The Last Port

Just spent five days in Africa...no big deal. :)

 

We ported in Casablanca, Morocco. (I have actually been to Morocco befor, but not the same part. We went to Tangier befor.) The port was very strange because it was more of a commercial port than a cruise ship port. AKA lots of huge containers everywhere and cranes and we had to take a shuttle bus to get out of the port.

 

And let me just say that Morocco has some pretty serious visa requirements. My friend Andy - who is pretty much the cutest littlest 5 foot tall Ecuadorian I know was not allowed off the boat because of all of this weird stuff involving visa and international policy and consulates (that i do not quite understand). It was only funny because if you could just see this girl, you would just know that she did not pose any sort of national threat to Morocco. But hey, we live in a crazy world I guess!

 

DAY 1: We went to the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. This is the thrid biggest mosque in the Islamic world with the biggest minaret (call to prayer tower) overall. It was HUGE. and so beautiful. It was built right over the waves and has so many layers to it. It even has a retractable roof for when they have alot of worshippers and it gets really hot. Then we went to a souk in Casablanca which is really just the Moroccan word for a bazaar or market. Pretty cool stuff including these magic boxes that have all of these hidden keys and sliding wooden panels among many other typical Moroccan souvenirs. That night, we all stayed on the boat and had a game night because we knew the next few nights, we wouldn't be able to get back to the boat! Monopoly got real serious real fast. Haley and me lost (we had to play teams because there were approx. 10 of us playing) but at least we had Marvin Gardens for a while!

 

DAY 2: We were hoping that Andy was gonna be able to get off the boat so we hung around for a while and played more games. (I can't even look at Apples to Apples anymore). But by dinnertime, it was pretty clear that she was gonna have to hang out on the boat. :( ....so we went on to the Casablanca train station to catch a train to Marrakesh! By the time we got to Marrakesh it was about 10 at night. We had arranged in advance for a driver from the riad we were staying at to pick us up from the train station so within half an hour a Moroccan man approached with a sign that said "Tah Tah Haley" LOLOL. (The name of our riad was Dar Tah Tah and one of the girls in our group's name is Haley). So then we got to the riad which was an adventure just finding it. It was essentially the most dangerous maze i've ever been through. I was almost run over by 50 different mopeds. but the riad.. IT WAS SO NICE. Three floors, slept technically 12 people but if all of the couches were beds, you could easily sleep 20 in there. I'll have to show you pictures but even that wont do it justice. There were 8 of us in the riad the first night then 9 the second and then 10 the third and we each had our own bed and bathroom. This is all especially impressive when you consider the fact that total, for all 3 nights (with breakfast included!) I only paid 88 US dollars. INSANE. The other riad we could have gotten for the same price (but another SASer had already booked it) had free wifi and a pool. (We ended up going over there to snag some wifi).So basically that night we just ran around like crazy people exploring and then went to bed.

 

DAY 3: We arranged for a tour guide through the riad to go on a Berber village hike. The Berber villages alot more rural than Marrakesh. We went to a small village almost 3 hours away and got a little tour of their homes and all of their common stuff. EX: they all share one big oven. Also all of their stuff is water powered! Then we walked across this bridge that was essentially 2 pieces of cable with sticks layed across it. Then we went to another village with a waterfall. One of the most perilous hikes of all time. At one point we had to climb up a random dripping wet ladder casually resting against a slippery waterfall rock. We had to climb all the way til our feet were on the top rung and then a Berber man sticks out his hand for you to grab and he forces you to not die and be able to scratch/crawl the rest of the way. the whole 1.5-2 hr hike was pretty much like that and it also rained!! Which was so nice because I've only seeen rain 2 times this summer. Anyways, as deadly as the hike was - it was definitly worth it! After that we got lunch couscous and vegetables (all cooked) at a restaurant that the guide took us to. Remember this meal, it was my demise.

