"No, no, no...you four, I one!"....My journey to Egypt.

     So things kind of slowed down in Meknes (the town I'm studying in, in Morocco), and by slowed down, I mean got pretty darn boring. Now one may say it's because we haven't really "immersed our selves in the culture", but I don't buy it. Heck, I was even a model in a Moroccan fashion show! That was a great time and I got to meet a lot of new Moroccan friends, but that was just a special occasion because our school was hosting an intercultural forum with schools from Spain and China. Other than this fashion show though, it has pretty much been the same routine of class and various un-eventful activities. 

     Then came our vacation. We have this week off because of the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, which is a sacrificial/feasting holiday. It is celebrated extensively in Morocco, hence our week long break. So, 3 of my roommates (Juan, Shane [pronounce Sean/Shawn], and Jared) and I decided to take a trip to Egypt. When we planned our trip, we decided we would spend 3 days in Cairo then travel to the amazing beach town of Dahab in South Sinai. 

     Our trip in Cairo started out with a bang. We traveled to Casablanca by train from Meknes, then boarded our flight Thursday night / Friday morning at Midnight. We then arrived in Cairo at 6 am. Our hostel $6 hostel had sent someone to pick us up from the airport so we arrived at the hostel around 8 am on Friday morning. After having barley any sleep, we decided we needed to get right to site seeing and decided we were going to head to Giza. For $12 a piece, we hired a driver to drive us to Giza, then Memphis (a museum), then Saqqara which is another ancient burial ground. 

     When we arrived at Giza around 9:30, we were greeted by a short little Egyptian who gave us "free" tea, then gave us his pitch. We had planned on just walking around the pyramids ourselves, but after extensive bargaining with our little Egyptian friend, we were able to score a horse for each of us, and a tour guide for around $40 a piece. This definitely wasn't our cheapest option, but it turned out to be our best option by far. We had an amazing tour around the pyramids, seeing some great views that we would have never seen on foot and just taking our time soaking it all in. We spent about 3 and a half hours in total at the main Giza site, this also includes the Sphinx which was really cool.

     The site itself was actually quite dirty, there were plastic bags and bottles all over the place, but the pyramids were amazing. There's "salesmen" all over trying to take pictures for you or sell you little trinkets. Like this one "nice" fella, he gave Jared a few little stones and was like, "No my friend, free. No charge. No charge." So Jared took them, then the guy proceeded to seemingly leap off his camel and in almost 2 seconds have his little headscarf around Jared's head for a photo-op. Jared fervently said he did NOT want a picture with the guy or a thing on his head, but the guy insisted it was free because Jared was "American" haha. So I, being the "good" friend I am, took a few pictures for Jared, then the guy suckered me in to a picture, against insisting it was free. What he didn't understand about me, was that when he told me it was free, I took his word. So after our photo shoot, I started walking away and of course heckled me for money and of course, I gave this 5 foot nothing skinny man a very intense look and reminded him he said it was free. Then just walked away while he was yelling at me in Arabic and trying to grab my arm. Jared on the other hand was not so strong willed. After long deliberation, Jared ended forking over a little bit of money to the guy in Moroccan currency. It was quite the scene. I think Shane got some of it and the guy on video. If I can get the video from him I will post it on the blog.

     Our journey at the pyramids came to an end and we headed off to see the other two sites. Memphis was nothing too crazy great, at least in my opinion, and I didn't want to shell out the money to see Saqqara, so I didn't go there. The guys said it was pretty cool though. After this we headed back to the hostel where we decided we wanted to hit up the Chili's in Cairo. After trying to inform the taxi driver where we wanted to go, we found it. I know it sounds stupid that we wanted Chili's out of anything in Cairo, but you have to remember, we've been out of the US for about 3 months and miss that kind of food. It turns out though that the Chili's is on a "ship" that is permanently docked on the Nile. So, we were eating Chili's on the Nile River in Egypt. It ended up being a great choice. Such a great choice that we went back for lunch the next day. 

     After our great, 3 hour long dinner at Chili's (we were getting our money's worth in the endless chips and salad), we wandered around the "night life" area looking for a place to just grab a beer or something. After wandering around for a few hours ultimately being unsuccessful, we grabbed a cab back to the hostel. The only problem with this, was that our map back to the hostel was HORRIBLE. So horrible that the taxi driver got us "close" but we spent 3 hours walking around downtown Cairo from 12-3 am. This was after not sleeping in 48 hours and running around all day long in the sun. We were all exhausted, like literally, none of us could even focus on where we had gone and where we hadn't. No one knew were our hostel was, although I must say, everyone we asked was really eager to help. They would try to help and if they couldn't they would ask around and see if anyone could. We eventually, by dumb luck, stumbled across our hostel. I was never happier to find my bed. 

     The only problem with finding my bed in a $6 hostel is that they aren't always the best. Not only was the bed HORRIBLE, but we all woke up with over 20 mosquito bites and at least 30 ant bites (that are still bothering me 4 days later as I write this). Both nights we slept in this hostel were horrible with regards to bugs, but, it was only $6. 

     In our next few days there we saw the main museum in Cairo, the one that holds King Tuts mask, and we went to the Khan el-Khalili, which is one of the biggest/oldest markets in Africa. The museum was cool, but definitely not what I was expecting. It was smaller than I expected and really not very nice. There were a few nice rooms where the kept things like King Tuts mask and stuff, but everything else was not very well kept. It was easy for people to touch most of the stuff, it just wasn't what I expected. As far as the market goes, we had quite the adventure there.

     We took a taxi to the market, but there are two different markets on each side of the street. One side is the tourist bazaar where you can find anything you want and bargain for it all. Then there is the old Islamic market which turned out was mostly for locals buying clothing and stuff. As we were looking for the tourist bazaar, this short little old man spotted us and offered to help, for free of course. We told him we were all set but he INSISTED on showing us where we wanted to go. Again, he insisted it was free, so I was guilt free following him knowing he's not getting a single cent out of me.

     He took us through this labyrinth of clothes, us seeing nothing that we were interested. Then he assured us we needed to follow him up these stairs to the top of this building. We reluctantly followed and when we got to the top we had the most amazing view of the old Islamic market. Although the smog was really thick, just like everywhere else in Cairo, it was an awesome view. He then proceeded to take us down stairs and back into this "World Famous" papyrus shop, where they tried to sell us some ridiculously over priced papyrus paintings. We of course denied the offers and eventually left. 

     At this point we tried to ditch our little friend, but he again insisted we needed to go to his house and see his little "museum." We were in for an adventure so we followed him. We go way back in these dark back alleys. At this point, the suns gone down and it's just us and this guy when we get to this padlocked door in the middle of nowhere. He takes out his keys and opens up this door to a TINY 5 ft x 5 ft room stuffed full of junk. He pretty much pushes Juan, Shane and Jared into the room and they fill it up. Between them and the junk i could barely find a place to stand, but he gets me in there too, all 3 of them sitting down and he steps out and tries to close the door. 

      Now before I go onto what happens next, let me tell you what was on the back wall. There were polaroids of other people. Like probably over 50 pictures of other people. Some looked like mugshots, others looked like school photos, some were Polaroid's with him in them. Then there were business cards and ID cards, all tacked to the wall. It literally looked like a serial killers room from any movie or TV show you've ever seen. As I'm looking around trying to figure everything out, he grabs the door and goes to close it behind me. Let's just say, he was going to have to close that door over my dead body. I grabbed that thing so fast and so hard that he stepped back and was like, "Oooo no no no no! I'm not going to do anything, I was just trying to give you a seat. I mean look, you four I one. I don't want to do anything." It was super sketchy and I looked him in the face and was like, "You're not closing this door my man." But I squeeze myself in the seat right by the door and saw on the back of it was the SAME thing on the back wall. Picture after picture after picture of kind of creepy looking people. It was by far one of the weirdest situations I have ever been in.

     After all taking a seat, he then insisted on us having tea. So he ran and has his "wife" make us some. We made a nice contingency plan to drinking this special tea. Jared was going to drink his the quickest to see if it had any affect, and I wasn't going to drink much of mine at all, in hopes of being able to save us if we got roofied ha. He then proceeded to try to sell us things in the room. He would stand outside and we would pick up items and try to bargain for them. Shane then asked for a chess board, and he said he had one up in his "factory" above the room. But we couldn't go there because females were working there. Shane knew he was giving us a line of crap, so him and Juan followed the guy. Ultimately to find out he was going and getting things from other shops and trying to resell them They said when he saw them tailing him he was definitely taken aback and never really recovered. 

     After they got back with him, we decided to peace our for good, and the guy nicely showed us the way out, and we got away free of charge. He didn't really hackle us for money at the end either. I think he really understood we were not pleased with his shenanigans, and like he said, "We 4 and he's 1." 

     Eventually, we found our way to the real market. It was quite the scene. I've had so many "Friends" in my life. "My friend, my friend, I give you Egyptian price. We love America." Every single salesman there was my best friend who wanted to give me the best deal possible. And let me tell you, you could really bargain these guys. If they started out at 300 Egyptian Pounds, you could easily get it for 50. Just walk away and they go down to your price. Shane even traded a pair of knock-off Ray Bans he bought in Morocco for a chess set. Pretty darn impressive bargaining. Overall, the real market was just a lot of fun, with some really really cool stuff. We just had to get past our crazy little old man friend. 

     In a nutshell, I enjoyed my 3 days in Cairo, but its not necessarily a place I would love to visit again. I would of course love to take my family and friends there to see the awesome sites I saw, but beyond that, I'm content not returning there. As far as the beach town of Dahab though, this is one awesome place.

     Sunday night, we took the night bus out of Cairo en route to Dahab. It was about a 9 hour bus ride, but the bus was quite nice. Bathroom on board for us with travelers illness (myself being one of those people). We ended up arriving in Dahab at about 5 in the morning. Luckily for us, there were some American studying at the American University in Cairo who let us use their phone to contact the people who had the key to the apartment we're staying in. They had someone meet us at an awesome restaurant and take us to our apartment once we arrived. 

     The place we are staying is called Dahab Castle, and it is amazing. Two apartments, one of the first floor, one on the second, but it's a prime location and is probably one of the nicest places in Dahab. We're on the second floor with an amazing balcony and an awesome roof top view. The person who is staying below us is gone for the week so we've had the place to ourselves. It is owned by a German couple who have made it very western and very homey. The whole place is walled and everything is really nice. We could not have found a more affordable, nicer place if we tried. It cost us each about $20 a night, which is nothing even compared to a hotel and we have our own kitchen and everything. 

     The town is set up literally on the Red Sea right across from Saudi Arabia. The whole town is built off this main pedestrian road that runs right along the coast. All the restaurants. bars, hotels, everything is on this road. The first day we were here, we went snorkeling in the two best places here. The Blue Hole, which is rated as one of the top places in the world to scuba, and the Canyon. For $10 we got snorkel gear and someone to drive us to both these places. I have never seen such amazing sea life. We were literally swimming with the fish and exploring the reef. Shane has an underwater camera that allowed us to take so many pictures and videos, we just need an SD card reader to load them, so watch out on Facebook for the underwater album. It will surely be an awesome album.

     As far as my dealings in Dahab, they have consisted of really nothing more than eating, sleeping, snorkeling that one day, and drinking a few cold Stella's (Egypt's finest brew). This has truly been a very relaxing vacation thus far, but let me tell you all that I would give anything to be watching a NFL Football game while eating a Domino's pizza if I had the option. I love my time abroad and it has taught me so many things that I will NEVER learn in a class room, and for that I will never regret the decision. But it has really shown my how much I love and have in America. From friends to family, even to my stupid little iPhone. In my opinion, my life in America can not be rivaled even by the worlds greatest sights. So I will continue to enjoy and make the most out my month left here abroad, but I surely cannot wait to be back in one of the greatest places on earth, the United States of America!

Volubilis / Hammam Visit

            Wow. Sorry to all my blog followers. I have been severely lacking in keeping you updated on a normal basis. It’s not because of lack of love for you all, because I am really honored that there are even some people who follow it.  The experiences I am having have already surpassed any of my expectations for this trip and will do my best to continue to share them with you all.

           

            Last weekend we took a trip to Volubilis. This is an old Roman city just outside of the city I’m living in. The structures we were able to see, touch, sit on, and really have free reign on are over 2000 years old.  It was an awesome site. According to my roommates, if you’ve seen one Roman ruins site, you’ve seen them all. But being that I am a Roman ruins site virgin, this was an awesome experience. So much history packed into such a small place. It was just really cool. You can check all the pictures out on my Facebook if you haven’t yet.

            

            The following day we took a trip way out into the middle of nowhere in a traditional Berber city. We arrived at our guide Zorgan’s house at around 9 in the morning.  This was after a quick stop in Ifrane on the way. Ifrane was seriously the weirdest looking city ever, only because it was located in North Africa. It looks almost identical to a European city, especially a Swedish city, from the architecture to the attitude of the people and the quality of everything. Anyways, Zorgan’s house/farm was so cool. They served us a traditional Berber breakfast (bread, jam, butter, corn bread type stuff, green tea, and honey). The most incredible thing was that EVERYTHING was homemade, from the bread, to the honey, to the butter. They made everything on their farm with their own farm animals. So good.

            

            We then started our hike up to on of the highest points in the Atlas Mountains. If the truth be told, I hate hiking, and still do after this trip, but it was well worth it. Half way through our hike we came across guys with beautiful horses who were giving out rides for 20 Dirhams…or D’s as we call them (about $2.50 American). A bunch of people tried it had a blast, especially my Columbian roommate Juan. He just hopped up on the horse and, like it was nothing, took off leaving the owner standing there in the dust. It was quite the scene. We then continued on the hike and came across a huge group of monkeys. As you can see in my pictures, we were able to get really close to the monkeys and feed them bread and stuff. It was a really cool scene.

           

            Finally, we arrived at the peak of our hike, the panoramic view of a lifetime. It was just this cliff with an amazing view of everything below. We were about 2000 meters up at this point. A few of us were being daredevils (or idiots, you can be the judge) but we were climbing out as far as we could try to get good profile pictures for Facebook haha. I posted these pictures as well, but bottom line; it was an incredible time and view.

            

            Last week as far as school goes was pretty basic. Finally got into a routine and situated with most of my professors. One professor I have to talk about is my professor for two classes, Arab and Western Media and Peace and Conflict Resolution. His name is Hajjii and he is SUPER liberal, that’s not even doing it justice. He essentially is a Marxist/Socialist. He’s an awesome teacher and a really really good guy. We just never see eye to eye when it comes to politics.  And somehow, the first day of class, he called me out as a Reagan loving, Fox News watching, American patriot. Literally, you can ask my classmates, he walked up to my desk about an hour into class and just called me out. Since I’ve confirmed, he has been on my case non-stop. To the point where my roommates/classmates can’t believe I’m not mad or upset with him. I have two 3-hour classes with him on Wednesdays, and each class he spends at least 10 minutes calling me out about the conservative stereotypes.  Luckily for me, I’m far from a push over, and give him a run for his money every time he calls me out. He doesn’t mean any harm by it, and compliments me on my defensive remarks, but it still is a constant thing keeping me on my toes.

            

            For example, we were all sitting around during a break having tea, and he accused me of hating black people, poor people, and Arabs. Stating it just like that. There were about 10 of us American students sitting around a table, and every single person like dropped their cups and instantly went silent. This of course because many of them are more liberal and that is quite a HUGE accusation. I kind of laughed and responded with, “Hajjii, that’s a pretty big accusation. That’s like me saying that since you’re an Arab, then you must be a terrorist who wants to kill every American you meet, and we both know that’s not the case. So, no I do not hate black people, or poor people, and definitely not Arabs. I mean I am a conservative who came over here to educate myself, what else do you want from me?” He then, trying to keep his pride, commended me on my response, somewhat apologized for assuming, and walked away. He really meant no harm by it, and there were no hard feelings either way, it was just a great educating experience for the both of us. He will definitely keep me on my “debating toes” all semester though.

            

            As far as this weekend goes. I had a very eventful weekend here in Meknes. We had our first Hammam trip (public bath). This was a crazy but incredible experience. I’ll give you a quick synopsis of how it works for the men. You go in just your underwear, to a huge locker room looking sauna. You have a bucket, soap, and shampoo. You then choose your spot, around the entire perimeter are spigots for hot and cold water. Each person gets one of each for there area. You then fill your bucket up and clean the area in front of your spigots. Then you lie down and let your self sweat for like 20 minutes. After this an old Moroccan hammam worker comes and drags you out away from your bucket. He then proceeds to “man-handle” you. I was legitimately nervous after watching the first few of my roommates get “cleaned”. He attempts to loosen you up and stretch you out. Grabbing and twisting and bending your arms, flipping you on your back and pulling you up, straddling you and pulling your legs everywhere, turning you on your side and yanking your legs. Let’s just say, in American culture, it would be nothing short of something very homosexual. But it was nothing like that at all. It’s just a part of their culture, let alone it was a somewhat violent experience haha. After this, you lay on your back and they take a very rough brush and scrub all the dead skin off of you. It’s like when you rub your hands together and that nasty stuff comes off. They do that to your entire body, and then soap you up with a bar, and you rinse off. Then you go to the cool down room, rinse off again, and then change back into your clothes. I don’t think this many pores of mine have been open since I was a new born. We’re hoping to go back once every two weeks or so. It’s only about $5 American.

