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Africa. Africa was definitely the most different country and culture I have ever seen. So Friday morning we leave at 4AM for a long trip. We took coach buses most of the time, the same ones traveled with us the whole time. So we drove about 2 1/2 hours to Algecirias, Spain so that we could take the ferry accross to Tangiers. The ferry was about 2 hours travel time because of the weather but it took a lot longer than that with loading and unloading and all other factors combined. Once we got there we got back on the buses and drove about 7 hours to Fes, Morocco. This was a nice little town and we stayed in a pretty nice hotel. There were about 200 of us students on this trip which was a bit much but I cant really complain. We had dinner at the hotel and pretty much went to bed after that because it was a long travel day. The next day was a very full day. We got up, had breakfast, and then went out on the town. We first just walked around in the streets where i did not feel safe at all but we were with a big group so it was fine. The girls have to be extra careful there because the guys were always trying to grab our arms to pull us away from the group and saying things like "beautiful americanas" and wanting us to go to their house. So that was a little scary but we were with our directors the whole time and they dealt with it well. We Went to a little pharmacy where we got to sit down and be shown demonstration of all of their natural products that they carry. THey had everything from oils, to makeup, to tea, to spices. It was a very cool experience. Then we went to a i guess fabric store. We saw the people working on the looms to make scarves, sheets, blankets, dresses etc. They showed us many of the various pieces and even had some people try the outfits on! After that we went to a leather store. When we walked in there was someone handing out mint leaves which we were kind of confused about but we took them anyway. This store had about 3 floors lined with purses, bags, wallets, jackets and any other things that could possibly be made out of leather. Thats when we found out why they gave us the mint! It smelled HORRIBLE in there. The leather was so fresh! We were like "wow this must have come right from a leather factory!" Then we looked out the window. There were about 50 little "pools" where people were soaking the leather in, cleaning it and laying it out to dry. People were getting in the dirty pools with the leather and scrubbing it. It was amazing to see. But the smell was still horrible. After this we went to a rug store and saw how those were made by the women of africa. this was very interesting but we didnt stay long. We had lunch at a really cool restuarant in downtown Fes. It was a sit down restuarant with many courses of appetizers and CusCus as our main course. It was very good but I was very afraid of being sick so I only tried the things that were cooked. After lunch we drove to a ceramic "factory" and saw all the stations the african men were sitting at and all the different steps it took them to make pottery, mosaics, etc. Then they had 3 large rooms at the end with all of their finished products which was definitely a site to see. The whole time we were in town people were trying to sell us little trinkets and would just follow us whereever we went. This got very annoying by the end of the trip. The kids were the same way, they could be 6 years old and already only interested in selling you something. We saw a few fights in the streets and some stealing. It was quite the culture shock. We then went back to the hotel for dinner and went to bed. The next day we drove another 7 hours or so (which is spanish time translates to like 12 hours including breaks) until we got to the Sahara. We got off the bus and there were about 80 or so jeeps all sitting around with Berber men standing beside them. we quickly piled in them with all of our stuff and speed off into the desert. This moment is so hard to describe because its something i never could have imagined before this trip. It was VERy dark out, I was in Africa, in a jeep with a Berber man I didnt know, dirving at about 90 mph through the sahara desert like a crazy man, blasting african music, and all you could see was sand dunes and about 80 other jeeps flying in the same direction across a huge piece of land. At that moment i was thinking "what the heck am i doing" and "this is one of the coolest things ive ever experienced." We stopped to take pictures with the jeeps and with our driver who turned out to be pretty cool and the stars were absolutely amazing. It seems like there are 100 times more stars in africa because it is so dark and clear and without light pollution. It was absolutely breathtaking. We arrived to tha camp after about an hour and a half in the jeeps. We got out and there was an archway leading to the camp with like 10 guys playing drums loudly and singing as we entered. The camp wasnt at bad as i thought. There were many big long tents set up that could sleep about 15 people each. And there were little "beds" in them that had a little mattress and a big wool blanket. It was FREEZING at night so i was so thankful we had those blankets. I slept with a northface on and like 2 sweaters and two pairs of pants and was still cold! We had dinner when we got there which was just a bunch of different dishes of vegetables and other weird things. I tried everything but cant say i liked anything but the fruit. Also, the whole time we were in africa we couldnt drink the water so we just had to keep buying big water bottles. We layed out on the dunes and watched the stars that night and it was incredible. Then we went to bed and the Berbers woke us us at about 5:45 am to watch the sunrise. We walked pretty far across the dunes and watched to most beautiful sunrise i have ever seen. It was breaktaking. After that, the Berbers who took us of course wanted to sell us stuff but we just got ready, had a little breakfast and then set off to ride the camels! About 200 camels camae and surounded our camp and we just went and hopped on one and off we went across the desert! it was a lot harder than what i thought it was going to be. I felt like i had been holding on for dear like for an hour and a half straight. Once we were pretty far, we climbed up the biggest dune in that area and just sat and looked out and took pictures. We then all ran down it which was so much fun. We rode the camels into town and went to this grand palace with a swimming pool to cool off as they served us coca cola and we hung out by the pool. We then walked into a little shop where people could but souviner type things and then walked an hour back to our camp. We had some free time where we got henna tattoos (which i hate mine) and went sand boarding. It got dark at about 6:30 there so we had dinner, listened to some musicians and hung out. We then watched the stars and went to bed. In the morning we woke up early to start our long journey back. We took the jeeps back to our buses, and took the buses about 7 hours to Meckness (idk how to spell that in english) and slept there for the night. On the way there we stopped at a little village which was among the poorest in Morocco and gave the people donated clothes which was very touching to see how excited they were. I skipped dinner that night because i was so car sick and i just took a much needed shower and went to bed. We left very early the mornign and drove like 8 more hours back to Tangiers, took the ferry back across, hoppped int he bus for another 2 hours and then finally got back to Sevilla at like midnight! It was a very long trip and I didnt eat much the whole time so i could not wait to get home with a nice hot meal waiting for me, talk to joe for a bit, and climb in my bed! It was an awesome feeling. Now i have school today and im off to England tomorrow! Ill write more about that next week!
Thing i miss the most: my huge comfy bed, american food
High point of the day: i just went to Africa.
Low point of the day: i only have 1 day to rest until i leave on my next trip
Something i learned: always bargain your price in Africa! and camels are very hard to ride.
**For those who didnt know i accepted my spot in Carroll University's Nursing Program and will be starting there in the Spring!!
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