Alright, to go in (super sped up) chronological order through stuff I never blogged about, we'll start with my parents' visit! I was so glad Dad got to come see me... total bonus! Mom and I took him to all our favorite spots, so here she and Dad are at Retiro:
After that Kyle came to see me! We spent an amazing long weekend doing all kinds of fun Madrid things like rowing a boat in Retiro, wandering the streets of the city center, and eating a lot! Here are just a few pics!
 |
| Palacio Real at night. |
 |
| He was very happy to row the boat! |
 |
| And I was very happy to relax while he did so. |
 |
| Beautiful afternoon! |
 |
| We went to Botin for dinner! |
 |
| Dessert at San Gines =) |
Five days after Kyle left I headed for Morocco, which was such an amazing adventure. I already showed you guys a bunch of the pictures, but I want to tell you a little about the trip! There were two important days on the trip: the day we spend in the Fes Medina and the day we spent out in the desert. The Fes Medina was like nothing I've ever experienced. "Medina"refers to the old town of Fes. It has over 9,000 streets and some of them are so narrow I could barely walk through them. But it is not a city of poverty. Many of the houses in the Medina are quite large and luxurious, but the Muslim faith that is the vast majority (98% of the country is Muslim) believes that their wealth should not be shown on the outside of homes because it is vain and could be seen by the "evil eye". We did a lot of shopping in the Medina for things like rugs, scarves, jewelry, etc. Our local guides took us to co-ops where we were given presentations by the locals. It was a really awesome, but tiring day.
My favorite part of the trip was out in the desert. We took the bus to a small city called Erfoud right on the edge of the Sahara. From there we drove in jeeps through the desert for a little over an hour to the desert camp! The experience there was awesome. The guys who ran the camp were so cool (I put a pic of them in the last post) and they talked to us as much as they could to improve their English and Spanish. The first morning in the desert we got up around 5 to go see the sunrise! We woke up a little late, so the guide basically had us sprinting over the dunes for twenty minutes to reach a good vantage point. We were exhausted by the time we got there, but it was totally worth it. The colors were so beautiful. Then we went back to sleep for a few hours and that's when we went on the camel rides. I loved riding the camel, but I will say it was completely different than riding a horse. It was super jerky and crazy and sometimes going over the dunes was a little nerve-wracking, but it was totally worth it. They dropped us off in a small desert village where we could do some more shopping and then we walked back to the tent camp, which took about an hour.
Then we had the rest of the afternoon free! There were a ton of local kids who hung out just outside the camp area on the dunes. They only spoke a word or two of English but it was still really fun! We played tic-tac-toe with them in the sand, played duck, duck, goose, and tons of other things. Probably the most amusing part of the afternoon was that the boys found a salamander in the sand and were using it to freak the girls out! But it was a very cute and nice salamander so I held it for a while. They also put it on my head which was highly amusing. When we eventually went back into the main tent in the evening there were ladies doing henna, which I just had to get! It was so pretty and the ladies were very nice. That night ended with dinner and a concert by an African band which was amazing. We just loved being in the desert.
While it was very hot during the day, it was super cold at night. We were all wearing multiple layers and under big blankets, but we were still shivering! While the medina and the desert were awesome, we spent A TON of hours on the bus, usually 10 to 12 hours at a time. That was a little much, but we made it and I would definitely take the trip again if I had the chance.
Right when I got back from Morocco I got another roommate. Her name is Gabi and she goes to UCSD. She's a very nice girl, but we don't really hang out much, I pretty much only see her at meals. She's going to the other big University in Madrid and she's here until the end of June, so she'll be moving into my room after I move out.
And that brings me to the most recent trip!! We went to Berlin, Amsterdam, and Prague and loved all three of them. They all had different things to offer, and we didn't know a lot about any of the cities, so everything that happened was just an awesome bonus! We met up with people we knew in each city and just had a blast. Alright, here are some pictures!
 |
| In all of our travels, the first word we end up learning in a new language is the word for "exit" as we try to get out of the airport! So "exit" in German is Ausgang. |
 |
| Germany is very proud of their little walk guy. They have all kinds of souvenirs with him on them! |
 |
 |
| Sinead and I goofin' off on the steps of a museum. |
 |
| Holocaust Memorial. |
 |
| Some of the best schwarma I've ever had! From a street vendor, of course =) |
 |
| Berlin Wall: There is artwork along the whole thing and I took a million pictures! Here is a particularly pretty section. |
 |
| Behind the wall, along the bank of the river, there were several of these urban beaches! You can't actually swim in the river, but these spots were awesome nonetheless! |
 |
| We had brunch on our last morning in every city! This one was great: crepe with nutella, honey, and jam, assorted exotic fruits (including dragon fruit), a smoothie, and chocolate covered grapes. |
 |
| Welcome to Amsterdam on Queen's Day, the biggest party of the year! Everyone wears orange and spends the whole day in the street! |
 |
| My festive look for Queen's day! |
 |
| Our friend Emily! We had matching braids (hers were a wig, of course). |
 |
| Our festive group! From left to right: Rebecca, Olivia, Emily, Neha, Sinead, Jessie, and Nikki! (I was making the whole trip with Neha, Sinead, and Nikki, the other girls are studying in Madrid as well and just met us in Amsterdam) |
 |
| As a part of the whole party there was a carnival right in the middle of the city! We went on the swings (the super tall ride on the right) our first night there! |
 |
| I took a ton of canal pictures and they are all beautiful! |
 |
| "I amsterdam" sign in the museum district. We had a fun photoshoot with it after going to the Anne Frank House and Van Gogh museum. |
 |
| Our travel group! We are so lucky that we found each other! (Nikki, me, Sinead, and Neha) |
 |
| Gotta keep the tradition going! Emily and Olivia helped me out this time. I uploaded this one to the OSU website as well! |
 |
| Emily and I shared a pizza hotdog later. Yes. It was a hotdog with cheese and pizza toppings on it which they then baked. It was awesome. |
 |
| Welcome to Prague! This is their famous Astronomical Clock. |
 |
| The Spanish Synagogue in Prague. |
 |
| We had delicious goulash for lunch. Yum! |
 |
| Prague has the largest castle in Europe. The cathedral alone took 600 years to finish! There are a ton of different styles of architecture in the castle because of the time that passed while it was being built. |
 |
| Brunch in Prague: Italian omelette, covered in marinara and parmesean with spicy hash browns on the side. |
The trip was incredible. We traveled really well together as a group, had GREAT weather, and saw lots of amazing things! I'm sure I'll have more to say about it later, but I think this post is long enough for tonight. So Happy Mother's Day again to everyone, and I can't believe I only have 12 days left!
See you all soon =)