           

            After that, Nabil (our Moroccan friend) took my roommates and I to get custom tailored suits from a friend of his way outside of town. It was like 10 pm and we went into this guy’s tiny shop. He came out with a measuring tape around his neck, perfectly stereotypical tailor. Nabil told him what we wanted, and he pulled out 100’s of fabric samples for us to choose from. It took us awhile to choose from just square patches, but then he took each of our measurements, drew out our suits, and we added or took away any features. For example, I got 2 buttons, regular pockets; one cut on the back of the jacket (it’s common to do two cuts over here), and then got pleats on the pants. It takes him about 5 days to make the first stage, then we go try it on and make sure it fits perfectly. Then he takes another few days to finalize everything. Then $100 American, we take our suits home.

            

            Well, I decided to write this blog when I had a lot of reading to do for my class this afternoon. So I must go attend to that really quick. On a quick side note, the beard is still going strong, looks outrageous, but it’s still in tact! Hope everything is going well with everyone on the home front. And don’t forget to go get your pumpkins at the Pick’n Patch!!!

(Sorry for any grammatical errors, I didn’t have time to reread it yet.)

Hello Morocco!

            Whew…. Want to talk about different cultures. Morocco’s your place. After leaving Granada we took a ferry across the Mediterranean to a port just outside of Tangier, Morocco.  That night we spent the night in Tangier, and that was quite the experience. To be honest, I hated it. It was dirty, and FULL of solicitors. You didn’t walk anywhere where someone didn’t bug the crap out of you to buy something. Then at dinner, there was about 6 of us Americans, and literally as we walked down the streets people would yell at us, grab us, move tables together for us, speak any language they thought we spoke just to get us to come to their little outside restaurant. It was horrible. Even after we found a place, well were forced to a place, they gave us a HAND WRITTEN menu ha. And of course tried to like give us stuff we didn’t ask for and pretend like they didn’t know what we were talking about. Long story short, I have no desire to EVER go back to Tangier…ever.

            After this first night I was ready to get out of there, like Morocco in general. I figured Meknes would be just like it. Now that I’ve been in Meknes for almost a week, I can happily say that it is NOTHING like Tangier. They are not a tourist city and truly enjoy having Americans come and learn about their city and culture. I really haven’t solicited at all. Heck some people just want to come up and say Hello and welcome us to their city. There are a few guys that usually try to take advantage of the ISA girls wallets, but our directors warned the girls of who they are and how to avoid them. They aren’t really trying to harm the girls, just take advantage of their money and their US citizenship. But overall, people in Meknes are great and very welcoming.

            Two Moroccan guys deserve special shout out because they have helped out my apartment-mates and I since we arrived. Nabil and Khalid… both of them are a little older (late 20’s early 30’s) and have jobs in agri-business. They work for a company that distributes a lot of wine and alcohol for Morocco. They are really good friends with on of our directors and have befriended many previous ISA students. They actually was with our directors when we arrived in Meknes and showed us where our apartment was. They also have showed us around town, bought us tea and even pizza late last night. Not to mention the fact that they helped us all study our Arabic and French the entire day yesterday over a bottle of complimentary wine from them.  Bottom line, for someone like me with no background in French (the main language of business transactions) or the local dialect of Arabic (Berber/Dirjha) these two guys are lifesavers and welcome around anytime.

            So when we arrived in Morocco and until a few days ago (Friday exactly I think) it was Ramadan. Ramadan is a huge religious “event” in the Islamic culture where they fast (including water) from sun up to sun down. This was fascinating just because everything was like closed during the days, then really busy and loud at night. Then, 3 days after Ramadan (Eid is what it’s called) is pretty much a big “party.” Party in quotes because not like a Wickham family party, or one thrown at the Garage Majhal (Sorry I think I butchered that spelling Billy haha), it’s more of a celebration and big feast. It was very fascinating to see and experience even though we didn’t really take part.

