Lentils and Rice and Everything Nice Part 1

Here starts my blogging on my trip to Morocco. The first question most people ask themselves is, "Mica, why the hell would you go to Morocco and camp in the desert, you hate this stuff?" This was a question I also asked myself during the trip, and you will soon see why.  The first part of the trip me Maryann, and our friend Taylor all had to get to Seville in southern Spain. We woke up at 4:30 to catch our cheap 7 am flight, and I already wasn't feeling well. We got to Seville, and I slept the whole day because my throat was killing me and I had a fever. A great way to start an African adventure. I felt well enough to go for Tapas with a big group in Seville, which was awesome. Some of the best Spanish food and really cheap. The next morning my right tonsil was swollen and white, so Maryann and I had to go to the emergency clinic since it was a Saturday. Of course no one spoke English. Luckily, the throat spoke for itself. I picked up on most of what the doctor said especially when she said INJECION. I asked para que and the doctor responded para dolor ( for pain). At this point I didn't ask many questions. From there we saw the giant Gothic cathedral and met up with people from our group to watch the final four. We didn't book a hostel that night because our bus left at 4 am. This is why I may have napped on the table at the tex mex bar. This was only the beginning of sleeping in unacceptable places. From here we all wandered to the bus to start the endless journey to Morocco. After 2 hours on the bus we arrived at the ferry aka hell. We all slept in the gross lobby by the ferry then stood in line for 2 hours outside the ferry crammed with tons of families and smelly men. Then on the ferry we waited in yet another line for an hour. The Moroccos don't know how to have efficient passport checks. I literally felt like I was immigrating from another country.  We were all in foul moods. Then we hopped on the bus for another 6 hours. Needless to say this was why I asked myself, what the hell did you sign up for? We made it to Fes for dinner, and luckily there was a delicious buffet where i started my week of cous cous and lentils. The next morning we went into the Medina which is similar to the Israeli shuck. Tiny streets filled with donkeys and Arab men selling you things for " very good price". Our program brought us to a pharmacy where everyone bought crap that probs won't work, and a beautiful scarfs store. We also went to a tannery where leather is made. The smell was so bad they gave us mint that we all shoved up our noses. Watching the men outside making the leather was crazy, and I have now put that down on my list of jobs I could never do. The city of Fes was very poor, but the people really didn't harass us like we expected. No one put snakes on people then asked for money or made comments to the girls. Also I wasn't lookin so hot that day so maybe that's why I didn't get harassed, but i like to think they were respectful. That night i went to a belly dancing show, which given their rules on modesty was definitely interesting. The next day would start the SCHLEP and i mean on the schlep scale a 21 to the Sahara. Stay tuned. BESOS
Moroccan Mica

Mr. Brownie in Portugal

While I may not have known anything about Portugal or it's capital, which is Lisbon by the way, I left this beautiful country feeling wiser and relaxed. Right when I landed with 4 other girls we had arranged a food and wine tour. We decided to stay in a guest house out in a beach town called Cascais, so we literally backpacked our way through this tour. Our smart ass tour guide kept complaining about how slowly we moved. I should have asked if he wanted to take my bag. He introduced us to the delicacies of Portugal. We started with a lemon pastry and a pastry actually made from beans. He really should have waited till after we ate to say the beans part, because it was really delicious. Then we had our first shot of Espresso. He ranted about how Americans get addicted to caffeine and how the Portuguese drink 5 shots of espresso a day because it's their culture. I told him they were all addicted. Then he complained about how Americans take coffee to go in gross cups and don't sit and enjoy. I did't say anything, but I almost said there is a reason we are more well known than Portugal and that's because we don't sip espresso all day, but i refrained. After a beautiful tour learning about all the different types of people living in Portugal and seeing the city we ventured to Cascais, where we were hoping for beautiful weather, but of course it rained almost the whole time . Cascais seemed like the Destin of Portugal. Bright colored buildings, restaurants on the water, and small fun shops everywhere. We stayed at an adorable guest house run by a single mom. It was out of a an ikea/ pottery barn magazine. It was the first time i showered during a weekend trip. The funniest part is that this women had a cat named Mr. Brownie who got into everything. It wasn't even senor brownies. Hearing this Portuguese women yell "Mr. Brownie off da counter" was always funny. We ate "piri piri " aka grilled chicken with a weird spicy sauce. The food was nothing to rave about.  The best part was going to Sintra. Maryann and i now judge everything by the schlep factor. Sintra rated at about a 7 because it required 3 different types of transportation.  It was worth it to see the city and the awesome Penna castle.  Then we hurried back to soak up as much sun as possible the last day. It was a relaxing trip to a place I never thought I would go!

