Rivers & Roads

     Originally I had planned to stay in Barcelona the weekend of November 22, but when the opportunity of flying to Venice for the weekend presented itself, how could I say no? I have been to Italy with my family when I was 14, we explored Rome and parts of Tuscany, but going to Venice had always been a dream of mine. The idea of an island that has no cars, over 400 bridges, and endless canals seemed like only something you could see in your dreams. I landed at the Treviso airport which is about a 40 minute bus ride from Venice, but the drive is just one beautiful field after beautiful villa the whole way. Once I got into Venice I was a little bit nervous because I was supposed to meet my travel companion at the train station and I did not have a working phone or any way to contact him but luckily the train station was just over the closest bridge and there he was! We then wandered around to try and find our hostel which was luckily also very close to the train station. It was a pretty small hostel with only one other german couple staying there, but it was nice it almost felt like we had our own little venice apartment!

     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:

Today my friend Caroline and I took a little day trip to Figueres, which is about two hours away by train, to see the Salvador Dali museum! This museum one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. It was designed by Dali himself and holds work from 1904-1989, many of which were created just for this museum. It was a surrealist maze of never ending rooms, with so much of his art that I had never seen before. The sheer volume of work was outstanding, I do not understand how one person could complete so many pieces of art. The one down side to the museum was that is was insanely crowded so I felt a little rushed/claustrophobic at times, but it was still great. Here are some photos for you, because words cannot do this justice: