact that it's so repressive. I understand that parents don't want their kids going crazy, but you know what? If they're going to be delinquents once they leave the house, the problem lies in how they were raised. Having the school act like a babysitter because your adult children don't know how to behave themselves? Not solving the problem. Especially not when there're two liquor stores, two night clubs, and bars in town that all sell alcohol to anyone (except during Ramadan and Muslim holidays, because legal trouble would ensue). So really, what's the point of barring alcohol on campus? Especially when people bring it in anyway. And this segregated dorms business is absolutely ridiculous. There are very few places on campus where you can actually hang out with friends of the opposite sex: restaurants, outside, the lobby of my building, the joke of a student center, or in the hallways of the few class buildings that happen to have chairs or couches. What people want to do behind closed doors is their business; we're all adults here. I just want to be able to go somewhere to watch a movie or something without having to drown out the noise of a dozen other people doing the same thing in the same place or worrying that we could actually be expelled because people are stuck in the middle ages. (Do I really worry about it? No. But they will actually expel you should you get caught.) And really, it should say something to the parents that when AUI started filtering the internet, the main complaint of the Facebook group against said filter was that they could no longer download or watch porn.

It's not like I thought coming to a third-world country was going to be made of rainbows and butterflies and unicorns. Of course I knew there would be restrictions to what we could do and where we could go. And I knew sexual harassment would be a problem. But when it gets to the point that we go out expecting it, that cars slowing down and driving along side us with guys yelling out the window is more an annoyance now than a cause for concern, and that a bunch of kids who couldn't have been more than 14 years old found it perfectly acceptable to badger us at a soccer game, that's when it gets absolutely ridiculous. And I know Jordan will be the same if not worse. But Morocco is supposed to be one of the most liberal countries in the MENA region. There's no reason for this other than sheer stupidity. I'm so tired of everything here.

It's 2pm now. My roommate is still asleep. And still manages to be obnoxious while sleeping. The internet still doesn't work and I'm getting sick of playing this stupid game of “will it or won't it?” The best part is that it says I'm actually connected to the network, that the speed of the connection is very good, but that there's limited connectivity. Someone explain to me how this works? I went down to the IT people thinking maybe it was just my dinosaur of a computer being temperamental. Three other girls were down there and one finally explained to me that the guy was telling them in darija that yes, the internet is down all across campus but they've identified the problem and it should be fixed by this afternoon. This was an hour and a half ago? They probably went to lunch and decided they'd fix it later. Thanks so much.

It's not helping my mood knowing that right now I should be 15 days away from graduating. I know this is my choice and that obviously there's good reason for it, because studying abroad three semesters can't really hurt my resume or whatever, but I am so. Over. School. I want to get out of here. I want to be done and move on with my life. Knowing that most of my friends at VCU are graduating in two weeks doesn't help. Nor does knowing that I could have graduated last spring. Again, this was my choice and it's for the best, but it doesn't make it any better. I'm to the point where I don't care what I get in my classes, so long as I can pass and get credit for them at VCU so I don't have to repeat them and stay a full year. Sure it bothers me that I have this attitude now, because I've always made real attempts at school and tried to do my best. Before I went to France (the grades from there are an entirely different story because VCU's system is stupid), I had two B's in chemistry and a C in calculus that I learned on my own. Everything else was an A and I was proud of it. The fact that all I care about is getting C's in my classes now is not a good thing at all. And I can't bring myself to care. I just want out of this stupid school. I have two papers and two exams standing between me and freedom and they can't get over fast enough.

I wish I could write papers as fast as I've written this 2.5-page Word document. But I've got half a page of one of my papers written so far, and I have a few books I can try to mine for information before the internet comes back, if at all. If it doesn't I swear I will destroy something. And considering it's 2:20 now, I'm also done being the conscientious roommate. My stuff needs to get packed, and if AUI won't let me use the internet to work on my papers, then I'm going to pack all my stuff and not care how loud I happen to be. I'm not planning my day around other people who do nothing but waste oxygen.

Spring Break: Moroccan Edition

Went on a school-organized trip to the Sahara. Awesome, right? Yeahhhh, not so much.

We left Saturday around 12:30-1am. There were two different trips, each going to different places in the desert. I was on the first; there were 96 people total on our trip. Yeesh. So we drove for an hour and a half, then stopped at 230... for food? Spent an hour whereever we were, with our bus parked right next to a grill, to the point that it got really smoky inside. Awesome. Drove more. Stopped in Errachidia for breakfast around 730? Drove more. Stopped in a gorge for lunch around 1130?

There was salad. With real vegetables. There are no words to express how awesome real, fresh vegetables are. Salad was followed by tasty meatball tagine, and oranges for desert. Left around 130 I think. Got to Ouarzazate and checked into our hotel around 7. It was a pretty fancy hotel. More spiffy vegetables.

Being a tool in the hotel lobby.