 

Then that night, we got internet at the neighboring riad. I use the term "neighboring" very loosely. For anyone that knows how bad at directions I am, this was quite a struggle but I didn't get lost once! (And sometimes I was even leading the group!) From the internet we were able to set up a meeting time to go get the girls that were on the 3 or 4 days camel trek through SAS. Then we found them with no problems!! The rest of the night we just hung out and played games. Marrakesh is not the city to go crazy. Especially during Ramadan (which for anyone that doesn't know is the Islamic fast that takes place for 30 days. They can only eat when the sun is down or something along that general time frame.)

 

DAY 4: Shopping! This day we went to a fixed priced market. Ah so many things and at such good prices and no one to harass you!! This was wonderful and I got all of my souvenir/gift shopping done (except for one thing which I got outside of the market because I knew I could find a better price!) Then we went to a grocery store to stock up on food and water since its sorta hard to come by in an Islamic country during Ramadan... and then we hit up the train station to get tickets for going home. This turned out to be tricky because everyone wanted first class because its the only way you're guarunteed a seat and we all had lots of bags. (On the way there our first class compartment was 4 of us girls in a 6 person thing that literally looked like we were going ot Hogwarts.) Anyways they ran out of first class but said they would be adding another train the next morning so we just had to get there early to get tickets. (A few of us ended up being very antsy about the situation once we got back to the riad so 4 of us decided we would just get to the station realllly early and get on the earlier train so that we didnt even have to worry about not making it back.)

 

That night we had a really nice dinner prepared by the Moroccan family that owns the riad (at a little extra charge). Dinner was sooo good. And then the fun started. So we were all having a good ol' time and then I didn't really feel so good. I thought I was just really full. Next thing I know BAM food poisoning all over the place. Couldn't keep water down for 36 hours. In that time, I spent the night in the riad and traveled all the way back to the boat. All the way through a 3.5 hour train ride and 2 taxis. it was awful. Haley got sick right befor we left the riad and then Abby got sick once we got back on the boat. SO BAD. I'm not 100% positive what it was, but the only thing that makes sense (based on who ate it and who got sick) is the couscous and vegetable dish from day 3. So yeah, never again.

 

Day 5 was essentially just traveling.

 

 

Other than the food poisoning, I had a wonderful time in Morocco and if anyone wants the contact for a cheap riad, I'll try and hook you up!

 

Now were back on the boat for about 6 more days (already been on for 2) and then on the 20th I'll be in Boston! Today I turned in my last graded assignments minus 2 finals. Yay!

 

 

Cya soon America!

The Best Day Ever

Today is the best day ever for a couple of reasons.

 

(1) I did really well on the test I thought I bombed. (probs curved but I'm not complaining!) (2) Couscous (so good they named it twice) and cheesecake for dinner! (3) All but one of my roommates got approved to live off campus with me!!!! Yay! and then (4) tonight is the talent show. Also (5) We get an extra hour of sleep tonight.

 

Now I'm gonna go work on a research paper (which is hilarious because the book selection is limited and we cant really go on the internet...)

 

Bye!

 

The Vegetarian Who Loved Turkey

Ok so continuing on from my last post:

Then that day we went to the Bulgarian mall which we tried to walk to but it was actually about four miles away (lol) so we had to get a cab. I got to buy a long dress so that I’m not offensive in Morocco (and also it was cheap and I’ll wear it at home) and a thing of earrings because I lost the one for my cartilage. That night we went to the beach to hang out again but another one of my friends, Amanda, started to feel sick. She also got food poisoning. L

Fourth day in Bulgaria: We went bungee jumping!...hahah just kidding. I went to watch my friends jump but I personally didn’t want to pay 50 leva to publically cry and pee my pants. Everyone survived but they had to push Andy off the bridge to make her do it…which is DEF INITLY not legal to do in America.  Then we got to access the internet and then got a sushi platter to make up for our sushi night from H.E. double hockey sticks.  I accidentally ate a piece of a fried chicken roll. Ok. I’m not gonna lie it was good and I did not get sick. BUT.  Who in their right mind puts fried chicken in sushi..?!

Then we had one day back on the boat. They called it Turkey Day because it was a day where we just had global studies for almost three hours and learned about Turkey. Everyone that thought they were funny called it Thanksgiving.  But get this: they didn’t even serve turkey at any of the meal times! (not that I care but a girl can dream for some cranberry sauce J )

After Turkey Day it was time to actually experience Turkey! 

Almost the whole time in Turkey we had our own personal local tour guides because my friends who go to Trinity in Texas go to school with three people that live in Istanbul.

First day in Turkey: 

Went to the Grand Bazaar. So overwhelming. I could barely even buy anything because there was just so much going on. It’s basically this indoor maze with a different shop every ten feet. They sell everything from spices to ceramics to lamps to shirts to key chains to diamond rings. INSANE. Thank goodness our Turkish friends were with us or else we would’ve gotten lost in there or ripped off! The shop owners immediately cut their price down as soon as they realized we were with Turks. A few people actually asked me if I was Turkish. HAHA so I just nodded. So I bought some gifts and then we left to get lunch. I got a zucchini stuffed with cheese. 

Next, we headed to the Hagia Sofia – a HUGE church turned into a mosque, but no longer a practicing mosque. The church is so big you could fit an 18 story building inside of it! It’s one of the buildings you can pick out from the Istanbul skyline. Then we headed over to the Blue Mosque – another huge mosque. This one is still practicing so we had wear shawls and long skirts (keep in mind I was already conservatively dressed). I personally liked the Hagia Sofia better but it was cool to see a practicing mosque too! Then we ended the day at the spice bazaars. I didn’t even know there were that many spices in the world!

Then that night, our Turkish friends showed us Taksim – the district of Istanbul with all of the shops, restaurants, bars and clubs. It was really cool going with Turkish people because we got to go to a lot of private places that only locals know about. We ended our night in a private club-ish thing that was on the top floor and roof of an apartment building. It was absolutely beautiful, overlooked the whole city! Then I paid 30 lera for a taxi ride because I’m an idiot and I thought that was an appropriate price. Last time I ever let a cab driver take my friends and I home without turning on the meter. (See this is what I was talking about when I said we would get ripped off if we didn’t have our Turkish friends)

Second Day in Turkey:

We went to Topkapi Palace. (Pronounced “Tope Cop Ah”). It was SO BIG and had really beautiful courtyards. Some of the exhibits were closed but we still found stuff to see there for a few hours! Then. We had a weak day. A few of us decided we NEEDED Pizza Hut. (Typical Americans) So we walked a mile or so basically straight uphill to reach Pizza Hut and then just threw pizza down the back our throats until we realized we had been full for about twenty minutes.  Such a poor decision but what’s done is done. Hahah.

That night, we went back to Taksim, met more Turks and basically did the exact same thing we did the night before!

Third Day in Turkey:

The third day we went to the harbor where you can take boat tours of the Bosporus (the strait that Istanbul straddles between Europe and Asia). One of the Turkish guys we were with helped us get a private two hour tour with a stop in Asia!!! This was one of the coolest things I’ve done this entire voyage. We had our own boat to about ten of us! When we got to Asia we got off and got a snack. They have these things that are similar to baked potatoes but they’re a lot creamier inside and you put so many topping on them. I got olive paste, crushed red pepper stuff and tzatziki. Nom nom nom.

When we got back to the boat, we all grabbed our laptops and tried to get on the internet at a local internet café. My internet wouldn’t connect (typical my computer). I may or may not have had a meltdown.

That night we went to a really nice restaurant by the bridge for dinner and then to a hookah bar to hang out after. Hookah bars are actually very typical Turkish hangouts. And no hookah is not a mind-altering drug, its flavored tobacco (still yuck). It was a pretty cool atmosphere but that being said, I don’t smoke.

Fourth Day in Turkey:

We went back to the Grand Bazaar with more confidence. Ahh the funniest line from a shop keeper (keep in mind this was the first day of Ramadan) he says “Come in, I don’t bite – I’m fasting!” HAHAHAHA So then I bought a few more gifts. Then we took a shared taxi to Asia and got a Turkish Bath! I wish I lived in Turkey so I could get a Turkish bath every day! Basically you get to play around in a pool, go into a sauna and steamer and then these old ladies scrub layer upon layers of skin off of your body. I lost probably about half my tan. But it was so worth and so relaxing and more importantly – so Turkish! The Turkish girl we went with told us that most Turks go 1 to a few times a year.

