Morocco: Where there's nothing but hospitality...

It's so sad that I can't even listen to music when I write.. I literally can only focus on one thing at a time. So I sit here thinking about how I am going to attempt to write about my trip to Morocco. It was a 4 day Moroccan Exchange program where we got to stay with a family in Rabat, the capital, for 2 days and stay in a hostel the next. It was a really unique, and special experience because we got to really understand the culture by staying with the families.

The things I saw this weekend: The lions, the tigers, unreal. That safari ride was unbelievable. Peeing in the bush wasn't so bad, and living without electricity wasn't bad either. We put tribal make up on and lit a big fire. Those Africans....Ehhhhh hold on. Wrong. All of those stereotypes... get them out of your head because you're about to learn about Morocco. No bullshit, no ignorance, the real Morocco:

We started the trip bright and early on Thursday morning. Marissa and I were up and out of the house with ease. I got to the metro and of course my card had to give me trouble on the metro. Some helper guy comes over to me and starts telling me that my card is not a metro card, that it's a bus card. Okay sir, I've been using this card for 3 months, I know that this works. So we go back and forth, back and forth, 7 AM and now I have a problem. So he tells me I need to buy a new card, 11 Euro please. 10 to put on the card, 1 for the actual card. Well dude, I only have 10. So he pushed some buttons, put in a special code and gave me a new card for free. Great. This was all too much for 7 AM. See, the brain just doesn't function that early. Do you know how hard it is to speak Spanish that early? Hard, very hard.

We get on the bus, saw sunrise, and zonked out for 2 hours. We drioe to the Tarifa ferry terminal where we took a ferry (a really nice ferry) across the Mediterranean Sea to Tangier, Morocco. Oh you know, just heading to Africa for the day, no big deal. God that was cool to say. Yeah, just heading to Africa. So anyway, the boat starts moving and the waves-be-a-crashin'. Faces start turning weird kinds of colors. I knew I had to step outside. My friend Erin came prepared with sea bands. They brought me back to my childhood when my sister and my mother couldn't be without them. The boat had a little space to stand outside and I thought the fresh air really helped. Some people found comfort laying down on the floor. I, on the other hand, thought the air felt great and was really distracting towards the rocky boat. Half of our program went the week before on this trip and unfortunately there boat ride was 2hours long (ours was 45 minutes) and they had HORRIBLE waves crashing into the ferry. Talk about vomit.

Since half of our trip had already went it was really difficult not looking at Facebook pictures that people were putting up, reading blogs, or even talking to your best friends about the trip. Everyone just kept saying, "It's life changing! It's amazing!" I was really excited to go, but had no idea what to expect. All I heard was that we don't get to shower for 4 days. Goody goody gum drops. You should have seen Pepi's face when we told her we weren't showering. She immediately went into her grandson's room and gave us baby wipes. What a smart lady :-)

So we arrived in AFRICA!!! and hopped into a little van. We headed to the DARNA women's center for lunch and to have an informal conversation with some Moroccan students. Lunch was delicious and the conversation was extremely interesting. The three students kept disagreeing with each other so it was actually really cool to see how everyone has a different opinion or insight on certain topics. Then we walked around the Medina (old town) of Asilah, snapped some photos of the Atlantic coast, gave a shout out to America and then took a 3 hour bus ride to Rabat. Throughout this trip there were many long drives and throughout this trip there was me, passed out. Now you have to imagine this little clown bus. You have to duck your head to get in and try to get your ass in a seat as quickly as possible. The left side had rows of 2 and the right side was a single seat. I got a window, single seat and managed to pretzel myself into every which position possible to fall asleep. I would bundle up my jacket, shove it between my head and the window and pray that it would stay. But! it never did. So there I was, head bobbing or arm slipping leading into the head bob or scrunching of the jacket or attempting to put my face straight on the vibrating window or turning left into the aisle, or putting my foot up on the seat next to me, or rotating left or rotating right or putting my head in my hands or falling asleep with my head back which lead to the head bob. GET THE PICTURE? It's so miserable when all you want to do is sleep and you can't find a comfortable position! At one point, I curled up into a tiny ball and squished myself into the seat balancing my big toe on the arm rest across the way. Success!

We stopped out of nowhere to ride some llamas. Looked like a camel to me, but whatever. I wasn't thrilled about this experience because I hate horses, I hate camels, and therefore hate llamas. It was amusing seeing everyone else get so excited for it. I just feel like that big stanky face is gonna eat me or run off or throw me from their hump! But, we got some good pics...

We drove a little more and met our homestay family and the mother was extremely welcoming. She spoke only Arabic and a tiny bit of French. Her son spoke English and was our translator when he was around. Dinner was extremely awkward, but we made the best of it. In Morocco they eat with there right hand and don't necessarily use forks, but some people do. There's a special dipping motion with your hand and bread. It's an art, really. You need the right angle for the bread to pick up all the good stuff in the pot. We used forks though most of the time.

The house was beautiful with a very large square main room and all the other rooms are around the open area with the sky peaking in. Of course they close it if it rains. Our room had a very nice archway. I had my art class right in my room! I knew it was a polylobulated arch and one part of it was next to my bed. Running and jumping into my bed and slamming my back on the polylobulated arch on the other hand did not feel so good. Stupid arch. (My art class got a laugh out of that story.) The bathroom had a western toilet wahoo!!! Turkish toilet = gross! After dinner our host brother Tarik took us around town and took us to a "club." And when I say club I mean a room, with 20 pool tables, and lots of people smoking and playing pool. I played with Tarik. I almost won on my own, but he purposefully kept missing the 8 ball so that I would win. Such a gentleman.

The father looked EXACTLY like Marissa's dad. It was hysterical! The body language, the mustache, this man was the twin of Mr. Perrone. The daughter was 20 and married, but lived with her family. I didn't get that details on that one. But as we ate, we ate in a circle and when we had cous cous, she made a really big circular dish with all of these different vegetables and chicken. We were told to stay within our triangle by our tour guide... to not reach over in front of someone else. Well when I saw that potato on the other side of the dish in no-man's land, I called it. I pushed some veggies over to Catherine, she pushed some chicken over to me. It was perfect. The mother knew we were afraid to get what we wanted and kept pushing the good stuff our way. It was so cute. The daughter, Sara (go figure), was sitting on the couch in a monkey position with her bare foot on the couch. Watching her cous cous fall to her foot then onto the floor was beyond hysterical to me. Here in Spain, we are not allowed to put our feet on the couches. It's a big no no... so to see a foot on the couch for the first time in three months, a bare foot, and a bare foot with food on it was beyond priceless. The dad came home and sat on the other side of the room because us Americans were hogging the couch. We look up and Marissa said she felt bad he was sitting over there. Out of nowhere nervous laughter arose from me and the family started laughing about the dad sitting alone. He had food on his face, she had food on her face, the daughter had food on her face/foot. Oh how a little tiny piece of cous cous could create such laughter in our heads. So we are nervous laughing and they are laughing and everyone is just hysterically laughing not speaking the same language but enjoying each other so much. It was a dinner I will never forget.

Breakfast consisted of bread, bread, and more bread with jams, jellies, and honey. We then went to the Roman ruins and explored for a while. The sun was out and it was such a beautiful day in AFRICA!!! Sorry, can't stop with the enthusiasm.

We then had lunch and had some free time so me, Marissa, and Catherine walked down to the beach. Who do we see? Tarik. What are the odds. After lunch we explored the beach again and the old fort (Kasbah) with Moroccan students. I've heard such wonderful things about this part of the trip, but of course it had to end sour for me. We were with 2 guys and they weren't very chatty. They also didn't want to stop in any stores in the market. We had 3 hours to kill.. are you kidding me!? Catherine looked miserable within 20 minutes. I tried to stay positive and ask questions. I was walking with this one guy and he pointed out a church to me. I asked if there were many here. He said yes and that there was one in Rabat and 2 others in the country. So that makes 3? Yep, that's a lot.. not. Oh rewind, we had a facilitated discussion with other Moroccans earlier in the day and we learned how there is diversity within the country and the Jews and the Muslims get along. I was so pleased to hear that. I also was pleased to hear that when Hitler marched his way into Morocco he said to the king that if he gives over the Jews, he wouldn't invade the country. The king said that the Jews are like anyone else in the country and he wouldn't turn anyone over to Hitler. I liked hearing that, I liked hearing that a lot. Now fast forward to these students. So this kid asks me if I'm Christian. So I said, "No, I'm Jewish." Then the conversation went like this....

Him: I hate Israel
Me: You hate Israel, or Moroccans hate Israel...?
Him: We all hate Israel. The Israeli's kill the Palestinians. It says in the Jewish Bible, the Torah, that if you kill, you go to Paradise
Me: (fuming) Excuse me?! It does not say that!
Him: (turns to his friend for approval and both shake there head "yes"): Yeah, it says that.
Me: Oh no it doesn't!
Him: Yes it does

It started getting so heated that I had to end the conversation because I almost ripped his balls out of his body for being so ignorant. What upset me most about the whole situation is that 1) Why if you believe that would you tell me that!? 2) Why would you ignorantly make me feel so uncomfortable 3) IF THE EDUCATED YOUTH IS TELLING ME THAT THEN WHAT IS EVERYONE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY THINKING!? I was M.A.D.

Marissa and Catherine knew I was livid and we still had a long time with these guys. I stopped talking to them. We went to a cafe and thankfully another group showed up and sat with us. Everyone had a wonderful experience except us. Oh well, can't win them all.

That night we got to speak to a Peace Corps rep. I was taking vivid notes because my friend asked me to write his recommendation. I feel so honored that he asked me. I asked about what the hardest part of the application was, does he recommend it, blah blah blah. What I learned was how I definitely will not be joining the Peace Corps. I'm not a wilderness girl whatsoever.

Now here it comes. The moment I've been waiting to share for a while. We had the opportunity of going to a Hammam which is a public bath. I knew we were going, but I had no idea what it entailed. I did know that I was going to have to get naked and that's about it...

So our host mother gives us a bucket, one towel, and we were told to wear underwear or bathing suit bottoms. Of course you could wear your top, but I say hey, why not go all out. So we are walked to the baths, go upstairs, and are lead into a freakishly loud and small locker room. The heat is pouring out of the rooms. The walls were sweating. And there were many, many, naked women. Boobs, bushes, I saw it all. Oh no, what did I just get myself into. So there's about 25 of us girls trying to get undressed and trying not to get undressed at the same time. Clothes start peeling off, but no one is ready to let the "girls" free. I'm freaking out in my head. Why, I don't know. Boobs are boobs! The chaos, the madness, the craziness of this locker room is indescribable. Everyone is awkwardly looking around at each other figuring out what to do. I saw bras start coming off and I'm thinking okay, just do it, you're a woman, it's okay. Everyone is covering themselves up. I have my weird oil shit they gave me in my room right hand, with a scrubby and only have one other hand to cover myself. Well, if you know me, then you know I have big boobs, small hands, and this situation was not working in my favor. I walk into the "bath" to see all of my friends sitting in a circle, naked, and lathering themselves up. Everyone was laughing and looked okay so I relaxed and tried to take it all in. We were told to put this oil stuff all over our bodies because we were going to be scrubbed down if we wanted to. For 50 shnoogles, why not. So some big woman yells, "Who wants to be scrubbed!" 25 hands shot up in the air. ME! ME! ME! Like as if we were getting picked to write on the board in 2nd grade. So I'm watching and seeing how it's done.... You lay on your back, tits to the air, and this woman scrubs you from head to toe. Skin just flies off of you like it was nothing. At this point, I'm pumped! I heard that your skin feels unbelievable after this whole process. So my turn comes and I lay on my back. The women says, "No shame! No shame!" Ha... okay, sure lady. So the first scrub... DAMN that hurt. I told her to go lighter. So she does my neck and my stomach, legs, and honestly everywhere you possibly could think. She was on her knees and I was on my back. She took my arm to scrub, but started talking to another scrubber lady. Well where was my hand? Oh that's right... resting against her really big boob! Oh lordy lord lord. Please move it! So she then went back to me and tells me to flip on my stomach. Mmhmm, delicious. Naked, on a wet floor, face down, face practically on the ground laying in everyones stew. GROSS. Scrub scrub scrub. Then I have to go mix the scalding water with the cold water and drown myself with the bucket. So I sat back down and scrubbed my ankles, calves, elbows, everything. My dry elbows feel like gold now. My whole body feels unbelievably soft. This was the weirdest, but greatest experience ever! That day, us girls got a little bit closer in our friendship. Very, very, VERY interesting experience.

That night we learned some Arabic from Tarik and learned how to write our names. It's a very complicated language let me tell you.

We got up in the morning, had breakfast and headed on another long drive up to the Rif Mountains. We had lunch with a family and learned about how they lived, family, school, everything. Our translator told them I was Moroccan because Sara is a popular name in their country. He said he was joking, but the mother kept asking my tour guide if I really was Moroccan. I guess my hair has something to do with that... But anyway, I cut some vegetables for lunch with the girls and got to play with the kids. One kid looked legitimately like a cabbage patch doll. No joke. They were all so cute and so happy. They literally have nothing, and are so so so happy. Made us think about how spoiled rotten we are compared to these families, but how they probably are happier than most families that I know.

IS THIS NOT A REAL LIFE CABBAGE PATCH DOLL?

After the visit we took another drive to Chefchaouen. This town is precious. The buildings are all blue and white, great atmosphere and GREAT shopping. I could have spent hours at the market. I had about 40 Euros converted into Durhams and had no problem spending it all. I found some great gifts. A lot of people in Chef-town (easier) speak Spanish so you can go into a store and not know if you should say hello in English, Spanish, French, or Arabic. But really, how crazy cool is that!? Ah I loved it!! I bargained with a man completely in Spanish. I was so proud of myself. I also got a little hostile with a store clerk because he was being unfair to my friend when it came to making a deal. We brought in about 15 people to his shitty store and was not cooperating. With some words from me and my friend Erin, we got the deal we wanted. Yeaaaa we felt so cool by the end of that match. Americans-1 Moroccan man-0

For dinner we had a special dinner on our last night. We had a choice of 5 salads and a few entrees and desserts. I chose the goat cheese salad (shocking right?) and the meatball w/ egg dish. When our tour guide was giving us options of food it's so funny how a good number of my friends looked at me when she said "goat cheese salad." Ha, they know me well.

Somehow dinner turned into Sara Mintzer Story Hour. I was the entertainment. I told them stories about the time I went to Florida to visit my grandparents with my best friend and we saw a show. Everyone was 70+ except me and my friend. The old ladies were crinkling their candies, the old men were asking there wives what was being said because they were all deaf.. you know, everyone loves a story with a thick Brooklyn accent. I also told them how my hand was literally on that woman's boob in the Hammam. It turned into a really funny dinner.

We went back to the hotel, which we had the entire place to ourselves, and goofed around about stomach issues. I wish I could talk about stomach issues on this blog how I would with my friends, but future employers might be reading this and no one wants to hear a bunch of girl talk about farting and what Moroccan water does to you.

We woke up in the morning with sore throats because the room was freezing AND damp. Not a good combination. We had to be up at 6:50 for a hike. Kate runs into our room at 6:45, "Guys!!! Aren't you going on the hike!!!" Being woken up by being startled is the best. You just get up so much easier. So we were up and ready in 5 minutes and off to a mountain that overlooks the entire city. Just gorgeous. We had some spectacular views on this trip. My crappy camera doesn't do it justice, but this city was awesome.

On the way home we took the boat across the Straight of Gibraltar (AWESOME!!!) and moved one hour ahead. Spain doesn't move ahead an hour until 2 weeks after the US does so we were 5 ahead and then in Morocco you're behind an hour so we were only 4 hours time difference from the US. Talk about confusing!!

We get to Spain and I decided to pee before we got on the 2 1/2 hour bus ride. What do I find to my surprise? A Turkish toilet. How? How did I manage to go the entire trip without using a Turkish toilet, but when I'm back in Spain I'm forced into using one? Oh come on people!!!! Ugh, so I balance, pee and get on the bus to find the only seat available is the very front seat. There was a little table for cup holders so what did I do? I put my head right down and was zonked out for the entire ride. Woke up happy and rested, no head bobbing, in sunny Sevilla.

I loved seeing and learning about how welcoming the Moroccan people truly are. They have open arms and will house you and feed you for the night if you need a place to stay. Everywhere we went I truly felt safe, and a bit at home. I say home because even though my Moroccan family might dress differently and speak a different language, we're really all the same. We all need to eat, sleep, feel warm at night in our beds. My host mother took care of us so well. She made sure we were happy and comfortable. She took her slippers right off of her feet and gave them to Catherine. She made sure we had everything we needed. She even let us put on traditional Muslim clothing. It's a great picture ;)

The trip was truly a once in a lifetime experience. I'm so glad we got to live with a family and do so many different cultural activites to learn about Moroccan life. Again, I feel blessed to have experienced something so special and rewarding. Morocco is cultural, beautiful, and welcoming. It has so much history and it was wonderful learning about the people there. I highly recommend a visit. So to the people of Morocco, I say shukram (thank you), thank you for all of your hospitality...

Sevilla: Where men are like bulls...

I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know why I've stopped writing. I think I'm just on the go so much that I'm thoroughly exhausted when I have a moment to myself. But it's good, it's really good being so busy.  Sometimes I spend hours walking around the center with one of my friends. We go here, we go there, drink this coffee, that coffee, always laughing and making fun of each other. I never thought I would make such a good friend here, let alone a Spanish friend, let alone a male Spanish friend. Somehow he knows every 5th person walking by, every bartender, every store clerk, every in and out of this city. It's fun for me because I get to tag along and see all the different parts of the city that I would probably never walk to. Daniel's English is pretty damn good, but I caught him doing something pretty hysterical the other day. In the pouring rain we were stopped by two people wanting to ask us some dumb questions about who knows what. I stopped waiting for him to answer them in Spanish, but instead, he pretends to be an American and pulls out this legit American accent out of his ass. He pretended like he didn't know Spanish. It was completely hysterical on our end when he fooled those two idiots into thinking he wasn't a Spaniard. Always when people try to imitate an American accent (whatever that is) it's always this weird California surfer kind of voice. But hey, it worked!

We've been having a lot of rain, but I hear that's extremely normal for the month of March. This rain though is going to be the death of me, literally. I think I've almost lost an eyeball four or five times already. The average Spanish woman is about 4'10 leaving her umbrella right at the exact height of my face. I dodge left, I dodge right, and I pay attention because if I don't, I'm going to lose an eyeball. Everyone walks at turtle pace which doesn't exactly work with my New York, giraffe leg, get-the-hell-out-of-my-way-even-though-I'm-not-in-a-rush pace, so I think I need to have a little more patience, but when the sun is out I'm a really good slow motion Spaniard taking in the sunlight. With all of these umbrellas though, I've been noticing the older, nugget size women here a lot more often. "A lot more often"... is that English? Whatever, it sounds good to me. I've decided there is no point in changing how I write. I speak with fragments, so I shall write with fragments! Yeah fragments!!!!

This leads me into why I think I'm actually psychotic. Who talks like that? Today, I had one of those days that I realized I'm a bit of a weirdo. I started my day off by having extreme anxiety over my Spanish class. Every Monday and Wednesday... anxiety. Why? It's because I can't be in control of the situation. She's always calling on me when I'm not raising my hand and somehow I end up looking like a tomato, completely embarrassed, humiliated, and utterly uncomfortable. You'd think I would have grown out of the tomato phase by now, but out of 4 classes, I'm a tomato in every one of them atleast once a week. That's four tomatoes a week. But I raise my hand a lot so that's like 8 tomatoes a week. You would think that since I have the confidence to raise my hand that I wouldn't turn bright red after I say my thoughts, but no... life just doesn't work that way for me.

Uhhhh side story: The other day in SPANISH class we had a substitute. I let out a really loud "YES!" when the substitute told us our teacher would be absent. It literally shot out of my mouth. Woops! Whatever, the sub understood. She was so much fun this sub. Nice, calm, really cool and didn't scare the shit out of me like my other teacher who gives bitchy back handed comments all the time. I catch every single one of them. I don't like her games.... I digress. Ha Rabbi, I always think of you when I say that. But anyway, so we are going over recipes and food words in class. How perfect is that!? So the sub asked us what foods are specific to our countries or better yet, our states. Martyna raises her hand first and says that Idaho is famous for potatoes. Alright, alright, good example. I go next. Raise my hand, "New Jersey is famous for tomatoes." The entire class goes up in arms with dramatic noises and words like "What!?!?!?!?" If I could explain the tone of their voices it would sound like this, "Excuse me what!? Are you crazy? HUH!?!?!?!?" There I went. The tomato was talking about tomatoes. So, red as can be I turn around and say, "Uh, I live there. It's the Garden State. I live there. We're famous for tomatoes!" Ooooooooh was I mad. People making me feel dumb? Nope, doesn't fly by me. I didn't recover for another 20 minutes. All of our nice restaurants have on the menu "...made with Jersey fresh tomatoes." People can suck it. Whoever you are reading this, if I ever make you feel stupid for anything you say, punch me. Go ahead. Worst feeling ever.

So back to reality and when I say reality I mean the main flow of the blog, but it has no flow because it goes in and out and in and out just like my brain works. It's all over the place. Sorry, hope you all can follow the madness....