Besos

Mica

The Answer is No

After many weekends away in Amsterdam and in Valencia, this was my first weekend to be back in Barcelona. I couldn't have asked for better weather, and now it is officially beach time. The one problem with the beaches here are that people try to sell  things while I am trying to take in the Spanish sun. I literally need a giant NO sign next to me at all times. No to the creepy men walking around yelling, beer, cerveza, coca cola, ( all of these are code for drugs) or the Asian women walking around asking if i want a message. If all of these people would go away it would just be perfect. I have spent my weekend eating great paella on the beach, shopping for summer clothes at H&M, and exploring other parts of Barcelona like the Born district. I also finally had great sushi in the Gracia neighborhood. Tomorrow I am off to Las Fallas aka a fire festival in Valencia. I was there at the beginning of Las Fallas next week, and it is a beautiful beach city where everyone comes together to burn stuff. This means little kids throwing poppers and fire crackers left and right. It is similar to Mardi Gras and has to do with clubs the people belong to. Each club has a tent party and they build Giant Statues. I am going for tomorrow when they burn these statues down. Since  I really hate fire and don't love huge crowds of people but hey you only live once. I will post more after and hopefully wont loose any eyebrows to these crazy fires. Besos

Je ma pel Claude... Jet tou fle floo

Nothing better than visiting the most romantic city in the world with your parents. Well we may have had a few awkward moments, for the most part I loved every second of being in Paris with my mom and dad. From the croissants in the morning to the macaroons in the afternoon, we successfully ate our way through Paris. We enjoyed a lovely boat ride on the Seine River, where we were the only table of 3. As they replayed the same playlist of Love Songs ( Josh Groban, Barbara Streisand etc)  I looked out and saw the eiffel tower all lit up and couldn't think of a more romantic moment to share with my parents. We stayed in the Maray area filled with Jewish bakeries, gay clubs, and awesome clothing stories. What more could I ask for.  On Friday we went on the double decker bus tour and hopped off at all the museums and monuments we wanted to see.  We stopped at Napolean's Tomb, which is a very huge tomb for a very little guy. We saw the Eiffel tower, the Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame, and few museums.  I really loved the  Orsay Museum where we saw great impressionist art. This was of course after we struggled with the audio guide head sets for a while. This was especially a challenge for my dad. Another challenge for my dad was figuring out which language to speak. The week before my parents had been in Barcelona, where my dad was able to speak Spanish pretty well. He also knows French, which he tried to use in Paris. With the quick change in language and his love of Israel,  most of the things that came out of his mouth were in Hebrew. He kept referring to shekels, asking ma zeh, and occasionally he did speak French. My mom however struggled with the metro there, getting stuck in the barrier many times. Lets just say Barcelona def has a better metro system, and I will never forget the way their metro smelled. On Saturday night we went to Che Janou which had the best chocolate mousse of our lives. My mom almost cried. We also made friends with the couple next to us who happened to be Jewish and we of course invited them to New Orleans. Between the wine and the mousse we were feeling very friendly. On Saturday we headed to Versailles and saw all of the beautiful rooms each one having  more gold than the one before. Then my mom and I headed to their fancy mall. Before we stopped at a small lunch placed ordered two large cokes and split a sandwich. We were trying to be economical. When we got the bill i saw they charged 10 euros per coke. THEY WEREN'T EVEN SPIKED. After having a small stroke and vowing never to order coke in Europe again we went to the very expensive and beautiful mall where I bought a great orange scarf. Color was everywhere in Paris so I needed to spice up my  black or grey wardrobe. That night we had another great meal, then headed  back to our hotel after a quick stroll on Le Champs Elysees. It was the perfect week vacation both in Barcelona and n Paris. Next weekend Amsterdam! Besos
Mica

