ESPANA & MAROC

HOLA! I know, I know...It's been forever. I've been a busy bee though!

Around 12:30 AM on March 12, I headed to the bus station in Oxford with a full backpack and comfortable shoes. I was going to Madrid! Our plane landed around noon in Madrid, but we didn't get to our hostel until around 3. I was exhausted from not sleeping the night before, so Claire, Natalie, and I stayed in our hostel for the evening and wrote a rap. It may or may not go platinum one of these days...We'll see.

Anyway, the next morning, we slept in a bit but soon headed to Plaza del Sol to begin our exploration of the city. We rambled about for a while and eventually we bumped into another ACU group! They had gone on a bike tour that morning, so we decided that we should do that too. So off we went! After getting a bit turned around, we finally found the bike tour place. We took an hour long tour where we rode past the Prado, through a park and then up the Gran Via which is the main street in Madrid. After our tour, we headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner. We met the other group for dinner, but we couldn't decide on a place to go so we ended up eating at McDonald's. The good news is that in Spain, MickeyD's sells Toblerone McFlurries!!!!!!! I had two over the course of our time there. :) Anyway, after we ate, we went to a restaurant to watch traditional Flamenco dancers. It was absolutely great! They were very talented and incredibly fun to watch! After about two hours of watching the show, we headed back to our hostel where we slept like babies!

We woke the next day, again, after sleeping in. And we checked out of our hostel around noon. Then we lugged all of our bags into the city. We went to the Royal Palace which was quite impressive! Then we went to the Plaza de Toros. That's right! We went to a bull fight! I didn't realize that they killed the bulls until I'd already bought my ticket. And I definitely didn't realize that they tortured the poor bulls before they killed them. But that's exactly what happened. We watched 6 innocent bulls die slow and painful deaths. I made the unfortunate mistake of naming them all. Charlie, Jack, Gerald, Bubba, Earl, and Gully. All of them died. But Jack gave a good fight and actually trampled the Matador a bit. But he still died. It was terrible. BUT it was definitely a good cultural experience, so those bulls didn't die for nothing I suppose.

Following the bull fight, we went to McDonald's for dinner and just hung out there while we waited for time to pass. Our flight left at 6:30 the next morning so we were going to spend the night in the airport. Around midnight, we took the Metro to the airport where we slept on the freezing floor until it was time for our flight to leave.

Finally, we were off to warmer weather! We landed in Marrakech, Morocco and took a bus to Essaouira which is a smaller city on the coast. When we arrived, we had a bit of trouble finding our hotel and wandered around the city for about two hours. I was pretty grumpy, to say the least. But eventually we found our hotel, put our luggage away, then went to dinner. We found a nearby restaurant that looked pretty inexpensive. Little did we know, our entire lives were about to change...

The restaurant owner loved us for some reason. He only spoke French so communication was hard, but we managed. The first night, he gave us a plate of free french fries. We had such a good experience that we told him we'd bring our friends. Exhausted, I went to sleep around 9:30 that night--it was heavenly!

The next day, we woke up and headed to the beach were we sat and relaxed until about 5:00. I got very sunburned even though I was in jeans, a t-shirt, and a hat! After a day on the beach, we meandered into the Medina which is the Old City. There was a huge market there where we bartered for a few unique souvenirs. Then we brought our friends (the other ACU group staying in Morocco) to our restaurant. The owner was THRILLED! He gave us a free appetizer and four plates of fries! It was really fun! After dinner, we went to the other group's apartment to hang out for a little while before once again hitting the hay.

The next day was my and Natalie's last day on the trip. Natalie's mom and sister were coming to Oxford to visit, so we needed to leave a couple of days before the rest of the group. As soon as we got to the beach we bartered for a camel ride. It was really fun!!! We rode our camel for an hour along the beach. It was incredible. Then we just spent the rest of the day on the beach and in the market. By the end of the trip, I was miserably sunburned!

Natalie and I had to wake up at 3:30 in order to take a taxi from Essaouira to Marrakech. It was a long ride, but we arrived at the airport early and safe, so we were very happy. Before we knew it we were on a plane flying back to London exhausted, sunburned, and full of memories. It really was a great trip!