Ever since I can remember, I have had a bucket list. Physically, no, I don’t have a sheet of paper with every aspiration of mine written down, but mentally, yes. Somewhere up in this noggin of mine, I have a never-ending list of goals and destinations that I hope to achieve and travel to one day. Realistically, I will probably keep making new additions for the rest of my life, but hey, it’s more fun that way. Why ever stop dreaming and setting goals for yourself? These two trips, Morocco and Switzerland, were 100% persuaded by my “bucket list.” “Go to Africa” and “See the Swiss Alps” have always been at the very, tippy, top of the list and now it was time to make them happen.
My roommate, Hannah, and I started talking about planning a trip to Morocco right when the semester began. We were so back and forth with the idea, because at this point we hadn’t planned any trips yet. At the beginning of your semester abroad, you imagine going to each and every place near and far, but as time goes on (and money runs out) you realize that’s just not possible. Even more reason to come back hehe, but that's when the prioritizing starts to come into play. With a little bit more of Hannah’s persuasion…the tickets for our program were bought and we were going to Africa! Studying in southern Spain makes it fairly easy to get to Morocco. Tarifa, the Spanish city where the ferryboat is, is about 5 hours south, so in the end we both knew we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Days started to fly by and before we knew it, it was March 20th, time to go!
Day 1 (Friday)
After Hannah, Aileen, Limaa, and I boarded the bus in Granada, we were off to Seville to meet up with the rest of our program and people traveling with us. Aileen and Limaa are both two great friends I’ve made, since being in Granada! We had made it to Seville within a few hours and were greeted by ecstatic tour guides, who were thrilled to be taking us on this adventure. The process of getting onto the ferry and into Morocco was easy, for the most part. I was imagining something far more complicated in order to get into a new country, let alone a new continent. We got past security, were on the ferryboat for an hour and a half, and in no time at all we were in Morocco. I’ve only experienced one other culture shock before visiting Morocco, and that was coming to Spain. Once we got to Morocco, every sign was in Arabic, everyone was speaking Arabic, the buildings and city set up were all different, culture shock number two was coming. All in a good way though! It was unbelievable thinking that we were only a few hours from a whole new world this whole time. After blasting Shakira’s “Waka Waka” the whole way to our hotel, it finally set in. WE WERE IN AFRICA.
My roommate, Hannah, and I started talking about planning a trip to Morocco right when the semester began. We were so back and forth with the idea, because at this point we hadn’t planned any trips yet. At the beginning of your semester abroad, you imagine going to each and every place near and far, but as time goes on (and money runs out) you realize that’s just not possible. Even more reason to come back hehe, but that's when the prioritizing starts to come into play. With a little bit more of Hannah’s persuasion…the tickets for our program were bought and we were going to Africa! Studying in southern Spain makes it fairly easy to get to Morocco. Tarifa, the Spanish city where the ferryboat is, is about 5 hours south, so in the end we both knew we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Days started to fly by and before we knew it, it was March 20th, time to go!
Day 1 (Friday)
After Hannah, Aileen, Limaa, and I boarded the bus in Granada, we were off to Seville to meet up with the rest of our program and people traveling with us. Aileen and Limaa are both two great friends I’ve made, since being in Granada! We had made it to Seville within a few hours and were greeted by ecstatic tour guides, who were thrilled to be taking us on this adventure. The process of getting onto the ferry and into Morocco was easy, for the most part. I was imagining something far more complicated in order to get into a new country, let alone a new continent. We got past security, were on the ferryboat for an hour and a half, and in no time at all we were in Morocco. I’ve only experienced one other culture shock before visiting Morocco, and that was coming to Spain. Once we got to Morocco, every sign was in Arabic, everyone was speaking Arabic, the buildings and city set up were all different, culture shock number two was coming. All in a good way though! It was unbelievable thinking that we were only a few hours from a whole new world this whole time. After blasting Shakira’s “Waka Waka” the whole way to our hotel, it finally set in. WE WERE IN AFRICA.
Day 2 (Saturday)
Our first destination of the day was Chefchaouen, Morocco, otherwise known as “The Blue City.” As we came close to the end of our bus journey, I spotted, what seemed like, a tiny city made up of different shades of blue towards the top of a small mountain. I would later learn that the inhabitants of the city constantly paint to keep the blue, because blue represents their “love for Allah.” Once we arrived, we met up with our tour guide who showed us every small alley and road in the city. We passed small bakeries, waving children who were so excited to see visitors, and expert bargainers. It was incredible.
