African Adventures, Part 2

We drove through extreme heat, past mountains, and thousands of goats in the roads, but after driving for like 8 hours, we saw the most beautiful sight in the world- sand dunes. They were such a welcome sight after such a looong drive! So we immediately hopped out and ran to the bathroom to wet our turbans, which we were so excited to wear. It wasn’t even that hot out, since it was already like 5:30. It was probably only 90 degrees! But we wet them anyways… Kellie’s and mine bled dye so we thought for sure our heads would be colorful once we got to the camp! After getting our new BFF bus driver to wrap the turbans, we walked out to the back were the camels were. We had hoped for double humped camels, but sadly they were all only single humps. It was perfectly alright because we were just about to ride camels into the Sahara!!! What an amazing experience right?!

Getting on the camels is actually quite tricky. Because they sit on their legs like cats or dogs, once they feel your weight on them, they immediately get up. I can’t remember if the back legs or the front legs get up first, but we all almost flew right off because it was so unexpected. After that, our “guides” tied all the camel together in a line and walked beside us, leading the camels. We were going sooo slow, but it was a ton of fun. We were taking pictures left and right: of us, the camels, the camel’s feet, the dunes, the sun setting, and more dunes. It was tons of fun and the sunset was amazing. Nikki always has the worst luck with animals, so naturally her’s got disconnected from the pack and was getting left behind. Then, after we got the guide’s attention and he was tying her up, she got a charlie horse and I nearly peed my pants it was so funny.

After about an hour and a half of the camel trek, we walked over a huge dune and… voila. Our home for the night. It looked like a big shed from far away, so after we got off the camels (which we had named respectable names- mine was Harold, Nikki’s was Pasquilito, and Kellie’s was Wallie) and took pics with them, we explored our surroundings. We were literally in the middle of the desert, you couldn’t see a single person or road or house over the dunes! It was all sand. There was a massive, and I mean MASSIVE, dune right behind our camp. Our beds were rugs that had been laid out on the sand, so we plopped down and tried to watch the stars. It was cloudy, so it was a tad disappointing, but not much. I spotted a snowboard, so I convinced the girls to hike a tad bit up this massive dune that overshadowed our camp and go down. The Quebec/Aussie guys (we never figured out exactly where they were from) that were with us tried to actually board down, but the bindings were all jacked up and so we decided to sled down. It was so much fun. We squeezed four on and sunk the poor board! But it was a ton of fun riding down super fast on the sand.

Then we noticed that the Berber guides had set tea out, so we went down to our rug. They brought out a low coffee table for each rug and gave us mint tea, which is probably the greatest thing I’ve ever drank. Then, an Italian couple came to sit at our table and we talked to them about Italy until our food came out. It was a strange mix of tajine, rice, onions, and couscous, all thrown into one massive dish. We ate out of a community bowl with our 5 different spoons. It was pretty great.

Then, the Berbers brought out bongos and started jamming out. Everyone started dancing and it was absolutely nuts. The dancing style in Northern Africa is odd, to say the least. What I determined is that it is a mix of clapping, stomping, growling, and Red Rover-style handholding. You’d lock arms with a few people while stomping to the beat and then rush at another group and get right in their faces. Then, here’s the kicker. You growl at them and back away the way you came. It was SO much fun. After our rock out sesh, we sat down only to be pulled right back up again. The Berbers wanted to climb to the huge sand dune (which really only looked to be like 100 feet) to better see the lightning that had begun on the other side. It started sprinkling (more rain, but this time in the SAHARA?! What is wrong with the world?), so everyone at our camp walked over to the dune.

Guess who was the only one to make it to the top? Yup, this girl right here! Everyone made it about a fourth of the way, but the sand was sinking and it was way steep and definitely taller than any of us imagined. So everyone started dropping like flies. I would have too, but a Berber grabbed my hand, jammed it under his armpit, and literally drug me up the dune. It was me and one of the Aussies going up, but at some point he disappeared. I thought we were almost there about 14 times; it’s hard to tell height when it’s like 12 or 12:30am. So after huffing and puffing my way up, I made it. Barely though, I grabbed on to the exact crest of the dune (it was actually a perfect point, like an upside down V!) and caught my breath while looking out. To my right was Algeria, only a few kilometers away, to my back was Mezorga (the Berber village), and just down the slope on either side was my camp and another camp. It was amazing. The lightning was cracking in just the most perfect way to really illuminate the sky. So Hassan (my slave driver) and I sat up there and just hippie-d out. We talked about life in the states and his life in Morocco, his babies, how to live life well (“you got to keep living because everyday it’s gone”), and why he knows 7 languages fluently (Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Spanish, French, English, Italian, German) when I only know English. It was probably my favorite memory of the trip thus far! We were having a grand old time until the wind started picking up and sand began to hit us at full speed straight in the face. So I got my turban on and completely LOVED how it saved me. I guess I never really thought of what turbans were meant for, besides looking goofy, but they are extremely useful! Hassan had on his full robe with a huge turban… It didn’t seem odd to me to be sitting up on the top of a dune completely alone with a strange African man in traditional garb… It was like it was a normal thing in the life of Amy! Thinking back now, it was pretty damn amazing and incredible.

After we had enough of the hard wind, I asked him how we were supposed to get down, since it had been pretty steep getting up. I tried to roll down, but sand can still knock your breath outta you. Ouch haha. So that failed. I got up and asked Hassan how we would get down without eating it, which he replied by grabbing my hand and taking off in a full sprint. I caught up from behind him and we were both laughing hysterically while running in a full sprint down this massive sand dune in the middle of the Sahara… talk about an experience! We were about half way down when there was a small cliff-ish thing that we didn’t see and ran off it… so we were airborne, flipping around in the air (while still laughing), and landed flat on our stomachs. We ate it, but were still laughing with gallons of sand in our teeth! It was so much freaking fun! We hopped back up and ran the rest of the way… Best few minutes of my life. My favorite memory of my life so far? It may be!

I got down and went to Kellie and Nikki who were on the rug stargazing. I laid down and tried to get some shut eye, but it failed. The Berbers were playing bongos and having a grand old time a few dunes over, so I got up and walked over with this 14 year old Berber boy who was working at the camp. We sat down and EVERYONE was speaking Spanish because it was the group of Spaniards that was in our tour group. They were all playing and laughing and joking, but the best part was I could understand about 95% of everything they were saying! I was so pumped that my skillzz were so great! Then the little boy taught me a few beats on the drums and we hung out by the camels for a while. Then I laid down on my rug and fell asleep with stars in my eyes.

After a much too short sleep, we woke up much too early. At 4:15am, to be exact. So we were pushed off our bed pads to inside the Berber tents to eat a breakfast of bread, jam, and butter. In the middle of eating, Nikki and Kellie both got up and basically ran outside the tent. I was mid-bite of my bread slice, so I was confused as to why they were leaving when I was still eating…rude! It wasn’t until later that I learned a massive “4 inch” bug had crawled under our table while we were sitting on the ground (no chairs, low table). So thanks for warning me guys! Hahah, twas fun.

Anyways, we then gathered our things, hopped on Pascuelito, Harold, and Wallie, and went back to camp. The sunrise was just as beautiful as the sunset, the only thing that was a slight bummer is that we were all sore from riding the camels the night before… ouch. But it was still great. Once we got back to civilization, we were told we could have showers… but nope! So we tried to shake the sand from our hair/pants/bras, but it was stuck to the sweat that had accumulated from the camel ride and the day before. So besides having beautiful hair from sleeping in a turban all night, we probably smelled like death.

We piled in the AC-less van and sat. And sat. And sat. For close to 11 hours. 7am to 6pm, with only a few stops for lunch and peeing. So that was really fun! We tried to sleep, but we were all pretty pumped still from the night before! When we finally got back to Marrakesh, we grabbed our bags and hit up the henna ladies. We all got our hands done for 50 dirham, which is like $6.20. Dirt cheap. Kellie made her lady mad by wanting it cheaper, so her lady gave her brown henna, which isn’t supposed to be as good as black, instead of the black Nikki and I got. Then we did last minute shopping and went back to our hostel. When we got there, Kemal asked us how it was (AMAZING!) and then told us Nikki’s mom had called and seemed really worried. So Nikki called her and when she didn’t answer, left a voice message to let her know we were alright and headed back to Casablanca. Kemal said his email had been hacked and that was probably why she was so nervous.

So we left, got a taxi outside the medina (only 10 dirhams each, like $1.20!!! Cheap) to the train station, got a ticket, and sat down in the McDonald’s with everyone else. The McD’s abroad are borderline amazing. It is like real food, not crap! So we got fountain sodas and snackies when Nikki face timed her brother on her iPhone using wifi. She started being like “Oh my gosh, no way!” and “yeah were in McDonald’s, no one is holding us!” So Kellie and I were quite confused as to what was going on. Turns out, Kemal really downplayed the hacking scenario.

Nikki’s mom, who booked our hostel, got an email saying we were traveling with Kemal when we were robbed of all our money, cameras, and belongings at gunpoint and needed money ASAP. So she flipped, frantically called the ship, and everyone had been looking for us! Of course, her dad and brother could tell it was a scam, but as any momma would do, she overreacted. She had apparently decided if she hadn’t gotten a hold of us by 7am the next morning, she would’ve been on her way to Casablanca to look for us! Hahah, such a good momma! So that was funny.

Anyways, so we got on our train and were about to die of tiredness and delirium, since it was another 3 hours on top of a whole day of traveling. Our pockets, faces, and ears were still full of sand, so we were roughing it big time. We were in a cabin (with AC!!!! Halleighluia) with 3 other Moroccan old guys who thought we were hilarious. Well, the 2 who could speak English haha. They were asking about our henna and told us that Kellie’s brown was right and they didn’t know what our black henna was! So they were sniffing it and stuff, saying it was chemicals, so we went to the bathroom to wash our hands of the excess dye. When we went to the bathroom, the train’s door was open. Naturally, we grabbed the handrails and poked our heads out while we were going full speed. Then, a girl walked up behind us so Nikki and I jumped backwards and screamed because we were so startled! It was really funny, but I think only because we were so exhausted hahah. So then Kellie came out and asked what happened cause she could hear our screams! Then the conductor (?) dude came out, shut the door, and sternly told us “no.” So we went back to our seats and told jokes back and forth with the old guys. They bought us sodas and showed us pics of their kiddos. We talked forever until we got to Casablanca, FINALLY. We got a taxi for less than $3 total back to the ship, told the ship people we were alive and not being held at gunpoint, and passed out.

For our last day in a foreign country, we woke up at 8:15 to get breakfast and were out of the ship by 9. We were going to hit up the huge Hassan II mosque with a glass floor that shows the ocean currents, but we learned that it was about 120DH to get in… like $15! So we said no way and headed to the souks to shop and meander in the twists and turns of Moroccan streets. We ended up meeting this old guy named Omar who was taking us all over and showing us stuff. I thought he was the nicest guy ever for showing us everything for an hour or so, until when we wanted lunch and he wanted money. The strange thing about Moroccans is that they can be the nicest person in the world, but they want your money and not your friendship. So sad. We didn’t give him any and headed to Rick’s Café from “Casablanca.”

