barceLOna abroad: Spring Break

Spring break was awesome! I first went to Sevilla for two nights with two girls from my program. One I had met before Sevilla, and the other one I met once I got to the airport. Sevilla was a gorgeous town filled with lots of energy and beautiful buildings. Sevilla is known for their tapas so we took full advantage of this and ate our way through town. I personally am not a huge tapas fan, but I did my best to try to enjoy what the town is known for. We spent the two days touring around the city and got a free walking tour from our hostel. Unfortunately, it rained both days we were there, but we did not let that get in the way of trying to have a good time. The first night, our hostel guide took us to a flamingo show, which is also what Sevilla is famous for. It was very interesting to partake in such a cultural activity and one that is close to the traditions of a town we were visiting. The following day, we headed off to Morocco and had to meet our bus at 4am! I went with about 30 kids from my program, 5 of whom I knew from previous events.

Once we were on the bus for a couple hours, we got off and took a two hour ferry ride to get closer to our destination. At this point, we were all zombies and could barely keep our eyes open…but we had a whole day of traveling ahead of us. We then spent the rest of the day on a bus where we ended up in Fes, nearby the Medina of Fes. I definitely had a little bit of culture shock once we finally got settled. I realized that I was out of Europe and placed into another society that I felt less comfortable in. The following day, we had a tour guide who took us into the impressive Medina. This was a different world…my oh my was it something else! The Medina consists of 9600 alleyways with 40% of them being dead ends. Most of the alleyways were narrow and consisted of stores or food stands lining the edges…this is somewhere where you would never ever everrrrrr want to get lost. Our guide told us that if we were to lose the group at any point, to not move because the chances of finding the group were slim to none. Every alley looked the same, and bustled with locals.

Our guide took us to a few special shops where we got to sample goods and make some purchases. We first went to an all-natural spice and oil shop, which reminded me something of what Harry Potter might be like. The spices and oils were in tall jars that lined that room and we were lucky enough to be able to sample a majority of them. I even was able to bring some spices back home to Mom…even though they stunk up my whole suitcase! Next, we went to a turban store where we were taught how to tie the turbans on our heads and purchase some if we wanted. This was fun! We then went to a leather shop that sat above an outdoor location of where they actually dyed the leather…it was SOOO SMELLY!!! I never knew leather could smell this bad, but it was awful. The shop was beautiful with bright, natural colors of dyed purses and shoes, but it was surprisingly very expensive, so I decided not to get anything…plus I couldn’t stand the smells! We then took a break and had lunch in the Medina at a local restaurant. It was delicious…we had couscous, chicken, and steamed vegetables…a very standard Moroccan meal. We then got out of the Medina (how?...I have no idea) and took our bus to a textile factory. This was very interesting and we got to see some beautiful pottery. I wanted to bring some pieces home, but couldn’t help but think that they would probably break in transportation. At night, we went to see belly dancers, which was a lot of fun. This lasted about two hours and by this time, we were all exhausted from a long day of activities.

The following day, we headed into the Sahara Desert. This was a crazy experience. We rode on 4x4 jeeps into the campsite at night through the sand dunes. It was so much fun as we went speeding through the sand, playing Moroccan music from the radio. Once we arrived to the campsite, we had another standard Moroccan meal and went to bed. There were no working toilets, showers or sinks….fyi. We woke up the next morning and went on a camel ride into a small town. The camels were sooo neat. While they smelt bad, it was lots of fun riding through the Sahara…how many people can say they have done that in their lifetime? I tried to take it all in and realize what an incredible experience I was partaking in. Afterwards, women came to the campsite and gave us hennas wherever we wished. The workers at the campsite were very friendly and taught us parts of the Arabian alphabet. It was fun trying to learn how to spell my name and learning that they read backwards compared to the standard way.

By day two, I was ready to wash my hands, sleep on a bed, have electricity, and most importantly shower! After a full day of travel, we finally got back to Sevilla, where I stayed in a hostel for only five hours as I had to wake up at 4am to catch a flight back to Barcelona. By this point, I was so ready to go back home to my room and close friends. Once I got back to Barcelona, the “Moroccan sickness” hit me. I was in bed for two full days with stomach problems…no bueno! Good thing I was able to be sick in my own bed and not in the middle of the desert.

I signed up for this excursion months before my program began, and if I could do it again, I think I would have done this differently. I enjoyed meeting new people of course, but I really missed my close friends that I had formed in Barcelona. Most of that crew headed off to Croatia for spring break…tough lives. In the end though, it turned out to be a great experience and I am glad I went.

The final weeks in Barcelona were some of the best weeks of my life. I cannot believe my time in Barce has already ended and it feels like just yesterday I started my study abroad application. I knew studying abroad would create some memorable experiences and some great friends, but I never knew it could be as special as it was. I created lifelong friends that I feel like I have known for years and not just a short four months. My time abroad was the most incredible experience I have ever had and just wish it could have not ended as soon as it did. I will cherish these memories and friendships for the rest of my life and just hope that something this amazing comes along again soon. As for now, I can only appreciate that I was given the opportunity to study abroad and make sure I never take that for granted.