Where to start...

Well folks.  It's blog time again.  Sorry I haven't written in nearly a month or whatever it's been.  The daunting task of coming up with something entertaining enough to write about is as appealing as homework somedays.  Which I have not finished for tomorrow.  Adding that to the to-do list for tonight.

There have been many things that have happened since my last post.  I will fill them in as best as possible, and in the coming weeks, and maybe months, I will fill them in even more.  :)  So buckle up, there's a lot of text ahead.

1) We took a weekend trip to Nerja and stayed in a small little hotel where there was a fluffy dog running around, and the manager gave us cheesecake.  We somehow managed to cook our own food too, so that saved some money.  The trip to the grocery store was pretty fun.  I think all the locals thought we were crazy for leaving with three bags of pasta, 2 things of sauce, 2 bottles of wine, a bottle of lemon fanta, and some garlic bread.  Feeding 5 people (and over-estimating on the pasta front) came out to about 18 euros, which in American is about 22 dollars, maybe a tad under.  We ended up with more food than anyone could possibly eat, but we tried our best, and it made for decent leftovers.  It's amazing what you can find at a small supermarket.  Like gigantic fish, mussels, and even sometimes an entire octopus.  And the pig legs.  That is just odd to me, even though I have been here for awhile now, the whole smoked leg thing just sitting/hanging around (literally) still creeps me out.

Making dinner, and eyeing the dessert

 The beach in Nerja was absolutely amazing.  Us girls had a great time just hanging out on the beach and wandering around the town.  We did a little shopping, but not much.  The majority of our shopping was of cute Italian boys at the pizza place we ate at for lunch.  Boyfriends, we were merely window shopping, as we are all happily in relationships and wouldn't have it any other way.

Peter also made sure to get some beer at the store.  

  Nerja is famous for its stray cat population.  Some people had built them little kitty condos on the beach so they would have shelter, and it appeared that they get fed on a regular basis.  Some had notched ears, so I would assume it works like it does here and they catch them, spay/neuter them, and let them go again.

This beach was a very welcome sight.

Let's see...
2) We all (I think) passed our March exams and are now learning newer, harder things everyday.  I personally am on the subjunctive tense, which is not just a tense, it's a mode.  For those of you who study languages, yes it's that much of a pain.  For those of you who don't, let me explain in the best way I can what that means.
We all have been studying the INDICATIVE mode.  Which has present, 4 past tenses, and 4 future tenses.  Then there is subjunctive, in which so far I have only worked on the present tense and it is used for when you wish something upon someone else, like 'sweet dreams' 'safe travels' etc.  Very confusing in the usage, not too hard to form the verbs.

3)  I went to Morroco a weekend or two ago. (April 14-17 to be exact) Best way to explain the trip (in part) is to tell you what NOT to do that we did, or stuff you should do that we didn't.

Tip #1: Learn some words in French or Arabic before going to Morocco.  If you're really lucky you can find someone who speaks Spanish, if you are REALLY REALLY lucky MAYBE they know SOME English.
Tip #2: Don't cross the border at night.  Just don't.  It makes it 10x harder to know what's going on.
Tip #3: Find a licensed tourguide.  Not a random guy.  He was cool, but it would have been easier to have an official one.  The police don't like these guys and are really strict with people to not hassle tourists.  Which helped the nerves a bit overall I think.
Tip #4: Learn to haggle.  It's hard, but do it.  If you don't haggle you'll get ripped off.  You probably will anyway.  Especially with cabs.  Make them shake hands on a price BEFORE you set out.
Tip #5:  Take as little as possible (stuff wise) with you during the day as possible.  All your valuables go with you, but avoid backpacks.  Not only are they heavy, they are just more to be paranoid about.

Our first stop was Chefchaouen.  The whole city is painted blue.  They say it's to keep mosquitos out, but I think it's just because it looks cool.  Some places made me think of a Dr. Seuss book.  The town was really lovely and has a lot of stairs.  It's a very hilly area and you feel it.  We stayed at the Hotel Andaluz, and it was a nice small hostel that was well priced for what we needed, which was somewhere to sleep.  (Of course Brenton hadn't made reservations, we just found our way at 1 am to this little tiny hostel and hoped they had rooms open)
Our guide was nice, and took us to some really cool places.  The boys liked him, and I trusted their judgment, and in the end it worked out perfectly well.  There was one moment where the boys went to go look at something and the guide didn't know it and he got all worried and that made me feel better because at least he cared.
My first cup of real Moroccan mint tea happened at a small cafe where a tiny puppy was toddling around.  It was a great breakfast spot and the food was really good too.  The bees were annoying, but they just wanted the tea.  We set a little saucer aside with a bit of tea on it and they were satisfied.