On the way, we got lost, saw the King of Morocco’s entourage, and saw the midafternoon prayer. Rick’s was a pretty cool place, full of old antique things. It really makes me want to watch the movie! After that, we shopped a tad bit more, I nearly got a 4 foot wide painting (but I did not!), and tried to find a post office for Kellie and Miranda to send their hookahs home. The post office that took us an hour to find (streets are not easy to decipher!) was closed, so we split into 2 groups. Nikki and I went to find snackies and coke lights to spend our remaining dirhams on while they went to another post office.

We got back to the ship and just about broke down in tears. When we stepped onto the gangway… it’s rough to think the adventure part of this trip is over and the next solid ground we step on will be on US soil. I hate it. So that was rough. Nikki and I then bunkered down on the deck and wrote a blog article about the camel trek for the SAS blog, so we shall be famous any day now!! Sailing away that night was pretty hard too… I just am not ready to be home yet. I don’t think any of us are.


Today was a rough day at sea. We had massive swells so all my classes were empty. Global studies is usually a class of about 200 people, but there were probably 50 total. In geohazards, since it is in the front of the ship, Nikki and I almost vommed. Everyone pretty much slept the day away and tried to not get sick… the staff even put out barf bags everywhere on the ship! So it was pretty bad. Thankfully it is calmer now, so everyone is getting a tad more lively. We procrastinated on homework and just chilled and talked and hung out, like normal. We tried to research what to do in Boston, since we usually do it for the next country we visit as a sort of tradition, but Boston seems like it sucks. It was built in 1629, so it’s NEW! Yuckkkk, let’s go back to 11th century cities or 125 BC buildings! It sucks to think that in less than a week, I will be half way across the US from some of the people I’ve shared the most amazing experiences with. It sucks SO hard. I don’t ever want to be more than a few doors down the hall from them :(

African Adventures, Part 1

I was stoked for Morocco. After Egypt got canceled, Turkey and Morocco were the ones I wanted to see the most, because they are places to travel, not vacation. So I had been researching everything and anything about the country. We had lots of ideas to do, but settled on heading to Marrakesh, a huge shopping town on the base of the Atlas Mountains that is pretty central to everything in Morocco. But, true to form, whenever we try to plan stuff, it never works out. Nikki, Kellie, and I had planned to wake up at 5am to watch the sunrise and us pull into the Casablanca port, but it was cloudy. Like SUPER cloudy. So cloudy that the sun rose and was way in the sky before anyone knew. So that was a failure! We even brought out our iPods so we could listen to the beginning song from “The Lion King” as the African sun rose! Bummer. So we went back to bed and woke up from breakfast at 8. We got ready pretty quick, but since we needed our passports (because we were doing the independent travel to Marrakesh), we sat around until about 10:45 waiting to set foot in Africa. When the time came, we were all pretty stoked. We were still going to make our 12:45 train to Marrakesh and everything was going to work out!!

So we exchanged money and got into a “petit taxi” (a tiny little taxi!) and headed to the train station. The city is exactly how I imagined Morocco to be; cliché white buildings with peeling paint and clothes hanging from balconies. It was dirty, loud, but REAL. It was so freaking cool! On the way, we saw a horrible moped/ car accident…. The guy was still laying on the ground while everyone was crowded around trying to get him to wake up! Terrible. When we finally got to the train station, it turns out all our careful planning was for nothing… the trains were not running. We couldn’t figure out why, since the woman didn’t speak much English, so we decided it was because of Ramadan. We were standing around wondering what the heck to do, since Marrakesh was a full 3 hours away by train and we had a hostel booked for the night. We grouped with 2 other girls and somehow ended up in a taxi driving to Marrakesh for only about $25 a person! But, we crammed 5 in a taxi... so it was a tad cozy.

Our driver took us to a side street, parked, and got out. We asked what he was doing, but he told us “no problem.” Everyone was a tad sketched out, but since this stuff happens to us all the time, Nikki and I were just going with it. The driver then came, opened up our doors, and made us get out. He took us to another taxi and moved all our bags into that one. We were super confused, but did what they said. We later realized it was probably because there are some types of taxi laws where only special permits can leave the city, but at this point we were all a little weirded out. So then, our new driver is driving in circles… even we realized it. He stopped and talked to a police officer, and then another taxi driver, and then a shop owner. We were so confused. Turns out he was lost and didn’t know how to get out of the city!!! The other girls who were with us wanted to get dropped off at the ship and go back, but since we had already paid half, there was no way we were going to lose all our money!! So we stayed in and finally he got on the right road! We all cheered. Then we started talking to him and he taught us Arabic the whole way there! He was so nice. We drove through this desert that was so hot the air hurt my face when it hit it. It was terrible and we were sweating balls. We stopped at a gas station for what we guessed was a potty break, but when we got out of the car, the car was leaking a reddish brown liquid from the front! But of course, he said “no problem!” So whatevs. We got in AC in the gas station, cooled off, had a coke light (with Arabic writing!), and headed back into the car, which then got us to Marrakesh. It was so nice to finally get there!

Marrakesh is an interesting city. It is an ancient trading city, so the old city is circled by a wall. Inside the wall is winding streets that are like mazes and confusing. This is to keep the area of the city small and defensible, but cram a ton of people in! When you think of “Prince of Persia” or other movies based in Africa, that is EXACTLY how the streets were. They are cramped and narrow, with roofs made of thatched wood and sometimes with a post between two walls. It was so cool. But, because of this, our driver couldn’t take us directly to the hostel we were at, he had to drop us off in the new city, which is basically a new city not circled with the wall. It was a normal, modern city with big streets (we didn’t spend much time there). So we walked through the gate and were in the Medina! We got to our hostel and met Kemal, the owner, who was super nice. He got us tasty mint tea (OH MY GOSH DELICIOUS) and we jabbered for a bit. We told him we wanted to do a day excursion because 3 nights in Marrakesh just shopping might be a tad much. So he told us about a 3 day, 2 night Sahara camel trek which we all fell in love with. A british girl who was staying in the hostel came out and told us that she loved it, but to definitely get a turban because it helps with the heat.  It was an AC car, English tour guide, and a pool, so we were sold! It was only about $120 total, so it was perfect!

We signed up and headed to the souks (shops) and the main square, Djemma el Fna. The shop owners were much more aggressive and agitated than the Turkish souks, since it was Ramadan and super hot, so it wasn’t as fun. They really didn’t love Americans too much, so we didn’t love it much. They were also not too into haggling so we walked away a lot. But we got some good stuff! From our hostel to get to the square, we walked right by the restaurant that got blown up in April. It was covered with banners so you really couldn’t see into it, but through the cracks you could see torn apart concrete and dips in the ground from the explosion. It was really sad, but strangely cool to see… in some sick and demented way.

The square was nuts. It was full of women selling henna, apothecaries (with dried lizards, bird’s legs, and powdered snake… really weird stuff!!), snake charmers, and monkeys. I really wanted to get a pic of the snake charmers, but they demand a ton of money if they see you taking a pic, so all my sneaky snaps are lopsided and faraway. Sad day. They tried to throw the cobras on us, so we literally ran the opposite way. Thinking back, it might have been a pretty cool picture and worth the money to get one… oh well! We ate dinner on this roof terrace looking down on the square and watched the Muslims break their fast, which was way cool. The food would be sitting out in front of them so that exactly when the sun set at 7:30, they could dig in. There was some lightning in the distance too, so that was pretty sweet! We then walked around and watched the evening prayer at the mosque… there were thousands praying all around the mosque and in the yard around it! Pretty powerful and I wish it wasn’t rude to take pictures… then we went back to the hostel, got on the internet, and passed out.

We woke up at 6am to be ready for our 7am departure. Kemal came up with 250DH for the each of us and told us that the English-speaking tour guide called in sick. So bummer… but we were sure our driver would know a bit of English to tell us what was going on. So we went with it, met this Japanese girl named Mal who was going with us, and walked to our van in the square. In our bus/van, there were 2 more Japanese girls and about 9 Spaniards, plus our Moroccan tour guide who just REEKED of coolness. He was wearing a tie-dye turban, a long blue robe, and Ray Bans. So we were stoked.

Our first stop was supposed to be breakfast, but it wasn’t. The next wasn’t either. After a few stops at tourist shops, we finally got the nerve up to ask him when breakfast was. Turns out we didn’t get breakfast (though Kemal said we did!!) and that was what the first stop was for! Yikes, so we were starving. By then it was getting pretty warm too, so we asked him to turn the AC on. He said “no,” turned back around, and kept driving. So no AC either, Kemal lied to us!! After stopping for pictures of many oasis towns and palm trees, we had lunch at a VERY touristy place. It was pretty good. Then we went to a UNESCO site castle called Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou, which is basically a mud village with huge walls encircling it. It is made completely of mud mixed with straw and limestone, and we crossed a dry riverbed to reach it! Right before we walked up I said it looked like we were in the movie “Prince of Persia” because it was exactly how the streets and homes were situated. Turns out that it was were “Prince of Persia” and “Gladiator” was filmed, so I was straight on the money! It was so cool… the streets were narrow with the thatched roof over some streets. Nikki started freaking out about the irrigation systems… so weird. Hahah. After that we bought turbans from the venders for less than $4 and got back into our hot, boiling van.

At our next stop, we got waters and were standing outside when we heard thunder… and then all of a sudden it started pouring down rain on us! It was so bizarre. After visiting so many Mediterranean countries, the one place it rains at is in Africa, where it rains less than 5cm a year!!! So we danced and took crazy pics because we were so excited to be in the rain! After that we got back at the car and drove until we stopped at this random gorge. We took awesome Lion King pics and a bunch of random poses (standing straight smiling is so boring now!) so all the Spaniards probably thought we were nuts. As we were driving away, we were trying to decide exactly what we just saw when our driver turned around, pointed, and said “monkey fingers.” So apparently we saw monkey fingers hahaha.

We then drove past a bunch of kids playing soccer in this dirt field and got to our hotel for the night. We were supposed to have a pool to jump in, but nope, which was fine. The hotel was way cool though. It was nestled between this huge, sheer mountain wall on one side and a muddy river with another mountain on the other! So we were smack dab right in the middle of a gorge, cool! We think it was Dades Gorge, but we are still not too sure haha. When we got to our room, we were so excited for a bed that we all fell onto the beds. But, instead of a slight bounce, we landed with a thunk. Our beds were pure rock and we thought it was hilarious. We then played in the nasty river, walked around, and ran into some SAS people who were doing the same tour through a different company. So we ate with the people in our car and talked to some Spaniards who were backpacking around the country. We hung out with the SAS people and played games until going to bed.

The next morning we woke up and had the best breakfast in the world, these tortilla/crepe looking things. We didn’t know how to eat them, so we observed everyone around us and put some jam, butter, and honey on them… so delicious. The OJ was to die for. After that we picked up some water from the convenience store up the road (since we wanted to be prepared for the Sahara Desert!) and hopped back into the cramped, hot car.

Our first stop was this gorge/farmland/village tour. We stopped on the side of the road and a man popped out of the woods and led us through the trees. We were all thinking “where the heck is he taking us?!” cause we were literally climbing through tree branches and up little hills… we ended up in a farming field and had the coolest tour ever. He showed us different plants which do different things: a plant that keeps away mosquitoes, where different dyes come from, and a drug that is stronger than opium and will make you “fly in the sky on a magic carpet.” We then walked around this field and jumped over little irrigation streams. There was cabbage, corn, dates, olives, and more, but the most exciting part wasn’t the plants. People were working in the fields... like really working. They had donkeys that they were using to drag bamboo up to the village and a woman was hunched over pulling weeds. It was legit and so real. Then, we walked up the path, crossed a river by walking on a felled tree, and walked past the mint fields…. Such an amazing smell. (Hopefully you can grow that in the US!!) Then, as we got closer to the village, you could start to see people. Moroccans are very anti-photographs, so there was no way I could document any of this. They literally will either run away or run up to you and scream. So I didn’t risk it. But, right as we got into town, there was these two young girls, probably 13 or 14, squatting over a metal basin washing clothes. It was exactly how movies and documentaries make it look! It was so real… I wish I could’ve snapped a shot of that one. There were these cute little boys surrounding the girls and playing… they were adorable. One of the older boys was playing around with his little brother and dangled him over the irrigation lines… it was so funny! Then we walked up and around the town, with our guide telling us all about the streets (which were segregated into men and women streets) and the mud houses. In one home, which was mud on all side and floor, there was the cutest little 2 year old baby boy… standing barefoot and naked. There were about 30 flies on his face and body. It was so sad and completely broke my heart because he was so agitated with all the flies but still waved to us. Then we went to a weaving place where they make rugs and blankets, had mint tea, and made friends with the guy in charge. He let us go behind the scenes with his old lady and help her weave! It was so hard, but I could pick it up after a few hours for sure.

Then we left and went to the greatest place in the world. It was a huge, cold, clean river right between two huge gorges (Tudras Gorge?). There were kids everywhere splashing in the cool water and even a car wash! Somehow we ended up in a water fight with our driver and frolicking in the icy water! It was SO much fun, but he is definitely a better splasher than us… we were soaked in the car haha. But it felt awesome with the no ACness of the van. So we were BFFs with our driver after that!! Then we ate lunch and headed to the desert!

The sea life is the sweet life...

The past four days at sea have gone by so fast; it sucks. C15 was a mess because everyone was having exams over the next couple of days. It was like finals week all over again-- everyone was up at all hours in the piano lounge and classrooms, guzzling coffee and studying like their lives depended on it. Everyone was flipping out about Global Studies and frantically writing multiple FDP papers. I had only one due, so I was mostly writing that and studying when I had time. My computer ended up pooping out on me twice and deleting my NEARLY FINISHED paper. Not once, but TWICE!!! I was so mad… I nearly took it as a sign and didn’t finish it! But I did.

Then, when the test day came the next day, I finished Global Studies in 5 minutes, no joke. I checked my answers like 15 times just so I wouldn’t be the first person done hahah. So that was easy. Nikki and I studied for our geohazards exam about 30 minutes before the actual class started… we are suchhhhh good students. But that was pretty easy too. I ended up with 2 100s, so yay! Hopefully I don’t flunk too badly when I get back to real life school… During lunch that day, apparently a submarine was right next to us and a helicopter was circling us (odd.), but I was off doing something and didn’t see them :( Sad day.

Then, after everyone’s tests that day, we had the auction! It was a pretty big deal, they have been pressuring us all summer to donate something- donate your house for someone’s vacation, a boat ride, suitcase packing. So it was a pretty big deal when the day finally came. There was a silent auction all day of boring stuff, like “dean for a day” or a workout lesson, but the real deal was the one at night. Karyn and Geoff, basically my idols for life in general, were the auctioneers, so we all knew it would be hilarious. And they did not disappoint. They were auctioning off the entire collection of pictures and videos from the voyage and made the photographers take their shirts off! So funny, because they are both old as anything. They auctioned off some pretty cool things, like a place to stay in China or Nova Scotia or a chance to blow the horn when we get to Boston for outrageous prices… I’m talking like $2,000!! Miranda, Nikki, Kellie, and I were gonna bid on dinner for four aboard the MS The World with Karyn and Geoff (look it up, I will own an apartment on that thing someday! Basically it’s SAS for adults!) and our max was like $150/person, but that thing sold for like $650/person!!! Nuts. I think it was the big seller that day.

So then C17 was the Talent Show. I was expecting risqué raunchy stuff, since you know… we’re in college. But everyone was surprisingly clean for the ship kids. The kids went first and did some pretty amazing stuff. Nate, the resident dancer, is like 9. His troupe of boys break-danced while he sang JBiebs “Never Say Never.” It was SO ADORABLE. I just about died they were so cute. Then, a little boy played the guitar and was pretty phenomenal. But, right after him, the little 10 year old boy played the piano…. And wow. He was definitely better than Nancy, who won 2nd place playing the piano. They were so good! So basically in the show there were a bunch of singers, musicians, poetry slammers, a stand up, and dancers. The dancers were probably the best- hula and belly dancing. The belly dancing was pretty dang awesome (she won 1st obv). It was a dang good night, but it’s sad to think that all this is almost over…. But let’s not talk about that!

Today was pretty strange because we were refueling back in the Straits of Gibraltar! We are sitting ducks for a while… and it was really cold and windy! When we laid outside today, I just about put my jacket on! Now we are traveling along the coast of Morocco and are set to be in Casablanca tomorrow morning!!!! I think having 5 days between ports makes you exceedingly more excited to be on land… except this port is bittersweet because it is the last one. We just got our seats and drink vouchers for the Alumni Ball on the way back to the states and it makes me want to cry. It’s weird to think of going back to real people school, not walking till my calves explode, and cooking my own food…. Can’t I just stay on this thing until I graduate?! What a life this is. I never want to leave :(



Momma, can’t I just hop on the fall ’11 voyage?

Perpetual Cankles

I love Turkey. I just love it and want to go back RIGHT NOW. It was absolutely perfect with only a few minimal dislikes. Everyone there was really friendly and nice, it smelled good (not like pee!!!), and it was just plain cool. Not temperature-wise (it was pretty dang humid and hot), but just like... cool! I don’t know how to explain it. It is one of those places everyone needs to go and spend like 3 weeks going everywhere. It is probably #3 on my list of places to go, right behind Cambodia and Uganda, it’s THAT amazing. I know I say that about every country, but for realz here. I want to skip the rest of school and just be a tour guide or something here! That would be the life…

So day one, two of the people I traveled with, Eric and Rachel, and I went to breakfast at 8:15 so we could get going as soon as the ship cleared. We ate on the deck and… the buildings we were parked next to were so pretty! Like cool tiles and colorful paint, I knew I was going to be in love. But, as everything never wants to work out, we didn’t clear until like 10:30. So immediately we got outta there and headed to Sultanamet Square, where a lot of historical stuff is. The Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque face each other, with the Basilica Cistern, Egyptian Obelisk, German Fountain, and the Hippodrome thrown all about in there. So we tried to walk, since you get a better taste of the city, and got lost. We had a pretty crappy map so it really wasn’t our fault. We walked across the bridge to the city area and everyone was fishing off of it! There were even little boys doing it, so cute. We saw a ton of the local’s city: markets, stores, hangouts, ect.

We ran into a huge mosque, the Eminönü, and decided to go in. So we put on our scarves and headed over. You are supposed to step on a certain cloth with your barefeet and not step on the ground to sully them up, but I failed and did it completely wrong. Ooops. But inside was awesome! It was built in 1597, so you’d think it would be a tad messed up, but it was perfect! All the murals and tiles were still vibrant and nothing was screwed up! Of course, I’m sure it’s been restored, but it was awesome. The domed roof was huge and so high up. It was crazy. They were going green too; they used the squiggly ecofriendly light bulbs in their chandeliers.

We got lost after that going to Sultanamet for like 45 minutes. We ended up stumbling upon it and were blown away at how huge they were! And we thought the Eminönü was huge… We got in line at the Hagia Sophia because the Blue Mosque was closed for prayer time since it a working mosque. Hagia was built in 537 as an Orthodox church. Then it turned into a Catholic church and then when the Ottomans invaded it was converted into a mosque. When Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, came into power in the ‘30s, he made it into a museum. Now it has been renovated to it’s former glory and it is awesome. The dome is massive, like 180 feet tall, and everything is either gold or blue. It is so pretty. It was cool because you could see the original frescos and mosaics in random places while the new stuff was clearly visible. You could even see a crack in the dome when the last earthquake hit Istanbul!

After that we went to the Basilica Cistern, which was where the city held all their water incase of a siege, built roughly in the same time as the Hagia. When I read about it, it seemed like a Blue Grotto-esque place: you get on a boat and they take you around while singing. Nope! We walk down the steps and there is “Get Low” playing hahaha. Cool. But inside was lighted with red and it looked cool. The water was only about 2 or 3 feet deep, but there were huge fish in there! We walked around a bit looking at the original columns before we hit the Medusa heads. There are two of them- one is right side up and the other is upside down. They support the columns, but rumor has it that they are there to negate the Gorgon’s gaze and protect the area from the bad guys. But, suppose we shall never know.

After that we got some street food and headed to the Grand Bazaar, a collection of 4,000 shops (OH MY!). On the way, we passed by Constantine’s Burnt Column, the only surviving monument from his time. Cool. So we walk into the Grand Bazaar and are immediately overwhelmed. It is literally MASSIVE. There are streets and side streets and side streets of the side streets… needless to say, we got lost in the maze. We had a blast bargaining though! I think we all have it down, we scammed so many people into cheaper prices by tag teaming them! So much fun. I had a mild lapse of judgment in the blanket area and accepted someone’s offer for tea while he showed me his selections, even though I had no intention of buying anything. I was just thirsty! So he showed us everything, asked what I liked (which I told him I wasn’t in love with any), and somehow he got me to name a price. I said 50 lira, thinking there was no way in hell he would go down from 320. But, as I was leaving, he did and I felt terrible saying I didn’t want it anymore. Oops! Oh well though.

So we left and went to the spice bazaar and sampled tea on our way back to the ship. We ate dinner on the ship and then Rachel and I immediately left to get a Turkish Bath, which was probably my favorite thing ever. Basically they scrub you really hard and get all the dead skin off, wash your hair, and then give you an oil massage… it was heaven. I was singing that Mulan song the whole entire time. The only bad thing was that they didn’t really tell you what to do, just a “go in there,” so I almost passed out in the Jacuzzi room because I didn’t know where to go next. But it was awesome and I recommend it to everyone. Then we got back to the ship, packed up, and went to bed.

