Gettin' it done

And so another weekend has blown by...literally, really, it was ridiculously windy yesterday (oh man, i'm feeling witty, watch out). Not one of my more exciting weekends, as I did have a lot of studying to do. Today was my second Transatlantic exam, and after I made some stupid mistakes and got a B on the first one, I was determined to ace it. So, this entire weekend I have devoted large chunks of time to learning all the blasted material for the exam...I thought my head was going to explode. The preparation paid off though, I had the exam a couple hours ago and think I did really well. This week I also have a paper and a presentation due (both on Thursday), as well as some other little assignments I need to take care of. So yes, for the first time in a while I have to put some serious effort into school work. I did manage to have some fun this weekend, however. Thursday, Florette, Laura and I went to a cafe after our afternoon class, where we got some drinks and tapas, and sat and chatted for a bit. We then walked around the new zone of Santiago for a while, which I haven't been seeing much of, and we checked out some of the many shoe stores scattered throughout the area (Laura bought a cute pair, but I was very good). After that, we made our way back to the old zone, where we stopped in at Pizza Movil (very similar to Pizza Hut, very yummy), where we were soon joined by Guy Sam. After hanging out for a while, we decided to head over to a nearby theater, where we were hoping to see a production of "The Tempest", in Spanish of course. When we got there we were informed that it was all sold out (which was actually fine with me, i wasn't really in a Shakespearean play in Spanish kind of mood). Instead, we decided to head over to Laura and Samantha's place to watch a movie, picking up a couple bottles of wine on the way. We ran into Samantha on the way back, so she joined in as well. We decided to watch this Spanish movie called "Tesis", our Grammar/Conversation teacher (Milli, I really like her) had lent it to us. We settled around Laura's computer, divvying out a bit of wine for everyone, and started the DVD. The movie is a thriller, the plot being that a girl is doing research for her thesis (hence "Tesis"), which is on violence in films. In her research, she stumbles across a real snuff film, and terror ensues. It's a really good movie, although I am a scaredy-cat so was hiding behind Florette and Laura for a fair amount of it (the girls were all pretty freaked out, we had to put some lights in the apartment during the last half of the movie). But yeah, very good movie, and I felt very accomplished as I was able to follow another Spanish movie without subtitles, success! The movie was pretty long, so it didn't finish until late. Florette, Guy Sam and I headed out, after watching an episode of Arrested Development via Laura's laptop so we would be able to sleep, haha.
Friday I slept in late, and then spent the morning studying for my exam. Florette invited everyone over to dinner at 7, so I picked up a loaf of bread from the bakery on my street and made my way over to her place for dinner. It was really nice, she even cooked up some breaded squid, very impressive. After a long dinner, we headed over to the Auditorium of Galicia, this time to try and see a play called "Emma", which we didn't really know anything about. The auditorium was really big so we had no problem getting seats, and we settled in for the show. Turns out the play was set in America like the 1800s, and was following this woman Emma in her crusade for workers rights. The best part of the play was that they used old video footage between acts...the rest of the play was pretty boring, and we all agreed that we found Emma just obnoxious. At intermission Florette and I campaigned to leave, which Guy Sam and Laura quickly agreed to, so we left the play, haha so much for that. Guy Sam and Florette decided to call it a night, but Laura and I went back to her place, where we met up with Samantha and decided to go out. We called around to figure out what everyone else was doing; it turns out there was a KU game on, so they were all planning on heading to Fusion, where they are regulars and would be able to watch the game. Laura, Samantha and I headed over early, and had a fun time just drinking, talking, etc. Everyone else showed up later, so we hung with them for a while, although pretty soon everyone was just watching the KU game, ick. We decided to move on, so said goodbye and headed back towards Laura and Samantha's place, where there is a disoteca we have been meaning to check out. It ended up being two levels, and absolutely packed with people. We stayed for a little bet, but weren't too enthusiastic about it and decided to head out (by this time it was after 3am, so we were ready to head back.
Saturday I spent the day sleeping, studying, and lazing about, until dinnertime, when I headed over to Laura and Samantha's as usual. There was a party over at a friend's place, but we were pretty wiped from the night before, and didn't really feel like another crazy night. Instead, we hung out for a bit, watched some arrested development, and then I headed back home and watched most of "Harry Met Sally" (which I had borrowed from Laura, such a good movie!). I also finally got to talk to Kristin, my best bud from Paris, which was sooo nice, I miss that girl. She and I discussed summer plans a bit, we're both really hoping to spend the summer together some how, but we'll see. So yeah, not a crazy exciting Saturday night, but it was just what I needed.
Sunday I again spent doing work, this time at a nearby cafe with Laura. My main accomplishment for the day was that I got my class schedule for next year all figured out, which was exciting. Looks like i'm going to be taking a Spanish Short Story class (with Laura as well), Clinical Psychology (perfect for people considering in going to grad school in psychology, which I am considering), an English course, and then Sociology of Gender. The only problem with my schedule is that the Psych course is at 8:10am...I might die. But yes, it was a relief to have that all sorted out, I was kind of stressing out about it. Sunday night Laura had me over for dinner again, which was a nice break from studying. And that brings me to today, Monday. This week will be geared towards getting all my work done, and then Friday I leave for my eight-day tour of Italy, yay! Wish me luck, love you all,
Brit

Sunny Days in Santiago

Hello again,
Just had a great long weekend here in Santiago, the first time I've been here in a long while, so I finally got a chance to relax (a bit) and get my life back in order. This weekend Rachel Oppenheimer, a friend from Kenyon, came to visit Florette, so we all spent a lot of time together showing her around Santiago. It was really cool to see her, I met Rachel last year when we were playing ice hockey. It turns out she was actually diagnosed with cancer last year, but she now is doing well and is studying in New York City, which she seems to really enjoy. It was great to spend time with her and everyone else in Santiago. On Saturday, I slept in and then met up with Florette, Laura, Samantha, and the newly-arrived Rachel, to go on a walk around the old zone of Santiago. After stopping by Guy Sam's place to pick him up, we started our walk. The weather was absolutely perfect, and it was nice to just stroll around and enjoy the beauty of the old part of town. We stopped by the cathedral, which never gets any less impressive, sooo gorgeous. After we had our fill of the cathedral we decided to go to a cafe for a drink and some time in the sun. I had some delicious sangria, and we spent a long time just talking, catching up a bit and having a nice time outside. Then it was off to another cafe for a change of scenery, where we also got a snack, and some more sangria (of course). In Spain, it's really popular to do this kind of thing. People do something called "ir de vinos" a lot, starting in the evening and lasting until dinner (which they eat really late-lilke around 10pm or so). "Ir de vinos" basically