Mi encuentro con Marruecos (My Moroccan Encounter)

Guess what? I just got back from the "Motherland!" (Africa, that is). The girls from GSU and I just spent the last couple of days in Morocco and boy, do I have some stories to tell. Morocco always seemed like such an exotic place, so I was excited to go. After all, classes had not yet begun, so I wanted to take the opportunity to travel as much as I could. I admit, it was a last minute decision and honestly I did not know what to expect.

Our trip started out with a 6-hour bus ride to Madrid. We arrived at the Madrid airport at almost midnight and since we had 6 am flights to Marrakech, we decided to spend the night at the airport. That was a fun night. We were so tired, we were laughing deliriously the entire night. We tried to sleep on the hard and cold airport floor, but after numerous failed attempts, we just decided to sleep on the plane. Once on the plane I was knocked out. I think I woke up to the sight of the beautiful Atlas mountain range that sat over Marrakech. It is one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen.

However, we had a problem. The pilot couldn’t land the plane because of a thick fog that covered the city. We circled in the air for about 45 minutes or more. I was going in and out of sleep, interrupted intermittently by the pilot’s announcements about why he couldn’t land. Finally, he said that we were going to land in a nearby city to solve the fog problem. Ok, apparently the word “nearby” was relative. We landed in Algadir, which is a city on the Atlantic coast and about 155 miles away! Plus, it was not even the closest airport. Sheesh. At first I thought it was hilarious. Probably because I was not expecting what would come next. They then made us get off the plane without any further instructions at all. Somehow I assumed we were going to stay at the airport until the fog cleared and would be subsequently put on another flight to Marrakech. Nothing of the sort. We waited for about 2 hours at the Algadir airport until they put us on a bus that would take us to Marrakech. At first they told us it would take 3 hours to get there, but it ended up taking us about 5. We were originally supposed to arrive in Marrakech at 7am; we didn’t get there until 5 or 6pm. We lost an entire day.

When we finally arrived the bus dropped us off at some random spot from which we took a taxi to the main square, Djamaa El Fna. Man, there were A LOT of people. I was a little overwhelmed. And I guess I didn’t know exactly what to expect so I experienced some serious culture shock. Plus, I think after the rough travels and sleep deprivation my emotions were off kilter. That night we got something to eat and found us a nice hostel. It was pretty nice and the guy at the front desk (Aziz - super nice) gave us a good deal. We stayed practically on the main square, right in the middle of all the action and across the street from a nice park. That night we walked around for a bit and went to get some ice cream. Even at night the plaza was full of life and excitement. Small groups were playing drums, there were kiosks with all kinds of fruits and spices, there were even snake charmers and people with trained monkeys. Before coming I was actually worried about how I should dress since Morocco is a Muslim country and I didn’t want to wear anything that would be offensive. Also, it was just us three females so that first night I was a little on edge. I was actually surprised to see the women dressed in all different ways. Some wore tradition dress, some were covered completely, while others wore regular clothes without any head covering. After noticing that, I felt more at ease.

The next day we decided to explore a little bit of the city. We decided to go to the Bahia Palace. To get there we walked through areas that were not as touristy. I enjoyed it because I got to see how locals really live. The palace was beautiful and very much like many of the alcazares (palaces) that I have already seen in Spain. After coming to Morocco, I could really see how strong the arab architectural influence was (and still is) in Spain.

That next day was our big shopping day. Souks – here I come! The Souks has got to be the greatest place to find good bargains. It's this laberint of local venders where you can buy everything from leather purses to silver jewelry. I collect vases from different countries so I bargained my way to a good price on a beautiful ceramic vase with a cool camel bone design. But if you ever go there, be careful not to get lost because it is seriously a maze. We decided to stay on a straight path and I must say we were quite successful in finding our way back out.

On our final day there we visited the Koutoubia gardens. The Koutoubia is the most important mosque in Marrakech. We had the entire day to chill, so we walked alongside the ancient city walls to the Majorelle Gardens. It was a long walk, but once we saw the gardens it was well worth it. It was breathtaking and a great way to end our trip.

