العودة إلى المغرب (Return to Morocco)

Almost 4 years ago, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend my summer in Morocco to study Arabic. It was the first time I had ever travelled by myself to a foreign country....and foreign it was. When I stepped off the plane in Morocco at age 16, the overwhelming heat slapped me right in the face. (Being from Florida was no help when trying to battle sweat!) But next came the fast Moroccan Arabic from the customs agent (who still managed to tell me how beautiful I was in English), then the Arabic road and store signs that were illegible to me at the time. Thank goodness that French saved the day! 

Now, at age 21, I have finally made my way back to the North African country that I fell in love with four years ago. As I stepped off the plane this time, I could not stop smiling as I read all of the Arabic signs, completely ignoring the French.  I walked up to the customs agent who was very surprised to hear me speak Arabic. It took a little bit of adjusting, but I even remembered the little bit of Moroccan that I learned when I was here.  

After going though customs, My travel partner and boyfriend, Oliver (Olly for short), and I figured out which bus to take in order to get to our hotel. The hotel was a ryad in the Medina, reachable only on foot through winding cobblestone roads. When we finally found the ryad, the receptionist told us that there was a problem with our reservation, but she had another place for us to stay. Well, that sounds kinda sketchy. But, she called a taxi and walked us to the new hotel, which was absolutely beautiful. When we arrived, we were even greeted with a kettle of traditional Moroccan mint tea and a plate of desserts.  It actually worked out in our favor that there was a problem! 

For the next two days, Olly and I explored the souks and Djema el Fna, the main square. Marrakech has a fair amount to see, but in my opinion the souk is the most interesting. We spent the first morning walking around, bargaining for jewelry, ceramics, paintings, shoes, and wooden boxes or carvings. We took a break in the square to drink the freshly squeezed orange juice for $.50, to buy a quarter kilo of my favorite golden zabeeb (raisins), and Olly got roped into taking a picture with a snake on his shoulders. Then we had lunch in the square to cool down and went for souk shopping round two! Since it started to rain, we took cover in a local cafe and drank mint tea while taking in the sights of the souk, the Koutobia (an Almohad mosque), and the passersby. When the rain stopped, we ate dinner at one of the local restaurants for the typical Moroccan cuisine of Tajine and couscous. 

The next morning we went to the Majorelle Gardens, a beautiful private garden in the middle of the city. But the rest of day two was more of the same: shopping! This time I had a list of things to purchase so there was less looking, more buying, and a lot more bargaining! A wooden box for 120? I think not. How about 40? شكرا (thanks). A pair of shoes for 400? Absolutely not! How about 150? Deal. Plates for 160? No thank you! 100 sounds good to me.  

After dropping off all of the goods back at the hotel, we ventured back out to Djema el Fna for dinner. We ate at a restaurant overlooking the square, and I enjoyed my pizza (Tajine and couscous weren't ever my thing) while Olly got his last fill of Moroccan food.  After paying for the meal, we still had 33 dirham left, so why not test out our bargaining for the last time to get something for 30! We left the souk with 3 Dirham and 10 cents. 

Morocco was my first experience in the Arab world, and it literally changed my life. Going back to Marrakech reminded me of where my journey to learn Arabic started and of how far I have come since then. 

The sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of Marrakech were just as captivating today as they were four years ago. The magic of the city hasn't changed a bit. Even though I went back to Marrakech a changed person, the affect the city had on me was the exact same as before. 

Even though I was only able to spend 4 days in Marrakech, I know it won't be the last time I visit. A little piece of my heart is and always will be buried in the souk. So, morocco, بسلامة المغرب, (goodbye) but only for now. I am sure I will see you soon, ان شاء الله (God willing; hopefully). 

What I Have Learned in Spain thus Far...

1.     Airlines sell smokeless cigarettes during a two-hour flight, just in case somebody can’t wait for their next cigarette.

2.     Apples and peanut butter apparently do NOT go well together in Europe. Although with my very picky American taste, it is still a usual snack.

3.     Spaniards don’t sweat.  Caitlin at spinning for an hour: 2 liter water bottles, a towel to wipe the sweat, sweat repellant shirts…yet somehow I still leave looking a sweaty mess.  Spaniard at spinning for an hour: 50 ml water, no towel, long pants, long-sleeves (occasional sweatshirt), and of course makeup…they leave looking exactly the way they did on the way to the gym. UGH.

4.     Jaywalking is not a crime, it’s practically encouraged.

5.     Ordering an alcoholic beverage at any time of the day (10 am – 5 am the next day) is the norm.

6.     65 degrees is wool coat, scarf, earmuff, boot, and glove weather.  I have been asked if I am cold on multiple occasions when I am wearing a cardigan and jeans. But, wait, I forgot.  They don’t sweat.

7.     Americans eat a lot of eggs (according to my Spanish roommates).

8.     A 30-minute walk is considered short. Don’t worry, I signed up for a bike service.

9.     Europeans and Americans eat dinner approximately 5 hours apart. When I eat dinner at 6:30, my roommates still think I am “snacking”.

10.  Sometimes a professor won’t show up to the first day of classes. No big deal.

11.  Siestas are real…and usually quite inconvenient.

12.  Lighting a cigarette as you walk out the door of the gym is the routine.

13.  A soccer game is pretty much a picnic. Everybody brings “mondaditos” (sandwiches) as dinner.  Our taxi driver was surprised that we 1) had already eaten, even though the game was at 10pm and 2) didn’t think to bring mondaditos.

14.  If you are on time, you are early. Very early.

15. C-a-i-t-l-i-n is the hardest sequence of letters for a Spaniard to pronounce.  I am called “Kiteleen”, “Kitelan”, “Kathleen”, “Kaylan”...pretty much everything but Caitlin. 

Paris: The City of Love

I have studied French for four years, but I never had a real desire to travel to France.  The pictures are beautiful, and the food sounds good, but I am more interested in travelling to the Middle East.  Therefore, Morocco is the perfect intermediary.  I can speak both English and French and still be in the Arab world! But after my 4 days in Paris, I’ve already begun to look into prices of Parisian real estate (a little out of my budget at this point).

From the moment I got off the plane in Beauvais, about an hour outside of the city, I knew I would love France. The weather was perfect. A little gray, but still it felt perfect. The country houses were the stereotypical adorable French cottages, and of course hearing (and speaking!) French is so much more beautiful than Spanish. 

I was travelling with two, relatively amateur travellers, so I ended up being translator and navigator for the weekend.  We stayed at a hostel in the 18^th arrondisment, which is in the northern part of the city, a 10-minute walk from the Sacre Coeur Cathedral (if that puts it in perspective for anybody).  The hostel was as good as a hostel could be, but the best thing about it was that it was right near a metro stop.  Actually there were two good things about it. The other was the breakfast buffet of baguettes and croissants.  They made for good snacks while on the go.

On Friday night, we went to the Louvre Museum because it is free for students under 26. We stopped at the supermarket to buy a late lunch before we went, and my friend Alex and I bought shampoo and conditioner to share for the weekend since we don’t have 3 oz bottles.  Security at the Louvre stopped us because of our water bottles, but we got away with the two bottles of Garnier shampoo and conditioner! 

Since I am not a museum person, I really only wanted to see the Mona Lisa (how small it is!) and the Venus de Milo.  The other paintings and sculptures were nice, but it’s all the same to me.  I wanted to make a beeline for the Mona Lisa, but my companions were not as eager to pass by everything else.  Therefore, we stayed until the closing announcement.  Yay.

Anyways, the next morning, after a 2 croissants and 2 mini baguettes (and more for the road!), we were determined to cross off more of our sights-to-see.  We went to a flea market at Clingnacourt, where my best purchase was a 2.50 euro nutela crepe!  Then we headed to the Notre Dame, which was gorgeous. Since there was no tour as we had hoped, we relied on my Lonely Planet iPhone app, which served us well throughout the weekend.  After the Notre Dame we walked through the Latin Quarter, to see the Sorbonne (why did I not choose to study there?!), the Pantheon (where my new apartment will be located…ideally), and the Luxembourg Gardens (which would probably be beautiful in the spring) and the Sacre Coeur.  It was a full afternoon of walking, but as Europe does, it started misting and got a lot colder than it had been.  We decided to metro back to the hotel before going to see the Eiffel Tower by night.

Oh, the Eiffel Tower.  What a beauty.  Every half hour, the tower “sparkles” for five minutes as 20,000 light bulbs shimmer against the black night sky.  As if right on queue, the tower started sparkling right when we arrived.  We debated whether we should go up the tower in the day or at night, but we chose night.  Alex and I waited for the lift, while Rianne waked up the stairs to the second tier since the top was closed.  What a sight, Paris by night. 

Day three started off well when I met 3 girls from Tampa, who were also staying at our hostel, by pure coincidence! They told us how they had gotten into Versailles for free with their student visa and school id, so we decided to go explore the Palace of Versailles.  Since Versailles is technically another city, we had to take a 45-minute commuter train, but it was well worth the ride.  The Palace is a gold-plated monstrosity!  Like the Luxembourg Gardens, the Palace Gardens would have been much prettier in the spring, but it was still quite a sight.

After spending the morning at Versailles, we metro-ed to the Eiffel Tower to see it during the day.  We then walked to the Hotel des Invalides, the Champs Elysees and the Arc du Triomphe, which was one of my favorite things to see.  By that point, we were exhausted with all the walking and went back to the hotel to sleep before our flight the next morning.

Of course a trip to Paris would be incomplete without pastries.  Leave it to me to taste all of them.  I was quite satisfied with my two pain de chocolates, two éclairs, one sweet crepe and one savory, one macaroon, and of course the many croissants.  I think the macaroon and the pain du chocolate were my favorites, although the nutela crepe comes in at a close second.

I was very sad to leave Paris, but I know it will not be my last visit.  I am thinking of all the ways I could move there, although I am having trouble coming up with ideas.  Somehow studying Arabic and Spanish don’t have much to offer a job in France. And, as cliché as the title may be, it is true.  I fell in love when I was in Paris; I fell in love with Paris.