Weekend adventures

So unfortunately I don't have any pictures to post this time.
    However, I do have a few somewhat entertaining stories. This was my second weekend staying in Rabat, and my friends and I are [slowly] starting to gain a sense of direction and overall gist for Rabat. I spend the weekends here just a little bit differently than I do in New Orleans. On Friday night, I went with a few friends to Agdal. It's just across the river from Rabat, about a 5-10 minute tram ride. We walked around for a bit in desperate search of a place to eat, and ended up eating at this "pizzeria". By "pizzeria" I mean I ordered a margarita pizza and was served literally cheese on very thin bread. On the tram ride back, we passed...Pizza Hut.
   The next day, I went ocean kayaking. The hardest part wasn't the actual kayaking, but lugging the kayaks from the ocean to the kayak place. In the end, a local Moroccan saw us struggling and stopping literally every 5 yards for a break and ending up basically bringing all of our kayaks back for us. Then we went to Marjane, basically the Moroccan Walmart. My grand purchase was a fan. If you didn't already know, all of the Lyons are basically addicted to a fan during the nighttime. I'll just say that I honestly haven't slept better since Saturday. It also helps drown out the call of prayer a little bit and the Alzheimer's guy. But just a little bit.
    On Sunday I was just walking around the medina with a friend when some random Moroccan guy comes up to me. He first introduces himself, then asks if we can stay in contact. I told him I wasn't sure (classic, I need to just be more affirmative), and then he replied, "This is life. It's just starting now. It's how these things happen." Then I just told him I wasn't interested, sorry. Moroccans are pretty different than Americans...I think most of them meet their significant other randomly on the street or via Facebook. Either way, it's just taken a little bit to get used to their assertiveness. It's not a bad thing, it's just very, very different than how it [usually] is in America.
    But this weekend we are going to the Sahara desert! That includes a sunset camel ride and apparently nice hotels. I'm pretty excited and I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures.

Until then, I am very envious of y'all in America. At night I dream and dream of food...specifically fried chicken, mac & cheese, Chinese food, and McDonald's flurries. So healthy. As usual.

weekend beach trip & rabat

 The first camel that I've seen here! On Saturday I went to a beach town called Kenitra. Apparently the beach itself is called Mehdia. It was only a couple of cab rides and a train ride away from Rabat. A "friendly" local helped me and a friend find beach towels, and then stormed off when we didn't want to buy a "parasol", which ended up being an umbrella. I thought he was asking us if we wanted to go parasailing. Hahaha.

 A view of the beach from the restaurant we ate at. We had a delicious meal of shrimp & avocado salad, seafood pasta, paella, and wine (the drinking age is 18 here!), for only like $10 each. I love the dirham to dollar ratio.

 It might not be the cleanest beach, but it's a beach nonetheless.

 On Sunday my family asked me to join them out, and when I asked where we were going, my host mom hesitated for a second and said, "La foret!" I think we have a bit different perceptions on what a forest is. I would say it was more of a park. But for Moroccans, this is probably their idea of a forest.

 The forestry here is so different, but beautiful.

 Artwork outside of the La Bibliothèque nationale du Royaume du Maroc (essentially the National Library of Morocco).

 The entrance to the library. It's very spacious and state-of-the-art inside. It definitely gives Howie-T (Tulane's library) a run for its money.

 Gardens outside of the library.

 Still the library.

 An art exhibit outside of the library...I guess the library's kind of a big deal.

The road that my house is on. The yellow archway leads to a mosque.

So all in all, I am getting quite used to life in Rabat. It isn't so bad. I might gain thirty pounds after having cookie, cake, and khobz (bread) at daily afternoon tea [and a few cavities], but the food here is actually pretty good. For dinner we had fish...with all of the bones intact. My host family thinks it's weird that we eat our fish without the bones. I had to tell them finally that I just can't eat bananas right now for certain reasons...I think only my host mother understood that. Studying abroad really makes you learn a lot about your body. Anyway, that might be a bit too much.
I'll just end this with saying that I didn't really expect classes abroad to be quite so serious. But they sort of seem serious, which kind of sucks. But it's probably good for my brain. I guess you learns lots abroad!

The ocean.

So I guess the primary reason why I wanted to study abroad in Morocco was due to its exotic appeal. In my mind, I'd be right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. I definitely envisioned myself sipping on a tropical drink while "doing my homework" on the beach everyday. Needless to say, I had yet to see the beach until today, and while I had enjoyed Morocco, I'll admit I was a little disappointed because I love ocean/water scenery. I grew up in Michigan where Lake Michigan is a mere 45 minute drive and then went to school in New Orleans, right on the Mississippi River and a pretty quick cruise to Lake Pontchartrain.
Then today I finally stumbled upon the Atlantic Ocean. And finally everything came together and I remembered what first attracted me to Morocco.

There are so many wild cats here...

That guy was unreal.

It's hard to take a bad picture in Morocco.

Transitions

Yesterday we left Fes and arrived finally to Rabat, where we will be for the rest of the semester. It was surprisingly hard to say goodbye to our host family in Fes-I never realized just how close you can become with a family after staying with them for just a couple of weeks. Right now I'm still transitioning into this family. The first few days of a homestay I have found are always filled with awkwardness for everyone involved, but now I know that after a few days everything will start to become familiar and comfortable.
My new house in Rabat is incredible. It's 3 stories tall with an open roof-bigger than my house in the United States! The walls are decorated with intricately detailed tile mosaics, which I will post pictures of later on. We even have a maid/cook who seems really nice. My room is purple and pink and has Disney princesses all around the walls haha. They even have wifi, which is a rarity in Morocco.
We [finally] begin classes on Monday. I'll be taking classes in French, Arabic, and English. It's definitely going to be an adjustment, but after this semester I will be done with my French minor so I guess now is the time to fully immerse myself in foreign languages. It will be weird being done with French after taking it consecutively since 7th grade.
It's strange to watch the news here, especially when it concerns the United States. Earlier I was watching the news about everything going on in Libya...seeing such events from a different perspective is really mind bending.

 Cats really do slum it up in Morocco.

 An oud lesson! This was in my house in Fes. Jamaal, our host sister's brother, taught it.

 My host sister and Jamaal's daughter. So precious.

 Fes at night.

 I tried messing around with shutter speeds...I need a tripod.

15 second shutter speed.

Henna-while it was drying. My host sister did it my last night in Fes. I actually thought she was making the henna when she was instead making a cake...I was a little confused when she mixed eggs, sugar, and yogurt today. Hahaha. Classic mistake.

 And after!

 My host mother and me. Miss her already.



Me, my host sister and mother in Fes, and my roommate Kati. I even rep Tierra Helada in Morocco like a good sister would.

Some more pics!

 Rooftop view of Fes.

 No dryers in Morocco...clothes are a little bit stiffer. I now see why we use fabric softener in
America.

 Volubilis-a city of ancient Roman ruins. About 1 hour away from Fes.

 A mosaic in an ancient Roman house.

 Lots of columns.

 My roommate and I.

 This was the main city square. The temple I think?

 We climbed up a hill 20 minutes for this view!

 Absolutely beautiful.

 The only circular mosque...or something like that.

 A fountain in the burial spot of Idris Moulay.

 Inside.

 The burial spot for Idris Moulay.

 An ancient prison.

 The prisoners carved this into the wall...or tourists. Same thing.

 The top of the prison. The circular things let in sunlight into the prison.

An archway in Menkes.