Vale (okay,) so with all of this anxiety over Spanish class, which I could go on and on and on about, but I'll spare you all, I actually forgot what time class was. I sprinted out of the house today because I didn't know if I had to hand in my composition I wrote or if it was okay to just email it to her like I have done in the past. I was so terrified that the line at the copy place would be so long that I even contemplated taking a taxi from my house three minutes down the street to the metro station. Well, good thing I didn't. So I see my friend on the train, but that was it, only one. Usually the whole world is on the train. Hmm... fishy. So we're walking to class and she tells me that she needed to go pay for the gym. And I was like, "No, you can't! You're going to be late for class!" Well no Sara, take a breather and calm down. For the past 2 months class was at 10:30, not 10 ya freak of nature. So now I was 40 minutes early for the dreaded Spanish class.

I went to the library where I am a regular at the vending machines. I always buy a coffee, a water, and this 90 calorie delicious chocolate healthy snack thing that keeps me from eating my arm off before I tear into my bocadillo at 1:00 like a ferocious animal. I then walked to the other building where class was and the security guard said I couldn't come inside with my coffee. Ugh, this loser with way too much power. So I stepped outside, which was the better idea anyway because the sun was shining and it was gorgeous outside. Sit down, spill my coffee a little, lick my sticky finger, realize I have a stamp on my hand from the club last night, think about how everyone is going to judge me for not showering at 3 AM, and take out my banana to eat. I smiled because Pepi now makes a slit in the top because the rubber banana is impossible to open without a knife. Biting a banana peel is gross b-t-dubssss. That's slang for "by the way" Nan and Pop :-)  So I'm done with my banana and start having a crazy conversation with myself. If I really listen to what my brain and my other brain are saying to each other, it's quite loony. Some guy walked outside to eat his banana and you know what I said to myself, "Yeaaaa banana guy!" Yeah, banana guy? Huh? Who says that? Because I just ate a banana and he's eating a banana does that make him my friend or make him more likable? I. Have. Issues. Then I looked down at my ankle and realized how I only shaved one leg in the shower yesterday because there’s not enough hot water to do both. Ugh, the problems I have. Then I write a speech in my head. Ever do that? You come up with a speech that you would say to your boss, or your teacher, or the bully at school if the time arose. Which, it never really does. But I was writing a big speech today about my Spanish teacher. Grrrr that woman.

Then as I was sitting there and a human being finally walked by. Who was it? A guy from my program that I don't like. Why don't I like him? Because he's not friendly. You have one shot with me. If you don't leave a good first impression, then you probably won't have much luck changing my mind. So he walked right by me without saying hello. What a loserrrr! Enough about him.

So I have about a million and one things to talk about, so I might as well start with the BEST thing. My art teacher told us all about a restaurant here that is unbelievable. He told us that the guy who owns the restaurant is an artist and when he opened up his restaurant, he infused many different cultures into his food and created masterpieces on the plate. Want to know how I know I'm a loony? Because I was so excited about the food he was talking about that I couldn't pay attention for the rest of class. I was honestly turned on by the thought of this meal. I swear, turned on. That’s the only way to describe it. I day dreamed about food for the rest of class. Later when I got home I tried finding the menu online like I always do, but nope, no menu. But! There was a blog. So I checked out the chef’s blog, saw some pictures, and was happy. So I went and boy was it good! Salmon and mango, rice with mushrooms and parm, avocado with fried bananas, hummus and unbelievable babaganoush. This meal was fan-tas-tic. All tapas, or big plates, all to share, AND I had two friends visiting at the time so I got to enjoy it with some good friends. Pictures to come soon...

I'm trying to play catch-up so here we go...

Random Story #1: What a cultural experience did we have a few weeks ago. Sevilla was playing at home and of course we live next to the soccer stadium. Marissa and I weren't interested in the game, we were interested on making it to the metro on time. There we were, black tights, heels, skirts, make-up, the whole shi-bang. We walk down our street, make a left, and a heard of men are walking right at us. Everyone dressed in red and white, everyone testosterone crazy, and there we are, two Americans all dressed up walking straight at them. The hooting and the hollering, the ass grabbing (only one man thankfully) it was all quite interesting. We thought it was over until we reach the actual street. Image: 300 crazy Sevillian men on one side of the street, me and Marissa alone on the other. We were hysterically laughing! We love our sports in America, we sure do, but here it's different. All of these men become family when they're at the game. We made it through the crowd and headed for the metro. Sevillian. Men. Everywhere. So we go down the stairs to the train and a nice circle forms around us. Oy vay, these men. All harmless, honestly. They just love to stare. We got on the train, more stares. Train moves, Marissa fell onto a man's lap. It was all too much. It was all too Spanish...

Random Story #2: Talk about a cultural experience... how about the other day when I had lunch with Pepi and she handed me a plate full of fried anchovies!!!! Yeahhhhh that was interesting. Pepi lead me through the process. She would pick up the small guys and pop them right into her mouth. The bigger ones she would hold the tail, pick at this, pick at that, and de-bone the fish. 1,2,3 I was a pro. Do you expect anything less? I had a larger fish, don't know what it was, but that sucker was a whole other story. Pepi needed her glasses for that one. Lots of little bones. I don't mind doing work for my food (lobster, crab legs, etc.) but this was too much. I swallowed way too many bones and by the end I had enough. But the whole experience was great. She was so proud of how good I was about the whole thing. I'd pull a perfect spine out and she would say gooood, goood. What a cutie.

Random Story #3: I haven't mentioned that I've been stealing menus from restaurants. I know, it's illegal, but I only take the real crappy ones. I gotta.. it's a keepsake. 

Random Story #4: We stupidly had churros before dinner one night. We were so full that we struggled through dinner and then cried ourselves to sleep because we were so full. Well, we lied to Pepi. We didn't want her to know how foolish we were. We knew she would be mad if we didn't eat. A few weeks went by and either Riss or myself mentioned something about churros. Pepi, "You ate churros? When???" Uh ohhh, busted. We tell her everything. We tell her everything because we have to talk about something at dinner. So she knew that we would have mentioned churros, but we didn't. Busted. She says, "I've never seen you in there. I'm there all the time." Oh you live their Pepi? I didn't know that because I thought you lived here with us. What are you the churro queen? Nope. So this came up at dinner because we did the same thing again, had churros while our friends were visiting. We were done eating at 7 and by the time 9 came around for dinner we were so tired and so full. Lesson learned. I roughed it, Marissa did not. She blamed it on the nap she took and how she can’t eat after she eats. I dug into the béchamel lasagna (KILL ME) and somehow survived. Pepi was pissed at Marissa. Told her that people are starving and it’s such a shame. She mad her feel really bad, and I did not appreciate that. I guess Pepi has an angry side too…

Slight heart attack, thought I just deleted this whole thing. Thank God for the back button.