consists of stopping in at various bars/cafes for a glass of wine with friends, staying at a bar for one drink (like 15 minutes) and then moving onto another one for a second. With the wine, tapas are served (the little snacks); it's pretty great. In any case, we were basically doing this, and following that cafe we moved to another one, this time back outside. We spent more time just talking and people watching; at a nearby cafe there was some kind of sports team, with someone dressed up as Waldo (from "Where's Waldo?"). It was pretty amusing, Waldo would walk around and sit at various tables, pretending to be hidden, while the sports players sang and were just being rediculous; highly amusing. By this time the sun was beginning to set, and it was getting pretty cold. We decided to head back to Laura's place to get some layers on, before heading back out to a modern dance performance we wanted to attend. We speed-walked back to her place, walking quickly as we were all really cold (the weather was deceptive; so warm during the day, but as soon as the sun goes down it's freezing!). We approached Laura's place...and found a note from Samantha on the door (she had left after the second cafe to go home and do some work and such). Turns out Sam had left her keys on the inside of the door, in the lock...and because of this Laura's keys wouldn't work. Sam had gone to look for us, and luckily turned up right as we were reading her note. It really sucked though, she ended up having to pay 45$ for someone to come out and somehow get her in (i'm not actually sure how they ended up doing that...maybe they copied the key). In any case, while Laura waited with Sam and tried to get everything sorted out, the rest of us went over to my place to pick up some jackets and such. Once we were all better outfitted for the cold, we swung by Laura's place and picked her up to head to the dance performance (Sam stayed behind to wait for the helper people). We weren't entirely sure of where the theater was, but we had asked a store owner and they gave us a road name. After locating the road, we came across a theater...but not the one we needed. Turns out the lady was confused and led us to the wrong theater, but we did manage to locate the real one on our map. It turns out the theater was on the other side of town, but not too far of a walk, and luckily we had left plenty of time to get there. So off we went, Guy Sam leading the way; we walked through the big park on the way, so that Rachel could see it, although I must say it was kind of creepy at night. After taking some wrong turns, we eventually found our way to the theater, a little place in a largely residential area. We bought our tickets and headed inside. It was a pretty cool place, very alternative/cool kind of vibe, with some intense artwork and a couple creepy sculptures serving as decoration. We seemed to be the only people there aside from the workers, but we were a good half hour earlier anyways. There were some comfy couches/seating, so we grabbed some of those and some beers, and settled in for a bit to wait. As we waited some people trickled in, amounting to about twenty people by the time it started. Eventually the lights dimmed, and two women emerged out of the darkened area of the place, taking down the rope that was blocking it off. And so began the weirdest performance I have ever seen. It was as if they were doing a mocking/stereotypical representation of performance art, I had to make a conscious effort not to burst out laughing. One of the women, short and squat, with severe, long black hair, did most of the talking, introducing the space, and beginning by talking about the role of the artist, etc. (this was all in Spanish, of course, and I was having trouble paying attention do to the ridiculousness of it all, so my descriptions of what actually was said will not be so great). As she spoke, a tall, skinny white women dressed in a skirt and white button-down walked around, looking at people, and just being bizarre. Soon we were all asked to sit, and were led to the seats towards the back of the place, now illuminated. The tall woman then proceeded to do a very, very strange dance/ihavenoidea. She would basically writhe around, make really awkward poses, walk funny, crawl around, and just be crazy. Meanwhile, there was a man off to the side playing various instruments, at this point some kind of xylophone. After this little jaunt, she decided it was time to take off her skirt, and she then proceeded to continue her bizarre dance in her underwear, an undershirt, plus some newly acquired boots and a fur hat. Then it was time to stand on a chair, as apparently her movements before just weren't awkward enough. The other woman was basically just talking in the background during all this, eventually screaming at one point, while the creepy music continued for a while. The whole thing just got more and more bizarre, the other women joining in on the bizarre dances, and the two of them having abstract conversations every once in a while. I have to say the highlight of the show wasn't until the end, though, when skinny girl sat down on the floor (now wearing some pants and a jacket she had decided to put on), and went on a little monologue. She basically was talking about how she eats something, and then really needs to poo, so she poos, but then really wants to eat the poo, and so she does, and then after that she needs to poo again, but this time she poos little blocks, which she then uses to construct a fortress, where she then feels happy and safe. So yes, very, very bizarre performance, I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I'm glad I went, though, as it was just so damn ridiculous, and we had a good time laughing about it afterwards. In any case, a little shell-shocked from that epic performance, we made our way back to the old zone, hopping the fence and walking back through the park. We were all very hungry by this point, so we picked out a restaurant with some good Gallego food, and ordered a bunch of plates to share. We wanted Rachel to get the full Santiago food experience, so we ordered a bunch of the traditional food, oh so delicious. After a really nice dinner, we headed out, all pretty tired by this point, so as it was late we decided to call it a night and went our separate ways.
The next morning, Sunday, Florette, Rachel, and Guy Sam headed over to La Coruna, a coastal town about an hour away from Santiago. Although I would like to go there, I made the responsible decision to stay behind and get some work done. What I ended up doing was spending hours messing with my music, clearing enough disk space so that I could download twilight (which I did, yayyyyy twilight! the girls and I are going to have a movie night sometime this week...). I did, however, get some work done, and it was nice to have some time at home, to have some chill time. That night, I met up with those three by the cathedral, to go on a long walk up a hill/mountain, where we planned to stargaze and chill for a while. I ended up being a bit late, as my Polish roommate needed me to look over an English application for his fiancee, but I hurried over and Guy Sam led us over to the hill. I didn't quite realize what I was getting myself in for, it was a really long walk, and we went really high up. It was also completely dark, and we were walking through the forest for much of it, which kind of freaked me out a bit. It was all worth it though for the amazing view at the top; it was so gorgeous to see all of the city, with all the lights, and the cathedral illuminated in the distance. We sat and talked for a while, passing around a battle of wine we had brought for the occasion. Soon, however, we got really, really cold, as the height, plus the wind, plus the overall cold night just wasn't a good combination. We stuck it out for a good while, looking at the stars and relaxing a bit, and then we made the trek back down. Amazingly, we all managed to make it back down in the limited light without mishap, and I got home and snuggled into my not-so-warm-but-better-than-a-mountain bed.
Today it was back to class. I've actually got a whole lot of work now and in the coming couple weeks, which i'm kind of stressed about. I've also been getting emails from Kenyon, as it's time to figure out housing and classes for next year, ack! So yeah...it was bound to happen some time...guess I'm going to have to cut back a bit on the bar hopping ;). On that note, off I go to bed, love you all,
Brit

MOROCCO, Part 2

Hello again,
I'm sure you're all sitting at your computers in suspense, anxiously awaiting my post, so here we go ;). Yes, we got up to leave at 7am for the desert; two men met us at the hostel and led us to where our drivers were waiting for us. Our group consisted of the four of us, a really nice British couple a couple years older than us, and then five french people. By the way, I don't think I mentioned that in Morocco the two major languages are Arabic and French, so I got to practice my french skills :). But yes, we all piled into a van, and set off on our looong journey. We were told that the desert was about 7 hours away, but with a few stops for pictures, potty breaks, etc. it took us about 10 hours to get there. The ride itself was actually really nice, plus Sam had had the good idea of getting anti-carsickness medicine beforehand so that was all good. We made our way through the mountains, enjoying the views and the overall beauty of the area. We stopped at a little Berber village for a bit, where we got to explore the village a bit. There was a little river that ran through it, and some kind of building on the other side, but we didn't feel like paying for someone to take us across on a mule. Instead, I opted to check out a couple little shops while the others grabbed a drink or a snack. It was a nice stop, and we had a few others for pictures on the way. The whole drive we saw stands with people selling rocks/fossils, along with ceramics and such, and I remembered what Dad said about Morocco having some of the best fossil hunting areas. We also passed two big film studios that the driver pointed out to us, apparently "Asterix et Obelix" was filmed there recently-the French people really wanted to stop but the driver nixed it. Apparently there have been quite a few movies filmed at least partially in Morocco, including Gladiator, which I thought was cool. In any case, our second big stop for lunch took us to another village, although you had to pay to enter the "Kasbah", the main part of the village. There were a bunch of little shops and some cafes outside of it, so we opted to just hang around there and did some more shopping. Sam, Laura, and I each got a cheap scarf, which the vendors proceeded to tie around Sam and I's head, desert fashion, haha. After some bartering we were ready for some lunch, so we headed over and got some Tagine, couscous, etc.; plus a crepe with honey for desert. Unfortunately the service was very slow, so our driver got mad at us and we had to get our food to go, ah well. It was very yummy though. Then it was off for another long stretch of driving; the closer we got to the desert the less vegetation we saw, so we got to see various aspects of the landscape which was very cool. A few rest stops later we finally arrived, just before sunset. We pulled up to where our camels lay waiting, led by the guides that would take us an hour or two into the desert. Excited, we all got our stuff together and headed over, and the guides assigned us our camels, which were linked together in a line. Getting on is easy, as you climb onto the camel as it's sitting/laying down, and then the guides would get them to stand. That was the fun part, clinging on so you don't fall off as the camel awkwardly stands up. Once everyone was ready, we started off, the british and americans in one line, and the french in the other, walking side by side. The French were kind of obnoxious, they were two couples and then on guy named "Mich", and all very loud for the majority of the journey. As the only one in our group I acted as translator a bit for my friends and the British people (the driver didn't speak english really either), and I talked a bit to the two french women, although we mostly kept to ourselves. In any case, we set off into the desert, with the sun beginning to set. Not long after our start a bunch of local children showed up, and proceeded to run along side the camel, begging for candy, money, or anything we had. A couple people gave them some candy and some change, which only served to encourage them, despite our insistance that we didn't have anything else. It was pretty sad...they just kept following us into the desert for a long time, constantly begging. As we started getting farther from the village they eventually dropped off, and we started to get the full view of the Sahara. It was really beautiful, what with the sun setting in the distance, although by this point the french were complaining full tilt about how sore they were for the camels. That is something they don't tell you; camel riding is extremely uncomfortable, especially for the guys in the group, and by the end we were all amazingly sore, especially our backs. When we finally got to our tents it was totally dark, We got off the camels awkwardly, again hanging on for dear life as they lowered themselves to the ground, and then we were led to the nearby tent. It was kind of funny though, as soon as we stopped the camels all started simultaneously peeing for a while, probably too much information but kind of hilarious at the time. Anyways, the tents were actually pretty nice, pretty spacious (we all fit in there), and with lots of blankets and mats so we wouldn't get too cold during the night. We were left alone for a bit, and then our guides came in and served us "Moroccan whisky". It was basically just some really delicious tea; and we spent a while sitting around enjoying the tea, and talking amongst ourselves. Only one of the two guides spoke english, so he would wander in and out and speak with us occasionally, although his accident made him very hard to understand. After a fair amount of tea, we decided to head outside and take a look at the stars; the guide said that there were some shooting stars and such. It was sooo nice, there were a bunch of mats set out, and we brought blankets out as well and all snuggled up out in the open. It was a little chilly, but not to bad; plus with the blankets it was really nice. We stayed out there for a long time, talking and just looking at the stars, although unfortunately it was a pretty cloudy night so we could only see a few. It was still just really nice knowing we were out in the Sahara desert, so exciting, and we had a good conversation with our guide. He told us that there were still some nomads that lived in the desert, although the camel riding is purely for tourists. After a long time outside, dinner was eventually ready, and we were called back into the tent. Dinner was delicious, consisting of the usual bread and then a tagine with meat, vegetables, etc. We really enjoyed it. After dinner we had a bit more tea, and then we all got ready for bed. We had been told that there was going to be some music, so we all stayed up a bit longer...waiting around. The guides were pretty laid back, just kind of came and went as they wanted, kind of leaving us in the dark for most of the trip; this was fine for the most part, kind of funny really, but they never showed for music and we eventually gave up and went to bed. Despite how tired I was, I wasn't able to get much sleep, probably because I was too excited that I was actually sleeping in the desert, haha. The next morning we were awoken at about 7am, to see the sun rise. It was sooo beautiful, and nice to see our surroundings in the day time. For breakfast we had some tea, along with bread, some kind of jam/marmalade, and an interesting kind of butter. Then Laura, Sam and I went off to find a good dune to use the bathroom; the least fun part about being in the desert...no bathrooms. It was no big deal though, and on our way back to the tent we made friends with one of the random dogs hanging around camp. Then it was time to go, so we got back on our camels and started the journey out. It was really beautiful in the morning, and we had a nice little ride back, where our driver was waiting with the van. After a tearful goodbye to our faithful camels, we climbed back into the van to begin the long journey home, all stiff and sore from a combination of hours on a camel and the hard floor of the tent (despite the mats). We had a quick bathroom stop, and then two hours of driving, before our driver started having problems with the car. At one point it died on us...which was kind of terrifying as people drove fast in Morocco, even around curves and such. Fortunately, he managed to get the car going, but the clutch or something was messed up (I don't know anything about stick shift cars...or really cars in general, so i can't actually say what the problem was exactly). In any case, we continued driving until we reached a little town, and we pulled into see a mechanic. Turns out some cable needed to be replaced...so we ended up being stuck in the town for a solid three hours, probably more. We made the best of the situation, though, breaking out our ten euro sunscreening and setting up camp under the sun. The french people made friends with some local kids who came over, speaking french, and a couple of the guys started up a soccer game with them. After a while it became clear that we weren't going to be going anywhere for a while, so we made the group decision to just have lunch in that town, cutting off an extra stop later on and enabling a quicker return to Marrakech. We all went off together and found a nice restaurant. I did quite a bit of translating during lunch, as we all ended up sitting together, and everyone was trying to get to know each other a little better. It all proved to be pretty exhausting though, so after some pleasantries we went back to politely ignoring each other. Fortunately, after lunch the car was good to go, so we all got back in and started the drive back. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, although the constant passing that goes on on the highways gave us a couple scares (I was sitting up front, and found myself constantly cringing and pushing back against my seat as cars seemed to narrowly miss us; the driver found this very amusing). We arrived in Marrakech only about an hour and a half later than normal. It was dark when we got back, and there were LOTS of people out on the streets, as it was Saturday night. We darted through traffic and made our way back to the square, amazed by how many people were out. Sam was feeling a little sick, so we walked her back to the hostel, dropping her off as well as our stuff. Florette, Laura and I then headed back out to do some shopping and grab some dinner. We walked among the shops on the way, bargaining and getting some good deals. We each got a Hand of Fatima, which we learned about in our Islam class (it's supposed to ward off bad spirits in the Muslim faith). Laura also found a really cool leather purse, and I got myself a pretty little lamp. It was really nice; I really enjoyed bartering and just looking at all the cool stuff scattered around the shops. When we were all shopped out we headed over to the square, determined to try some more of the stands. First, we headed over to where they were cooking snails, and ordered a little cup of them to share. I had "escargots" in Paris, and really liked them as they were essentially just drenched in butter and other sauces. Without such sauces I can't say that I really enjoyed the snails, but hey, it was an experience. After walking around a bit more, we decided that we wanted to go somewhere a bit calmer to sit for dinner, so we went to the restaurant recommended by the hostel (which we had stumbled across); I got some more couscous, my favorite Moroccan food, and we spent a long time sitting and talking. We were sitting outside, which meant that we were constantly approached by beggars and little children trying to sell us stuff, but after a while they let us be and we had a nice dinner, exchanging some kenyon gossip and other such fun. After a long dinner, we decided to start heading back, stopping in at a pastry shop on the way back, as we were determined to try some Moroccan desersts. We sat and ordered some tea and a sampler. The deserts were absolutely delicious, and by the end we were all full and satisfied that we had succeeded in experiencing the many tastes of Morocco. We headed back to the hostel, and settled in for our last night.
Florette left really early the next morning, as she had bought a different return ticket, but Laura, Sam, and I were able to enjoy the hostel's included breakfast (which was amazing, they even had crepes!). Sam was feeling much better, so after breakfast we decided to walk through the stores one more time for some last-minute souvenirs, and so that same could do her shopping. Soon it was time to head back to the hostel and get our stuff, so we did that and began our walk over to the bus stop, stopping on the way to get some pictures of the famous mosque and the market in general. We even saw some snake charmers, which I did not like so much. A half hour later we were on the bus that took us back to the airport, and we flew off to Madrid. Thus concludes my African adventure; still can't believe I actually was able to do all that-such a great experience. The British girl actually lived in South Africa as a child, and had told us a bit about her experience in Africa, and about some of the traveling she had done. Talking to her made me really want to explore this diverse and incredible continent; some day I hope to return...there's so much to see.
On another note, I am finally in Santiago for a while, which I am embracing. I am sooo ready to take a break from traveling-not that I didn't enjoy all my adventures, but it defintely gets tiring, and I really need to get my school work and such taken care of. The weather this week was absolutely perfect, really warm and sunny, so almost every day I've gone to the park for a bit and enjoyed it. I've also been going out a fair amount since I've been back. Monday, Laura had us over for dinner, always good. Tuesday was St.Patrick's day, so Laura decided to have a little party at her place. Several people came over and we had a good time just hanging out; I made the famous Artichoke Dip again (always a hit, thanks mom), and helped Laura with the shopping and such. It was a very fun time, and I got to DJ a bit which I always enjoy. We got into a discussion about music, so I've got some new bands to check out, which I also always enjoy. Wednesday our friend Kelly invited us over to her place, as her Spanish roommates were hosting a Bothellon (basically where everyone just sits around and drinks/smokes/socializes). Actually, not that I think about it, I'm not sure I ever mentioned the smoking situation in Spain. Basically, it's one of the only places it seems that allows smoking indoors; EVERYONE seems to smoke here, it's very much a part of the culture. In any case, Laura and I went over to the Bothellon, running into Kelly and her boyfriend on the way over. I have to admit the Bothellon was just kind of awkward-lots of school Spanish people (I think a year or two older than us as well), speaking in Spanish and being way too cool for us, haha. Laura and I just kind of sat and listened for awhile, until some other people from our program showed up and joined us. So much for meeting spanish people, haha, oh well. I was feeling tired and kind of sick to my stomach, so Laura and I headed out at around 1:30am or so. Not a great night, but oh well. Thursday was a national holiday in Spain, some saint's day, so we didn't have class. Almost everyone on our program decided to go to Barcelona for the weekend, but as I have already been there and I am tired of travelling I opted to stay in Santiago. So did the other Kenyon girls, as well as Guy Sam and a couple other girls, but it's just us around this weekend. It's really nice to be here, though, and to have a long weekend to relax a bit. Yesterday my roommates and I headed over to a nearby park, where I met another American named Brita, as well as a British girl named Rachel. Laura came and joined us, bringing some wine for everyone with her, and we all had a nice time talking and sunbathing for a while. In the evening, Laura, Guy Sam, Florette and I met to get some Doner Kebab for dinner, always delicious, and then we decided to see the new Almodovar movie, "Los Abrazos Rotos" (literally translated as "Broken Hugs") (Almodovar is a famous Spanish director, he also did "Volver" and "Habla con ella"). The movie didn't start for another two hours, so we went to a couple bars and sat and drank a bit, getting tapas along with our drinks. When it was time we headed over to the movie, which I was a bit nervous about as it was (obviously) all in Spanish. I was pleasantly surprised though, at how much I was able to understand. I wasn't too crazy about the movie itself, but it was alright, I think the others liked it more. Today, Friday, I went over to Laura and Sam's place at noon, and we headed over to the Santiago market, which is held daily until around 2pm. We had never gone, as we usually have class around that time, so we figured we would check it out. I got some fruit, and we walked up and down the meat/seafood market, which was pretty gross, actually. That's another thing about Spain-it's not unusual to see pigs heads/legs/etc. displayed at butcher shops, plus whole chickens and skinned rabbits..disturbing. It's always interesting to see the seafood section, as Galicia is supposed to have like the best seafood in the world. Basically you can see a whole variety of fish on display, plus crabs, octopus, shellfish, etc. After we had our fill of the market, we headed back to Laura's place and dropped off our spoils, and then Laura and I went back out to check out Zara's new spring clothes (Zara is everyone's favorite clothing store, with really cute clothes and good prices). A got a really pretty white peastant-y dress that I can wear with my leggings-light and flowy, perfect for Spring/Summer. We had been planning to look around a bit more, but by the time we were finished at Zara it was already 2pm, and everything was closing for siesta...silly Spanish-people and there four hour lunch break. And now here I am! Finally updating my blog, sorry I've been slacking. So yeah, I'm doing well, very much enjoying the amazing weather. I'm also still really enjoying having my roommates around, they're both really great guys. Today Samuel played me various Polish music, including some Rap and Punk, and he wrote down some artists for me to check out. I love living with people from different countries! Alrighty, well I think I will go start on some of the work that I have allowed to pile up as of late...later gators!