We also spent that last night in the Marrakech airport, since we had an early flight. LOL. It was so cold we had to huddle together to stay warm. And to top it off, when we got back to Madrid, we missed our bus back to Málaga :(

Overall, we had a fun and fantastic trip. Next time I would love to go to the Sahara. Most of our frustration on this trip was associated with the traveling itself. And really, it brought Kelley, Lizette and I closer together. I don't rememeber ever laughing so much in my life. Everywhere we went something funny happened that we still laugh about even after having come back.

Can't wait to share my next adventure.

You can read about all of Teljer's adventures on her blog Teljer in Malaga, as she shares her study abroad experience from Malaga, Spain (and wherever else her travels take her).

I'm officially "Málagueña"

I have just embarked on a great journey that will change my life forever. I'M IN SPAIN. Ok, so we can call it - Spain parte dos (part two). I have returned to Spain. But this time by myself as an exchange student to the University of Málaga in Spain. I cannot begin to explain the mixed feelings I have on the inside. I am super excited on one end and on the other I am nervous as heck.

Thus far I have only been in Málaga for about two and a half weeks, but when I first arrived, I never thought the day would come, but after 3 1/2 months of planning and preparation, I finally made it to Málaga! I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to fit ALL my stuff I into my two bags. And I'm a girly girl, so I "need" all my stuff (including the 12 pairs of shoes I brought - a girl needs options). Well, after a 12hr journey, connecting through London, I landed in Málaga. When I got off the plane I felt good. Being surrounded by Spanish speakers was music to my ears. Funny thing is, Spanish peninsular accents had always been "different" for me. That is, Spaniards speak differently to people from Latin America, which is what most of us are used to in the United States. But now Spanish (i.e. from Spain) accents intrigue me. Michelle, one of the other students from GSU met me at the airport to help me with my luggage. She asked me to bring an extra bag for her, so it was quite comical watching us push a cart with some 170lbs of luggage out of the airport. I was doing some thinking during the taxi ride back to the residencia (Residence Hall). While looking out the window and taking in what I saw I realized that I felt very comfortable here. Sure, Málaga felt and looked different to the other Spanish cities that I had visited on my last trip to Spain in 2006, but not in a bad way. Actually, I felt right at home. It was then that I noticed that all my nervousness and anxiety about being here had dissipated. All I felt was peace. I am going love this place!

The residencia where I’m staying is huge! Some 200 students live there. The office was expecting me, so when I arrived, the lady at the front desk, Fernanda, came out to give me a kiss on both cheeks, which is the tradition here. I went up to my room and met my roommates, who are all from nearby cities. We chatted for a little while and they told me that they were all busy studying for finals, since their semester ends at the beginning of February, instead of in December as in the U.S. I actually LOVE my room -it's a good size. I have lots of closet space (whew!) and a huge desk for all the studying and reading I will be doing. My room is 1 of 5 in sort of a suite with 2 bathrooms. The great thing about this residence is that you get 3 meals a day and one snack. They also have someone come and clean your room AND your bathroom Mon-Fri...¡¡Mira que nice!! I only had one problem! Ok, that first day as I was standing in the hall of the suite, two of my roommates lit up a cigarette...right in the suite!! I was like, heck no. I honestly have nothing against people who smoke, but it does bother me when they smoke indoors...especially when it’s going to affect me. I decided to be diplomatic and just talk to Isabel (the residence director) about it the next day.

I must say that Isabel has got to be the coolest residence director ever! She brought me and the other new GSU students into her office to welcome us. I think she was just as excited for us to be here as we were. I mentioned the roommate/smoking issue to her and she was totally cool about the whole thing. Although it is against the rules to smoke in your room, we just decided it was better for me to change rooms. I had to decorate it immediately so as to make it really cute and comfortable. And really, 6 months is a long time, so I want to make sure I can unpack, unwind and make my room feel like home.

I am super exited to share snippets of my Spain experiences with the HerJourney readers. This blog will serve as an annotated version of my Spain blog. For full blog updates on progress, events, experiences, impressions, travels and studies, go to http://teljer-in-malaga.blogspot.com. Although I may be in Spain "by myself," I hope that this blog will enable each of you to be here with me in spirit.