Once the tour and lunch ended, we all decided to do what we came here to do. Time to experience some Moroccan bargaining! Our tour guides gave us all of the tips and tricks to be a successful bargainer, but admitted that we would probably still lose, because these shop owners are the real experts. To explain kind of how the bargaining works, I’ll describe one of my “fails.” Ugh. We had started the afternoon in one of the numerous Moroccan shops filled with one of a kind jewelry, hand made rugs, scarves, etc. I had found a ring that I LOVED and saw that the price was 250 Dirhams, so basically 25 dollars. I shortly heard, “for you my friend, I’ll give you a special price. 200 Dirhams.” You start to get all excited, but then your friend nudges you to try and go lower. “Sorry, I only have 100 left.” The shop owner will tell you how much of a deal he is offering you, you pretend to leave, and he gives in and sells it to you. I was so excited to get the price from 250 dirhams to 100! What a pro right? Wrong. The truth was I probably could have gotten it for much less and ended up caving, when I should have kept going! Ugh! Oh well. The rest of the day was spent working on that bargaining game and getting tips from my friend Limaa, who was the real expert and always had her poker face on.
After satisfying the “shopaholic” in me, we all decided we wanted to try some sweets from one of the bakeries we had passed earlier. We came across one where a father was working the oven, pulling cakes and pastries out and handing them over to his son to try and sell. We were so surprised to find out that each one was only 1 dirham, or 10 cents. The longer the trip went on, it was hard to ignore the economic situation in Morocco. From an American’s standpoint, it’s the dream to vacation there, because it is so cheap. However, once you start to look beyond the excitement of saving a few extra dollars, you start to see the country’s true condition and what lies beyond their cities. I know I’m guilty of failing to think about what is beyond the "United States bubble" we’re in from time to time. An actual roof over our head, food, water, all of the “essentials” are, unfortunately, not a day-to-day reality for some. Anyways, that’s another blog post for another day, but we decided to go a little pastry crazy that day and help out this duo.
The last task on our Moroccan agenda was to find some authentic henna. We went around the city asking where we could find some and eventually, a young man stopped us and brought us over to an older woman who insisted we come into her home and that she would be able to help us. Me, Aileen, Limaa, and Hannah all looked around thinking, “this is everything our parents ever told us not to do,” buuuuuuut ended up going inside anyways (Sorry Mom and Dad again, I feel like I say that a lot on this blog.) Sure, we were excited about the henna, but even MORE excited that we were able to see an actual Moroccan home in this beautiful city. She welcomed us in, sat us down on her couch, and did our henna one by one. After our hands were covered in flowers and designs, her young daughter ripped a piece of paper and added up our total for the artwork, 20 dirhams each, or 2 dollars. What an experience! The day began to wind down, and we eventually headed back to our hotel in Tangier and awaited the next day, which would be spent in Assilah, Morocco.
Our first destination of the day was Chefchaouen, Morocco, otherwise known as “The Blue City.” As we came close to the end of our bus journey, I spotted, what seemed like, a tiny city made up of different shades of blue towards the top of a small mountain. I would later learn that the inhabitants of the city constantly paint to keep the blue, because blue represents their “love for Allah.” Once we arrived, we met up with our tour guide who showed us every small alley and road in the city. We passed small bakeries, waving children who were so excited to see visitors, and expert bargainers. It was incredible.
Once the tour and lunch ended, we all decided to do what we came here to do. Time to experience some Moroccan bargaining! Our tour guides gave us all of the tips and tricks to be a successful bargainer, but admitted that we would probably still lose, because these shop owners are the real experts. To explain kind of how the bargaining works, I’ll describe one of my “fails.” Ugh. We had started the afternoon in one of the numerous Moroccan shops filled with one of a kind jewelry, hand made rugs, scarves, etc. I had found a ring that I LOVED and saw that the price was 250 Dirhams, so basically 25 dollars. I shortly heard, “for you my friend, I’ll give you a special price. 200 Dirhams.” You start to get all excited, but then your friend nudges you to try and go lower. “Sorry, I only have 100 left.” The shop owner will tell you how much of a deal he is offering you, you pretend to leave, and he gives in and sells it to you. I was so excited to get the price from 250 dirhams to 100! What a pro right? Wrong. The truth was I probably could have gotten it for much less and ended up caving, when I should have kept going! Ugh! Oh well. The rest of the day was spent working on that bargaining game and getting tips from my friend Limaa, who was the real expert and always had her poker face on.
After satisfying the “shopaholic” in me, we all decided we wanted to try some sweets from one of the bakeries we had passed earlier. We came across one where a father was working the oven, pulling cakes and pastries out and handing them over to his son to try and sell. We were so surprised to find out that each one was only 1 dirham, or 10 cents. The longer the trip went on, it was hard to ignore the economic situation in Morocco. From an American’s standpoint, it’s the dream to vacation there, because it is so cheap. However, once you start to look beyond the excitement of saving a few extra dollars, you start to see the country’s true condition and what lies beyond their cities. I know I’m guilty of failing to think about what is beyond the "United States bubble" we’re in from time to time. An actual roof over our head, food, water, all of the “essentials” are, unfortunately, not a day-to-day reality for some. Anyways, that’s another blog post for another day, but we decided to go a little pastry crazy that day and help out this duo.