MOROCCO

Yes, I have returned from Morocco intact, was not trampled by any camels :). What an experience; it really was like being in another world. Anyways, starting from the beginning, a bit of a Santiago update. The weather here has been absolutely amazing as of late, warm, sunny, and perfect. Because of the nice weather we have started haning out in this big park on the way to our afternoon class, which is really nice. We get some wine or beer and just chill for a while, talking and relaxing before heading over. The big news is that my roommate Samuel is back, as is my Brazilian roommate, so the apartment is full again. It's really nice having those guys around, they're both really nice guys, and it's much more fun having roommates again, if a bit distracting. So yes, on to Morocco. Florette, Laura, Sam and I set out Wednesday night, missing our Thursday classes, which was no big deal for me as my Lit class had an exam that we just took class early, and then I just had to miss my Grammar/conversation class, no big deal. Anways, we flew to Madrid at night, where we then had to spend the night in order to catch the Thursday morning flight to Marrakech (we did this so we could get a cheaper flight, etc.). So yeah...a night in the Madrid airport; not the most fun experience. I did, however, bring my sleeping bag, so after dinner and lounging about a bit we went over to the check in area and claimed a spot. We weren't alone in our overnight airport situation, and we noticed that people were sleeping on the little luggage builts next to the desks, so sam set up on one of those, while Florette lifted out the comfy chair and Laura and I spread out on the floor. We managed to get a bit of sleep before we were awakened at around 4am, when the airport started hopping with people needing to check in. We relocated against a wall for a bit, and then checked in as soon as we could, passing through security and finding some empty benches to crash in for a couple hours. The things we do to save some money...But yes, after a practically sleepless night we eventually boarded the plane to Marrakech that morning, which only a little under two hours long (although we were conked out for most of it anyway). We arrived in Morocco at around 1pm there time (they're an hour behind), tired but excited. My first impression was thus of the Marrakech airport, where following passport control I entered a big, bright area, and noticed a cat stretched out in the middle of the floor, catching some sun. It was the first of many cats I would see around the city; they are pretty much given free range to wander as they will. The airport itself is beautiful; pretty, well lit, and well decorated. So far so good. Our next step was to exchange money, as in Morocco they use the dirham (one euro=about 11 dirham). That was a bit tricky to get used to, as the instinct is to cringe when you here something is worth 100 dirham (even though it only amounts to only about 10 dirham). With our pretty new money, we headed out to find the bus that would take us into the heart of Marrakech. We were dropped off by the Koutoubia Mosque, which our guide book describes as the builing "most emblematic" of Marrakech, and then we made our way towards Jemma el Fna, the huge plaza in the middle of the city. The plaza itself is filled with booths, highlights being people selling fresh-squeezed juice and dried fruit. There are also lots of women sitting around doing Henna tattoos, as well as snake charmers (which i found teriffying...i really hate snakes). The square itself is pretty overwhelming. For one thing, there are people all over, and on the outskirts of the plaza there are random people driving cars/motorbikes/bikes, so you have to be careful not to get runover. Actually, I feel like I spent most of the trip trying not to get run over, as things aren't really well marked, and even down the little streets there are constantly people walking, riding bikes/motor bikes, or driving donkeys with carts. Very hectic; the Moroccan people didn't seem to have any trouble, although I must admit it was kind of terrifying trying to cross roads-no crosswalks or anything, you just have to walk/run into traffic and hope they stop, haha. The other thing about the market/Morocco in general is that people were CONSTANTLY trying to sell us stuff, or just beg. The store/stand owners just shout at you, saying "Hello" in like five different languages to all the tourists. They come up to you, do everything they can to get your attention, etc. It got old fast, but by the end we had mastered ignoring people; it's hard because I don't want to be rude or whatever, but if you acknowledge people you're done for. So yes, we made our way through the square; I had a list of directions to the hostel that my friend Olivia from Paris had sent me. She and Kristin stayed in our hostel when they came to Morocco after I had already gone home, and since it's so hard to find Olivia was nice enough to give me really detailed directions on how to get there. There are essentially no street signs in Morocco, so you just have to navigate the windy roads by sight, which definitely proved to be problematic (Laura, our designated map reader, was not happy). We refused the many people offering to lead us to Equity Point Hostel (for payment, of course), and actually managed to make it on our own, quite a feat considering how tucked away it is. The hostel itself was really great, beautifully decorated, and just really nice overall despite the low cost. We dropped off our stuff and sat for a bit, trying to figure out our game plan. It was soooo hot, definitely in the 90s, which was pretty intense, but also nice. Felt like summer! After asking at the front desk for a lunch reccomendation, we headed out to grab some food and do some exploring. Due to the aforementioned lack of street names and such, finding the reccommended place proved to be too difficult, so we picked one at random that had Moroccan food. One of the great things about Morocco is that the food is amazing, and relatively cheap! The restaurant was really gorgeous; we sat outside and admired the decorations, and enjoyed the food: couscous, lamb, tajin, bread, etc. Soooo good! After a long, amazing lunch, we decided that we would head over to check out the Badi palace, which is now in ruins, and inhabited by lots of stork and cats. After checking that out for a while, we decided to head out to find the Saadian tombs, which was very cool, with pretty architecture. It took us forever, however, to find them (we got lost a lot...not our fault), but on the way we did get to see one of the cool/really old doors to the city. After the tombas, we stopped at a little cafe to get a snack and rest a bit, before we headed back in the direction of the main square, stopping in at little shops along the way. We stopped in at the hostel for a bit, and then headed out again not that longafter to see the main square at night. Basically, it converts into a whole bunch of food stands, which have benches and stuff so people can come up, sit down, and eat. They had several different kinds of stands, one featuring lambs head, others selling snails, a spicy desert, tea, and then others with a variety of traditional Moroccan food. We opted for one of the latter, picking one at random as we were getting overwhelmed by the constant offers and such. We ordered a bunch of plates to share, inculding couscous, Moroccan salad (which consisted mainly of tomatoes, onions, and cucumber), some kebabs, bread, sausages, and some chicken. It was all really good, and afterword we went and walked around a bit more. There were a lot of groups of people watching street performances, with people doing acrobatics,storytelling, or just wearing costumes (for example, there were a bunch of men dressed as women that just kind of danced around and then pestered us for money). Unfortunately, we attracted a lot of attention, and were being constantly hassled for money, so we didn't watch much of this kind of stuff. Plus, we were constantly being hit on, Moroccan men are not shy, so we wandered around a bit, tried the spicy dessert and tea (which we weren't crazy about), and then started walking back to the hostel. The walk took us through a couple big streets lined with shops, so we stopped in and checked everything out. The shops were really great; lots of jewelry, colored shoes, rugs, leather goods, knives/swords, ceramics, pretty lamps, etc. In order to buy from these shops you have to barter, which was definitely an experience. I remembered a bit how we had to barter in Jamaica, and remembered some of Dad's pointers, so I was actually pretty good at it. The others, not so much, haha, but by the end we all had the hang of it. We wanted to get to bed early, though, so we mostly just looked around a bit and then headed back to the hostel. The hostel ran various excursions, and after thinking it all over we decided to do a two-day, one-night trip to the Sahara desert!!! We were all super excited, and headed to bed so we would be ready to leave at 7am the next morning.
It was still dark when we woke up, the first time I've woken up that early in a loooong time, but I was so excited that it wasn't actually that hard...
And now I'm off to celebrate St. Patty's day, so I'm going to leave you in suspense. I shall finish my tale soon, but figured i might as well post what i've got.
later,
Brit

HOLY CRAP I'M GOING TO AFRICA!

hey guys!
really quick, i'm going to Morocco for the weekend, and will be back sunday. i'm soooo excited! okay, update soon.