Sunday we left almost two hours behind schedule. I know nothing in Morocco operates on time, but really, two hours? We were on the buses for a good 45 minutes just waiting for two guys to come sauntering out of the hotel. I love Moroccans. Drove more. Stopped in Zagora for lunch. Stopped in some place that's famous for rose soaps and stuff? Most of the Moroccan students bought all kinds of stuff, while the 8 exchange students just wandered. Get to M'hammed something-or-other. Pile into SUVs for a 2-hour drive into the desert. The sun set as we were driving. It was pretty lame because it was cloudy/foggy/something-y out. :( I totally hung out the window of the SUV for a good portion of the trip. Like sat on the door and held on to the handles inside. It was awesome sauce.

Sunset

Once we got there it was dark. Very dark. Had mint tea. Had couscous for dinner. Apparently the couscous had crickets in it? That's what another table said. Either ours didn't or I didn't notice. Wandered in the desert with Clemens, Aino, Robyn, Anna-Claire, and Patti to check out the stars. We're pretty sure we found Mars. Realized that if I were lost somewhere and had to rely on stars to find my way, I would probably be lost forever. Yay, city girl. I couldn't even find the Big Dipper on my own. Wandered back. I am awesome and decided to roll down the side of a dune. Apparently came close to bashing my head on one or more rocks? And got sand in every pocket of everything I was wearing.

Robyn and our camp.

Monday morning we woke up at like 530 to go watch the sunrise. Again, cloudy/foggy, so no pretty colors. Breakfast. SUV ride back. We literally spent 13 hours max at the camp itself. 13 hours in the desert, including sleeping. Someone remind me why I paid $150 for this trip? There was no camel riding, no playing in the sand, no nothing. Get there, sleep, leave. On one hand I'm glad I can say I was in the Sahara, but for real, it was a waste of time and money.

My name in Arabic. (Just the sounds. Not the actual word for "cat.")

Guys in the desert with their camels.

So SUVs back to M'hammed. Bus from there. We were supposed to stop in Zagora for lunch, but they apparently decided not to stop since we were already behind schedule. Instead we kept driving to Ourzazate and had lunch at 3:20. So like, 8 hours after breakfast? Awesome. To say we were all cranky is an understatement. It didn't help that they were like "We are leaving at 4:20 be back then!!1!1!!" and the drivers didn't show up to even open the buses til 4:35. Kept driving. Stopped somewhere on the side of a mountain around 8-something? Kept driving. Got to Marrakech at 11pm. Pretty sure we were supposed to have been there at 7? Walked for like half an hour into the city, since we were out in the middle of nowhere. Wound up going to KFC because it was a 24-hour establishment and it was after midnight by the time we got there.

Wound up going to bed around 2 because we obviously got back to the hotel late and there were 5 of us in the room. This hotel was special. Tuesday morning we headed to the Place (Square) Jemaa el-Fna (Jemaa el-Fna being a mosque nearby). Got breakfast. Got orange juice, because there are like 50 carts there that sell fresh-squeezed orange juice for 3 Dhs.

Wandered for an hour. Got henna.

Got lunch. Wanted to get pigeon pastilla, but couldn't find anywhere that had it. :(

The square, from the balcony of the restaurant.

I made a new friend. This cost me 6 Dhs. The guy wanted 100 and I laughed at him. :)

Went back to the hotel only to leave well after we were supposed to. Bus went to Casablanca and Rabat to drop people at the train stations there. In Rabat, after a ridiculously long time sitting on the side of the road, they decided to consolidate the buses. Finally got back to AUI around 1am.

So all in all, it was a waste. We spent most of the four days on the bus. It was totally ridiculous. Totally and completely ridiculous. And the being in the desert part didn't redeem it because we hardly spent any time in the desert and didn't do anything while we were there. It's just super frustrating. Most of the exchange students last semester went to the desert on their own, but I didn't think about joining the group because hey, AUI was organizing one this semester and it would probably be better because they'd done it before. PFFT. Also I could have gone elsewhere this week, but no. Ah well. What's done is done and I can say I've been to (and slept in) the Sahara desert now, right?

Henna. Woot.

Peek-churs!

Birthday Shenanigans

Wooo. Birthday number two in a foreign country. Last weekend happened to be a 4-day weekend. I was supposed to go to Marrakech with Laura but that didn't work out, so I stayed on campus. Again. But it was okay. I got a lot of homework done. Not only caught up on homework, but got ahead. This was important for reasons to come later. =D

So on Friday of the long weekend, I went horseback riding with Lily! The horses are a lot smaller than the horses in the States. They didn't smell so funny either. I approved. My horse did not approve though. It didn't want to do anything at all. It would run like 50 feet when the guy riding with us yelled at it and whacked it, but then it would stop. It didn't respond to anything I said or did, and when I tried whacking it with a stick they guy had given me, it hit me back with its tail. Lame sauce. But it was okay, because I am totally not a horse riding person. Like, it was fun and all but I probably won't go back. Ah well.



On my actual birthday, Lily had a small party at her apartment. One of our other study abroad friends who was here last semester had his birthday that day too. We just hung out and made sad attempts at improvising Pictionary and charades. And sadly, even though the actual holiday was Saturday, no one was selling alcohol on Sunday. :( I'd have been much more annoyed if it had been my 21st birthday though. It was fantastic though; all weekend the weather had been gorgeous after like 16 days of rain and wind and COLD. Thursday-Saturday were sunny. Sunday, however, did not live up to its name. It was absolutely miserable. Rain, wind, cold, sad faces all around. When we went to get dinner I was freezing because my jeans and hoodie had gotten soaked four hours earlier when I walked to Lily's (taxis are never around when I want one) and hadn't fully dried. But I survived. Woo.



More info in the next post. >)

Horsies!

Ew. School.

This is my campus. This is what I walked to class in on the first day of school. It SNOWED. In AFRICA. Huzzah. The weather was nice for one or two days of orientation, and has been cold since. For most of the first week it snowed and/or rained off and on. The snow hasn't really stuck though, which is sad. It's been cold but not so bad since.

Classes so far don't seem so bad. My colloquial Arabic (aka Darija) started this past Tuesday, the week after classes started. Scheduling fail for the win. I'm not really a fan of having another 8am MWF, but the professor is funny so it makes up for it a little bit. I skipped a semester of Arabic and am taking Intermediate I now. It's not so bad, but I have more studying to do to catch up. My other classes are just kinda meh. Interesting in theory but so far not what I was expecting. But considering we've only had 2 weeks so far, there's time to improve. They didn't waste any time in assigning homework though. Have I mentioned I hate reading?

To procrastinate on this reading, I've been watching TV. =P I've become oddly obsessed with Glee and rewatched the 13 episodes at least twice each, some more than that. I've also been catching up on NCIS and The Big Bang Theory, and I've been watching The Mentalist in French. I couldn't find it in English, and I've not been doing anything to keep up my French so hay. Killed two birds with one stone and all that.

I'm baaaaack.

While in the terminal in Madrid, I met three other people coming to AUI. Quality conversations were had. The stupid Ryanair plane was an interesting experience, to put it nicely. I hope not to fly with them again, but that will depend on what I do for spring break, I guess. Once we landed at the Fes "Airport" we had to wait an hour for another new student to come, then headed up Mount Doom. Longest ride of my life, I swear.

Once at AUI we got dinner, parted ways, unpacked, etc. I slept til 1pm. And spent the day studying Arabic. Got about two hours of sleep and went to go take the Arabic placement test. With success, might I add. I skipped Beginner II and am currently in Intermediate I. If I'd been more on the ball and started studying earlier in the break, I probably could have made it to Intermediate II, but oh well. All of the new international students were in orientation all day, so I spent the rest of the weekend doing pretty much nothing, to the point where I almost wished classes had already started so I'd have something to do. Who does that??

End of the Semester, OR Epic Travel Fail

So my first semester in Morocco ended pretty well. The first Saturday in December we went to Fes again and people finished up their souvenir shopping. Then we went to Kai Tai again, yum. At some point before I leave Morocco for good, I will acquire a camel burger and something with pigeon in it. Possibly rabbit as well, but you can get rabbit elsewhere so that's not too high on my list.

Following that weekend was the last week of classes. It was lame because everyone was working on papers or studying for exams or doing dumb clearly unimportant things related to school. Nothing major happened that week or the following week. Wednesday of finals week I decided to be awesome and pull an all-nighter when I had no real reason to. Sure, we were leaving for Egypt on Thursday and I hadn't finished packing yet, but hey. That night I did put the finishing touches on a paper I had to turn in before I left; finish a scholarship application; clean my room; put away laundry; and start packing. My roommate came back around 5am and went to bed, so I took my computer and went down to the lobby of my building and watched TV for two hours. Went back up, got ready, got breakfast, went to Lily's thesis defense at 9am. And by 9am I mean everyone was there except for one important guy so it started at like, 930? 940? Some ridiculously late time that we all half-expected, I'm sure, but you can't take the chance and show up late to something like that. Lily did well and graducated. Yay. So I went and finished packing. Got lunch. Was sad. Went to Casablanca to fly away. Woo.

For the semester I pulled 4 A's and a B. Am a little disappointed by the B, but the final exam was 35% of the final grade, so I'm guessing even though I think I did fairly well, it wasn't well enough because of the crazy weight of the exam. Oh well.

So about that Egypt trip. We left AUI half an hour later than we were supposed to. Took a 4-hour cab ride to Casablanca. Sat in the airport for 3.5 hours. Didn't sleep a whole lot. Got to Cairo at like 630am Cairo time/ 430am Morocco time. My debit card decided not to work in the airport at any of the three ATMs I tried. Two friends of Mia's friend picked us up. (I think. I was never clear on the relationship.) We drove around trying to find a cheap hostel to stay at because due to even more epic lack of communication, we found out Tuesday that we couldn't stay at the apartment we were supposed to stay at. (We left on Thursday.) Wound up going to a hotel that was $80 (yes, US dollars) per night and totally not worth half that, even though we'd passed other cheaper hotels. Found out my credit card wasn't working either (though neither was Mia's, so I think it was the hotel's card reader. Luckily we had cash to cover the hotel room). Drove around more and got food. Went back to the hotel, sorted out my bank things, and called Mom while the other two girls napped. I'd intended on sticking it out a week to see if it got any better, but while on the phone I decided I was just done with everything and was going to come home. Epic frustration from many directions and mounting tension just killed whatever enthusiasm I'd had for the trip. The only thing I regret about leaving (other than the epic pricetag) is the fact that I was in Egypt and didn't see anything worth nothing. I'm not worried because I'm quite sure I'll be back, whether as a tourist or for my job in the future. It's just lame knowing I went, but spent 22 of my 28 hours there in the airport.

'Bout that. There were two indirect flights leaving that evening that I wanted to try to get on, but I couldn't find the sales offices for the airlines in question in the crazy setup of the airport and it was too close to departure time to buy them online. Mom wound up booking me a flight that left at 10am the next day. I'd gotten to the airport around 130pm. Commence epic spending the night in the airport again. There was no hassle or anything, just a lot of boredom. 12-hour flight to JFK the next day. Get through customs with 2 hours til my flight to Boston, only to find out that every. single. flight. has been cancelled. But I'd been rebooked on a flight 26 hours later. Great, another night in another airport. I was okay with it, but I was talking to other people in the terminal and it seemed that everyone, no matter where they were going, was stuck until Tuesday or Wednesday at the very earliest. So naturally I started doubted whether or not I'd really be flying on Sunday. Called Amtrak; they were delayed but still running. Took a 45-minute ride on the NYC subway to Penn Station. Got a ticket on a train to Boston literally 5 minutes before it pulled in. (Thanks to the two people in front of me who let me cut them in the epic line.) Finally got to Boston at 130 am Sunday, having left Ifrane at 930am EST Thursday. Fail? Fail. (Turns out that flight from JFK did actually fly. But I was home by then so it was a moot point.)

I have mixed feelings about being home. I was really excited for Egypt initially, but as it got closer to go time it just got more and more frustrating as things started falling apart. So I'm disappointed about that not working out. Also disappointed because in retrospect I think I'd have been okay staying in Morocco alone. Or I could have talked to other people about it, because I know at least two other people didn't go home over break. It's not that I don't enjoy being home, but this wasn't the plan so I'm not really happy about it. I did realize that it's a good thing, though. I needed a break. Not so much a change of scenery, but a break from the people. At VCU I at least get to come home once a semester, either for Thanksgiving or spring break, and get away from everyone there. Not so much at AUI, where it's so small you see the same people pretty much every day, and of course I hung out with all the same people, and there's nowhere to escape up there because we're on the top of a mountain. Yeah.

So there's the end of my year. Hopefully this coming year includes just as many, if not more, epic happenings. But maybe fewer weird injuries. But now I'm 2 for 2 in getting hurt while studying abroad, so I almost feel like it will be a letdown if nothing happens this semester. We'll see. =)

There Will Be Blood

Hopefully, anyway.

This coming weekend is Eid al-Adha, the biggest holiday of the year. [Educate yourselves.] We have Thursday-Monday off. Whee. I've been told that blood runs through the streets when they kill the sheep. However, when I asked my roommate about it she said she's never seen that, and that people usually do it on the roof of their house. I'm hoping that if we stay in a medina or something somewhere we'll get to see it.

The plan as of right now is to spend a night in Marrakech and then a few nights in Essaouira. Maybe Agadir as well? We should probably nail this down considering it's a huge holiday and whatever. Ah, well. We're in Morocco. We're polychronic. We'll figure it out.

In other news, have some photos of Ifrane. The first chunk is campus. The last 4 are at the souk, which is pretty much a huge market. That has everything. Yes, even the kitchen sink. The picture of the park is a playground just built by the National Initiative for Human Development. Hence the title about developing humans. We're punny.

Now that I've spent two hours writing three posts and uploading an obscene number of photos and completely ignoring my homework... it's bedtime! Whee!

24 days til Egypt. 24 days til everyone leaves. Sad kitten is sad.

Welcome to Morocco, Land of the Flying Fences.

Last Saturday (the 14th) was a World Cup qualifying match between Morocco and Cameroon. Guess who went? Oh yeah. Took a grand taxi to Fes with Andrew, Ben, Ally, and Annemarie Saturday morning to watch the game.

But first, we passed a Japanese tour bus in Ifrane. Ben was really excited.

We were let off in the centre ville and walked to the medina. It wound up being something like half an hour. Which is nothing when you hiked 9 hours in two days the previous weekend. But that's beside the point.

So not too long after we leave the taxi station and as we're walking through downtown, we're crossing a street. Which is dangerous in and of itself. I decide it's safer to walk on the sidewalk than in the street. Usually a good idea. Not a good idea when said sidewalk consists of wet cement.

I laughed about it the entire day.

I stepped up onto the sidewalk, sank into it a little, put my other foot down like a fool, screeched, and jumped back into the street. Ally and I laughed for like a block and a half. I wish now that I'd taken a photo of my shoe prints. :( And for the record, the sidewalk was not roped off and there was no warning about the cement. I guess they expect you to watch where you're walking or something. (Something Moroccans don't usually do either, but that's beside the point.)

So we found the medina, finally. After walking by a construction site and learning they're putting a Carrefour in Fes! But not til like 2011, so it's dead to me. I miss Carrefour though. But I digress. Medina. We almost got run over by a few donkeys, mopeds, and dirt trucks. Went to a restaurant. Talked to Ally's friends there. =P Waiter man decided Andrew and Annemarie were married and that he and I were siblings. I'd say it's just because we're white, but Ben was not included in the family affair. Maybe Ben was just giving off "Don't mess with me, I'm Canadian" vibes at this point. Ally was off making new friends in the restaurant. There were a bunch of guys from Cameroon there getting lunch before the game too.

Oh god, I just lost The Game.

Moving on. Party over here:

Annemarie, Me, Ben, Ally, Andrew

Post-lunch (mmm, tajine!) we went souvenir shopping in the medina. I has a scarf. Ally is amazing at bargaining. Of course, after she argued with the scarf guy and got us 50 Dh scarves, we passed a stall maybe 10 feet away selling the same scarves for 20 Dh. Oh, life. I mean, it's a different of $4, but still. Wandered a little. Took turns leading and getting us lost. More souvenir shopping. Failed attempts at getting Morocco jerseys. Suddenly realized we had like an hour and a half before the game started, so we booked it out of the medina and got cabs to the stadium.

Petit taxis only take a max of three people. We had five. Clearly we had to split up. Andrew and I were the designated French speakers.

Ally: I call Cat!
Ben: I call Andrew!

...Smartest decision ever. Let's send the two boys (and Annemarie) together and me and Ally alone. This didn't really occur to anyone until Ally and I were dropped off on the other side of the stadium from everyone else. And were pretty much the only girls in sight. However, cell phones are amazing and we eventually found the others. Found out the ticket window was closed. Oops. Also found the only guy in the country who doesn't speak French. That one threw me off. But yeah. We didn't have tickets because you can't buy anything in this country online. The stadium was pretty far out of the city, so we didn't go beforehand. We figured we could buy them right before we went in because we didn't think many people would be going. Even if Morocco won they weren't going to the World Cup. We could have bought scalped tickets, but while Ally and I were wandering a soldier warned the others against buying from a scalper.

So there were fences up to keep the crowd out. At some point not long after the game started, the crowd starts rushing the fences and then they break through. So people take off running. And then run back, because the soliders are beating them back. Literally. And the cycle repeats. And then Ben joins the crowd. And tells us, "If I get arrested, it's my own fault. Don't worry about me!"

And he was never heard from again.

Okay that's a lie. But sounds more epic. He made it through. And not long after that we all got through, because they just let everyone go. Which Ben's roommate had said they would probably do in order to fill the stadium.

The game itself was actually kind of lame. It went by really quickly though. And really made me miss playing. Aww. I can't remember what the score was. It was either 2-0 or 3-0 Cameroon. Morocco did get a goal though. Some random guy got on the field carrying his own soccer ball and ran from Morocco's goal line all the way down to Cameroon's. He stopped in front of the goal and punted the ball into the net, then fell to the ground dramatically. The players and the refs just stood there and watched it happen. Cameroon's goalie wasn't even in the net. After that, while everyone was cheering, the police dragged the guy off the field and beat him. Yeah.

During the later part of the second half we made some new friends too. And by made friends I mean a bunch of young boys came over and started talking to us. Mostly in Arabic. Hey guys, let's go talk to the white people in Arabic! I'm sure they'll understand! They had a great time when they asked Ally in Arabic, "Do you speak Arabic?" and she said "La." (No.)
Then, in Arabic, "Do you speak French?"
"La."
Again in Arabic, "Do you speak English?"
"Oui."

...Well played, Ally. So they amused themselves for a good five minutes repeating that exchange. I should probably mention that in addition to being teenagers, maybe younger, (which makes them obnoxious by default), and in addition to being boys (which not only makes them more obnoxious but also means they have no respect for women), they had been huffing wood glue or something from a plastic bag. So these kids rose very quickly on the list of people I want to hurt. They had a great time babbling at us in Arabic. At some point they realized I speak French and one of them invited me to his house for couscous. And then tried to steal my sunglasses. Off my face. This country is so special.

Suddenly, when there are probably fewer than five minutes left in the game, everyone runs up to the top of the stands. Except for the confused foreigners. A soldier comes by and has us move down about ten rows. We found out later, via Ben, that the charging was to avoid getting hit by flying chairs. Because people just tear them up and throw them. Awesome. We didn't see any of this. We did see three soldiers chase someone and start beating him like three rows behind us.

So we left. And there's minor chaos going on outside. People are yelling and throwing things and running around. And there are a lot of these fences lying around from when the crowd rushed them earlier.



And people are flinging them around? Ally and I are trying to navigate our way out of the chaos before she has an anxiety attack. Andrew and Annemarie are a few feet behind us. There is metallic scraping all around us as fences are being dragged, pushed, and flung.