Random Story #5: We had a lot of visitors for Penn State's Spring Break. It was my best friend's break also. She is studying in Florence so she headed my way with her roommate who I'm also friends with and then her sister flew in from Long Island. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't fantastic, but we managed to have a good time. We did the whole discoteca scene at night, touristy things during the day. Danielle has an awesome new camera and I was her muse for the day. I liked playing "model"... not going to lie. We also went to Cadiz for Carnaval. All of Southern Spain rushes into this beautiful beach town, dresses in crazy costumes, drinks heavily, and has a party. It was a good time, but I was done after an hour. I've never seen creativity like at this carnival. The people came up with crazy ideas. The girls dress in actual costumes, not whore attire like they do in the US. Kelly, Danielle, Christiana, and I were all rock stars. My friends were a smurf, a bird, an 80's runner, 3 blind mice, a cat, a lady bug, Simon and Garfunkel (won best costume and a free trip to Portugal) and some other good things. Things I saw from strangers: man walking around with a huge wheel barrel carrying a huge penis, men dressed as women, more men dressed as women, huge groups doing group themes like Trojan fighters and sumo wrestlers. These people went ALL OUT. It was nuts. At one point we jumped on the back of the line with the Trojans marching down the street. We marched to the beat of their drum and danced around. Then it was ruined with 700 drunk kids shoving to get on buses. It took a few hours. It was not pretty. Never again.

Random Story #6: So today I took the scenic route home and found some weird store that pretty much sells everything. We're going to Morocco tomorrow and we were told to bring little packets of tissues because toilet paper doesn't exist. What the hell do they wipe their ass with? Come on people, everyone’s got to do it. Wiping your ass is universal. Anyway, so I went in this store to find tissues. Found a huge back for .90 Euro and went to pay. Some old, old, old lady was standing in front of me taking her time. The clerk said "13.70" and the woman was like wow oh wow, so expensive. Blah blah blah lady just pay and move on with your life. She takes out two 5 Euro bills and her change purse. I bet this lady doesn't have enough money. She kept asking how much and the woman at the counter kept saying 13.70, 13.70. How much? How much? Ugh taking forever. This old woman was honestly trying to get away without paying for all of it. What a classic old lady. Spanish, American, Puerto Rican, they're all the same. Finally I couldn't take it anymore so I handed over 50 cents. The clerk thought I was so nice and sweet. Old lady on the other hand didn't care that much. 

Random Thought #1: I found out the other day that the email I had waited 3 months for wasn't in my favor. The company I wanted to intern with, the company I have been dying to intern with for four years has rejected me. After a few "rejection tears" and talking to Marissa, it took me about 35 seconds to realize that it was a blessing in disguise. I liked the idea of Aramark or the idea of that type of company because it's as 9-5 as I'm going to get in this industry, but if I know my dream is to have a restaurant, why not just dive into the restaurant world? After speaking with my Uncle Marty, he was going to try and see if he could pulls some strings with a restaurant group down in Atlanta. How awesome would that be? I would get to live with my family that I haven't seen since 8th grade, and I would get to be learning everything I possibly could about the business. I have this anxious feeling all of the time because I am so excited for what is to come for me. Aramark just wasn’t the right choice right now. So I took my Aramark mint that I've been walking around with for months now out of my make-up bag. I don't know why it was there, but I brought it with me here I guess to remind me about it all the time. Well, I took it out. And Marissa and I have decided to not throw it out, but to throw it into the bull-fighting ring when I get to go to one in the next few weeks. I feel like that's a really symbolic way to let go of the company...Just my thoughts...

Random Story #7: I spent 3 hours with Pepi the other day hanging out in the living room. She was such a grandma to me. She takes such good care of me, too good. She refused to let me get up to help her set the table, she refused to let me sit in my regular seat. She made sure I was tucked in on the couch with my feet near the heater. She brought me a little piece of ham to hold me over before dinner was ready. She's just the best. I stayed up all night studying. I fell asleep on the couch in the middle of the night, had a nightmare, and went upstairs to sleep for a little while. In the morning she found me to be awake. I've never seen her early in the morning. Her hair was crazy, maybe even crazier than mine. She had this look of pain and shock because I was awake so early. She insisted I had breakfast. I kept saying no, it's fine, no it's fine. Well, that never works. So what did I get? Fresh squeezed orange juice. I have never seen juice in my house let alone freshly squeezed. Guess this means I need to study in the morning more often. Then came toast, and coffee, just the way I like it. We talk about everything. I can have actual, honest conversations with her. About my parents divorce, friends I love, people I don't like so much, my scary Spanish teacher, loans, work, internships. I enjoy my time with her a lot. She's very comforting, and I'm extremely lucky to be in this house. Some of my friends have no relationships with their senoras and that is so sad to me. I know I say this at the end of each entry, but I'm so happy. I'm so happy to be here.

Tomorrow, heading to Morocco. Not just to see some mountains, or to shop but to do an exchange program. We will be living with families, shitting in a hole, playing with kids at a school, going to a women's center, talking to people in the Peace Corps, having discussions about the different cultures living in Morocco, talking to Moroccan and American students, everything you possibly can image. Oh, and we get to get scrubbed down in an Arabic bath. We have the option of going topless, but I say "When in Rome!" Half of our program went last week and most of the girls did it.. I think I will too. You only live once! 

I found out there's a stat button on this blog, and I can trace where my blog has been viewed. I have some interesting countries on this list and thrilled to have found out that my blog hasn't been viewed 140 times, but really over 600. Putting yourself out there is difficult, and a bit scary, but I'm glad I have been getting positive feedback and that my friends and family can all share in my adventures. Until next time...

Brussels | Amsterdam | Prague: Where it's great food, great friends, great fun....

From doing mucho traveling, I have learned how exhausting it really is. When we were planning our trips way back in the day, we decided to be ambitious and take up 3 countries in 6 days. We had off from class last Thursday and this Monday due to a holiday here in Andalucia so we wanted to take advantage of every free moment. Leading up to this trip, I had regrets. Three countries!? Was that really necessary? Well, God am I glad that we did. We were in Brussels less than 24 hours, Amsterdam about two days, and Prague for two. The trip was absolutely perfect. Everything kept falling into place just the way we had planned. Planes, trains, and automobiles were all on time, hostels/hotels fairly decent, great food, great friends, great fun.

Brussels:

We started off our trip taking a plane from Sevilla to Brussels on Wednesday afternoon after class. The weather was 72 and sunny in Sevilla, and we were leaving for very cold cities. We were so dumb. But, we put our scarves on, grabbed our gloves, and headed for the rainy city of Brussels.

The space requirements for a bag are VERY small. Six days, one backpack… I’m a woman. Somehow, it all fit in my bag perfectly. As we got closer to the gate, we could see lots of people ripping clothes out of their bags, re-closing their bags, and shoving their thinner suitcase into the bin to check the size. It was pretty amusing watching people struggle and throwing more layers on their bodies. All of us breezed on through luckily without having to check our bag sizes.

We flew Ryanair, a company famous for really cheap flights. We walked to the plane as it was sunset in Sevilla. Bye bye, beautiful city.