Love, Brit

ANDALUCIA, nine days of travel

Hey all,
Wow its been a while, sooo much to catch up on, this is probably going to be my longest entry yet. It's gunna be tough to remember everything i've been up to, but here we go! Last thursday Sam, Laura, Florette, Biaggio (my former roommate), Sam (one of the guys from our program, he goes to Colorado College, nice guy; I will refer to him as Guy Sam from now on so as not to create confusion with my Kenyon roomie :) and I met up at the bus station to pick up our tickets and board the bus to Cadiz. The bus ride was 16 HOURS!!! Definitely the longest i've ever been on a bus, with a couple bathroom breaks and a meal along the way. Fortunately it was during the night, so I was able to get some sleep, but man that is a long time to be on the bus. I passed the time by watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall for like the fourth time (I bought it via Itunes and watch it on my Ipod), reading my David Sedaris book, and trying my best to fall asleep. We arrived in Cadiz at around 8 in the morning, all pretty sleep-deprived and sore from the ride, with our luggage in tow. Because all the hostels and such in Cadiz were booked, we were actually staying in a hostel in Jerez de la Frontera, about an hour away by bus. This meant that we didn't have a place to put our luggage, and unfortunately the lockers at the bus station were only available for certain hours, not very helpful. Not wanting to arrive to early for check-in at Jerez, we decided to head to the beach for a bit, and set off dragging our luggage. After searching for a Tourist office and successfully finding a map, we made our way to the coast, a significant walk from the station. We made it though, setting our stuff to the side and splitting off to enjoy the beach. I of course yanked off my shoes and wandered around enjoying the sand and even the cold, cold water, before setting off to do a bit of shell/sea glass hunting. Meanwhile Sam and Florette went off to a Carrefour to pick up some fruit and snacks, and we had ourselves a little picnic. It was really nice, the fresh air felt amazingly good after the long bus ride, and we spent a while just sitting around and enjoying it. After a while, we started back in the general direction of the station, stopping in at a cafe for some coffee, etc. After relaxing there for a bit, we decided it was time to catch the bus to Jerez, so we could check in, drop off our stuff, and get in a nap (as noone had slept much on the bus). An hour later we were in Jerez, a town not really noteworthy except for in its proximity to Cadiz, and its production of sherry (which we forgot to try, oh well). After much searching and stopping for directions, we found our hostel, which was actually a nice little hotel. Since Biaggio and Guy Sam had decided to come with us on the trip so last minute, they hadn't been able to book a hostel or anything. We decided that we would just try to sneak them in to ours, where they would either sleep on the floor or share a twin bed. Meanwhile, Ryan Lloyd had been trying to reach us, as he was supposed to arrive Friday morning to meet up with us. Unfortunately, problems with the bus to the airport had caused him to miss his flight, so he didn't get in until late Friday. This worked out well for the other boys, as it freed up a bed during the day, so we only had to sneak in one of them to the hostel. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, splitting some yummy tapas including shrimp, squid, and potatoes, we all took a long nap, with Guy Sam and Biaggio joking about sharing the little twin bed (i took there picture, silly boys). In the end Guy Sam just ended up sharing Florette's bed, as the two of them are dating, much to the delight of Laura (Florette's roommate) i'm sure, haha. In any case, we napped a long time, getting up at night to prepare to head into Cadiz to celebrate Cadiz. A little background info: Cadiz is one of the biggest party areas in Spain during carneval (i think I explained this in my last blog, it's like Mardi Gras, but lasts longer). The town of Cadiz itself isn't that exciting, it's really just known for the huge celebration, where everyone gets dressed up and goes crazy at night. So, we all donned our costumes; I went as a pink butterfly with some cute wings and a headband with little antennaes, and pink jewelry and such, plus glittery makeup and nail polish. Laura wore some red wings, a mask, with red highlights; Florette had boughten a kimono, but she bought it child size and despite how small she is she wasn't able to fit into the pants. Instead, she just wore some crazy fake eyelishes and a bright green wig. Biaggio found a Viking hat and a plastic sword, and Guy Sam went as a Native American, with one of those big feather hats and a Tomahawk. Sam got herself this great blonde wig, with long pigtails, with her short hair it looked real! So yes, we all got dressed up, and walked over to the bus station to get to Cadiz, getting some funny looks along the way. On the bus we met up with Lloyd, who had managed to take a later flight to Granada, and then a bus from Granada to Cadiz. We gave him a big white wig to wear, and we were set. When we arrived in Cadiz it was pretty quiet, not very many costumes, and mainly an adult crowd. We were hungry, and stopped to get some food from one of the various stands set up in part of the city. Since we wanted to be in Cadiz at night for the celebration, we had decided that we would just have to stay in Cadiz all night, and take the earliest bus or train possible back to Jerez (at like 6am). After eating, it was time to find the party, and we set off into the city. We heard some music and saw some big crowds of people in the city. there were a copule little performances, some Spanish comedy troups consisting of men dressed as women, singing loudly. We didn't really get any of the jokes, but the Spanish people seemed pretty entertained, so we watched the end of a couple. By this point we were getting worried, everyone we saw seemed more like families, or adults, and almost noone was wearing a costume. I had heard that the carneval in Cadiz lasted an extra week more than in other cities, but we were beginning to doubt that was true. We walked around the city, but kept seeing more of the same. It seemed that the party was over; we were convinced we were wrong, and that the celebrations had ended. Discouraged, but with many hours to kill before our early train back to Jerez, we found a bar and sat and talked for a while, drinking and hanging out until they closed. After a bit of walking we found another bar that stayed open later, so we killed some more time there, eventually breaking out some cards to help pass the time. After spending a lot of time just sitting around talking, it got to be about 5 am, and the bar closed. Half of us decided to go down to the beach, and the other half wanted to just walk around a bit in search of something open before heading to the train station. We split up, and Me, Biaggio, and Laura walked around for a while. We ended up getting a bit lost in the city, but in our wanderings we manged to stumble across the remains of the huge party. WE HAD COMPLETELY MISSED IT! IT WASN'T OVER, IT WAS JUST FARTHER IN THE CITY! It looked like it had been insane, this big street was just completely trashed, bottles and food wrappers and garbage everywhere, with lots of drunken people are age wandering around looking dazed but happy. It was absolutely rediculous. The three of us stopped to admire the destruction, and were approached by a group of guys; a few were Irish and there were a couple americans, and they stopped to chat for a bit. They were all pretty drunk, and just kept talking about how great the party was, so crazy, and so on and so forth. Biaggio, Laura and I pretty much just wanted to cry at this point, we could not believe that we had missed the whole thing, we were so freaking close! Dejectedly we made our way to the train station, meeting up with the rest of the group, who had also accidentally stumbled across the remains of the party in there wanderings. We all laughed bitterly, feeling like stupid Americans, and then joined the crowd of people waiting for the station to open at 6am. The night couldn't get any worse, right? Wrong. The train to Jerez was canceled, as in there amazing intelligence the Spanish had decided to run less trains because carneval is a holiday...WHY??? in another amazingly intelligen moment, we had already bought the tickets to Jerez, to be used for the cancelled 6:10am train. The tickets only were good for like an hour or so, so basically they were worthless. The next train wasn't until like 8:15, so we got another two hours to kill...great. Also, it was really cold by this point, which we hadn't really anticipated. Exhausted and freezing, we found a spot on the ground and all sat down, snuggling together and then essentially lying on top of each other to keep warm. we were quite a spectacle, what with our costumes and rediculous snuggling, but we were warm! Finally, the train arrived, and we boarded to head back. The ride was pretty entertaining/annoying. The seat next to me was of course filled with this creepy