            We finally went to see our university today, Moulay Ismail University. Moulay Ismail was once king of Morocco and he was the one who moved the capital city here to Meknes for his 50 years as king. The only time Meknes has been the capital. But he built extravagant walls around the entire old city, many of which remain today. I live in the new city but am walking distance away from the old city. He also built a grainery that was big enough to hold enough grain to feed the entire city for 20 years. We toured it and it was the BIGGEST thing I’ve ever seen. Walls are 10 feet THICK and about 40 feet high with just empty square footage to store grain. It was unbelievable. The university itself is within walls that are about 30-40 feet high. Walls surround the entire campus with 3 HUGE Aladdin type doors at the front and only a small door in the back. It is a very cool campus, small but awesome. I should have my schedule by tonight with classes starting tomorrow.

            I don’t want to bore you with a long winded day by day explanation of what has been going on (if I haven’t already haha) but I will make a list of things that remind me of where I am and the cultural differences. Most of them should be funny, but no guarantees:

T.I.M.’s (This Is Morocco)

When the store had to open up the “forbidden closet” where they hide the beer and liquor in the supermarket, then asked us to see our Passports because they don’t sell to Moroccans until today (3 days after Ramadan).

Then the subsequent glares we received as we checked out with our black bags of alcohol. And of course, the bottle I had had no bar code so they proceeded to yell across the store for 5 minutes in French about how much it was. I have never felt so dirty in my life from all the stares I was being given haha. (Don’t get me wrong, Moroccan’s enjoy a good glass of wine or a beer now and then…but it’s definitely not something they boast about)

There are really no cross walks in Morocco. If you can even fathom how this works, you literally play the game Frogger in real life. There are some stoplights, but no one goes there to cross, you just walk across one car at a time literally touching the other cars (going at a pretty good clip) as you walk by. I know some of you may not even be able to see this in your head, because it is extremely dangerous and unheard of, but nonetheless how it is. It turns out it’s very efficient and kind of fun.

Traffic in Morocco also follows really no rules. There are no lanes, you just swerve and drive up to 4 cars wide and beep your horn every time you pass someone ha. So LOTS of beeping, worse than any major city I’ve ever been to. No ones mad, it’s just how it works.

When we walked out of the open air market (that had nearly a million bees swarming all the sweet goods, literally you couldn’t see what the people were selling because bees covered everything in sight) but upon walking out we had to squeeze around a butcher shop on wheels. There was a truck and in the back they were cutting up a pig blood splattering everywhere ha.

When you’re woke up at 4:30 AM every morning by a megaphone yelling Arabic phrases from the Quran. Each morning there is a call to prayer really really early, and each minaret has a megaphone on it so it is heard around the entire city. This happens 5 times a day…it is very eerie.

When my roommates and I go to buy Risk, the board game, and end up paying $60 US DOLLARS for a stupid board game. We split it 6 ways so it was only $10 US dollars apiece, but still OUTRAGEOUS!

When a huge homemade lunch magically appears on the table every day around 1 o’clock thanks to our awesome cook Nora! She also cooks us dinner and leaves it in the fridge, does our dishes, and helps us keep this place clean. She probably hates us for being so dirty, but she’s the best.

Alright wow. I should try to write in my blog more often to keep it short, but it gets busy and it’s hard to decide what to write in this thing. Hopefully you all enjoy and let me know in the comments if you have any specific questions!

Granada!

Sorry for the delay on this post. I know it’s been about a week since I’ve posted but I was waiting for my stay here in Granada to wrap up so I could just do a general overview of the entire experience here.

Following the pictures on Facebook will also help give you a visual for what I’m talking about but I’ll try to describe stuff here too.

After arriving on Friday we worked on getting settled in our hotel and trying to meet everyone. My roommate Shane (pronounced like Sean) was already here waiting for the rest of us to get here. He had met up with another guy who will be living in our apartment in Morocco, in Seville, Spain a few days earlier. His names Juan and he’s from Columbia but goes to school in the states. So his first language is Spanish, which has come in very handy here in Granada. Anyways, long story short, all 6 of us decided we were going to go out and grab some dinner together and get a feel for what everyone’s like. Before I go into detail about that I want to talk really quickly about the culture here in Spain.

The culture is here is so different when it comes to a normal day. There is usually breakfast from like 7:30/8 until 10 ish then shops will open up and do their thing. Then around 12 until 2 there’s lunch. Lunch usually is the biggest meal and almost every restaurant has what is called a Menu, pronounced Men-“ew”. And what this is essentially a 3 course meal. You choose from a few options for your first dish, usually some sort of salad. Then your next dish is the most substantial with meat or pasta or something. Then you can either get coffee, tea, or some sort of pastry dessert. This also comes with a drink, beer, wine, or a soft drink usually for about 10 – 15 euros.  Personally, I only did this once because it was a little expensive for my taste, I prefer a 3 or 4 euro “Kebab” which is like a pita filled with fresh vegetables, and in my case, “pollo con queso” or chicken and cheese. They are amazing. Then after lunch comes the best part of the day, the siesta or naptime. This is wear many people close their shops and go take a few hour nap until about 5 when shops start opening up again.  Then at about 9:30/10 dinner starts to pick up. Dinner lasts from 10 until 1 or even 2 in the morning. Dinner is a little bit different from lunch. It usually consists of things called “Tapas”, which are essentially appetizers.  The concept is quite simple, every time you order a drink, they bring you food. Usually they are smaller portions but fantastic nonetheless. The drinks may cost 1-2 euros but come with food. This is what we did for dinner most of the time. Ordered 4 or 5 rounds and just ate dinner like that. We also would kind of bar hop to try as many different tapas as possible. Then after dinner, if you’re interested, you can continue to drink a little bit until it is time to go out “clubbing” or bar hoping, whichever you prefer. Personally, I enjoy a good “discotecha” or club with loud dance music. Some of these clubs don’t open until 3 AM and almost all of them are open until 6 AM!!! This makes for some crazy long and wild nights.  There’s a little taste for how the Spanish culture’s days are structured.

But back to the first night. So we went out and with Juan’s help, had no problem getting some dinner and tapas. We actually all kind of clicked as a group. There was really no awkward time between the 6 of us. Bottom line is I’m really excited about living with these guys for the next 4 months. It should be an awesome time.  Just for future references in later blogs, here’s a list of the guys and where they’re from:

Shane (Sean) My actual roommate – He’s from Santa Barbra, CA

Zach – Maine

Ben – Virginia

Jared – Colorado

Juan – Columbia (But goes to school in Maryland)

The next few days we were in Granada, one of our program directors, Daniel and his girlfriend Christina showed us all over town. If you check out the pictures on Facebook you will see the tour around Granada then the amazing tour of the Alhambra. I labeled all those pictures so you can get the description of the tours from the pictures.

Each day was about the same with regards to what we did for food. Kebab’s for lunch, tapas and drinks for dinner. Then we went out to the discotechas at night. So far it has been an amazing trip. I will definitely want to make it back to Granada someday and hopefully show the family and Mandie around. Today is our last day in Granada though and we will be traveling to Tangier, Morocco all day tomorrow. Taking the ferry out of Gibraltar to Morocco, which should be awesome. Oh, and tonight we are going to see one of the famous Flamenco dancing shows! That’s supposedly one of the best things to see in Spain. I’ll continue to post pictures and try to keep my blog updated.  Hopefully in Morocco it will be easier. I also learned a lot of information about what life will be like in Morocco, but I’ll share that in a later blog.  Hope you enjoyed the read and the pictures! Update again as soon as possible

"This is URGENT!!!!!"

That is not the most pleasant voicemail/email to receive from your travel agent only 27 hours before you're first flight to fly out of the country.  But nonetheless, I received both the email and voicemail from my anxious sounding travel agent less than 2 hours ago (27 hours before I was suppose to leave).  And I am now sitting in the "Greater Rochester International Airport" waiting to board my flight in a half an hour.

So long story short, my travel agent got wind that Hurricane Earl might reek havoc with the east coast airports tomorrow, called me at 2 o'clock and told me that she thought I should move my itinerary up a day, and just spend a day in Madrid before continuing on to Granada for orientation. Instantly, I got dad on the conference call and we made the decision, we were going to go for it. I had JUST finished packing everything up and just BARELY made the weight limit (50.5 lbs... .5 above haha) but I was somewhat "Ready"... Barbara, the best travel agent known to man, was able to book me in the last seat for a flight out of Newark to Madrid tonight at 9. She also booked me a cheap hotel right near the airport in Madrid for my extra day.  During the madness I was running around double, triple checking to make sure I had everything while brushing my teeth, washing my face, and throwing everything together. Then mom got home and out the door we went, DRENCHED in sweat ha. We left the house at 2:50, made it to the airport by 3:30 (Mom drove, fast) and I had my bags checked and in line at security by 3:36. Poor Mandie was in class during all the festivities so we had to say goodbye through a very pixely Rochester airport internet video chat. But I'm at the gate ready to get on the first flight to Newark...hopefully it's on time and I can hustle and make my flight over seas.

Let's just say, it was a WILDDDDDD start to my trip. The adrenaline is still pumping as I type. Oh and a quick side story, I had wanted to wash my shoes before I left, so I had put them in the washer earlier today, thinking they'd have all night to dry them. Nope, I had to hold them soaking wet out the window on the way to the airport to try to get them as dry as possible. And although they're drying...I think a change of socks will be necissary once I'm on my plane out of Newark. But "families with little children, older people, and anyone needing extra time to board" are boarding now, so I'm nexttttt. Wish me luck on catching my flight out of Newark, and I will post again when I am at the hotel in MADRID!!!!

T - 2 Weeks...

Just a heads up before you take the time to read this post. It is just simply some tips from an amateur study abroad student of things that I think should be taken care of with 2 weeks left. Meant mostly for any future students who want to see all that's involved in studying abroad.  Feel free to read on though if you're interested.


Two weeks from today I'll be boarding an airplane out of Newark to fly across the ocean to Madrid, then onto Granada for a 4 or 5 day orientation. Dang time flies...


But I just thought I'd share some things that I think are good to think about with 2 weeks left for future students participating in the same program (or really any study abroad program).


First things first, "packing".  Now I surely am not packed and ready to go, but I have thought and planned out everything I am going to pack. For instance, it was suggested that we try to blend in with the Moroccan people and culture, and trust me when I say, my clothes aren't really the type that blend in.  So I have gone and revamped most of my wardrobe to consist of more conservative options.  Heck I even caved in and bought some hiking type shorts/pants combo things. They are actually comfortable and versatile. 4 pieces of fabric and 8 different pieces of clothing. I'm also planning on packing some of my own deodorant, bar soap, and face wash just to have until I get settled abroad.


Secondly, I personally had to grab myself a new backpack that is a little bit bigger and more conducive to holding enough for a weekend rather than a school day.


I also barley remembered reading that we needed to order some books for our Arabic classes abroad, so I bought those yesterday with hopes that they will be here on time.


The rest of the stuff I'm just going to list off and if you anyone wants more information feel free to leave a comment and I'll elaborate:

• Ordered some Euros and Dirhams (Moroccan currency) from my bank, just in case.
• Worked with my dad and his lawyers to give him Power of Attorney while I'm abroad. Mostly for just if I need to sign a lease back at school or something like that, he can legally sign for me.
• Looked into housing for the Spring semester after I return.
• I also had to contact my school and ISA about issues with my financial aid and when it was actually being released, something that you may want to stay on top of.
• Been watching my flight information to make sure it doesn't change and ISA is up to date on when I will be arriving.
• Called me credit and debit card companies and alerted them where and when I'll be traveling.
• Make copies of the first 2 pages of my passport and my debit and credit cards.
• Talked to my doctor and saw a guy with "Passport Health" to get a couple of vaccinations. I got a shot for Typhoid and he recommended getting Hep. A shots as well.

I'm sure there are a few things that I am missing that I will add to the comments box if they are anything that substantial. But after arriving and starting the program I'm sure things will come up that I wish I would have done, I'll talk about those as they arise.  

So pending any other earth shattering things that come up, my next post should be from Spain!

Quick Introduction

So let me just start by doing a quick introduction in this first post (I promise the other posts will be more entertaining).  For those of you who don't know me, my name is Ben Wickham and I am a Junior at University of North Carolina Wilmington. Well, for this semester I will be studying at Moulay Ismail University in Meknes, Morocco. This decision came about earlier this year when I was exploring future career opportunities in federal law enforcement.  I had also just found out that I would be interning with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service for 10 weeks this summer and thought that exposing myself to the Islamic culture and Arabic language would not only be a great experience, but something that may stick out on my resume as well. 


7 months and quite a bit of paperwork and planning later, we're just about two weeks away from departure...