New Classes, New Countries

Starting October 3, we had all new classes. For the next 3 months, we would be in regular classes, not just the intensive course. I have four classes now: Oral and Written Spanish, Grammar, History of Spain, and History of Flamenco and Traditional Spanish Dance. The good thing is that we don’t have classes most Fridays, only occasionally for make-up days when there is a holiday. Monday through Thursday I have class at 8:30 in the morning. Mondays and Wednesdays, I have class until 2:30, and Tuesdays and Thursdays class ends at 10:30 but I have my internship from 11:30-2:30.

October 7 to the 9 my program went to Morocco. We took ferry from Tarifa to Tangier. Once in Tangier we ate couscous and drank mint tea at the Darna Association of Women. There they provide classes to women, teaching them to read and write, and teaching them skills such as sewing or weaving. They sell beautiful handmade items there like tapestries, stuffed animals, and blankets, and the profits go to helping women. After we ate and toured the building, we walked around Tangier and saw the city. After we left Tangier, we took a bus somewhere near the Atlantic Ocean and rode camels! After the camel ride, we went to the Cave of Hercules. It was so beautiful. There was the cave, and the cliff that looked over the Atlantic. That night we rode to the hotel and ate an amazing Moroccan dinner.

Saturday, we ate an amazing breakfast buffet then headed out to tour Tetouan. We saw the Medina, the Mosque, the street markets, the city baths, and the tannery. The tannery was my least favorite part of the whole trip. It is where they make leather. It smelled like death.

After Tetouan, we hopped on the bus for a 2.5-hour ride to Chefchaouen. The roads in Morocco are very mountainous. Nothing in scarier than riding on the side of a mountain in a bus that has to turn off the air-conditioning when going uphill because it isn’t strong enough, is easily 30 years old and a stick shift. When we got there, we were dropped off at the highest point in the city, and made our way to the bottom. In Chefchaouen, every house is painted a shade of blue. In the past, blue houses were used to identify the Jewish residents, but it became a popular attraction, so now the city has days every year where all the residents paint their houses blue. Our tour guide took us to see the amazing sights of the city and experience the culture. After we had the tour, we were split up among three local families for lunch and free time. I was with a girl named Yousra; she is 17 and in high school. Her mom made us the best couscous I have ever had in my life. After lunch, our group went to the city center and walked around the shops. I got henna on my hand, and it only cost 20 dirhams, which is 2 euros. I also bought a purse, some hair oil and a necklace. Chefchaouen was so hot, I went through 4-1.5 liter bottles of water. After I got the henna, Yousra took me to this beautiful lookout at the top of a restaurant. We could see the whole city; it was so beautiful. That night, we had a private Andalusi concert at our hotel. It was so much fun. Everyone danced and sang. Then we had some very good dinner and slept like rocks because we were so exhausted from the day. Then on Sunday morning, we ate breakfast early and left for Tangier. We had to catch the ferry back to Spain. Once we got back on the bus, everyone was passed out.

          Morocco was very interesting because we saw how the people lived so differently compared to what we are used to. Even though Morocco and Europe are separated by only 50 miles, so much is different.

           

          October 14, I went to Lagos, Portugal with this program called discover excursions, a bunch of people from my program went too. We had to meet at 6 am and didn’t get to Portugal until 2 or 3 pm. There were about 40 of us on the trip. When we got to our hotel, I was in the bathroom getting ready to go to the beach when my phone fell off the counter and broke. The screen was unusable, so for the rest of the weekend, I did not have a phone. I kind of enjoyed it because it made me focus more on what was going on, although I do wish I could have gotten some pictures. We met at the beach after we checked in, and there everyone met each other and we played games of American football and Frisbee.

The next day we went on a boat for a “Sangria Cruise.” From the boat, we all got onto a tinier boat and toured the caves which were beautiful. This weekend was my first time jumping from a boat into the ocean. The water was freezing, but the weather was hot, so most people went in the water. From the main boat, they had a tiny boat take groups of 10 people touring through the caves. After the cruise, we went to the beach and hung out there until 4 or 5. Then, we went back to the hotel, showered, ate and went out again.

          On Sunday, I signed up to go kayaking in the ocean. It was so difficult but beautiful. It was my first-time kayaking, so I didn’t know what to expect, but I was surprisingly not terrible. We kayaked through the caves and up to a beach. On the way back, the tour guide tied us all together and hooked us up to a boat and they pulled us the rest of the way back to the dock. After that, we headed back to the hotel to shower, grab a late lunch and leave. The bus ride back to Granada was not fun because I couldn’t use my phone to listen to music. We arrived home after 1am but it was worth it.

          So far October has been an interesting month, meeting new people from all over the world, and taking new classes and a foreign language, but it is so fun.