couple, sharing a seat, the guy wearing an unbelivably short skirt and making out with his girlfriend for a good portion of the trip...perfect. There were also a big group of drunk guys in our car, all dressed up as if they were in a mariachi band, carrying fake guitars and really high-pitched whistles. They decided it would be a good idea to yell and sing the entire ride back, serenading people getting on and off the train. this was amusing for a while, but considering we hadn't slept at all all night it got old fast, especially with the whistles. We were releived to finally arrive in Jerez, and began the walk back to the hostel. Because Lloyd had joined us, this meant that we now had two people that needed to be snuck in...which is problematic considering they have a 24/7 reception. Dismissing the idea of streaking or throwing a bag over the receptionists head, we decided just to walk in and deal with the consequences. The receptionist was there, and immediately stopped us to ask about the extra two guests. We were pretty tired an pathetic at this point, and just kind of begged to let the two other people in, offering to pay a supplement so they wouldn't be out in the street. The receptionist relented, and he made a note of the extra two guests, so we all trudged up to our rooms, sharing a couple beds so everyone had a place to sleep. We slept until 1, when we had to check out, and left to find some food and walk around Jerez, leaving our bags at the hotel in there storage room. Unfortunately the train to Granada wasn't until 8pm, and there wasn't a whole lot to do. We basically just had a long lunch in Jerez, killing time, as anything of interest was closed anyway. After a few hours we got our luggage and caught the bus to Cadiz, where we set up camp in the bus station, taking turns watching the luggage as the others went and walked around and got some dinner. Eventually 6 rolled around, and we all got on the bus to Granada, only about 6 hours long. We got in at about 2am, and caught taxis to our respective hostels (Biaggio and Guy Sam had managed to get spots in a different hostel right by the Alhambra). Exhausted, we checked in and fell into bed, sleeping in the next morning. Sunday, we grabbed a nice breakfast in our hostel, which was a really cute little hostel not far from the Alhambra and in a really beautiful old part of Granada. Then it was off to the Alhambra, including a pretty walk through part of the city. Granada is absolutely beautiful, definitely one of my favorite cities i've been to so far, a really great city. The walk up to the Alhambra took us through a hilly, forest-y area, and the perfect weather made it really nice. The boys had picked us all up tickets to go in to the palace at 3, so we spent a little time checking out some nearby shops and getting snacks, and then we headed over to walk around the gardens. They were really pretty, i'm guessing even prettier in the Spring/Summer time, and the views were amazing, what with the mountains backing the city. Soon it was time to go into the palace, so we got in line and were soon inside. The Alhambra is absolutely amazing, the architecture is so ornate and gorgeous; we spent a long time walking through and taking it all in. We spent at least a couple hours there, and then went and got some Kebab for lunch, very yummy. Afterwards we decided to split up and wander around the city for a bit before heading back to our respective hostels for a bit to rest. We took a little nap, and then the boys came over to our hostel to meet up before going out. Guy Sam has a friend from high school who is studying in Granada, who wanted to show us around, so she came by as well. Her name is Dana, a really nice girl who goes to a little school in the states (I totally forget what it was called…hadn’t heard of it). She was really nice, and took us on a little walk around the city, stopping in at a little place for some yummy baked potatoes as tapas. She also introduced us to a delicious spanish drink called “Tinto de verano”, which consists of red wine mixed with lemonade...delicious! We hung out there for quite a while, talking and relaxing, and then we went back into the more Arabic section of town and found a Teteria-a tea house. It was a really cool place, beautifully decorated, it was essentially a fancy hookah bar. We had such a great time, smoking apple-flavored hookah and drinking these amazing teas (I had raspberry tea, it was the first tea I’ve ever liked, delicious). After a long, relaxing time there, we headed out and headed over by the cathedral, and found another tapas bar to stop in at. Another “tinto de verano” and then it was off back towards the hostel, and we all went off to sleep. On Monday we slept in a bit again, and got all of our stuff together to check out. Lloyd had left early that morning to fly back to London, but the rest of us met up in the middle of the city for some coffee and to plan our day. First, we headed over to the cathedral, which Sam, Laura, and I paid to visit. It was really cool, they had the tomb of the Catholic Kings of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, which I found extra interesting as we just finished studying them in my Transatlantic Spanish history class. After the cathedral we met back up with the others, and decided to walk over and check out the gypsy caves. The caves themselves are known to be an overrated tourist trap, but we figured it was worth a look, so we hiked up a ways to check it out. A long, up-hill walk later we stumbled across what were labeled “caves”, essentially just little houses along the hill, but we had a really pretty view of the mountains and of the pretty white houses characteristic of southern Spain. After admiring the area for a bit we headed back down the hill, stopping in at another Kebab place for lunch…again, very yummy. By this time it was getting to be about time to start heading to the train station, so we did the walk back to the hostel, where we collected our belongings and caught a taxi to the train station. We got there plenty early, getting our tickets with no problems, and settled in to wait for the train to Ronda. A couple hours later we arrived, and we found a map and set out to locate our hostel. At this point, the rest of the program had already arrived, having flown down from A Coruna, so we headed over to the hostel and checked in, setting our stuff down before heading out to find some dinner. The kenyon girls headed out together to grab some dinner, walking down some of the little streets not far from our hotel. On the way, we ran into some people from our program, so we stopped to chat for a bit. After dinner, Guy Sam ran into us, and we all headed over to a little café where some of the other kids were to get a drink and some tapas. The tapas were delicious, and very cheap, although the service was rediculously slow. It was nice though, we had fun just sitting around and catching our breath; I think we were all releaved to be with the group, it’s so much easier/less stressful to travel with them, and have everything already all planned out. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel, which was really nice, a TV and everything! The next morning we were reunited with the rest of the group, which was very nice, good to see some different faces. Our director had the trip planned nicely, giving us a fair amount of free time, and not making us get up too early, which is always nice. We also got the breakfast buffet every morning, where we all loaded up before heading out. Tuesday we all met in the morning to do a guided visit of Ronda. It was sooo nice, Ronda is this adorable little town tucked away in the mountains; we had so many amazing views on our little walk, where we also saw the huge, ancient bridges in the city, and then the Casa de Don Bosco, an adorable white house with a beautiful garden, tiling, and another amazing view. We then stopped in at the Palacio Mondragón, a gorgeous islamic palace very similar to the Alhambra, possibly even prettier. We then went down to see some old Arab baths, which was neat, and we watched a little video about how the baths worked and such. After the baths we had a bunch of free time, so a bunch of us headed out to find some lunch. We went into this amazing pizza restaurant, delicious!, and had a nice, long lunch together. After that, the group split again, with some people going off to go shoe shopping, and others heading over to check out the bull ring of the city, one of the oldest in Spain. The museum attached to it was really cool, featuring lots of richly decorated matador costumes, as well as drawings/paintings and objects related to bullfighting. Although I personally don’t think I could ever handle seeing the cruelty of the bullfight, it’s still a really interesting cultural aspect of Spain, and parts of it (the costumes, the movements) are really beautiful. After the museum it was time to meet back up at the hotel, so we boarded the bus and set off to Sevilla. It was only about two hours away, so we arrived that evening, heading up to our hotel rooms to rest a bit for dinner. Again, the hotel was really nice, another positive aspect of group trips . That day was Kelly’s birthday (one