Rivers & Roads

     I have a lot of traveling planned for the next three weeks, starting with Morocco tomorrow! Technically we will not get to Morocco until Tuesday, but the journey starts tomorrow. There is a group of about 30 kids from my program going on this week long excursion, and most of us will be on the same flight to Sevilla tomorrow night. Once we get to Sevilla we will be wondering the streets (or sitting in a bar) until 4am when our program leaders will be picking us up. From there we take a bus to Algeciras where we get on a ferry to cross the Strait of Gibraltar and arrive at the port of Tanger Med where we get on another bus until we get to Fes where we are spending out first night. From there we will be checking out lots of local markets and exploring the city before we go into the desert to sleep for two nights and ride a few camels. On the fourth night we will be staying in the city of Meknes, and then on Sunday we start the long trek back to Sevilla where we stay one more night and arrive back in Barcelona on Monday morning.

This is going to be the craziest and intense trip I go on while I am here but I could not be more excited. I really have no idea what to expect from Morocco, I have my fairy tale images in my head of beautiful colors lining the streets with cheap markets of everything I could ever want everywhere I look, but I know the reality is going to be a lot different. I just can't wait to experience a culture so completely different from my own, and to finally make it to my third continent!

Packing is posing to be more of a struggle than I thought it would be. You are only allowed one small carryon bag on the plane, so I cannot bring very much but I always have to have room for the MANY souvenirs I plan on bringing back. I also have to pack clothes for the hot days that also cover my shoulders and knees for when we are in the cities, but warm clothes for the nights we are in the desert. It will be interesting what ends up in my bag.

The craziest part about this whole trip is that we arrive back in Barcelona on Monday, and on Wednesday me and two friends are going to Budapest for four days! But I will try to update this before I go to Budapest, and since I am gone for the next week here are a few photos from around Barcelona in the past few weeks:

     This past weekend (by weekend I mean Thursday-Tuesday) was another big holiday here in Barcelona called La Merce! It involves big parades every night followed by free concerts in all of the major plazas throughout the city, fire dances, human towers, fireworks and much more. Also Matt (Jb's bff) was traveling through Barcelona this weekend so he stayed at our apartment for a few days which was really fun! Having this festival going on made it a little harder to show him some of the big attractions of Barcelona because a lot of things were closed, but it was also a really fun weekend for him to be here. It also forced me to do some more touristy things that I had been putting off but were well worth it in the end. This is the first moment I have had to breath all week, so as much fun as the festival was I am looking forward to a much more relaxing weekend here in Barcelona. Here are a few photos from the weekend: