Finally, I have brought myself to sit for a while and write on my blog! I really have no excuse for not writing but laziness. Like I said last time, it take a while to write. I mean there are also the factors that one, I have been on vacation and that two I no longer have internet at home (I think my program director did not pay the bill and is now neglecting any contact.and Starbucks usually cuts me off after an hour) The problem with not updating often is that I have a lot to write about. Well I shall commence, while I sit here at the park freeloading off of the internet and enjoying a nice self rolled American Spirt and listening to the little kids and 20 something year olds runs around.
Let me cover the important things: TRAVELS!
Before I begin, I need to explain one thing, couchsurffing. I'm sure some have heard of this website, its awesome. Basically you contact people through the website and look at references pictures and a profile. The point of this is to find a place to stay where you are traveling and its all free. A lot of times the hosts are people that have themselves traveled extensively and want to share their knowledge of the world and their extra bed. Everything is super safe (I now know that) and you get to meet some great people. My roommates and I heard about this and we decided that well, since we were going all over the place, it would be nice to save a couple of bucks on logging. However, we were not too sure how everything would work out, none of us had ever used such site. What if our host was an ax murderer and we did not know before hand! I mean its not like they were going to put on their profile, "hey I welcome you to my home, I'm sure you will have a great time, and by the time you have to leave, well, you may not quiet make it back home, I have a passion for killing individuals." But hey we took the risk. I'll just say now, everyone made it back safe and with some great stories to tell.
I had two weeks of spring break and I took advantage (to the max) that well I was in Europe. Lets see, I went to 5 countries in 2 weeks. My stops were Morocco, Holland, United Kingdom, Germany, and Czech Republic.
Morocco:
Two of my friends and I went to Tangier and Fez. Tangier is the northern most part of Morocco, right off the ocean (you can see Spain.) Tangier was our first stop and let me tell you, we were beyond shocked! We flew arrived at the airport exchanged money and got into a taxi. On the way "downtown" I was already shocked, all 3 of us were, we didn't talk much in the cab, we were observing. The day was a bit cloudy there were women standing in back of pick up trucks all covered up, kids running around, and half built buildings. We went to the RIF Cinema where we would later meet our couchsurfing host. We would be about 5ish hours early so we decided to explore Tangier and get to know the city we were planned to stay for four days. We walked into the crowed medina hearing nothing but requests for Moroccan husbands and getting many stink eyes and nothing but obvious stares. At this point, we were already intimidated. So we wanted to seek refuge. We sat at a little restaurant had couscous and the first of what would become our obsseion fresh mint tea. We sat there watching the Tangiers pass by and the sunset. After we walked around a little more, but this time there was less sunlight and less women in the streets, we were even more scared. I know it sounds bad but really, we were in a completly different country and we are not used to the custms and we totally stood out as tourists, targets for selling goods. We escaped what we believed to be dangerous street and hid out in the RIF theater expecting to catch a movie. It turns out that out of pure luck it was the 5th university of the only independent movie theater in Northern Africa. In honer of the date, there was a trivia session and free drinks and snacks, perfection. We enjoyed a few Moroccan pasties and mocktails that were delicious and at the trivia, we could not answer a single question. We were not discouraged and we continued to hideout until our host would arrive. Ok, so a little embarrassing, we did not end up couchsurfing. We got a little freaked out by the unknown Moroccan men that wanted to go party and we ended up getting a 3 person room for the night, only 15euros. The next day we went to an internet cafe and book a hotel to stay in Fez. That day we explored some more and drank our weight in tea. We were hassled by vendors a few times, got lost in the median, fell in love with our "mama" at the hotel, found the (beautiful) beach touristy side of Tangier, took a camel ride, visited the Hercules cave, finally and felt way safer in the city. Fez was great! we took a 5 hour, first class train ride and had the hole day to see what Fez had to offer. Fez ended up being shopping, couscous eating, tea drinking, getting henna, finiding an awesome "hipster" cafe, oh and staying at a nice hotel. I really enjoyed Fez, there were more tourists and we did not get as weird looks. However, we did hear "hey spice girls" twice.
Holand:
This one will be short I promise, I did not do much in Amsterdam. After meeting up Natalie and getting lunch we headed to a coffee shop. We had a muffin and then decided to go shopping. Shopping was awesome...ish. Got some cool clothes, but eventually I began to think I was being chased by the security guard and kind freaked out. Once done with shopping, we payed a visit to the Mecca of stores, an American food store. I think I was in there for about an hour and bought craisins and candy that I used to eat when I was little. After we payed a visit to a fry shop, Amsterdam is known for their fries? After inhaling every last fry we walked, and walked, and walked. We took another break and stopped for an ice cream. I helped myself to a popsicle and a dr pepper. We walked around some more, saw a few of the same things we had seen earlier and well, I think it was because we were really struggling to figure out the map. Once again, we stopped for a snack, a Dutch pancake. Yum! I do not totally remember what kind it was but I think it was super good, as I did not even say a word to Natalie. After we wanted to find the red light district but we failed, once again, the map was too hard to figure out. After about 5 hours of walking around (I am not even exaggerating) we realized we were tired and that Amsterdam is a complete mystery, so we headed home. However, the bus system turned out to be just as confusing and we got on a bus that headed the opposite way (I think) we asked the driver and he said just to sit and he would tell us when we arrived at our stop. After the long day we crashed and got up early in the AM to catch our plane to London.
Ok. That's cool for now I will update on London, Germany and Prague soon!! :D
Let me cover the important things: TRAVELS!
Before I begin, I need to explain one thing, couchsurffing. I'm sure some have heard of this website, its awesome. Basically you contact people through the website and look at references pictures and a profile. The point of this is to find a place to stay where you are traveling and its all free. A lot of times the hosts are people that have themselves traveled extensively and want to share their knowledge of the world and their extra bed. Everything is super safe (I now know that) and you get to meet some great people. My roommates and I heard about this and we decided that well, since we were going all over the place, it would be nice to save a couple of bucks on logging. However, we were not too sure how everything would work out, none of us had ever used such site. What if our host was an ax murderer and we did not know before hand! I mean its not like they were going to put on their profile, "hey I welcome you to my home, I'm sure you will have a great time, and by the time you have to leave, well, you may not quiet make it back home, I have a passion for killing individuals." But hey we took the risk. I'll just say now, everyone made it back safe and with some great stories to tell.
I had two weeks of spring break and I took advantage (to the max) that well I was in Europe. Lets see, I went to 5 countries in 2 weeks. My stops were Morocco, Holland, United Kingdom, Germany, and Czech Republic.
Morocco:
Two of my friends and I went to Tangier and Fez. Tangier is the northern most part of Morocco, right off the ocean (you can see Spain.) Tangier was our first stop and let me tell you, we were beyond shocked! We flew arrived at the airport exchanged money and got into a taxi. On the way "downtown" I was already shocked, all 3 of us were, we didn't talk much in the cab, we were observing. The day was a bit cloudy there were women standing in back of pick up trucks all covered up, kids running around, and half built buildings. We went to the RIF Cinema where we would later meet our couchsurfing host. We would be about 5ish hours early so we decided to explore Tangier and get to know the city we were planned to stay for four days. We walked into the crowed medina hearing nothing but requests for Moroccan husbands and getting many stink eyes and nothing but obvious stares. At this point, we were already intimidated. So we wanted to seek refuge. We sat at a little restaurant had couscous and the first of what would become our obsseion fresh mint tea. We sat there watching the Tangiers pass by and the sunset. After we walked around a little more, but this time there was less sunlight and less women in the streets, we were even more scared. I know it sounds bad but really, we were in a completly different country and we are not used to the custms and we totally stood out as tourists, targets for selling goods. We escaped what we believed to be dangerous street and hid out in the RIF theater expecting to catch a movie. It turns out that out of pure luck it was the 5th university of the only independent movie theater in Northern Africa. In honer of the date, there was a trivia session and free drinks and snacks, perfection. We enjoyed a few Moroccan pasties and mocktails that were delicious and at the trivia, we could not answer a single question. We were not discouraged and we continued to hideout until our host would arrive. Ok, so a little embarrassing, we did not end up couchsurfing. We got a little freaked out by the unknown Moroccan men that wanted to go party and we ended up getting a 3 person room for the night, only 15euros. The next day we went to an internet cafe and book a hotel to stay in Fez. That day we explored some more and drank our weight in tea. We were hassled by vendors a few times, got lost in the median, fell in love with our "mama" at the hotel, found the (beautiful) beach touristy side of Tangier, took a camel ride, visited the Hercules cave, finally and felt way safer in the city. Fez was great! we took a 5 hour, first class train ride and had the hole day to see what Fez had to offer. Fez ended up being shopping, couscous eating, tea drinking, getting henna, finiding an awesome "hipster" cafe, oh and staying at a nice hotel. I really enjoyed Fez, there were more tourists and we did not get as weird looks. However, we did hear "hey spice girls" twice.
Holand:
This one will be short I promise, I did not do much in Amsterdam. After meeting up Natalie and getting lunch we headed to a coffee shop. We had a muffin and then decided to go shopping. Shopping was awesome...ish. Got some cool clothes, but eventually I began to think I was being chased by the security guard and kind freaked out. Once done with shopping, we payed a visit to the Mecca of stores, an American food store. I think I was in there for about an hour and bought craisins and candy that I used to eat when I was little. After we payed a visit to a fry shop, Amsterdam is known for their fries? After inhaling every last fry we walked, and walked, and walked. We took another break and stopped for an ice cream. I helped myself to a popsicle and a dr pepper. We walked around some more, saw a few of the same things we had seen earlier and well, I think it was because we were really struggling to figure out the map. Once again, we stopped for a snack, a Dutch pancake. Yum! I do not totally remember what kind it was but I think it was super good, as I did not even say a word to Natalie. After we wanted to find the red light district but we failed, once again, the map was too hard to figure out. After about 5 hours of walking around (I am not even exaggerating) we realized we were tired and that Amsterdam is a complete mystery, so we headed home. However, the bus system turned out to be just as confusing and we got on a bus that headed the opposite way (I think) we asked the driver and he said just to sit and he would tell us when we arrived at our stop. After the long day we crashed and got up early in the AM to catch our plane to London.
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