It was a 2 ½ hour flight to Brussels, and Carolina and I were sitting next to each other. She passed out with her head her in hands on her tray. I passed out on my arms. I woke up to find, both of my hands completely dead. I thought the blood was never going to get back into them! The lovey-dovey couple next to us was giggling the entire plane ride at us. I guess American’s are always the entertainment to Europeans. I looked at my watch and realized barely any time had passed. I made sure I wasn’t crazy by checking Carolina’s watch as well. Why was time moving so slowly!? Well our boredom quickly went away as the flight attendant came on the speaker. He says, out of no where, “Here’s an interesting fact: If you look out to the left… you will see… absolutely… nothing.” We died of laughter. Maybe it doesn’t sound funny, but in all of that boringness…. It was hysterical. Only a few people laughed. Then in Spanish, the same thing. I hear “a la izqierda” (left)…. Absolutamente…. NADA!” and the plane went WILD!! It was so cool understanding both and listening to see who knew English and who knew Spanish. I think we have repeated that sentence a hundred times on our trip. It’s never going to get old…

So we landed in a city “MUY, MUY, FRIO” as the flight attendant warned us. It was very, very cold. Great. We learned that Charleroi is not exactly in Brussels so we had to take a bus there. Somehow we rallied up a woman, and a nice couple from Norway and the eight of us took a cab for the same price, and it got us there faster… the guy even drove us to our hotel! Such a sweet deal. We were a little afraid at first, but I was using my head, and I thought it was legitimate. It all worked out really well.

We checked into the Sleep Well Youth Hostel. It had good ratings so how bad could it be? Since we were five people we had to split up into three and two. The rooms were clean, and the beds were rock solid. Eh, whatever.

We quickly headed towards the city center for dinner. It was late, not too many people out, but some waiter lured us into his restaurant. Funny thing is, later on my map there were suggestions of places to eat and that restaurant was on it! For 10 Euro we had a two-course meal, bread and a glass of wine. Just the way we like it. I couldn’t decide what I wanted so I asked the waiter what’s the best. He said mussels. I said sold.

Appetizers came out. Carolina, Jordyn, and Marissa all got tomato soup. Kelly and myself got shrimp scampi. Stupid choice. Three shrimp that needed to be completely peeled is not fun when you’re starving. It was really good, but too much work for my hungry stomach. I think I licked the plate.

Then dinner came. I just love it when everyone at the table “ooohs and ahhs” when my food arrives. Picking the right dish is the best feeling. Seeing someone’s dish and thinking, “I should have gotten that” is the worst. Well, I picked right. The broth was white wine based, had celery, onions, and other things of that nature inside. I decided to do all of the work first so I could just enjoy the meal. I had a great workout from picking out those suckers. The mussels came with fries so I just dumped those babies right into the broth and enjoyed every last drop.

After dinner we headed to Delirium, a famous bar right around the corner from the restaurant. It has over 2000 beers. Me, a non-beer lover, had to get something so I went for a light beer on tap. The guy working there suggested a fruit beer… they had a few. Marissa chose apple and I thought hey, why not. Deliciousssss!! Okay, it was a chicks drink, but whatever, I enjoyed my 3 Euro beer very much.

Smoke was everywhere; it was very different than the bars in Spain. We headed upstairs to another floor of the bar and sat in a booth. Out of nowhere, two Italian guys sit down with us. One guy, crazy, the other guy, gay? Crazy guy became obsessed with Kelly and became further obsessed when she said she was Italian. Crazy guy leans over the table and licks her face!!!! We are all sitting there thinking what the fuck is going on while laughing and crying at the same time. Crazy guy finally left. I pick pocketed his map from his jeans. I was proud of myself. Good luck to you buddy without a map. I felt accomplished ha.

We headed back to the hostel to sleep. I need some weight on my legs when I sleep (I cannot just sleep with a sheet) so I put the gross blanket over the sheet not letting it touch my body. So with being paranoid that it would touch me, and sleeping on a rock hard bed with an awkwardly shaped pillow, there was no hope for a good night’s sleep. I woke up at 4 AM to pee and accidentally turned on the light to the entire room. Marissa woke up and said, ‘Is it time to get up?’ Ha, not even close.

The next day we headed downstairs to breakfast. There were the usual things like toast and butter, but then there was cous cous and vegetables as well. Let me change that, nasty cous cous and nasty vegetables. I stuck to toast. Someone grabbed some peanut butter… a food that is not popular in Spain, but we surprisingly found it was not peanut butter.. it’s something called Speculoos. Imagine, consistency of peanut butter, but it tastes like a teddy graham. One of the most satisfying tastes of all time… just the right amount of sugar. We all grabbed a few little cups and took it with us on the rest of our journey.

We walked around the Grand Place (center square), St. Katrien (another part of the center with a very old church), and slowly made our way to the Manneken Pis (a famous landmark in Brussels) also known to us as Pee Boy.

Pee Boy was disappointing, as did I know that was going to be my reaction. The legend behind Pee Boy is that there was a big town fire and Pee Boy came to the rescue and put out the fire with his pee saving the town. Who really knows…Well, I mom danced in front of him, got ourselves some legit Belgium waffles, and headed towards our next destination. Oh and we met American students studying in Sevilla. Yep, small world.

Jordyn finishing off her waffle. She had chocolate EVERYWHERE

Walking back to the hostel we came across across an amazing artist painting on the street. 

I would have bough all of it if I could...

We got on the trade an hour early heading to Amsterdam. It was a somewhat long train ride, 3 hours so we needed seats, but there were none! So what did we do, sat in first class. I knew the ticket guy would be around and kick us out, but sometimes you just gotta live it up. We all passed out within 20 seconds of putting our heads against the window. An hour later, ticket guy was standing next to me. He asked for my ticket so I put on a little act. I took my time finding my ticket, acting dazed and confused, tired and dumb, and handed him my ticket saying, “Amsterdam right?” Duh, obviously. He says in a very nice way, yes, and that this is first class and I don’t have a first class ticket. “This is first class? Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I really had no idea. First time on the train.” He said it’s not a problem at all, the red seats are first class, blue, normal people. He said it was 70 E more for a first class ticket so I calmly giggled, smiled, and said no thanks and grabbed my friends and headed towards the baby screaming, non suit wearing, smelly section of the train. I felt like I was rowing the boat with the other slaves. We had to walk through a million people to finally find seats. Kelly and I grabbed two and talked the rest of the way.

Right before reaching Brussels, five British girls got on the train aka… the Spice Girls. They immediately starting talking to us talking about all of the cool places we should go in Amsterdam and what not. I wish you could hear my impression, it’s honestly pretty good ;)

**Food side note: 1) Small sandwich from cute cafe made up of goat cheese, fig, and nut spread, Italian ham and watercress 2) Open faced brie, pear, honey, and walnut sandwich. TO DIE FOR!

Amsterdam:

We got off the train to find ourselves in an extremely damp and foggy city. I realized I left my newly purchased 5 Euro earrings and 5 Euro umbrella on the train. Ugh, so dumb of me! I never do stupid shit like that. I put it behind me because Map Lady needed to get us to the hotel. I found out we need to take the 1, 2, or 7 tram to Leidesplein which is a really busy, happening, part of Amsterdam.

We didn’t really know how the tram worked so we just hopped on the back without paying. We didn’t even realize you had to pay. I don’t know… it was confusing. The conductor didn’t even realize so we just headed to Leidesplein on a free journey.