Blue walls of Chefchaouen.

Mint tea with bee barrier lid.

 Our next stop (after a grueling 6 hour bus ride) was Fez.  We met some Germans on the bus, and they ended up going to the same hostel we were heading for (Hotel Cascade), so we split two cabs since we couldn't fit in one anyway.  They were really nice guys and we spent some time talking to them later on the patio at the hostel.  Of course Brenton hadn't made reservations (AGAIN), so we walked up to this place to find out that the two person rooms would run like 20 euro per person for a two-bed, or we could sleep on the roof for 8 euro/person.  They must get a lot of international travelers through here since they accepted multiple kinds of cash.  We of course elcted the roof.  I mean c'mon, who wouldn't?  They had blankets and sleeping mats for us.

Packing up the sleeping stuff

 We all woke up at exactly 5 am.  Why?  Morocco is an Arabic country, and therefore they are Muslim, therefore there is prayer call from lots of mosques, two of which flanked our hostel, all happening at 5 am and lasting an hour and 17 minutes.  Some of us tuned it out eventually and went back to sleep, and some, like Brenton, were up the whole time and timed it on his watch.  But getting to watch the sun rise over the rooftops, and the sparrows swooping around in the sky, and seeing people getting out and about, all while sitting huddled in a camel wool blanket on a rooftop while still in bed is the most amazing, soul-touching experience in the world.  I don't think I have ever been more at peace than watching that sunrise and taking that in.

Best. Sunrise. Ever.

Overall, I really liked Morocco.  I kinda wish we had had real hotel reservations, but sleeping on the roof in Fez was really the coolest thing I've ever done.  We met a lot of Americans and other nationalities of about our same age group, and we had a blast just hanging around the hotel people watching.  Also, the street food is really cheap and good.  Don't be scared to try new things, especially in Morocco.  And don't be afraid to meet new people.  You can talk to strangers, and you should once you're grown up.  Be cautious, but you can learn some things that way.  Keep your mind open, and don't ever be quick to judge.  Learn about someone first and then judge.
Oh, and wash your fruit in bottled water in Morocco.  Trust me on this.

The culture was cool, the food was good, and the people were generally friendly and really excited when we answered "America" to their questions of where we were from.  A lot of them have American friends and were really nice to us.  They consider every human being part of their family since we all come from the same parents, and were very friendly.

4)  I am currently in Rome while I type this.  We have been here since the 19th, and have learned how to use public transportation without looking like outsiders.  For the most part.
The sights have been awesome.  We have seen the Trevi Fountain, the Colloseum, the Pantheon, and the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.  Unfortunately we will not be seeing the Vatican.  We didn't have time before today, and since Easter was yesterday, it's closed today.  Also we found out we basically need a reservation to see it.  Which we tried to do, but the plane ticket can't be changed in our favor so we have to miss out.  Oh well.

The food has been both really good and really bad.  We were dissappointed the first few days since we kept trying to go to the little out of the way places, and some of them were just not good.  But our luck turned around in the last few days and we have been finding some really good pasta and pizza.
We stayed at a monastery the first 3 nights here, which was interesting.  We were asked to eat breakfast away from the priests that were there.  Understandable, but still.  I was slightly offended.  I understand it's a religious thing, but it still ticked me off.  They had basically been glaring at us the whole time we were there whenever we would pass one in the hall.

The last 3 nights we stayed at the B&B Happy Goose, which turned out to be someone's apartment and she rents out the 2 extra bedrooms.  Ilaria is really nice. And she has 2 cats and a dog.  They have been a nice vacation too.  We are a lot farther out of town, but that just means longer bus rides, and sometimes it gets confusing, but it's not awful.  She made us Easter dinner last night which was really good pasta and then she had chocolate for dessert.  Some of her friends came over for dinner too, and they made sure to translate what they were saying for us.  They all spoke really good English.  Not perfect, but really good.  And it was nice of them to translate for us, even though the conversations were sometimes inside jokes and stuff.

I really like Rome, but I am kind of glad to be heading back to Ronda in a few hours.  This whole Italian thing is wearing on me.  No one speaks Spanish, and only a few speak any English.  So it'll be nice to get back to a familiar language, even if it's not my native one.

Well, I apologize for not posting in awhile.  But here ya go.  :)  I tried to get an overview of everything I've been up to since I last posted.  I hope it wasn't too boring.

Love and Miss you all,
Erin