Then we got to see more of the Asian side including the main shopping street, one of the guy’s Turkish house, (A real live Turkish person’s house!) and the port on the Asian side. We took the ferry back to the European side and then went back to the boat.

That night we went to a really nice night club near the bridge for free! It was really nice, multi levels and a deck all over-looking the Bosporous. Since it was the first night of Ramadan, it was pretty much just Semester at Sea people but still really fun!

Fifth Day in Turkey:

We tried to go to a traditional Turkish breakfast but there were some serious miscommunications so it didn’t work out. So we found internet near the port – we went to a different café so my computer worked! And it was a nice relaxing day. We also spent our last lera on souvenirs and this food that was basically like cheese baklava, but its intended to be a meal, not a dessert!

The thing I was most surprised about in Turkey was how expensive everything was! We were told it would be “dirt cheap” compared to other countries, but quite frankly that was false. I mean, some stuff was cheap but it’s the kind of stuff that’s cheap everywhere. Also, the Asian side was a lot cheaper (hence why we went there for the bath).

Regardless of the fact that Turkey ate my bank account, Istanbul may have been my favorite port so far!

Now were on the boat for a few days of classes, tests, papers and recovering! Morocco is our last country, we’ll be there for 5 days and then were back on the boat to Boston. I’ll be arriving in Boston on August 20. Which is so soon and insane - I can’t believe I’ve been gone that long!

See you in 16 days!

 

 

I promise I'm still alive!

Haven't updated my blog since Greece whoops! Everything's been so busy so I haven't had time! I only have about 15 minutes right now, but I'll try to explain Bulgaria (where I was about a week ago)

 

First day - wandered around and saw some monuments and the cathedral. After eating a pita with cheese for lunch, we made our way down to the SeaPark which is basically just a park near the ocean and we went to the aquarium inside the park. We had alot of aquarium enthusiasts in our group so the aquarium was a bit of a let down - it was remarkably similar to the fish section in Walmart, not many fish and some descriptions were either a really bad attempt at sarcasm or just horribly inaccurate. That night we hung out on the beach and the surrounding nightlife with other SASers.

 

Second day - went to an orphanage and a school for children with physical disabilities, mental disabilities and behavioral disorders. It was really touchign an intersting. We got to learn about the different laws that have come into place regarding children's safety, the attitudes towards children with disorders and disabilities and then ways the two different organizatiosn worked. We also got to play with the children at the orphanage - SO CUTE. And we got to explore a random bunker from the soviet war that just happened to be in the backyard of the school. hahah. Then, we tried to get sushi. This restraunt experience rivals the one with TGIFridays with my family a few years ago. The sushi didnt come til 2 and a half hours after we ordered it and only half of it came...It tasted excellent tho! That night we did the same thing as last night, just hung out around the beach area.

 

Third day - so really really really early in the morning I got a phone call from one of my friends asking me to come help because she kept throwing up. Ended up having to take her to the health clinic. It was so bad she was just convulsing adn shaking uncontrollably and couldnt even keep down water. They had to give her a shot for food poisoning...(potentially that cursed sushi place!!) Anywho she's better now, but since than about 1/2 the boat got food poisoning from Bulgaria. Either that or its the noravirus (which if it is, I pray to God i'm immune)

 

Welp! Gotta go out for a traditional dinner in Istanbul - I'll write more later!

F. Harry Stowe to Mom and Dad!

After my last blog post, we went out in the hopes of getting a good beer and some baklava. I guess that the concept of going out for dessert is more of an American thing though because we ended up just getting wine, cherries and bread hahaha. And then, they brought out ANOTHER liter of wine and more cherries! So we asked for the check because we were all like "oh crap they're gonna charge us for this and we didn't even order the extras." Well, turns out all of that - our 2 liters of wine, bread and cherries - was all on the house. Awwww! Must've been those British accents again! We felt bad so we left them  20 euro anyways and then they came running down the street at us trying to make us take the money back! We didn't of course.