** Sidenote: We didn’t pay for a single tram in Amsterdam or Prague. We beat the system.

Leidesplain was hopping! Bars, cafes, people, everywhere. The fog made the city look really interesting with all of the bright lights that lined the buildings. We found out our hotel was right around the corner. Hotel de Paris, not too bad. I read that the front desk guy is a bit of a jack ass, so I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t say a single word while checking me in. Again, two rooms. I specifically bought the three person room and found 4 beds to be in the room. That frustrated me because we totally could have all slept in one room, but when it comes to my credit card, and sneaking people in to a foreign hotel, that’s just not going to fly with me. So oh well, an extra bed. Our non smoking room reeked of cigarette smoke, but it was fine.

We dropped our stuff and hiked far to this restaurant that Jordyn’s friend raved about. Now, in Holland, the streets have crazy names. The language is crazy. Kruzelsteinaestratt, Regulastentstratt, Heigenfartenfat, Lemongrassenswarstratt… I swear, every single street was like that. This was my toughest map yet. We got to the restaurant to find that we were too late for dinner. We were about to turn around when a man standing outside of the restaurant said, ‘Girls, people your age head that way.” And pointed towards the other direction. Just a few streets ahead was a really cool area with restaurants and clubs. We walked into a little Italian place for dinner. We didn’t care how it tasted, we just needed something. It sucked. That’s all I’ll say, but we headed home after that. I might as well list the things we did in Amsterdam because this blog will take me 9 years to write and it’s Amsterdam, leave it up to your imagination.

Anne Frank Museum

Red Light District

I Amsterdam sign

Flea Market

Great stores, great food

CHEESE SHOP!!

I found an awesome cheese shop that had over 30 samples out. I was the happiest girl in the world! Oh and we discovered this cookie that looks like a thin waffle that has a sugary syrup/caramel inside. They were the most delicious things I have ever had. We bought many… Ah, Stroop Waffles. Marissa just reminded me that’s what it’s called.

We spent the perfect amount of time in Amsterdam. We saw everything we needed to. The town was really way more beautiful than I had ever expected. Each street has a river running through it. Street, river, street, river… And, all of the houses are apartment style and some you walk down into so when you’re walking on the street, you can look right into people’s houses. They were all so modern, clean, and chic. I felt like I was in a movie. You know those movies where there’s a sad little boy, who doesn’t have a family or is lost and is looking into people’s windows, looking sad, putting his hand up, wanting his family.. and then moves on to another house and another and another. Well that’s what that was like… without the sadness of course. All of these perfect looking families, eating dinner, it was kind of precious. Everyone rides their bike, which leads me to Kelly getting hit by one!! Not funny, but actually really funny to all of us. This guy was so mad at her. She bounced off the pavement. It was one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen. She took it like a champ and laughed it off after imitating him screaming at her to all of us. Ah, so funny.

Oh also, I ran into a Penn Stater in this cute café. I had no idea she was studying abroad there. We had chicken and avocado sandwiches. Pure happiness J


**Food sidenote: We went back to that restaurant that Jordyn's friend told us about. We had brie, creme brulee style... GENIUS! Now I understand all of that Michelin stars...

Prague:

At the airport we needed to exchange some money. Why we thought 20 Euro was enough, who knows. So for 20 Euro you get back 400 crowns. Oh crowns, I had no idea that was the name so I decided to call the currency “shnoogles” and guess what, it stuck. We referred to shnoogles as shnoogles so much that it became second nature; it wasn’t even funny anymore. Dinner went like this, “Okay well you need to put in 80 more shnoogles, because I just put in 150 shnoogles and with tax we just need more so everyone put in 60 more shnoogs….” We even abbreviated it..

Anyway, our taxi driver told us everything we needed to know about the city and dropped us off in the middle of bum fuck at our hotel. It looked like a scary area. We hopped out and got inside quick. We checked into our little apartment, threw our bags down, got a metro ticket from the front desk, and headed towards the center. We were in New Town which has all of the fancy stores that every city has. We passed a sausage vendor and knew that we were going to have to try one of those so why not now. Kelly, Carolina, and I enjoyed our dinner happily as we walked to a restaurant for Jordyn and Marissa. The crunch of the skin of the sausage was killing Marissa, completely understandable. We went into the first restaurant we saw, a schwarma place, of course. We had our first Prague beer, Pilsner’s and went home to our warm room. Prague… was… freezing.

In the morning we got up early and headed downstairs for breakfast. Here it comes again, foreign breakfast. This time it was hot dogs and vegetable soup alongside yogurt and bread. Killing me…

We went straight to Old Town where we watched the Astronomical Clock go off on the hour and a man came out with his trumpet. The Astronomical clock is a huge clock tower that was designed way ahead of its time by a clock maker who managed to move all of the statues on the outside when the clock struck on the hour. It was so incredible that people would come from all over Europe to see it. When the clock guy decided he wanted to design something cooler or better or something like that, the people in power at the time didn’t want him to so they poked out his eyes! True story. So to get his revenge he jumped into the churning gears thus breaking the clock. It wasn’t for a hundred years that someone came along and fixed it so with it being broken, the head honcho people were reminded every day of their sin. So anyway, we stood there and waited for the clock thing to happen.

As we were standing there, something very strange was walking our way. One women, bronzed, dark hair, stick skinny was trying to sell us a huge jar and her friend was selling a skeleton! A camera crew was following them so we knew it was some stupid reality tv thing, but it was hilarious. She even went up to our tour guide trying to sell him the skeleton also, but he had no idea what was going on. PLEASE, see below.

So for 2 hours we toured around Prague, hearing the history, seeing all of the beautiful buildings. We also went around the Jewish quarter, passed by the oldest cemetery in Prague, and saw an old Spanish-Jewish synagogue. After the Jews were allowed to move out of the ghetto, it became a bad neighborhood because the poorest of the poor moved in and the criminals. To get rid of them, all of the buildings besides the extremely important ones were knocked down and built back up so the Jewish Quarter is relatively small, but still lots to see. There was a Holocaust memorial that had hundreds of pictures from children who lived and we were told to tell their story through paintings. We also learned about when Hitler’s right hand man was murdered by two people, Hitler had the towns of those two people burned down, killed all the men, put all of the women in concentration camps, and the kids were sent to be “Germanized.” Lovely.

Enough on Hitler… after that tour we went for lunch. I had some stewed pork and mashed potatoes… when in Rome right!? The others had some lasagna looking thing… can’t remember the name of it… but it was a really foreign name that I had heard of before.

Then we took the castle tour for three hours. It was a lot of touring, but with limited time in the city, we really needed to see it all as quickly as we could. Our tour guide was really awesome, we made friends with an older couple from New Zealand, and we got to try hot wine at a café in the middle of the tour. We also got to see the changing of the guards. I mom danced in front of one of them… he totally was smiling. I could see it. They definitely aren’t as serious as in England. These guys could move their eyes and what not. It was really hysterical though… I wonder what he was thinking!?

After the tour we headed to the John Lennon Wall. It’s a wall full of quotes from John Lennon and has been painted over by visitors from all over the wall adding their quotes, his lyrics, and their signatures. It was really cool. We attempted to take jumping photos, and had a little success…

On to dinner… one of the most classic things that happened on our trip. Okay, so here’s the play-by play. Carolina, Jordyn, and Marissa ordered soup with a side of bread dumplings. We were so, so , so, excited to eat these dumplings finally. Kelly and I order some sausage appetizer.. sliced meat with horseradish and mustard and we were splitting one of their restaurants specials… some kind of meat, with the dumplings as well. Well, food came out; their soup, our appetizer, a side of bread and our main dish. So Kelly and I dig into our appetizer and start spreading the horseradish and mustard onto the bread, placing the meat on top, and enjoying. Then we look at our other plate and don’t see any dumplings. We were very confused. After awhile, Jordyn and Marissa’s dumplings never came either. So we thought that maybe they forgot about it. So we called the waitress over who barely spoke English and asked. She then pointed to me. Me, head facing down, fork in my mouth… what were the dumplings? The bread that I had just put in my mouth. So Kelly and I actually ate their share and ours without even knowing it. Damn it! So then we ordered the potato dumplings, thinking, okay, we have to get this right. Well, these hockey puck looking and weighing things are now in front of us. I think the “dumpling” was so thick that it will line my stomach until next year. We laughed and laughed and definitely did not finish it. What a disappointment. Now, it came down to shnoogles. Oh the shnoogles.. the bill was like 800 shnoogles. You owe this, we owe this, you owe 50 more shnoogles… can you spot my 60 shnoogs and I’ll give you shnoogs tomorrow?…. something like that. 

bread dumpling... HA

shitty potato dumpling

After figuring that all out we crossed the Charles Bridge and wow, what a site to see. This was the moment that everyone talks about in Prague. This is where Prague gets the reputation of being the most beautiful city in Europe. It really was breathtaking. All around were beautiful buildings, Catherdrals, the castle grounds, everything. It was exquisite. My camera was having a hard time picking up the right light, but I did get a video of the violinist on the bridge. It couldn’t have gotten any more romantic. But, I didn’t need a man, because I had my best girls with me. Kelly shed a tear, Marissa took artsy photos, Jordyn was thinking about chocolate… ya know, the usual. I had that feeling of being a little girl going to Disney World for the first time again. Jordyn kept saying, “It’s like Disney World!” Well Jordyn, it’s because Disney is designed around places like this. Did you know the castle is designed after the one in Toledo, Spain though? Fun fact.

After oohing and ahhing for a while, we were back in the start of New Town, but came across a woman making a very special Prague pastry. She took dough, around a thick metal rod, dropped it in hot oil and then rolled it in coconut, almond, walnut, or cinnamon then took a spatula’s worth of Nutella and lined the inside. My girls were in Chocolate Heaven. I thought it was really good, they thought it was the best thing they had ever tasted. I gave them my last bite. They thought I was crazy. The differences in palates…

We all were on such a high for some reason. We started dancing in the streets (caught on film by Marissa Perrone) and laughed and sang. We found some sculpture guy sitting on a bench so we had to take a picture with “him.” Jordyn was picking his nose, very mature, we know. But, we had a BLAST!

The next day, Jordyn went to tour some more of the Jewish Quarter and the rest of us went to the market. Markets are the best, you find the cheapest and best gifts there. In every city I buy 5 Euro earrings so there in Prague it was 100 shnoogle earrings. I found the most beautiful bracelet. I had to get it. I asked how much. The man said a price and then lowered it and said “For you, 100.” Ah perfect, I don’t even need to bargain. After paying him he said to me in a pretty good accent, “I hope you have it forever.” How sweet is that! So it wasn’t earrings, but ehh, same difference.

I had 100 shnoogles left and no way was I going back to Sevilla with a dime. I walked around and there were so many unbelievable artists… all of them used water color. I saw a painting I wanted for 150, but told him I only had 100. “For you, no problem.” Ah, I love it.

I run into Marissa and she said that there was a really special bracelet she wanted, but it was 350 and no way does she want to spend that much. So I told her what I learned in Israel. You separate your money into whatever you are willing to pay. In this case, it was 200. So she had 200 ready to go to put on the act of “But sir, I only have 200.” And give a sad face or something. Well, I knew she really wanted it and the guy wasn’t giving any kind of hint to lowering the price even after we put on our whole act so I looked at him and said, “Sir, can you give it to us for 200, it’s all we have.” He thought about it for a second and said okay. She was so happy. Until we went to hand over the 200 and he said, “No, I said 300.” Uh ohhhh confusion. So I said, “Please sir, 200 are all we have. It’s our last day here.” After about 6 seconds of thinking, he smiled and said okay. Marissa lit up. I’ve never seen such a big smile. It was a really unique bracelet. I’m really glad I could help her out. That smile was so worth it.

Everything went so smoothly, too smoothly. We kept questioning how everything was falling into place so perfectly. Which leads me to the airport. Marissa and I booked through another company, not directly through Wizz Air because my computer kept saying it wasn’t a secure website so I refused to put my credit card info in. So we didn’t have a boarding pass until we got to the airport. I noticed we were standing on the wrong line, but thought let’s see what happens. Less than 15 seconds later I had my boarding pass. It was too simple! We then  looked to our right, and there was a really fresh salad bar! That’s gold to us. We grabbed a salad and headed for the plane.

Like many flights in Europe we have taken, we had to take a bus with all of the other passengers to the plane. We were flying to Madrid and literally every single person was a Spaniard. I already had started up a conversation with some people in front of us on line. They were speaking too fast for me. The older man said Sevilla is boring. We all laughed and argued back. But when we were on this little bus, everyone was shoved in, and when Spaniards are all together and are impatient, they get loud. The cheering, the laughter, the voices, it was hysterical. They all act like they know each other. They were shouting about their cities and the older man caught eyes with me and shouted “Sevilla!” for me. Marissa and I just looked at each other and smiled. We just love Spain so much.

We drove literally 2 feet to the plane. Everyone was facing towards the door, ready to run. Doors opened and a heard of Spanish elephants raced towards the plane. We were hysterically laughing. Spanish mama’s, they get what they want. And they push. Again, more laughing.

I managed to find Jordyn and Carolina in the back of the plane. These three douche bag men next to us stole the rest of our seats so we all sat separately, but we were so close to all sitting together, finally. These three men, let me tell you… they would not stop staring! I joke and say Carolina is my celebrity, because she is so gorgeous and everywhere we go heads turn. Well these three guys, wow oh wow. They couldn’t stop looking our way. Like, they weren’t even hiding it. So we made a sign that said “Te ayudamos?” which means, “Can we help you?” to get them off of our back. At one point we heard them take out their Ipod and play in English, “I want to do bad things to you…” This had to have been some kind of bachelor party. Too much testosterone surrounding us on the plane…

The trip wasn’t over yet though. We ran into our other friends and headed towards the Madrid bus station for our 6-hour ride home. I was dreading this. Carolina couldn’t get a bus ticket and was stranded. Luckily she has family in Madrid so she stayed with them for the night and headed home in the morning.

We dragged our asses to the bus and ventured home. After many stiff necks, sore backs, broken hips, swollen feet, and tired eyes, we were home in Sevilla. We arrived at 5:30 AM and everyone had class. I was lucky and had class at four in the afternoon, but everyone else dragged their butts to school two hours later.

The trip couldn’t have been any more successful and fun. It’s so funny to me how we really are grown up and can do everything on our own. Three planes, a train, a bus, many taxes, many trams, two hostels, one hotel, we did it all, and we did it all really well. I’m really thankful for where I am and being able to experience something like this. It only gets better from here. We rocked three countries in six days. Great food, great friends, great fun…