The last task on our Moroccan agenda was to find some authentic henna. We went around the city asking where we could find some and eventually, a young man stopped us and brought us over to an older woman who insisted we come into her home and that she would be able to help us. Me, Aileen, Limaa, and Hannah all looked around thinking, “this is everything our parents ever told us not to do,” buuuuuuut ended up going inside anyways (Sorry Mom and Dad again, I feel like I say that a lot on this blog.) Sure, we were excited about the henna, but even MORE excited that we were able to see an actual Moroccan home in this beautiful city. She welcomed us in, sat us down on her couch, and did our henna one by one. After our hands were covered in flowers and designs, her young daughter ripped a piece of paper and added up our total for the artwork, 20 dirhams each, or 2 dollars. What an experience! The day began to wind down, and we eventually headed back to our hotel in Tangier and awaited the next day, which would be spent in Assilah, Morocco.
Day 3 (Sunday)
While we were only in Morocco for a weekend, it felt like we were moving at super speed and trying to get as many things done as possible. After breakfast, we hopped on the bus and went on a panoramic bus tour of Tangier. The most interesting parts of the tour were passing by one of the royal family’s residences, where they stay when they are in the city, and going to the coast where you could see the Strait of Gibraltar perfectly. Afterwards, we were finally on our way to Assilah, except for one more stop…CAMEL RIDES! The drive towards Assilah was right on the coast, so we made a pit stop on one of the many beaches and found 4 camels along with some babies. THEY WERE SO CUTE. The whole group hopped on four at a time and took their turn. After a few selfies with my new baby camel friend, it was my turn to ride! It was by far a one of a kind experience. It doesn't get much cooler than being able to say you rode a camel, beachside, in Morocco. Sidenote: I made sure to give the camel a nice little back rub on the ride. Who knows how many rides they have to do a day…Once we said bye to our hump day friends, we were on our way to our final stop, Assilah, a small little town right near the coast! It reminded me of Chefchaouen with the building style, but instead everything was white. In Chefchaouen our tour guide mentioned that another color Moroccans like to use on their buildings is white, to represent peace. It was much smaller than Chefchaouen, but had the same amount of charm and appeal. We worked our bargaining one last time, explored the city, and ended the day with some tea and more Arabic cakes. During our tea time, we heard one of the calls for prayer throughout the city. This is one of the five times a day Muslims go to pray. If that doesn’t make you feel like you’re in a whole new culture, I don’t know what will. Such a great and authentic way to end our trip.
We were all back in Granada around 3 a.m with the help of two bus rides, a trip on the ferry, and a late night taxi. Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience in Morocco. I got to encounter such a kind hearted culture, branch out of my comfort zone and learn a little Arabic, and see more than I ever thought I'd be able to on a weekend trip. Shout-out to my roomie, Hannah, for being super persuading and finally getting me to say yes!
Well, I definitely had the intention of writing about Switzerland in this blog post too…but here I am rambling yet again. THE BUCKET LIST PART 2 WILL BE DONE SOON, I PROMISE. Stay tuned. Adios!
While we were only in Morocco for a weekend, it felt like we were moving at super speed and trying to get as many things done as possible. After breakfast, we hopped on the bus and went on a panoramic bus tour of Tangier. The most interesting parts of the tour were passing by one of the royal family’s residences, where they stay when they are in the city, and going to the coast where you could see the Strait of Gibraltar perfectly. Afterwards, we were finally on our way to Assilah, except for one more stop…CAMEL RIDES! The drive towards Assilah was right on the coast, so we made a pit stop on one of the many beaches and found 4 camels along with some babies. THEY WERE SO CUTE. The whole group hopped on four at a time and took their turn. After a few selfies with my new baby camel friend, it was my turn to ride! It was by far a one of a kind experience. It doesn't get much cooler than being able to say you rode a camel, beachside, in Morocco. Sidenote: I made sure to give the camel a nice little back rub on the ride. Who knows how many rides they have to do a day…Once we said bye to our hump day friends, we were on our way to our final stop, Assilah, a small little town right near the coast! It reminded me of Chefchaouen with the building style, but instead everything was white. In Chefchaouen our tour guide mentioned that another color Moroccans like to use on their buildings is white, to represent peace. It was much smaller than Chefchaouen, but had the same amount of charm and appeal. We worked our bargaining one last time, explored the city, and ended the day with some tea and more Arabic cakes. During our tea time, we heard one of the calls for prayer throughout the city. This is one of the five times a day Muslims go to pray. If that doesn’t make you feel like you’re in a whole new culture, I don’t know what will. Such a great and authentic way to end our trip.
We were all back in Granada around 3 a.m with the help of two bus rides, a trip on the ferry, and a late night taxi. Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience in Morocco. I got to encounter such a kind hearted culture, branch out of my comfort zone and learn a little Arabic, and see more than I ever thought I'd be able to on a weekend trip. Shout-out to my roomie, Hannah, for being super persuading and finally getting me to say yes!
Well, I definitely had the intention of writing about Switzerland in this blog post too…but here I am rambling yet again. THE BUCKET LIST PART 2 WILL BE DONE SOON, I PROMISE. Stay tuned. Adios!