 

Then I called my parents and watched Mamma Mia!

 

(side note - someone is whistling Katy Perry's "Firework" right behing me in the computer lab...)

 

The next day, we slept in, got brunch on the boat, and then went to the museum district of Athens and saw the Benaki museum. Basically, a museum of all things Greek from all different time periods. We also got baklava (yay!) and nachos (rando) that were made with actual Nacho Cheese Doritos. I highly recomend both!

 

Then it was time to get back on the boat.

 

Today was a class day which has been very productive! Class in the morning, got back my paper. Class in the afternoon got back a test. A's all around which is nice cause papers are always a toss up! In between class I went to the gym, laid out, ate lunch and went to yoga. So relaxed right now!

 

After dinner I went to a "Big Explorer Seminar" on Bulgaria. Basically learned about communism and such but what stuck out what that Varna is a prominent organized crime / drug trafficking area. Wonderful!

 

Now we're passing right through Istanbul. Its incredible! Everything is lit up and we're probably only 100 yards from the land (not sure how thats possible, but we are!)

 

Tomorrow is another class day which will probably look very similar to today.

 

The title of my blog blog post is a shoutout to my parents. F Harry Stowe is the way you say "Thank you" in Greek! Its not spelled like that but if you say it really fast thats what it sounds like! So FHarryStowe mom and dad for giving me the world! I'm a little over half-way through the trip and I've already learned and experience so much. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything!

 

 

 

Toodles Noodles  :)

Ompa! Continued

So after we got back from Aegina on Tuesday we went out to dinner at this really pretty outdoor candlelite restraunt over-looking the harbor. Ordered a greek salad and fried shrimp. Recieved 4 large fried animals and a tomato-cucumber-onion salad with a block of feta the size of 2 decks of cards. Hahaha I was dying trying to eat this fried shrimp. I was totally mislead by my premonitions of American food. The shrimp were about the size of my hand and still had heads, eyes, "things" inside, etc. It was horrifying but I didn't want to waste their lives so I fought through it.

 

Wednesday (yesterday) was the day we were going to try to go to Olympia on our own.

 

Ok.

 

So alot of Greeks don't like Americans very much. Everyone we asked for directions acted like they had never heard of Olympia befor in their lives. Others just pawned us off to "an information desk just 200 meters down the street". Others said that they had no more bus tickets to sell even though it was 9 o'clock in the morning. So Kaleigh, Abby and I started just talking to everyone in British accents. BOY did things change! Someone followed us on their motorcylce to get us to the right station, people all of a sudden had tickest to sell, we got things for free, people let us use their bathroom and wrote down names of exact places we had to go to get to Olympia.

 

Still didn't make it there because in part of the taxi strike (we had to take a bus), our bus driver (who was not wearing a uniform and I'm pretty sure was a hooker), and the fact that by the time we figure out the British accent trick, we wouldn't have made it there in time. (Olympia is about 4 hours away and Abby and I were so paranoid that we'd have another Rome experience and get stranded overnight)

 

But we had an amazing day anyways. Basically we just explored Athens as British / Canadians and everyone loved us. Its incredible what an accent can do for you! We looked the exact same and had the same attitude, just  people thinking we weren't American changed everything. We almost got ourselves into a pickle though when we found out our waiter was from Canada...just like us! ;)

 

We also got to know a group of the taxi drivers on strike, very friendly people and we all talked about how much we hated Americans and why.

 

Really interesting day!

 

That night we just hung out in the port terminal where there is free internet. Not sure if I've mentioned this or not, but my computer is working for the time being! The IT people worked a small miracle and I got to get all of my files off my computer. They said it was definitly crash again and next time, they won't really be able to do anything but as long as I save everything to my flashdrive, I should be good! The free internet was wonderful - I got to skype Chris for an HOUR! Yay!

 

Today was another long, good day! I went to Delphi  - the oracle up in the mountains 2.5 hours away that used to give advice  to leaders and such. It was also thought to be the center of the world and is probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

 

ALSO AH - I know what Bisio means in greek! It was part of the story of Apollo and the founding of Delphi. Bisio was the name of a certain month around February / March back in ancient Greece. And we also learned where the term "lesbian" came from.

 

Then we toured the museum and then got lunch! Lunch was amazing but so much food! I definitly had "the itis" at the next place we visited - a monestary. We didn't get much time at the monestary but it was really neat and had mumified remains in it.. hahah

 

We got back to the ship just in time for dinner, took a nap and now were about to head out to the harbor to get some baklava!!

 

Bye!

Ompa!

Greetings from Greece!

 

Today is our thrid day in Greece. My friends and I are going to try out  our independent travel skills and hopefully get to Olympia for the day.

 

The first day in Greece, we went into Athens by a "Hop On, Hop Off" bus which is basically a double decker bus where you can plug in these earphones they give you and it tells you about all of the places you pass in Athens. It cost 20 euro but we get to use it for 2 days and seeing as we are 10 km (6 miles) from Athens AND there are transportation strikes out the wazoo, its a pretty good option.

 

About the transportation strikes - taxis and the metro are not working. AND on top of that, the taxis and some of teh buses even parked their cars int he middl eof the road so not only are they not moving people, but other form of transportation can't get through. This is one of those times where it'd be nice to have a motorbike haha. But anyways its a very effective strike! There is also a protest in the main square of Athens because of their financial situation.

 

Basically, if Greece doesn't reach an agreement with the EU (aka privatizing things like their port by selling it to China / making really extreme budgets cuts that will effect their pensions and welfare and stuff / use all of that money to strat paying back loans) they are going to have to default on their loans and be kicked out of the Eurozone. So its tricky because no matter what the Greek government and the EU decide on, someone will probably be displeased. They are suppose to reach the decision really soon - by the end of this week or the next is what we were told - but hopefully we will be out of Greece befor that happens!

 

Speaking of politics, Hillary Clinton is in Greece and made a speech at the New Acropolis Museum about two hours after we went to it. But we saw her whole entourage driving through the streets!

 

Anyways - the frist day we made it up to the "high city" aka the Acropolis and saw everything. Every temple, every monument. It was really hot. But the view is amazing and just the fact that somethign that old is still standing is pretty incredible. The New Acropolis Museum was really neat too! Half of it has glass flooring and you look down on the ruins from above.

 

We got lunch in the city too! I got a Spinach Pie which is the filo dough we use for baklava + spinach + feta. Yummm. Then the restraunt kept trying to get us to stay but offeringus free stuff. We got free dessert but had to refuse the free coffee. No clue what the dessert was called but it looked / tasted like a fruity couscous poundcake... in a good way! We think maybe they kept trying to get us to stay so that they looked busier and got more business?

 

That night we saw Harry Potter! Kaleigh and I did some low risk planking in the theater too (hahahahha) Harry Potter was so good tho!  A real nail biter!

 

The next day, I bought a ticket to go on the Saronic Island trip. It was so cool! We were basically on a one-day cruise ship and we went to three islands - Hydra, Porrous (sp?) and Aegina. We also got lunch on the sip and there was lots of Greek entertainment.

 

Befor we even got to the island, I got locked in a bathroom in the basement of the boat. SO BAD. It wasn't a stall, it was a room and there was no way otu and it was so hot and the lock was jammed so I started banging on the door and a professor from SAS heard me and at first tried to just bust the door open with force. In the end, we had to get someone that worked on the boat to bring down tools and get me out.... typical me!

 

Hydra was my favorite. The islands has no cars on it so its really clean and Kaleigh, Abby and I rode donkeys! Mine pooped all over the road and then the guy had to like clean it up and then he died the bag of doodoo to my saddle....niceeee!

 

Porrous was also really pretty. We saw a clocktower up in the distance and just kept going uphill until we found it. It was a really pretty island.

 

Aegina is the bigger more commercialized one, but still really nice. We walked to the Monestary and to the ruins but the ruins were closed because it was a Monday.

 

Whoops! Gotta go meet people at the gangway to try to get to Olympia!