We woke up the next morning and were supposed to meet up at 5:15 to get to the airport for our flight to Cappadocia, but some of the girls were late. So let’s just say I could’ve slept in for 45 more minutes. We got on the airplane and they gave you breakfast, perfect! We landed at like 8:30 in Nevsehir and it was like a foreign country… exactly how I imagined Turkey to be like. It was bare and full of dirt, with barely anything out there! The airport was like the only thing in the area, we are so lucky we had someone pick us up or else we would’ve been SOL. So we got picked up by this young tourguide named Zayneb who was super cool and really good! While the van was driving to Göreme, the center city of the Cappadocia region, we passed a car that was only a man and his wife, but the wife was in full garb and sitting in the backseat. I don’t know why, but that made me realize I was in a foreign country, something I hadn’t really experienced in any of the other ports. Everywhere else was pretty similar to the US, but Turkey… it is in a league of it’s own. It’s completely different than everything.

So we were all exhausted and Zayneb drug us around too all these places- the castle, the open air museum of Göreme, the Fairy Chimneys, and then lunch. The open air museum was basically a community of caves. There were homes, churches, kitchens, stables, basically everything you need. The churches were really old (like 11th-14th centuries) and they all had still surviving frescos, which was pretty nifty. There was one that was dedicated to St Barbara (patron saint of miners and soldiers), which was painted with stick figures and stuff. It looked like something I could do, so I was confused until Zayneb told us that the monks brought in soldiers to paint her church! How sweet.

After lunch we went to a pottery-making place where they showed us how to work a foot spinner thingy to shape pots and how they painted them. It was pretty cool, but it was super duper expensive haha. Didn’t get anything there! Then we went to “Fantasyland” where all the rock formations make shapes of things, like camels, hands, snakes, ect. After that we got dropped off at our hotel, which is AWESOME. It is a cave hotel, so we slept in the places where people slept back in the day, except way nicer. It was probably in the top places I’ve ever stayed at! Our rooms were super amazing. The walls were the soft chalky rock and you could see where the people dug out the walls! We thought our room was very nice until we looked at all the other ones. One of them had a Jacuzzi IN the room! It was nuts. So we all swam in the pool that overlooked the normal, rural town the hotel was in and ate dindin at the hotel restaurant (since there was no where else to go).

We were just laying down to sleep when I heard a cat howling… so naturally I went out to see if it was dying or something… like it was meowing THAT loud. Heard him through my second story window. So I went down and it was the cutest little orange baby kitty I’ve ever seen! He loved me and I fed him my leftover pizza. We took him up to the restaurant to get him more food, which he wolfed down. After like an hour of cuddling and playing with him, I decided to go to bed. So I put him down where I found him and started to go up, but he followed me. When I finally got away, he started howling again…. I begged Eric and Rachel to let him sleep in our room, but no :( so he either finally shut up or I passed out, we shall never know.

The next morning we woke up at 3:40am to go on the sunrise hot air balloon ride over the Rose Valley, one of the prettiest areas in the Cappadocia region. It was rough getting up, but we all did somehow. We got into the car with a bunch of other Americans who were vacationing as a family reunion in Turkey (hint hint??? hahah)  so we talked and played with their little kids, who were adorable. We got into the hot air balloon and I can’t even explain how awesome it was!! One of my favorite experiences on the trip for sure. I thought that the pictures about hot air ballooning in Cappadocia were doctored and not real, but now I have pics that look just as good if not better…. It was awesome. We even hit a tree!! It was great.

When we finally landed at like 7:30, we landed a bit off course in a field. And in that field was a legit shepherd herding his sheep! He had a walking stick and a cowboy hat… he was real cool and was very proud of his sheep. He was so nice that he showed us into his home… that was in a cave! It was very minimalistic- just bedrolls on the floor, a small stove, and a shelf for food. It was cool though! After we said bye to him, we went exploring in all the abandoned caves and saw an awesome view that went on for miles. Nothing compared to the balloon view, but pretty awesome for land! Then we got back to the hotel and me and a few little kids went on the prowl for the kitten. He was nowhere to be seen though! We could hear him perfectly (he has quite some lungs on him!) but he was hidden pretty well. So bummer. We gave up and I took a nap till 10 when Zayneb was supposed to pick us up. I was ready and out the door at 10, but the other room of girls was still asleep when I knocked on their door to see if they were ready. Ugh. So we were like 20 minutes late. But oh well!

Our first stop was the underground city of Kaymakli, which was massive. There were 7 (excavated) floors that could house over 10,000 people at a time. It was used back when the Ottoman Turks were invading and the Christians needed to hide, so it was very intricate. They had everything including a massive round rock used to block the entrance like in Indiana Jones. Pretty sweet! Then we went to Roman ruins of Sobesos that were built in the 4th century. There were baths and awesomely preserved tile floors! It was cool. We then went to this monastery (carved from the rock of course!) that had cool frescos. We then went to lunch in this really old house (called “Old Greek House” haha) and they served an awesome 19 course meal (for free!) and we got tea. ‘Twas tasty. Then we walked around the town while the tour guide told us info on Turkish history.

After that we went to an onyx jewelry store, where they showed us how they carved and polished the pieces. They made an egg looking piece that they let us hold and stuff. It was pretty lame until they asked a trivia question about Cappadocia. I answered it right (cause I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who actually paid attention to the guide hahah) so I got to keep the onyx piece! Favorite souvenir everrrr. I’ll never forget that Cappadocia means “land of horses” hahah. Sweet. Then we split up.