of the girls in our group), so we all decided to go out together as a group to celebrate. We ventured out, eventually coming across a big Chinese buffet, where all 21 or so of us could fit. It was delicious, reminded me of Chinese 35 back in Chapel Hill, haha, and it was really fun to go as a group. We had a long dinner, and at the end the restaurant gave us all a free shot of some Asian liquer (I think it was suki). Afterwards about half of us headed back to the hotel, full and worn out from the traveling, while others went out with Kelly to celebrate her 21st, from what I hear they had a pretty good time, haha. I headed back though, with the rest of the kenyon girls and some others as well, and had a fun time hanging out with them before heading off to bed. Wednesday we enjoyed the hotel breakfast and then met up to walk to the Alcazar of Sevilla. It was really cool, another palace clearly influenced by the Islamic presence, with pretty gardens with plants from all over (including orange trees, which are all over the cities we visited). After touring the Alcazar and its gardens, we had more free time, so the Kenyon girls plus Guy Sam and our friend Fattin (she goes to KU, really fun girl) headed out to find some lunch. We ended up walking through a really cute, old part of Sevilla, and found a place and split some paella, calamari, etc. After lunch we still had some time to kill, so we split up to do various things, Florette, Laura and I ending up at a little café, where we got some drinks and hung sat for a bit, enjoying the area. Then it was time to meet back up with the group for a walk around the city, with my Transatlantic professor pointing out specific buildings and giving us some historical background. He even pointed out the Plaza de Espana, where a scene from Star Wars was filmed! After the walk, we hung out at the hotel for a bit, and then the kenyon girls plus Marnie and Kim headed out to find some dinner. Unfortunately there wasn’t a whole lot of options around the hotel, so we ended up at an Italian place that was a little pricier than we would have liked. The food was great, though, and it was nice to be only a short walk from the hotel. The next day we had a group trip to Palos de la Frontera, which played a big role in Christopher Columbus’ first voyage. First we checked out el Monasterio de La Rábida, where he stayed and got the necessary support for his trip. Then we headed over to a little lake, where there were exact replicas of the three boats used for the trip. It was really fun, as we could walk all over all of the boats, and take the necessary Titanic-style pictures and stretch our arms out yelling “I’m the king of the world!” We also got to watch a hilariously intense video about the voyage to America, which we enjoyed quoting for the rest of the day. After a while it was time to get back on the bus, and we returned to Sevilla, where we had free time for the rest of the day. Despite my initial inclination to nap, I went out with a group of girls to grab some lunch and visit the Cathedral. We found a nice, cheap place for lunch, but unfortunately we got there to late to visit the cathedral. Instead, we decided it was time to get some shopping in, and we all headed out to find the shopping street Mar had recommended to us. It was fun, and I got to know some of the KU girls a little better, bonding over our love for H&M (my favorite clothing store). We all left, bags in hand, and continued shopping around for a while. I was a good, just got a couple little things that I really liked, and eventually Laura and I split off from the group to make our way back. Unfortunately, we got a little lost, but in the process we saw more cute parts of the city, including some stores displaying some beautiful, hand-made flamenco dresses. We stopped in at a grocery store, picking up some Sandwich supplies to do a picnic dinner at the hotel, and after a long walk we found our way back. Florette and Samantha joined us for a little picnic dinner in Sam and I’s room, followed by some cards (I taught everybody how to play hearts). We kept the door open, and random people came in and out, informing us that the boys were planning on hosting a Toga party in there room that night, hahaha. As our group had the entire sixth floor to ourselves, we figured we could get away with it, so everyone headed over to Chris, Guy Sam and Taylor’s room in our togas (aka bedsheets). It was really, really fun, complete with homemade sangria (which was not so good, but it was a good effort), plus plenty of other booze that the boys had bought from the nearby supermarket. I had a really fun time, again got to know some of the Kansas girls better, and we spent a long time hanging out and being silly. Eventually Sam, Laura and I decided to call it a night, so we headed back to Sam and I’s room to sleep (Laura was locked out of her room, so she was just going to sleep with us). We were all in bed (two twin beds pushed together) drifting off to sleep when a significantly intoxicated Biaggio came by, looking for the case to his playing cards that we had bothered. We tossed him the case, but he decided to hang around, walking on our bed and being silly, until we were all awake again (this was probably around 4am). He jumped in bed between Sam and Laura, deciding to spend the night with us. We watched a bit of the Life Aquatic on Laura’s computer, and we all eventually fell asleep, the four of us crowded onto the two little beds. Such a fun and random night. The next morning Sam and I were awoken by Guy Sam, who was looking for Laura, but she and Biaggio had left already. I later heard that Biaggio had waken up earlier, and needed to go down to the desk to get his key (there was only one key between two rommates, and his rommate had left really early that morning). He went down wearing my jacket and his toga, haha. Frankly, I’m amazed by how nice the hotel people were to us, at one point a couple people even went down in there togas and asked for a wine opener at the front desk, and they gave it to them. I’m guessing they get pretty bored around there, and we provided a bit of entertainment. So yeah, that was Thursday night, kind of rediculous. Friday we had free time until 2:30, so I slept in a bit and then went out with some of the Kansas girls to go check out the cathedral. It was really beautiful, very big and open, and all-around gorgeous, with some displays of paintings and a treasury. I climbed up the tower and got an amazing view of the city, probably my favorite part of the visit. Then it was back to the hotel to meet up, and we all got on the but to go to el Rocía. Rocía is a really little town, with dirt/sand roads, and lots of little white buildings scattered around. From there we did an excursion trough the National park “Doñana”, which is known as being one the best ecological reserves in Europe, particularly for endangered species such as the lynx! Unfortunately, as they are endangered, there are limited amounts of them in the park, and they are very shy, so we didn’t actually get to see one. In any case, we divided up and all piled into jeeps and went for a long driving tour through parts of the reserve. The drivers pointed out various types of birds, and we saw a fair amount of deer and rabbits…pretty exciting, haha. Although the animals may not have been particularly interesting, it was still nice to ride around out in the marshland, and get out of the city for a bit. After the long jeep tour we waited around for a while and then got back on the bus, returning to the hotel at around 9. Not wanting to walk real far, the kenyon girls and I headed out to a café not far from the hotel for dinner, and then just went back to the hotel to relax. At this point I gave my friend Elina a call; she was a friend from the Paris program who is studying in Sevilla, and we decided to meet up for a drink. It turns out that she lives real close to the hotel we were staying in, so she walked over and met me. It was really cool to see her, we walked a little ways to an Irish pub, and grabbed a couple “tinto de verano”s and went and sat outside. We talked for quite a while, catching up and reminiscing a bit about Paris. Like me, she had a little trouble at first transitioning to her new program in Spain, but we both agreed that we like it here, just maybe not as much as Paris ;). After our drink we decided to head back, as I was really tired having slept little the night before, so we hugged and parted ways. I’m really glad I got to see her, it’s so nice to have friends to visit around Europe, hopefully I will get to see more Paris buddies at some point. The next morning it was time to leave, so we headed over to the airport and flew back to A Coruna, followed by a bus to Santiago and getting in at around 4pm. We were all happy to be home, me and the other Cadiz/Granada people especially, and I must say I missed little Santiago, I’m really starting to feel attached to this city. Tomorrow I’m going to have to really buckle down and get myself organized, I’ve got an exam on Monday in my grammar/conversation class that I really need to study for. Phew. Well, there you go, my last nine days in a nutshell. I’m going to go to sleep now 
Love, Brit