JoyTripping

I came to Morocco blindly. For three of the seven weeks I've been gone I have stayed with families (a week a piece in Barcelona, Valencia, and Granada). The experiences in these homes have been good- in Granada especially I loved my roommates. In Valencia, my host was an amazing cook. Nothing, however, could compare to the Moukhchane famiy. They MADE my trip to Morocco the amazing experience that it was. As for the country itself, it was a lot of things; some rough and some beautiful. At night the skies were filled with stars that twinkled like diamonds. The landscape was gorgeous and actually reminded me a lot of California. There was also a lot of poverty, but the area I stayed in (Martil) was really nice; a beach town. During the day I rode ... read more

When I first arrived all I saw were giant, gross, 1980's apartment buildings. I began counting the seconds until I would leave. Really, my first impression of Valencia, Spain wasn't that different from my impression of Valencia, California. Both have mostly new construction. Both have a lot of rides. Then, slowly throughout the week, I began to warm up to it. To begin, the food here is really great. I didn't know what paella was supposed to taste like until I had it here on Tuesday. There are horchata stands on every corner. There's also a beach, if you're into that, but it's just okay. Once a year they have a Fallas Festival where they make giant, satirical, paper mache floats and then, on the third day, burn them all in a huge bonfire. They vote ... read more

Sad. My time in Barcelona is coming to an end and I have to say goodby for now to my new friends. For the last week I have been a solo tourist. No class- just me and the city. It has been great to be in one place for such a long time, especially after speeding through Holland, France and Germany so quickly. I sort of feel like I live here now or at least that I could live here. I have my coffee place that I go to every morning, people in the neighborhood know me, I share nods daily with real live Barcelonans, and I have mastered the public transportation system. The one thing I haven’t been able to do is get to Montjuic Cemetary. Its featured in several Almodovar films, most recently “Volver”. ... read more

Guess what I´m doing tonight? ... read more

All right, all right. I know I have a lot of catching up to do, as well as a ridiculous amount of pictures to post. The last two weeks have been amazing, but have also taken place at breakneck speed. We went through five different countries and managed to have fairly complete experiences in each of the cities we visited however, there was very little time for luxuries like internet cafes and blogging. Mom left early yesterday morning, after which I spent the rest of the day in Figueres at the Museu Teatre Dali escaping all the Barcelona tourists. Stayed at the Hotel Duran, Dali´s favorite local haunt, for next to nothing and enjoyed a real bed and German MTV. I went to Castle de Sant Fermin, an old Spanish fortress from the civil war (which ... read more