mars 07, 2005
11 Février :: London - Chefchaouen, Morocco
We arrived in the Stansted Airport at 12 am Friday morning, grabbed our bags, and found a place to camp out for 7 hours.
This definately is on my list of top 10 things I never want to do every again. In attempts to fall asleep I woke up numerous times because the people behind me were making out.
Bill Bryson was my savor. He's a witty one I tell you.. this book kept me somewhat sane until everyone became restless...
Katherine started flipping out cause she thought Amanda was shaking the bench she was sleeping on..
Amanda started going crazy after Karin reminded her of all the traveling we had to do just to get to Morocco (you will soon learn)
And Karin got the hiccups.
At least we had Mr. UPS and his whipped cream bowl haircut to keep us entertained.
So this is where things get interesting. Meet Dave. Dave decided last minute to go to Morocco with us but decided that the ticket for our plane ride was too expensive so he would take another plane and meet up with us in Chefchaouen. We didn't have reservations at any hotels in Chefchaouen so we gave Dave the name of three hotels he could find us at, wished him luck, and we boarded our plane to Jerez, Spain.
I just want to take a minute to thank London for thier fabulous weather...
I wouldn't agree with Heather when she decided to put her contacts in at the Jerez airport, Spain being one of the dirtiest countries that I know.
Now here are six students in an airport in southern Spain, that, together, can speak (I think we totaled) 5 different languages, but not one word of Spanish. Telling the cab driver that we needed to get to the bus station was to difficult, so we resorted to moving our arms in the motion of turning a large steering wheel. They finally figured it out.
And I wouldn't say our taxi driver was relgiously at all.
The bus station in Jerez wasn't all that exciting....
So we do what any normal 20 year old girls would do.. make PB&J's while we waited..
So now, fast forward a bit through the two hour bus ride to Algericas.. we get off the bus at the ferry station and go in to buy our tickets only to realize that the ferry leaves in 15 minutes. The 6 of us are hauling ass through the ferry station (with 65 kg of crap on our backs) to get to this boat. Karin and I (because it's necessary) take a second to blog this chaos.
We make it on the ferry just in time.. and what do we do? Sit and wait...
...Take pictures.. and wait..
.. Eat some Crousty Choco, and wait...
.. And finally, after 1 hour 30 minutes of waiting, we leave..
(Katie, Karin, and Heather)
Strait of Gibraltar
And after hours of waiting, we land in Morocco, but before we can get off, we have to wait another hour so that customs can stamp our passports. I mean, come on people, this is getting a bit out of control. In the mean time, Karin used her oversized bag to block the doorway of the bathroom so Amanda could pee.
Finally, our first step onto Moroccan land, the city of Tangier.
Only to find the six of us piling into the back of the "grand taxi" which is really a shit box mercedes that has a stick shift, so even in your are one out of two passangers in the front, you are either smushed against the door or have the stick shift up your ass - I guess you can't win.
We left Tangier as soon as we could, seeing that it isn't that safe, and headed straight to Chefchaouen.
Posted by katie at 06:29 PM | Comments (2)
10 Février :: And the Trip Begins....
7 pm Thursday night a bunch of students from Syracuse met at the bus stop in Place Australitz to grab the Ryan Air shuttle to the Baden Airport and begin our spring break adventures...
Surprisingly enough, we would have all fit into this bus but Chaffey decided to call for another bus, which was a huge coach bus and completely unnecessary, oh well.
During the 45 minute ride to Baden, Karin was already getting annoyed with Dave's comments, mostly because they were about Nazi's and our shuttle driver was german. Interesting.
We arrived at the Baden Airport with 2 hours to spare. Good thing, seeing that Andrea and Katie decided to pack swiss army knives in thier bags. Yeah, something tells me they're going to search you after they find those in the x-ray machine.
Not everyone here was going to Morocco but we were all flying to the Stansted Airport in London because from there you can go anywhere, and it only costs you 12 euro.
Our wait in Baden gave all of us adequate time to eat most of the food that we packed for the trip. Here's Heather snacking on some cheese her "mom" packed for her.
I discovered Winegums in the small convience store but after eating 1/2 a bag and wanting to throw up, Amanda happily took the bag off my hands.
Finally, we were able to get on the plane and enjoy our 1 hour flight to London, one step closer to Morocco.
Posted by katie at 05:44 PM | Comments (1)
9 Février :: Bit o' Strassy Shopping
An AM market rendez-vous with the french class.
Who wears these ridiculous pants?
A little shoe action (don't worry, I returned the stoopid pink striped jazz shoes).
And, of course, the McFlurry.. my first McDo (pronounced Mac-Dough) experience.
Posted by katie at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)
8 Février :: Lunch with Ted
Posted by katie at 05:01 PM | Comments (0)
7 Février :: Last Minute Flight Booking
Realizing that we didn't have any way of coming back from Morocco and that we were leaving in 3 days, Karin and I spent a good 3 hours trying to figure out how to get home.
At the last minute, we convinced Louie and Paul to come to Morocco with us. Here's Karin and Louie in the first of thier 5,000 fights regarding Morocco.
After three hours of trying to find the cheapest and easiest way to get home, I was the first of 7 to book the flight back to Germany, where we could catch a train home. 3 minutes later when we went to book Karin's flight and it didn't show up..
... and this was her response. Funny enough, Karin misread the website and the flight just wasn't bolded... good joke, eh? Stoooopid Air Berlin
And just to make sure that everyone was on the same page, we created reminders for all of those who were traveling to Morocco and posted 20 copies around chez Syracuse.
Morocco in 3 days!
Posted by katie at 04:49 PM | Comments (0)
7 Février :: E-mail from Mom
After spending 10 days traveling through Europe, learning about the EU, and complaining to Mom & Dad about the 7 page paper I have to write comparing the EU proposed constitution and the American Constitution, this is the e-mail I recieve from Mom.. why am I surprised?
Posted by katie at 04:39 PM | Comments (0)
7 Février :: Superbowl Monday
The Superbowl didn't start until 12 am on Monday for the kids in France but a good number of us still made the long trek to watch the Patriots defeat the Eagles.
The crowd wasn't too bad.. but a lot of americans
So it was necessary to drink 5,000 beers.. 5 of us went through at least 8 pitchers,
served up by this fine young pro-american french man,
and which landed on my jacket a few too many times.
Mark was oh so proud of his Delirium suspenders that he got in Brussels that day (I don't really understand)..
.. Sherridan, proud of her ability to look like a tourist...
.. and Mr. Sigma Chi, proud of his ability to double fist (this one's for you jonny cat).
We watched the game from a big screen tv in the bar. It could have been a really good bar to watch the game from, except for the fact that I couldn't understand a word because all the commentating was in french.
Nothing that we could understand was all that exciting, so we played, "pretend like you just saw Jesus" instead.
At 2.30 am I was nominated to find some good bar food (ie: donner). After 15 minutes everyone thought I was a goner, but I miraculously reappreared with a pizza. We ate it too quickly to get a picture, so here lie the remains.
And the best part.. at about 3 am, the bar dished out some pretzels and nuts for the remaining americans...
After the 4 hour game, Mark and I walked home and stumbled upon a poster of Africa with "HIV" written across it. Good thing I am going to Morroco in 4 days.
Posted by katie at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)
5 Février :: Daytrip with Monique
On our way to the hot spring in Germany, Monique brought me on a hike around this random castle...
Posted by katie at 03:50 PM | Comments (0)
4 Février :: All you can eat muscles
Muscles & Fries = 11 euro
Posted by katie at 03:49 PM | Comments (0)
2 Février :: Computer Cluster
@ chez Syracuse
Posted by katie at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)
1 Février :: St. Paul's Church
Posted by katie at 03:39 PM | Comments (0)
31 Janvier :: Random Pictures
Alley on the way to school.
Mark, Amanda and Jonny reading trashy romance novels at chez Syracuse.
Anna chatting in a phone booth.
A street in Strasbourg.
Posted by katie at 03:22 PM | Comments (0)
30 Janvier :: Sunday Dinner
I started to get scared when I remembered that I don't get dinner on Sunday night so I hurried out to find one little greek restaurant open, which served me well.. crazy chicken in a pita, I won't say no.
Posted by katie at 03:20 PM | Comments (0)
29 Janvier :: Dinner at Jenia and Crystal's
It's Saturday night, Jenia and Crystal's parents aren't home and we don't get dinner from our host families so the girls got together and we created the feast of all feast's..
I was put on potato duty after I finished making the salad. I thought I was a genius when I decided to use a spatula to smash the potatos... later we realized that a fork probably would have been that much easier..
See that apple and beat dish, that was mine.. and the entire thing was eaten! How's that, mom?
Jenia was having a hard time with her food..
I personally have no idea what she was doing.
A little left over potato action served up by Crystal..
(sloppy joes, slop, sloppy joes..)
After dinner Jenia and Crystal walked Anna, Vanessa and me downstairs to the door, but left out the little detail that the gate was locked. Anna scaled that thing like she was a crazy monkey.
Posted by katie at 02:53 PM | Comments (0)
28 Janvier :: Night at Jenia & Crystal's
Jenia and Crystal's parents went away for the weekend and left the two of them in one of the nicest apt. buildings in all of Strasbourg.. so advantage was taken and we stayed the night...
I mean this place was crazy.. all sassed up with louie XIV paintings and all.
The living room opened onto a balcony...
that overlooked Galia, one of the big tram stops in Strassy.
Another view from the balcony.
I mean, I don't think this place could get any more crazy. This hallway leads to Jenia's bedroom..
.. which overlooks a courtyard..
... and is equipped with it's own bathroom (including a stand up shower - how jealous am I?)
Anyway, we headed to Le Trou thinking we'd grab a couple of beers, but instead we ordered "The Giraffe." What's that, you ask?
A large order for 4 little girls.
As Jenia admires in awe...
.. I dive right in, my dad would be so proud of his daughter (if I didn't spill more than I actually drank).
All that beer really stirred up an appetite so we headed home for a true french meal, bread with jam and butter. Mmm, mmm, good.
The next morning I snagged some pictures on the walk home..
Posted by katie at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)
28 January :: Best lunch find ever...
Screw going to Patrick's every day to grab a sandwich for 4 euro, right next door to my home is the best lunch special ever... 1 sandwich, 1 eclaire or tarte fromage (french cheesecake - not so good), and a drink of choice, all for an amazing price of 4 euro!
Posted by katie at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)