Pictures!

bar @ Ricks

I love animals see i really do
i really really do
looks like Ben!
the baby was 20 days old!
notice im the only one not on a Camel
view from terrace over Center
monkeyyy
one good thing about driving for 13 hours was seeing all the sites
a reason why we had 13 hours in the bus...major flooding
good architecture right dad?

beautiful view

since some of you don't have facebook and some of you aren't allowed to engage in social networks here are some highlight pictures from the trip. if you do have FB, than get ready for another batch of pictures to be posted.

HOME :(

sorry for not updating in the past few days. I arrived home safely Saturday night and was exhausted after the two flights. I went to bed at 11 but to me it felt like 4 am. The last two nights I got two hours of sleep each, we were all having too much fun to even care we would only be getting little sleep.

Biggest highlight of the trip happened Friday night. and for anyone who saw me would say my eyes lit up like Christmas Morning. That's because after a whole week of anticipation, my wolfpack and I went to Rick's Cafe in Casablanca. For those of you who are new to me, thats my favorite movie and i can quote all the lines. I was very disappointed when just hours before we were set to go we were told we needed reservations and the restaurant was too small to hold our whole group of a whopping 80 people. Considering I felt they knew it was too small I was very upset, I mean, we have traveled thousands of miles and to miss out on a huge tourist attraction I was dying to see saddened me. We decided to take a cab over there and even if we couldn't get in, at least we could take pictures from the outside. So 6 of us split up into cabs and took an adventure ride to Rick's. The outside is very modern and the sign wasn't the same which was somewhat disapointing. We get to the door and the bouncer type men told the couple in front of us the bar was full. Slightly discouraged we decided to ask about a table for 6 there, and to our surprise they said to come on in. At hearing those magnificent words I got this goofy grin on my face that didn't leave me until we left. Walking in to the restaurant you can hear the piano being played and see all the beautiful themed decorations. There were chandeliers, big round tables, and a modern Moroccan vibe. We were taken upstairs where there were more dining table and the bar. In the bar area there were leather chairs for four people, a tv playing Casablanca continuously, champagne bottles, a small bar counter, and a roulette table with chips placed on the number 22. It sat eight so we were seated there. First drink, Champagne cocktail in honor of what they drank in the movie. It was easy to be so corny there. We all were having a great time, and I couldn't think of a better way to end a fabulous week than at Rick's Cafe. It broke my heart to hear that so many people on the trip haven't even seen the movie so I made them promise they would come back and watch it. Most of you are probably reading this surprised I can show emotions of happiness and joy, but I am here to tell you there are 5 witnesses who can back up my claim. My camera was running low on batteries so I only have a few pictures, but once theirs are up I will pass them along to you all.

On the picture note, I will have pictures posted on FB by tomorrow hopefully, and I will share with you the address where you can find them. I took over 600 pictures and about 60 videos, so there is alot to sift through. I will try not to bore you.

I would love to go again, but not with a tour. It was good going with people who know the languages and the culture but I feel for next time my ultimate goal would be to go to Spain and take the ferry from there. I would take a train from city to city b/c driving is like a suicide mission. I hope one day this actually happens, and you can than all read my wonderful blog again.

I wish we could have spent a little more time there, one week isn't enough to actually be emerged into the culture. but i'm glad I went and now sad that i am back in reality with papers and tests to deal with.

All for now. I will be posting more up about the trip in weeks to come, especially my reflection paper.

Sarah

Bonjour!

They speak French here so bonjour is fitting. So after a HORRIBLE DAY yesterday, and no im not being a drama queen it was horrible we had a great day today. But first here's what happened yesterday. brace yourself, it was exciting...

sat on bus for 13 hours in pouring rain. Drove to Marrakech arrived at midnight. Bridges were broken so we had to turn all the way back and back track 6 hours. not fun

but today we woke up and went to the spice factory, perfume factory, the museum and another old palace they were all really neat. the afternoon the people went to the other places but our Mommy and my wolfpack of 5 girls did the market and shopped. We got to hold monkeys! but attempting to barter was really hard and took alot of time to get what you wanted, and sometimes they wouldn't take your offer. It was really neat though, after the bad day yesterday a few of us needed to do things with a small group and not 80 ppl, so alot of people just broke up into groups. It was pretty cool and it was such a nice day, perfect weather. we had a good lunch and got to people watch. These little kids even yelled F you to us and we were called Spice Girls and we come from "Obama Land" At night we went to this dinner where we sat in tables of 8 and ate food and dancers came to dance with us and we saw this horse show which was interesting there were lots of horse acrobatics being done.

Tomorrow we are still here and we might do a spa day but we are hopefully when at the mountains riding camels! And of course more shopping.

The driving is crazy here...complete chaos i don't know how people don't kill each other. We get so close to other cars and ppl on bikes its scary. o yeah, we're in the honeymoon suite haha there was a mistake and we're in this huge cabana with 2 bathrooms a bar, kitchen, king size bed, and 2 flat screens.

Thats it for the past 2 days!

Sarah

Day 2!

hello!! I just finished my second full day and it has been a full past two days. Yesterday we went around Casablanca and it was really nice. the weather was beautiful! We went to the largest Mosque in the world, went to a meat market which had some interesting meat. they had so much fresh fruits though the food here is so good. We went around some more and some of us went to McDonalds for lunch. I had the McArabia and it was okay, it was a beef patty with veggies on a pita with a "special sauce" but I had to try it in spirit of the location. It was on the water and had couches in it. Fancy. We got back on the bus to Rabat and went to another palace and that place they bury people in the building. We heard the prayer call and ew the bathrooms here are "squatters" basically there is no TP and you squat to pee in the dark and it smells so bad. I was grossed out. We drove about 3 hours to Fez and had dinner and relaxed for the night.

Today we did alot! we went to the Medina of Fez. We saw another Palace, a synagogue, and took nice pictures on a look out. We than went to a pottery textile and watched them make all the pottery they are so detailed it was really neat. We than went to the Medina, which is the old city protected by walls. there are 9,000 streets and i think we walked through all of them. the medina is what you would probably think of the country, very crowded streets people everywhere trying to get you to buy stuff garbage on the streets, old buildings, and clothes hanging from wires. We had to walk fast through them and stay together because if you got lost you were SOL. It was an experience, i took lots of pictures and videos. We went to a leather place, bronze place, clothing store, and a silk scarf making place. Bartering was really hard! luckily one of our chaperones speaks arabic and is from the country so she trys to make the best deals. We went to a cool place for lunch and the waiter took a few of us to the roof and we took pictures. it looked like in Aladdin when he's singing one jump and leaps building to building. After lunch it started pouring! bad day to wear flip flops the roads became so gross but it was an experience. all the elders are doing well too, although they go to bed right after dinner they are too tired hahaa. we had one trip the other day she busted her lip but she prevailed on! Today was the best day so far, we were thrown into the country and area. Tomorrow we are traveling to Marrakech, where the action is. lots of shopping, spas, fun stuff. This is def. a country where you need a tour guide, you would get lost, not know what to see, and be intimidated without someone who speaks the language and knows what to do.

Well thats all for now! Don't worry mom, I have a surrogate mom here who makes sure I am wearing my coat and that i am not slipping in my flipflops.

Love ya!

Aloha from Casablanca!

I've arrived safely! It was a very long flight to Paris but they fed us twice and we were able to have our own tv screens which was nice. The Paris to Casa flight was awful I didn't feel well and slept the whole time. Waiting for customs was long and we were all so tired. We finally got on the bus where I slept again to go to the hotel, about 40 mins away. There were sheep and cows like roaming everywhere, even on the road in some parts. they even have donkeys pulling people in carts. I'm super tired now but we had dinner at 8 and now just going to relax and shower because we have to get up at 630 am. Internet is free in the hotel and my roommate brought her computer so that works out. We couldn't figure out the lights in the hotel room, it turns out you have to put the room key in a slot and the lights will only be on if thats in it. it's energy efficient they say. My room is facing the pool that isn't filled yet. if you walk out of the porch onto the a deck about 5 feet away the ocean is right there and you can see the coast and water. We can hear the wave crashing from our room. It's been rainy on and off but still fairly nice. I only forgot my hair brush and razor but I can get that once I exchange my $. it's now 1 dollar to 8.1 durhmas which is pretty crazy. The hotel is really nice and our first meal wasn't bad. Tomorrow we have a busy day, we're touring Casa, than going to Rabat and Fez. We come back to Casa on Thursday night and we are going to all go to Rick's Cafe Americano to celebrate my roommates and my other friends b-day. They play the movie constantly and play "As Time Goes By' once a night.

Hopefully I can post tomorrow! If not, I'll fill you all in as soon as I get access.

Sarah

Game Day

It's 2:39 am and my laundry is in the dryer! Step one done. Franz will be taking me to the airport at 6pm (we've been practicing the here's looking at you kid scene) and my flight leaves at 9:55 from Dulles to Paris. We arrive at Paris at 12:55 (Saturday) and take another flight to Casablanca, arriving at 2:55 pm. We go to our hotel to meet the other half of the group and begin the week. Here's where I'll be

Day 1 Casablanca

Day 2 Casablanca/Rabat/Fez

Day 3 Fez

Day 4 Fez.Beni Mellal/ Marrakech

Day 5 Marrakech

Day 6 Marrakech/Ourika

Day 7 Marrakech/Casablanca

I will be taking the 1040 flight from Casablanca to Paris and arrive back at Dulles at 4:40 pm.

speak now or forever hold your souvenir request!

The first 48

the first 48 hours leading up to this trip will probably be as dramatic as the A&E show but instead of bad guys and mystery, it will be full of laundry and packing. This has been a busy week and I can't believe it's Wednesday already. I can honestly say I haven't put much thought into packing and getting ready, since it is the week before spring break teachers have decided it would be an excellent week to assign more assignments. However after tomorrow I am school free and will be diving into Morocco mode full force. At least i don't disappoint, I said i would be packing the night before and I am!

Wish me luck folks....