Thank You For Speaking English

Dear London,
Thank you so much for giving me directions in English, smiling at me on the tube, and not giving me ham to eat for every meal.
My first trip to London was the perfect way to start my travels. I had my first hostel experience, and while I did not touch the showers there, I enjoyed all the people we stayed with and the pub below us. I went to London with my friends Jillian, Amanda, and Jordan. We stayed in a nine person room, which meant bunk beds with three mattresses. I was assigned to the bottom bed or as I called  it the coffin bed. I quickly asked to be switched and instead a 6 ft 40 year  old spanish man slept there. You snooze ya loose. We also met our friend Paul Tall ( no joke, and no he wasn't that tall) He was from Prague and we brought him with us on all the tours. We went on a very cold walking tour and saw Trafalgar square, Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and every other typical London landmark.  Met some fun Israelis who invited us all to Israel. We ended the tour with some nice fish and chips and a cider. I enjoyed the cider, but I can live without having fish and chips again. My favorite stop was Harrods. For my friend Jordan he died in the mens clothing department, but for me it was the chocolate room.  They even had samples! I could have spent all day drooling at the food, but we had a tight schedule. As I froze my behind off, i put on every article of clothing I had brought and went on a Pub Crawl in Camden. The men there def know how to drink.  The girls were dressed in high heels and adorable outfits. I was so layered i couldn't move enough to dance, so we didn't stay too long. Then Sunday morning we quickly ran to the Tate modern museum then  hopped in an adorable cab and headed back to Barcelona. It turned out to be a  wonderful weekend filled with fun accents, descent food, and lots of new foreign friends, (but not so much showering). Besos
Mica

Necessita Deodorant en Espana!

I know I am on the verge of being one of those people who says they will blog and stops, so this post is going to prevent me from going on that list. The past two weeks have been filled with classes and visiting sites and fun places in and around Barcelona. Two weeks ago I had a Picasso weekend. I went with two friends and ate at 4 Gats. This was a restaurant Picasso used to go to. The atmosphere was very cool and had Picasso paintings all over it, but the food was overrated. As a New Orleans girl, I know my seafood and 3 scallops does not equal 22 euros. Never the less, it was a fun experience. The next morning we woke up and went to the Picasso museum. We had a wonderful guide who even spoke English! That weekend it was cold and rainy and pretty miserable. We tried to drown our sorrows in what was supposed to be the "best mexican in Barcelona" but I am just going to have to disagree. On a different note, since my school sells chocolate croissants for 95 cents I have joined a gym. I thought I would not have to be with smelly Europeans since it is the winter, but let me tell you... this gym stinks. I can barely go into the weight room because the men clearly do not wear deodorant. Just another reason I need to avoid the gym. Besides the smell it does the job. This weekend we went to Girona with my abroad group. It was about an hour ride and we saw an old Jewish quarter and a church etc. It was really cold so we mostly hid inside.  I did however try a dessert called a shoo shoo. ( It sounded like how my grandma used to pronounce sushi). I had to eat the donut like pastry because I didn't want to be disrespectful. Then we headed to the Dali museum which was awesome. All of his work was very bizarre and the museum doesn't allow guides or descriptions really.  We have also ventured to a bunch of different bars and discotecas in Barcelona. I really enjoyed a bar called Le Cerano where you pour your own drinks and they give popcorn. We even talked to locals in spanish while we were there so it was an educational bar too. This weekend I take my first big trip to London!  Will tell you all about it next week. Besos XOXO Mica

Something Sexy about the Metro

While I assumed Europe would have more PDA ( public displays of affection) than the U.S., I was not prepared for the amount of smooching and touching I would see on the metro. In the gross public transportation system ( where i saw a mouse yesterday) people are making out left and right. All of us have noticed it, yet I had not read it this in any of the guide books. Besides watching all the lovebirds on the metro, I've been busy  going to different sights in the city and going to my spanish class. Last week after of course getting lost, Maryann and I went on a tour of the La Padrera. An awesome place that Gaudi designed. Then we saw the outside of his house and then treated ourselves to chocolate croussants. It's a rough life, I know. On Thursday night we went to a discoteca where a known dj (Diplo) was performing. He of course didn't come on until 3:00, not that I knew who he was, but it was a fun late night. We had way too many people over that night, and I knew we pissed of our neighbors. The next morning when I went to open the door to who I thought was the hot water repair man, it was in fact the man who lived below us. In his angry spanish I tried to listen for  words like water heater, but soon realized he was saying he could hear all of these girls in heels at midnight. WUPS. I really wish it had just been the repair man.  We will not be holding any big parties again.  This weekend we took a billion trains and went to Monsterat. It was a giant mountain with a monastery. The view was beautiful.  Maryann and I pretended that we like hiking and started going down the mountain. We soon realized we'd eventually have to go back up so we huffed and puffed our way up the mountain. Since it is Sunday we had a leisurely day and went to a great brunch place called MILK. I had salmon eggs benedict, and the atmosphere of the restaurant was very cool. Now we are studying for our little spanish prueba (quiz) and getting ready for our other classes to start. Will post more next week! Besos
Mica