And OH HAI, one hits me in the leg. It was on its side, and the part that hit me was the foot of it. Right in the back of the knee. Initially I was just like "Okay wut? I got hit by a fence?" And we kept walking. Ben materialized out of nowhere. And we walked back to centre ville. Traffic was crazy and there was absolutely no way we were getting a taxi, at least not from the stadium. At some point I stopped and looked at my leg and was like "Oh hey, big angry red spot!" It was maybe six o'clock at this point. We were in search of a Japanese/Thai restaurant that some other exchange students had told us about. The first guy I asked about it looked at me funny and said it was about 5km (3.1 miles) away and that we should take a taxi. Hah. Again, the taxis were few and far between, and those that we saw were all full. So we kept walking. A lot. I asked maybe four more people where it was just to make sure we were going the right way. Yay, French.

Finally got back to centre ville. Passed the infamous wet cement sidewalk, but we couldn't find my shoe prints. There were a lot of others though. Got taxis to the restaurant. Which happens to be a semi-fancy-ish place. And we're all sweaty and gross. And my shoes have cement on them. Whee.



But oh my god the food. There are no words for how awesome this food was. I got sweet & sour something or other and I died a little when I tried it. It was actually a little sad, I think, how excited we all were over it. God it was so good though. As we were getting ready to leave another group of exchange students came in. We laughed. And then came back to Ifrane. Went out for a few drinks. Came back and got sandwiches at the cafe. Pretty much had an awesome day.

And then I took this picture.


Hahaha. I feel like I should be angry that I was hit by a fence. Or... something. I swear to god all I've done is laugh about it since it happened. And probably annoy people to death by going, "Guess what color it is today!" Although I think Mom's reaction was the best. I called her, told her to get on Skype, and then said, "Want to see something awesome?" To which she replied, "I'm afraid." [She reminded me this is pretty much how I announced my sprained wrist last semester too. I need to change my approach if I get another epic injury.]

Lastly, this photo is my leg on Monday.

None of that discoloration is birthmark. It's all bruise. I LOL'D.

Since then it's just gotten progressively yellower. Now it's yellow with a little purple around the edges. You can see where the leg of the thing hit me too. I kinda hope it scars, but I don't think it's going to anymore. Sad face. I know I'm twisted, but come on. That's an epic story. "You see this scar? Yeah, that's from when a fence attacked me. That's right. A fence."

Slideshow!

One Does Not Simply WALK into Mordor...

...One hikes there.

So Friday night, November 6th, we left campus at midnight to drive 5 hours (ish) to Chefchaouen. "We" being, me, Andrew, Ben, another American, and 11 Moroccans. The Explorers Club organized the trip. And I should correct myself, we left at 1am. Piled into an AUI van. Rolled into Chaouen at like 530 am, before the sun was out. It was fantastic. And bumpy. We had breakfast at some little cafe/sandwich shop right by where the van parked. Spent the next 5 hours wandering around Chaouen. Took pictures like this:




Chefchaouen is known for being blue. Also known for its hash. But whatever. Which isn't to say we didn't get a bunch of guys asking us if we wanted any. One guy wanted us to go to his farm 35 km away. That would have ended well, I'm sure. Great story though.

So yeah, wandered til noon. I was with Andrew and Tom the whole time. We got lunch at like 11:15 because we were supposed to meet at noon to be on our way to make sure we'd have enough daylight for the hike. Then we found that everyone else was just sitting down to lunch. At noon. We finally left Chaouen at 2pm to hike up to the place we were staying that night.

Protip: When you need AT LEAST 4 hours of daylight, likely more, and the sun goes down around 6... you don't leave at 2. But hey.

The hike kind of killed me. It was really rough at the beginning but at some point it got better. Until my leg rebelled. Earlier in the week I'd tweaked the arch of my foot doing yoga, but it hadn't really bothered me since so I figured I'd be okay. Not so much. Then my knee started bothering me too because I was walking funny. It was great.

Still pretty near the beginning of the trek.

But dude. The views from the mountain were so epic. And then we went into the Shire and Mordor. It was crazy. But like, being that high up was one thing. To be able to see it all was amazing. And at multiple points we were in the clouds. In. The clouds. As in the clouds were rolling right by us. It was ridiculous. And everything was so green and the sky was crazy colors and looking out through the clouds was just... wow. And it's kinda sad because the photos don't really do it justice. The light kept changing and it's just crazy. I was walking with Andrew and Ben and Ben's roommate for the most part, and we kept making jokes about being in Mordor and such because it really looked like that at some points. We lost the game a couple times too. There were all kinds of silly things talked about and stupid jokes and things to remember forever.

Also there was a lot of this:
"Hey guys, let's cut up the mountain!" Because we were behind everyone else. So clearly it's faster to cut up the side than follow the path. Mmyepp. It wasn't so bad, except for the time I fell and high-fived a prickly plant. Above picture is Andrew and Ben. And Ben's Canadian coat.

By the time we reached the actual top of the mountain it was completely dark. Yay. We were under the impression that once we got up we were done. Nope, there was like another 1.5 hours to go down. But there were tire tracks or something weird that had created ruts, so we had to go pretty slowly or risk death. >> Also no one had flashlights. And cell phones didn't help a whole lot. In the end we were all rescued by a Land Rover owned by the people we were staying with. That was a special ride. There were like 9 people crammed into it. It was fun.

The place we were staying turned out to be the house of the people who owned the hostel thing that we were not in fact staying at. The Explorers' Club had been trying to arrange this trip for a long time but it wasn't working out so I guess finally they were like "Can we plz stay here?" And so we stayed there. IT WAS SO COLD. I mean, up in the mountains. No electricity. Coldness. But we had lots of mint tea, and harira (Moroccan soup), and chicken tajine. All of which was really good. And then it was bedtime.

The next morning, surprise, it was still cold. We had an amazing breakfast of bread, olives, tea, awesome coffee, something else?, and some kind of honey thing that was amazing. Again we wound up leaving like two hours later than planned, but whatever. We left just before 10:30am. It got significantly less cold as we kept hiking. Which was almost sad because I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt since the weather forecast had been all "OMG COLD AND HIGH CHANCE OF RAIN." This hike seemed a lot easier. We went up and down a lot, but we stayed in a group almost the whole time because we were walking along a path that was lined by prickly bushes and was barely wide enough for one person as it was. Also there were berries. Lots of berries. That everyone decided they needed to pick from the bushes and eat. And by pick, I mean stop dead in their tracks on this narrow path on pretty steep inclines. We were not amused. The berries weren't even that good. They were weird, actually. Kind of spiky but not? Idk.

Lots of walking and trees and mountains later, we got to the village of Akchour at the end of the trail. And there was much rejoicing. And a little bit of dying. And a half hour drive back to Chaouen, where we had a delicious dinner. Yay, tajine. And salad. Nom nom nom. And then a 5-hour drive back to campus, during which we stayed awake until the last hour. Fail.

And then we had class the next day. And I'm pretty sure we all died a little every time we had to move. It was such an epic weekend though. I feel like this post is way too short for the amount of fun that was had, but most of what happened was things that you had to be there for, either because stupid things were said or done and will always be inside jokes, or because there's really no way to describe the crazy views and they way it felt to be there. Either way, epic weekend was epic, and totally worth the cold and the pain we felt later. Yay, Morocco. <3

Peekchurs!

OH HAI.

Wow. So clearly I fail at this whole blogging thing. Nothing particularly blog-worthy has happened though. Midterms were a pain in the butt but I did fine on all of them. It's funny here because everyone freaks out over midterms. Mostly because they never do the homework and then have to cram everything come exams. But hey, whatever.

We've played Trivial Pursuit so often since that first day that we know the answers to at least a quarter of the questions. It's funny when someone reads a question and everyone is like "Aw, we've had this before." I'm going to own at this game next semester when the new group of exchange students comes in. Tee hee hee.

Also, I think Pictionary is my new favorite game. We just discovered it last week. So far I've won and lost a game. It was hilarious when we won because some of our pictures had nothing to do with anything. I was highly amused. It was highly amusing. Good times all around.

Now that there's only a month left in the semester, I'm starting to do fun things. I guess I kinda fail haha. But there's always next semester. It saddens me beyond words that in a month and two days everyone will disperse and I will likely never see most of these people again. I know the same is true for my friends at VCU; a bunch have already graduated and most will graduate this year. But it's still different. I haven't been at VCU since last December. Yes it will be weird to go back and not know a lot of people, but at this point I'll be expecting it. As far as AUI goes... having spent an entire semester with awesome people and then coming back after break not to see any of them is just wrong. It's just going to be made of fail all around. :(

Moving on from that super happy topic: I'm not coming home for Christmas. When I left home initially I wasn't planning on coming home. Then I figured I would, because it sounded like everyone else was going home and I wasn't going to stay in Morocco by myself. After talking to people I changed my mind again. And now plans have changed a lot, but mine have been finalized: I'm spending Christmas in Cairo. Mia has a friend who lives there but won't be there during break and is letting us stay in his apartment. She and I will spend a full month there before coming back to Morocco, and Ally will be with us for 3 weeks before she goes back to the States. I am super excited about this. We get to go see the Pyramids. In Egypt. Wut? There will of course be trips to see all the rest of the awesome awesome things, but dude. Egypt. How much win is this made of?

I would love to continue rambling, but sadly I have homework to do. Ew. There should hopefully be two more posts this week, though, because the past two weekends have been entirely epic. Consider yourselves warned. :)

Fes

Last weekend I went to Fes/Fez with a bunch of people. The name of this city will forever bother me. In Arabic it's spelled with an "s" sound, not a "z." But I've seen it as both "Fes" and "Fez" on signs. Make up your minds, guys. Thanks.

Anyway. Friday was extremely eventful. We left at 430, right after my last class got out. And it was pouring. Hard. We took taxis from school to the grand taxi station. (There are two kinds of taxis here. Petit taxis only run within city limits. Grand taxis run between cities.) Six of us crammed into one car for the hour-long ride down the mountain to Fes. Did I mention it was pouring? At one point you couldn't see the road and you could barely see the headlights of oncoming cars. And the windows kept fogging up. It was fun. But people here are used to it, so we kept driving. Oi.

Once we got to Fes we wandered around a little trying to find a hotel. Gave up and had dinner. The coffee here is so good. *-* (I would still kill for a Dunkins or Starbucks or some other to-go coffee place.) Found a hotel. Wandered around Fes. Met up with Jonathan and Richard who, due to miscommunication (or total lack thereof) wound up with no place to stay. We had two extra spaces, so they stayed with us. We got really disappointing ice cream and went to the medina to meet up with a bunch of other AUI students who were there. After wandering around in an unsuccessful attempt to find a particular café, a bunch of us wound up at this one restaurant and basically just sat there for a while. It was funnn. Before going back to the hotel, Lena, Ally, and I went to a restaurant to get food. At like 1 am. More fun.

Saturday morning we went to a different café in the medina and had coffee. Mmm. Wandered a little, went to a drum and pottery shop, went to a brass and jewelry store, wound up going back to the same café for more coffee and a crepe-like thing. They have something here that's half-Nutella, half-vanilla spread. It was SO GOOD. From there, more wandering. Went to a tannery. It smelled funny. I got a wallet that I overpaid for. It still smells funny. Wandered even more. Wound up at a cafe. Took a taxi ride back to the other side of the medina, almost hitting a rogue donkey on the way. That was fun. >> Spent two hours at a restaurant just sitting and doing nothing. I don't think the guy liked us very much, but we bought food, so there. And since it was Ramadan it's not like anyone else was waiting to eat there. Some of the most ridiculous conversations ever were born during that meal. It was great.

From there: chilled at a hotel room some of the guys were sharing. Went to yet another café, but we didn't get anything. I definitely need to go back, though, because they have camel burgers. I am dead serious about trying one. From there we went to another restaurant for a joint birthday party; one girl's birthday was Saturday, the other's Sunday. The group I was with didn't stay too long though, because we wanted to get back to Ifrane that night and we kept getting conflicting reports of when the grand taxis stop running. Needless to say, we got back in time. I fell asleep for most of the ride and woke up just in time to ask the driver to leave us at school instead of taking us all the way to the marché. Got some seriously un-tasty dinner at the cafeteria, came back, went to bed. Huzzah, fun trip to Fes. The end.

Morocco pictures!

Lazy Cat is Lazy.

I know, I fail at updating this thing. Sorreh. But pretty much all I've done for two weeks is go to class, so there's not a whole lot to say.

However. Going to Fes today and coming back tomorrow night. Huzzah, touristy things. There will be photos eventually, depending on how long it takes to upload them here.

This Post is Not Interesting.

I am really not a fan of the school's internet. And by really not, I mean I want to kill it. It's way too slow. I can't use Skype or Magic Jack to call anyone, which is fantastic. The call goes through, but the video lags and freezes, if there's video at all, and the audio constantly breaks up and makes people sound like the teacher from Charlie Brown. Unfortunately there's nothing that can be done about it, because this is just how the network is. Everyone is having trouble, and when I asked my roommate about it, she called a friend who said he never uses Skype here because the connection is so bad. Right now I'm thinking that maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to try it this weekend since a lot of people are gone. Selwa, my roommate, said that a lot of people normally go home on weekends, moreso right now because it's Ramadan.

Anyway, backing up.

My luggage finally appeared last Friday! I had been expecting it, but didn't want to say anything in my last post and jinx it. I'd called the airport Thursday morning to check on my bags, and was told they were supposed to land in Fes that night and to call back Friday morning to make sure they were there. I had to argue with the woman in French, which was fun of course. People from the school's Office of International Programs were making a trip to the Fes airport that night to pick up a student around midnight and to pick up bags belonging to at least 8 people. They were all on the same flight from Casablanca to Fes and apparently someone decided the plane was too heavy so they took bags off at random. I gave them my claim ticket and whatever and they said I'd get a phone call when my stuff was dropped off at the dorm. I was awake for a while and there was no phone call. Every time I heard a car or a suitcase outside I'd get up and check, and I saw nothing. When I woke up in the morning I went downstairs and didn't see any luggage, so I wanted to kill something. There was also no one at the desk. When I came down 45 minutes later to leave for breakfast I discovered it was hiding on the other side of the desk. Huzzah. Turns out they never called anyone about it; a girl whose bags were in that group said she was walking back to the dorm around 12:30 and they were just unloading the suitcases at that point, and they must have just kept them chilling there all night. Needless to say, I was super happy to have clean clothes and shampoo and all that fun stuff.

Weekend consisted of more orientating. Most of it was actually a waste of time because things didn't go as planned, weren't ready on time, etc. Sunday I went to the marché (market) in town with Laura because we needed ID photos for our residency cards. I got a Moroccan SIM card there, but it's not working in my phone. I haven't had the chance to go back and switch it out or something, because things have crazy hours because of Ramadan. They close mid-afternoon and open back up some time after F'tor, the huge meal for breaking the fast. I'm going to try to go up tomorrow. If I can't get it to work I may just buy a pre-paid Moroccan phone because they're pretty cheap. We'll see how it goes.

First week of classes went pretty well. There were a few hiccups along the way. For one, my 8am Arabic class was changed to 9am, then changed back to 8am but no one told us. So all but one person missed the first class, because she didn't know it was changed in the first place.

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.