Rachel, Eric, and I went back to the hotel since we were staying for Ephesus while the rest went to the airport to go back to Istanbul. We got the sweet room with the Jacuzzi, so we ate and sat in that for awhile while we talked and listened to Turkish music videos on TV. It was awesome. Then we passed out and woke up early (AGAIN!) at like 4:30 to get in the car to drive to the airport that was 2 hours away. So, naturally, we all passed out on the ride. We took our 2 flights (to Istanbul and then to Izmir) and landed at 10.

We met our tour guide and hopped in the van to go to ancient city of Ephesus, one of the places I had been looking forward to the most. I knew something was wrong when the guide said “it will take about an hour to arrive,” turned around, and started babbling in Turkish to the driver. Usually, the guide will talk to you about the region or prep you with history, but she did not. So I knew she would be pretty crappy. I tried to get her talking by asking about the Izmir earthquake in 1999, but she didn’t take the bait. She basically said a sentence and turned right around. Ugh.

 We finally got there and it was beautiful. It was full to the brim of ancient Roman statues and columns and buildings and… it was perfection. I was in heaven…. Until the dang lady started speed walking through the city. So I got a bit of info (which I saw were basically written verbatim on the info signs) and saw probably like 60% of the city. It was a massive bummer. She would give us “free time” of like 5 minutes and tell us to meet her down the way. Except she would want to meet at a place like a 6 minute walk down the way! So we could barely take any pictures without her tapping her foot or looking impatient. UGH.

We did get to see the Library of Celsus though, which was borderline mindblowing. And then more Temples and Arches of Hadrian… what a popular fellow! We went into the Terrace Houses, which are homes of the millionaires of the time that are just now being excavated and have, as Zayneb said, “amazing tiles and frescos.” I was pretty impressed by how preserved the tile work was and how huge the homes were (the foyer had this huge domed ceiling that was probably 40 feet tall!!), but the frescos… I guess I was really impressed until I saw the paintbrushes and paint sitting out from retouching it… I know everything has to be redone like that, but still... it was slightly depressing. Then we went to the massive theater that was demolished back in the day. It has since been reconstructed and is HUGE. Then we left without even exploring the side streets or the less important place… ugh. I shall have to go back for sure and get a good guide.

Then she took us to the House of the Virgin Mary, which was really cool. It is on a hill that is above Ephesus where Mary supposable spent her last years with St John. It was this tiny, not too grand of a house (obviously reconstructed, they only found the foundation) with tons of tourists. So we walked inside, and though I’m not super religious, it was pretty powerful to see people from all parts of the world come there to pray. Then, outside was the holy spring (which Mary probably drank from) and the wishing wall (where people put wishes they hoped to get granted). Pretty cool… it was in this super serene, forested place that I can only imagine would be amazing if there were not 700 people crammed into the area.

Then we went to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was the biggest temple in the world with 109 columns each 19 meters tall… in like 300BC! Pretty crazy. Except... it is no longer standing. There is only 1 column left, which was constructed in the ‘70s by archeologists by putting random pieces together. But it was still really cool. We tried to waste time there, since it was not even 3 yet (and our flight was at 8!), so we took tons of pics standing on the column, goofing off on the column, sitting on old pieces that were on the ground…. Just a ton. We got back to the guide and asked if we could go to the Archeology Museum or St John’s Basilica or a mosque that was nearby, anything to keep us busy and out of the airport for a couple of hours. She said no. Ugh.

So she took us to this lame-o leather factory where they followed us around and tried to sell us 700 euro jackets. No thanks. Andddd we were at the airport by 4. Somehow we conned the ticket lady into getting us on the earlier flight, so we got back to Istanbul right as the SAS trip from Ephesus was flying in. So we hopped onto the bus and got a free ride to the ship! Perfect!

Rachel and I met up with Randy and Amanda and we went out to Sultanamet Square to see the Ramadan festivities, since it was August 1st (day one!). And it was a festival! Everyone of all ages was out in the square… eating, shopping, talking, listening to the music… they were doing everything. So we just meandered around and watched people. It was pretty fun. And we got the Turkish ice cream, which is like the consistency of gum. It was weird but kind of tasty! After a while, since Rachel and I had been up since 4, we got pooped so we went back and slept.

The next day we got up and were off the ship by 8:40. We headed to the Blue Mosque and… it wasn’t nearly as blue as I had expected. It was cool, but not totally blindingly blue like I had thought. Then we went to the Sultan’s Tomb, which could have been pretty creepy (since its basically 20 or so caskets covered in a green cloth) if the janitor wouldn’t have been vacuuming at the time. We had planned to hit up Topkapi Palace, but we learned at breakfast that it was closed on Tuesdays. So we hit up the bazaar, scammed a few people by tag teaming them, and got everything we missed. I got some awesome genie pants that I cannot wait to wear in Morocco!! Then we ate at a restaurant, which we haggled at and got cheaper food with free tea, before we headed back at 2:30. Then we passed out and I slept until Randall knocked on my door for dinner at 6! Yikes!

Since then, it’s been a mess. I have 2 tests tomorrow which I’ve been frantically studying for (how do you study for a test in 2 days that is over material since before Spain!??!!? Insanity.) and two papers (one of which somehow got deleted TWICE last night!!). So it’s been a mess. The ship is finally going faster than 2 mph, so we are getting some waves and it’s strange. We haven’t had waves since after Italy, so it’s pretty odd to be falling all over the hallways again! I think I forgot how to not hit the lamps hahah. But after tomorrow at noon I’ll be home free… until after Morocco when we will have finals and something else I don’t want to talk about. Sorry mom and dad, but my tears when I get back to the US won’t be of joy :(

Welp, I need to start cramming about Mehmet the Conqueror and Ataturk and the Serbian War and ancient Greek art and…. It’s gonna be a loooong night.